A piece of Weird Tales lore has surfaced online.
A radio show based on the stories in the “Unique Magazine” was produced in the early ’30s, but no recordings had been available — until now. Earlier this month, old time radio buff Randy Riddle posted the second part of “The Curse of Nagana,” based on Hugh B. Cave’s short story “The Ghoul Gallery” (Weird Tales, June 1932). “The Curse of Nagana” was the second program in what was to be a 52-show run for the Weird Tales radio series. Riddle says he recently bought a transcription disc containing the 10-minute show as well as a reproduction of the flyer sent to radio stations promoting the series.
According to Riddle, “The series (or proposed series) was produced by Hollywood Radio Attractions…. In a promotional flyer for the program, they advertise three episodes that had been produced — the company was planning to record a total of 52 half-hour shows. The show was created in such a way that they could be played as one half-hour program each week or split into two 15-minute shows, completing one story each week. So, what you’re hearing is part two of ‘The Curse of Nagana,’ which, if run on-air, could be run as a self-contained 15-minute show, likely with an introduction and commercial by a local announcer.”
This disc, he believes, is the only one of the series that survives and that “three shows were recorded and promoted to stations, but that it just didn’t sell.” These are the episodes listed on the flyer:
Program 1 – “The Living Dead,” based on Kirk Mashburn’s novellete “De Brignac’s Lady” [Weird Tales, February 1933] with Jason Robards (Sr.), William Farnum, Viola Dana, Richard Tucker, John Ince, Wally Reid, Jr. and featuring music by the “Mata Hari Orchestra direct from Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, California”
Program 2 – “The Curse of Nagana,” from Hugh B. Cave’s short story “The Ghoul Gallery” with Richard Carle, Johnny Harron, Florence Britton, Cyrill Delavante, John Ince, Pierre White, Lucille Amaya with music by an “Arabian Orchestra.”
Program 3 – “The Three From the Tomb,” from a novel by Edmund Hamilton [Weird Tales, February 1932] with William Farnum, Bert Roach, Prisicilla Dean, Pat O’Malley, John Ince, Frank Glendon and Robert Hoover.
LISTEN TO “THE CURSE OF NAGANA”:
(via Rand’s Esoteric OTR)
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Those are pretty good casts – a lot of familiar movie and radio names. Should be investing.
It’s no Inner Sanctum but it sounds like the show could have been great. Parker was a clumsy descriptive device but the voice cast and sound effects were excellent. The quality is amazing, no static or anything.
As I understand things, Farnsworth liked to purchase radio rights when he bought a story. He must have had high hopes for getting that radio series running. Damn shame it didn’t work out.