[00:00:16] Speaker A: The mysterious Old Radio Listening Society podcast.
Now welcome to the mysterious old Radio Listening Society, a podcast dedicated to suspense, crime and horror stories from the golden age of Radio. I'm Eric.
[00:00:36] Speaker B: I'm Tim.
[00:00:36] Speaker C: And I'm Joshua.
[00:00:37] Speaker D: We love mysterious old time radio stories, but do they stand the test of time? That's what we're here to find out.
[00:00:43] Speaker C: Today we present an episode of my choosing. August Heat from suspense.
[00:00:50] Speaker A: Radio's outstanding theater of thrills debuted on CB's in 1942 and ran for an astounding 20 years. During that time, Suspense featured a cavalcade of stars, including today's leading man, Ronald Coleman.
[00:01:04] Speaker D: Coleman, known for his suave demeanor and resonant voice, achieved fame in the 1930s as the star of such celebrated films as Lost Horizon and a Tale of two cities. His portrayal of Anthony Tony John in a double Life earned him an Academy Award in 1947. During the war, Coleman transitioned to radio, where he became a familiar voice in programs like the Halls of Ivy, the Jack Benny Program and favorite story.
[00:01:26] Speaker C: August Heat is based on a 1910 short story by WF Harvey, an english writer known for his supernatural fiction. Today, Harvey is primarily remembered for his 1919 story the Beast with five fingers. Widely regarded as the prototypical disembodied hand story, the Beast with five fingers gained notoriety in 1946 as the basis of the Robert Florey film starring Peter Lorre.
[00:01:55] Speaker A: The suspense adaptation of August Heat directly quotes the prophet by lebanese american writer Khalil Gibran. The book consists of 26 philosophical fables delivered by the titular prophet, who shares his wisdom on various aspects of life, including love, marriage, freedom and death. Since its publication in 1923, the prophet has sold millions of copies worldwide.
[00:02:19] Speaker D: In 1948, CB's extended the runtime of suspense from 30 minutes to an hour. As part of this experiment, suspense presented a second production of August Heat, paired with an adaptation of John Collier's Dark the Comic. Wet Saturday, Barry Kroger stepped in for Ronald Coleman, along with Dennis Hoey, who returned to reprise the role of Charles Atkinson.
[00:02:38] Speaker C: Today we will listen to the original production starring Ronald Coleman, first broadcast May 31, 1945.
[00:02:46] Speaker A: It's late at night and a chill has set in. You're alone and the only light you see is coming from an antique radio. Listen to the sounds coming from the speaker. Listen to the music and listen to the voices.
[00:03:02] Speaker E: Now the Roma Wine Company of Fresno, California, presents.
[00:03:13] Speaker F: Suspense.
Tonight, Roma Wines bring you the distinguished actor Mister Ronald Coleman in one of the great suspense stories of our time, August Heat.
[00:03:31] Speaker E: Suspense is presented for your enjoyment by Roma Wines. That's r O M A Roma wines those excellent California wines that can add so much pleasantness to the way you live, to your happiness and entertaining guests, to your enjoyment of everyday meals. Before we bring you Ronald Coleman and our suspense play, here's a brief message from Elsa Maxwell, famed for her great charm as a hostess.
[00:03:59] Speaker G: When food looks appetizing, it almost always lives up to expectations. When even so simple, a main dish as a steaming, fragrant bowl of spaghetti or beansenheid is surrounded by bright green salads, golden rolls or muffins, and brilliant Roma California burgundy. The food is more enjoyable, more delightful.
[00:04:19] Speaker E: And for a summery touch of the outdoors, a vase of flowers, perfect color, complement to the deep, rich beauty of Roma burgundy. You'll enjoy the fruity, robust taste, the tart piquancy of distinguished Roma burgundy served cool, truly a masterpiece of fine winemaking. Like all Roma wines, Roma burgundy is unvaryingly good, always high in quality of bouquet, color and taste. The happy reward of selected grapes brought slowly to perfection, gently pressed, then carefully guided to flavor fullness by the ancient skill of Roma's noted wineries in California's choicest vineyards. Yet all this goodness is yours for only pennies a glass. Remember, more Americans enjoy Roma than any other wine. R O M A. Roma wines.
Yes, right now a glass full would be very pleasant, as Roma wines bring you a remarkable tale of suspense.
[00:05:24] Speaker F: And with August Heat, wF Harvey's matchless narrative of premonition and the brooding terror of twilight and the unseen, and with the performance of Ronald Coleman, Roma wines hope indeed to keep you in suspense.
