It's almost impossible for people these days to think of a world without television. Time has grown distant enough to nearly forget that it's nickname "The Tube" was in reference to the cathode ray tube that projected "black and white" (and later, color) images on its phosphor screen. I remember one of our TVs seemed to have regular problems, so I'd accompany my Dad to the local supermarket and he'd test the vacuum tubes on this machine that could have come out of a Flash Gordon serial! Now, when our "televisions" go out, we simply trash (or hopefully recycle) them -- insert sad face here.
So, back in the "old days", for visual entertainment, people would go to the movies. Back then, you dropped a dime and saw a double-feature, along with cartoons, newsreels and sometimes even a live show before all the rest. Now you drop ten bucks for one movie and an endless string of "Coming Attractions" which is advertising, not additional entertainment.
Another huge draw for entertainment back then was the humble radio. It was not unusual for whole families to gather around in front of their Motorola, RCA, Philco or Westinghouse on any night of the week and listen to radio shows featuring every topic imaginable from comedies to westerns to drama to mystery, and yes -- horror.
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The first of the outright horror programs was WOR in New York's THE WITCH'S TALE, created by Alonzo Deen Cole. Each episode was introduced by Old Nancy, the Witch of Salem, along with Satan, her black cat familiar.
The show became so popular that it was later pitched as a television series, but the idea died on the vine. Cole also managed to publish two issues of the pulp magazine THE WITCH'S TALES (November, December 1936) before it petered out for an unknown reason, likely poor distribution or too much for Cole to handle with his busy weekly schedule.
In 1998, Dunwich/Bookhunter Press, NY published the paperback THE WITCH'S TALE by Alonzo Deen Cole. Edited by David S. Siegel, it contained a bio of Cole and a history of the radio show. Included are many transcribed radio scripts for the show that anyone interested in THE WITCH'S TALE or old time radio in general will find interesting. The Dunwich publication is out of print, but Bear Manor Media re-issued it in 2011 and is still in print from them.
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| The Witch's Tale by Alonzo Deen Cole, Dunwich Press 1st edition, 1998. |
Now, back in the 1990's until the early 2000's I got involved in independent, small-press publishing. I had also immersed myself in the works of H.P. Lovecraft and his circle of writers. As soon as I was able to prove that I was a descendant of Wilbur Whately, I was accepted as a member of Lovecraft scholar S.T. Joshi's amateur press association, THE ESOTERIC ORDER OF DAGON. During this same period, I produced several publications, beginning with BLACK LOTUS: THE MAGAZINE OF THE BEAUTIFUL AND STRANGE, inspired by another topic I was absorbed in, the 1890's fin de siècle Symbolist and Decadence literary and arts movement. Following that was the digest-sized LOVECRAFT'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE, inspired by the series of anthology digests edited by Robert A.W. Lowndes (MAGAZINE OF HORROR, STARTLING MYSTERY STORIES, et al) and titled after -- believe it or not -- ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE. You can read the full story of these and the other magazines I published HERE as well as purchase a number of back issues that I recently discovered stored away.
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| Black Lotus cover by Donald Schank - Lovecraft's Weird Mysteries cover by Allen Koszowski |
With issue #4 LOVECRAFT'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE was renamed LOVECRAFT'S WEIRD MYSTERIES. A feature in issue #6 was an article I wrote about THE WITCH'S TALE radio program, reprinted below.
Lovecraft’s Weird Mysteries
Vol. 1 No. 6
2003 (No month)
Pentagram Publications/L’Image Studios
Editor and Publisher: John Navroth
Cover: Allen Koszowski
Pages: 48
Cover price: $5.00
© 2003 by John Navroth
NOTE: The following text has been edited from the published copy.
Terror on the Air: The Witch's Tale
The golden age of radio was glorious indeed. Virtually any night of the week during the 1930's listeners could tune in to their favorite radio station and let their imaginations run wild, and, for a short while, forget Depression woes and the fear and anxiety of world war. One simply could not want from scores of subjects, as radio "theater plays" contained everything from drama, to adventure, to comedy, and, of course, mystery.
Listeners wanting their dose of spooky chills and thrills during those years were not disappointed with the likes of The Shadow, I Love A Mystery, Lights Out, The Hermit's Cave, The Mysterious Traveler-- and perhaps the most popular and longest running radio mystery -- Suspense, which featured some of the day's most noted actors and actresses.
However, those curious and hearty souls wishing for their mystery to be spiced up with the supernatural found the Golden Age airwaves lacking in what we know of today as horror. Sure, there were plenty of shows that contained a fair amount of creepy atmosphere and creaking floorboards, but the payoff was much like the weird menace pulps of the day -- there was usually an earthbound explanation for the so-called supernatural hauntings and spooks that had terrified audiences during the broadcast, and it was usually chalked up as a plain old murder mystery in the end.
But, on the night of May 28, 1931, at 10:15 EST, when radio station WOR of New York broadcast the first program of The Witch's Tale, radio mystery/horror programs, and horror in the media for that matter, would never be the same again.
