Read All About It!

Halloween Spooktacular!

Halloween Spoooktacular gets write up in the Philly Metro!

Philly Metro - Sounding Out a Spooky Halloween!

Saturday, October 22nd 4PM & 7PM!

Sunday, October 23rd 4 PM & 7PM

Don't be scared - join us for an evening of Slurp! Slurp! fun. 

Because things are so much nicer when you're Hear Again!

Lights Out for Halloween Spooktacular

Hello America,

It...is...later...than...you...think.

For our Halloween Spooktacular Oct 22- 23 at 4 & 7pm this year, we here in the Hear Again Radio Project sound labs decided that we would use the Halloween show this year as a chance to explore one of the most influential and pioneering radio programs from the golden age of radio, Lights Out.

Lights Out was a series created by Wyllis Cooper in the fall of 1933, and later taken over by Arch Oboler in 1936. Full details on the history of the popular anthology series can be found here. In addition to the taut and engaging stories, one of the other things that drew audiences to this series was the interesting and creative sound effects that the show featured. In researching the effects we stumbled upon this image of an article highlighting the stars and the foley artists from the series.

For our Halloween Spooktacular, we will be featuring one script by each writer. First, Slurp! Goes the Amoeba by Wyllis Cooper which is a spooky tale about a lab experiment that goes horrifically wrong. It is tasty! We follow that with one of our favorite Arch Oboler scripts, last performed in the inaugural Hear Again performances for the 2009 Philadelphia Fringe Festival, entitled Special to Hollywood. As always, we have many treats for our audience, including Halloween candy and a special give away courtesy of our friends in Old Time Radio, the Old Time Radio Researchers group. Please visit their terrific site: http://otrr.org/

Look for us on The Face Book: http://www.facebook.com/HearAgainRadioProject

National Archives raided by ex-employee

Hello America,

We were on our way to rehearsal this morning for the Hear Again Radio Project's Halloween Spooktacular, and I almost drove the car off the road when I heard this story on NPR. In short, an ex-employee of the National Archives stole recorded archive material and sold it on eBay. As a group that is dedicated to the idea of finding a new audience for Old Time Radio, we are horrified that someone would be so callous as to steal any of the source recordings from the Archive and rob future generations a chance to hear the original broadcast.

You can read and hear the story HERE.


Our Halloween Spooktacular will be at Plays and Players, and will feature two episodes of Lights Out! (Oct 22 & 23 at 4pm & 7pm). More details can be found HERE and on The Face Book HERE.

Science Fiction Invasion: Notes for the Future

Hello, America! Tomorrow morning we embark on another terrific journey into the past when the Hear Again Radio Project presents, with the support of our friends at Plays and Players, Hear Again Radio Project's Science Fiction Invasion! Here is our new poster:

This production marks our third entry into the Philadelphia Fringe Festival with our brand of old time radio goodness for the whole family. It is also the beginning of our second season at our home for special events, Plays and Players. We thought it would be a good opportunity to share some thoughts to help you prepare for the Invasion as envisioned by Hear Again Director and Producer, Darin J Dunston.

 

Written in the 50’s, these stories are wonderful examples of the hopes and fears of Americans during an uncertain age.  This is an era when new technologies were emerging almost daily, like nuclear power, while invasions threatened from Communist intruders, like Red China and the Soviet Union. To deal with these fears, many people sought out Science Fiction visionaries, like Ray Bradbury, whose work is featured in our programs, who imagined a fantastic future filled with robots, automated houses, and trips to distant planets. 

As producers of radio programs in the 40's and 50's were seeking content for their radio airwaves,  they frequently adapted short stories of great writers. The writers of Science Fiction radio drama may have gotten some things wrong as they imagined a world of tomorrow, for example, I’m still waiting for my flying car, but you’ll be amazed upon listening how many things they got right. Through these original scripts we look to the future through the prism of the past to explore our biggest dreams and worst nightmares.

 

During the Fringe, we have different episodes planned for Saturdays and Sundays. Beyond the Fringe, we are planning our annual Halloween Spooktackular, Holiday Hullabaloo, Valentines' Va-Va Voom, and a new Spring Fling. Dates and details can be found here. 

Visit our blog for the latest on Hear Again: HearAgainRadioProject.blogspot.com. You can also visit us on the face book at http://www.facebook.com/HearAgainRadioProject.

Thank you, and I hope to meet you at the theater. Tell your friends, and get your tickets here.

Another passing of a radio legend. Nat Allbright.

I found this article about legendary Dodgers radio announcer Nat Allbright and thought it might be of interest to our Hear Again friends.  You can read all about Nat and his contributions to the  HERE

Happy Birthday, Gracie.

Hello America,

Today is actress and radio comedienne Gracie Allen's birthday. Happy Birthday, Gracie. Whereever you are!

For more on her work, go HERE

The Birthplace of Radios!

Hello America,

Those of you who have ever attended a Hear Again show will know that we begin each "broadcast" with the phrase "Live from Philadelphia, the birthplace of radios." I think it is time to let some of you in on the joke. When I was creating Hear Again, I wanted to honor the history that Philadelphia has played in the early days of radio.

Most people when they imagine a family in the 1940's gathering around a radio to listen to the latest installment of Amos and Andy or The Green Hornet, picture in their mind's eye a cathedral style Philco radio like the Baby Grand style radio in the right side of this picture.

These radios, and hundreds of other models were manufactured in the great city of Philadelphia by the Philadelphia Storage Battery Company which was later renamed the Philco Corporation. I found a terrific site detailng the history of Philco HERE. This is an amazing site with great pictures and information.

Also, published earlier this week was a great new book about Philadelphia Radio. I cannot wait to read this book. You can find some info about it HERE.