[00:06:02] Speaker B: Penniston Road, Clapham, August 20, 1945.
I have had what I believe to be the most remarkable day in my life, and while the events are still fresh in my mind, I wish to put them down on paper as clearly as possible.
Let me say at the outset that my name is James Clarence Wythencroft. You must remember that in order to have the full implication of my story.
James Clarence Wythencroft I am 40 years old, in perfect health, never having known a day's illness. By profession I am an artist, not a very successful one, but I earn enough money by my black and white work to satisfy my necessary wants. My only near relative, a sister, died five years ago.
So that there is no one in particular to whom I address this manuscript, only you, who might by chance read it someday. For because of the peculiar circumstance about which you will soon hear, I have the strong premonition that I shall never live to tell anyone about it.
I breakfasted this morning at nine at the usual time. It was no different from any other morning. And after glancing through the morning paper, I lighted my pipe. And I proceeded to let my mind wander in the hope that I might chance upon some subject for my pencil.
The room, though door and window were open, was oppressively hot.
And I just made up my mind that the coolest and most comfortable place in the neighborhood would be the deep end of the public swimming bath. When.
When I was suddenly shaken, a feeling swept over me such as I'd never experienced before.
I attempted to rise to my feet, but somehow it seemed as though I had suddenly been fastened to my chair. My hand went out in the nipper to brace myself.
And then, before I knew what I was doing, my pencil was in my hand and I began to draw.
It was as though someone had taken my hand and was moving it across the paper swiftly in bold strokes.
And then I seemed to take over.
My hand, under its own power, began to draw.
I soon forgot the oppressive heat.
Everything was forgotten in this frantic feeling that the sketch must be finished as soon as possible.
I had no idea how long I worked until I heard the clock of St. Jude's in the distance.
It was 04:00 and I had started just after breakfast.
Now, for the first time since I've begun, I actually seemed to see what I had been sketching.
I was surprised. The final result was, I felt sure, the best thing I'd ever done.
It showed a criminal in the dock immediately after the judge had pronounced sentence.
The man was fat, enormously fat. The flesh hung in rolls about his chin. It creased his huge, stumpy neck.
He was clean shaven, or perhaps I should say a few days before. He must have been clean shaven, and he was almost bald.
He stood there before the judge, his short, clumsy fingers clasping the rail, looking straight in front of him.
The feeling that his expression conveyed was not so much one of horror as of utter, absolute collapse.
There seemed nothing in the man strong enough to sustain that mountain of flesh.
And then.
And then I saw that the sketch wasn't complete, for the man's other hand seemed to be clutching an instrument of some kind, a weapon. But it hadn't been completed.
I had made this sketch, and yet I had no recollection of what I'd intended the man to carry in his other hand.
I took up my pencil again and I attempted to fill in the fuzzy outline, but. But it was useless.
It was as though my fingers had suddenly turned to lead.
I sat down and I felt the moisture slowly forming on my forehead.
And once again, I was conscious of the oppressive heat.
Then I knew that there would be no finishing of the sketch, at any rate, not for the moment. So I rolled it up, and without quite knowing why, I put it in my pocket.
In spite of my peculiar inspiration, I was filled with a rare sense of happiness, which the knowledge of a good thing well done gives.
I believe that I set out with the idea of calling upon Trenton, for I remember walking along Lytton street and turning to the right along Gilchrist Road at the bottom of the hill, where the men are at work on the new tram line.
From there onwards, I have only the vaguest recollection of where I went through parks, along crowded streets, always conscious of the awful heat that came up from the dusty asphalt pavement in a suffocating wave.
And I remember, too, the hollow sound of my footsteps as I moved along.
Although walking aimlessly, I somehow knew that there was a goal, a something to which I was drawn.
I longed for the thunder promised by the great banks of copper colored clouds that hung low over the western sky.
I've really no idea how far I walked when a small boy roused me from my abstraction.
[00:12:42] Speaker E: You got the time, mister?
[00:12:45] Speaker B: 20 minutes to seven.
[00:12:47] Speaker G: Thanks.
[00:12:47] Speaker B: Art enough for you, sir?
Yes.
When he left me, I began to take stock of my bearings.
I found myself standing before a gate that led into a yard bordered by a strip of thirsty earth.
There were flowers, purple stock and scarlet geranium, and great numbers of bees droned over them.
I stood looking down at them for a moment, and then, for some reason, I looked up over the entrance to the place. There was a board with the inscription, Charles Atkinson, monumental mason worker in english and italian marbles.