The Witch's Tale was the brainchild of Alonzo Deen Cole. Deen Cole, as he was known by his friends, was born in St. Paul, Minnesota on February 22, 1897. His writing career began at the age of 11 (!) when he won first prize in a statewide competition at the 1908 Minnesota State Fair. When in High School Cole wrote, directed, and starred in several theatrical productions. At 16, he pursued an interest in drawing by enrolling at the Minnesota Academy of Arts. However, acting seemed to burn stronger in his blood and he gave up his career in art to continue his talent in acting, appearing in a number of stage plays until World War I, when he enlisted as a medic. After the war, he acted with other men in uniform in the Army's Entertainment Division.
In 1919, he struck out again in civilian life and began a career in the burgeoning radio industry. He appeared in a show called The Honeymooners, where he met his first wife, Marie O'Flynn. They appeared together in a radio serial, Darling and Deane, heard over New York's station WOR. During this period it seems he developed his idea for The Witch's Tale, for not long after Darling and Deane, The Witch's Tale premiered -- and was met with almost immediate acclaim by the tabloid press and local critics.
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| Alonzo Deen Cole, the first Nancy Adelaide Fitz-Allen, and Cole's wife, actress Marie O'Flynn, |
Cole conceived, wrote, directed, and starred in every one of The Witch's' Tale's 332 live broadcasts (from 05/28/31 to 06/13/38). His wife, O'Flynn, and two other actors, Mark Smith and Alan Devitt completed the spartan cast. Each program was introduced by Old Nancy, The Witch of Salem, accompanied by her black cat, Satan. Nancy was originally played by 75-year-old Adelaide Fitz-Allen. When she died four years later, the role was won by 13-year-old Miriam Wolff, who had already had some radio experience playing witches on CBS's Let's. Pretend.
The programs ran thirty minutes in length, but an occasional two or three-parter would be produced. Most of the stories were originals of Cole's, but several classic authors were adapted by him for the shows, including Alexander Dumas, Theophile Gautier, Honor de Balzac, and Ambrose Bierce.
Anything could be found on The Witch's Tale, including werewolves, vampires, mad scientists, and other "mad beasts". These monsters, however, were not explained away as normal phenomena at the end of the show. These monsters were real monsters, which probably accounted for the wide listening audience, which grew with every episode.
The prolific Cole even wrote for other radio shows, including his tale, "The Gibbering Things" on The Shadow, one of the creepiest stories ever to be heard on Lamont Cranston's program. Cole also wrote for Weird Tales magazine (see back cover), and even came up with his own pulp magazine, entitled -- you guessed it! -- The Witch’s Tales subtitled "Weird, Dramatic and Supernatural Stories" (see inside back cover). Unfortunately, it only ran for two issues, which demand high collector's prices today.
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| LP of recordings from the original magnetic tapes/ Radiola, 1974. |
The Witch's Tale was unique in the radio industry and was a great influence on later mystery programs, especially with the use of various mysterious sounding voice-overs from radio hosts to set the mood for each program's story to come. One can even speculate that it was Old Nancy, The Witch of Salem, who was the inspiration for The Old Witch, The Crypt-Keeper, and The Vault-Keeper, who introduced tales in William Gaines' EC line of horror comic books in the 1950's. Who would have known that a tough-sold radio program way back in 1931, conceived by a one-man show by the name of Alonzo Deen Cole, would be the benchmark of many horrors to come?
NOTE: Thanks to David S. Siegel, editor of "The Witch's Tale" (Necronomicon Press) for permission to reprint copyrighted material, including script excerpts and biographical information.
Script excerpt from "Mrs. Hawker's Will"
Air Date: Thursday, June 20, 1935
(Musical theme. . .)
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| Alonzo Deen Cole reads one of his hundreds of radio scripts on the air. |
ANNOUNCER: Since the first long distant dawn of thought, man has peopled the night with terrors. Of the thousand shapes of fear his frightened eyes have seen in shadows, old Nancy and her black cat, Satan, have a thousand tales to tell. And they should know whereof they speak, for they -- so the credulous believe -- are themselves allied with the Powers of Darkness. If you are not afraid of ghostly things, come now to that ramshackle little house in ancient Salem where this strange pair reside, and hear with us another haunting mystery of the uncanny and weird.
(Music swells. . .wind whistles. . . Old Nancy and Satan give their introduction)
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| 13-year-old Miriam Wolff, the second "Old" Nancy. |
RYAN: I never expected a ghost--ghosts don't leave their hair behind.
RODNEY: I think that hair, and us waitin' here, is all bunk. Nothin' was in that room last night but poor Aunt Maggie--and nothin' could get in there now with us guardin' the only door--(Suddenly cries.) Ah--the crack of light's gone out!
RYAN: You keep back--I'm goin' in!
BABS: (From inside...screams in terror.)
RYAN: (As he crashes against the door, which slams open.) I'm comin', Miss Turner!
RODNEY: (Cries in terror.) Look--by the bed!!
RYAN: Good Lord!
RODNEY: It's covered with hair!!
RYAN: A hairy monster!!
BABS: (Frantic)Don't let it touch me again--don't let it--!!
RYAN: I won't!
(Two shots)
RODNEY: Shoot again! (Screams)Now it's comin' toward us!!!
RYAN: (As he empties his gun) I hit it--I hit it each time, but it doesn't drop!!
BABS: Bullets won't kill it--it's something unnatural--awful--dead!!!
The Witch's Tale - "Graveyard Mansion" (Airdate: March 6, 1938)
The Shadow - "The Gibbering Things" (Airdate: September 26, 1943)