From the yard itself came a cheery whistle, the noise of hammer blows and the cold sound of steel meeting stone.
A sudden impulse made me enter, and I went in in the direction of the noise.
There was a man sitting with his back towards me. He's busy at work on a slab of curiously paint marble.
Then, without turning, his hammer stopped in mid air as he was about to bring it down on his chisel.
He held this position a moment before turning, but I knew that he was aware of my presence. And when he turned, I saw his face.
It was, although I'd never seen him before.
It was the face of the man I had been drawing.
Yes, it was the face of the man whose sketch was in my pocket.
He sat there on his low stool, huge and elephantine, the sweat pouring from his scalp, not speaking.
Then he took a red silk handkerchief, and he mopped his brow.
Although this face that looked up at me was the same as my sketch. The expression was absolutely different. Suddenly the puzzled expression left his face. And he smiled as if we were old friends. And he walked over and he took my hand.
[00:15:04] Speaker H: Good day, sir.
[00:15:05] Speaker B: Good day. I am sorry to intrude.
[00:15:08] Speaker H: Not at all.
[00:15:09] Speaker B: Everything is so hot and glary outside this. This is like an oasis in the wilderness.
[00:15:15] Speaker H: I don't know about an oasis, but it certainly is hot.
[00:15:19] Speaker B: Whew.
[00:15:20] Speaker H: Take a seat, sir.
[00:15:21] Speaker B: He pointed to the end of a gravestone on which he was at work, and I sat down.
[00:15:26] Speaker H: Very hot.
[00:15:28] Speaker B: That's a beautiful piece of stone you've got hold of.
[00:15:30] Speaker H: I know where it is. The surface here is as fine as anything you could wish. But there's a big floor at the back, though I don't expect you'd notice it.
[00:15:40] Speaker B: No, I shouldn't think so.
[00:15:42] Speaker H: I could never really do a good job in a bit of marble like that. It would be all right in the summer like this. Wouldn't mind the blasted heat.
Wait until the winter comes.
[00:15:54] Speaker B: Winter?
[00:15:55] Speaker H: There's nothing quite like frost to find out the weak points in stone. Oh, a gravestone, you see.
[00:16:01] Speaker B: Oh, I see. Then what's this one for?
[00:16:05] Speaker H: You'd hardly believe if I was to tell you, but it's for exhibition.
It's the truth.
Artists have exhibitions. So do grocers and butchers. Oh, we have them too. All the latest little things in headstones, you know.
[00:16:23] Speaker B: He went on to talk of marbles. Which sort of marble best withstood wind and rain. And which were easiest to work.
Then of his garden. And some new sort of carnation he had bought.
At the end of every other minute, he would drop his tools, wipe his shining head.
[00:16:40] Speaker A: Whew.
[00:16:41] Speaker B: This heat.
[00:16:42] Speaker H: This heat's bad.
A man's not responsible for what he does. This heat.
[00:16:49] Speaker B: I said little, for I felt uneasy. There was something unnatural, uncanny in all of this. The feeling that I'd experienced it all before.
The oppressive heat, the fragrance of the stucks in the air, the conversation about the marble, the flowers, everything as though I had experienced it before.
And yet I knew that I'd never, never, ever been in this section of town before.
I tried to persuade myself that at least I'd seen him before.
That his face, unknown to me, had found a place in some out of the way corner of my memory.
But I knew that I was practicing little more than a plausible piece of self deception.
As I sat there quietly watching him, he looked up at me and he.
[00:17:35] Speaker H: Said, there what do you think of that?
[00:17:39] Speaker B: He said it with an air of evident pride, of the job well done.
I could sense that he was experiencing the same feeling I had experienced when I'd finished my sketch. Then he got up with a sigh of relief.
[00:17:55] Speaker H: Hot. Hot, ain't it?
[00:17:58] Speaker B: I was seated in such a position that I was unable to see his work. And for some reason, I didn't move.
Suddenly he began to read what he'd carved on the tombstone.
He spoke deliberately and with a flat voice.
[00:18:14] Speaker H: In the midst of life, we are in death.
Born January 18, 1905.
[00:18:24] Speaker B: I looked up at the start.
This man had readdez my exact birthday.
[00:18:35] Speaker H: He passed away very suddenly on August 20, 1945.
[00:18:45] Speaker B: That's today.
[00:18:46] Speaker H: We usually use the present aid on these exhibition stoves.
[00:18:51] Speaker B: Do you.
Do you usually put a name on them too?
[00:18:59] Speaker H: Yes. Yes.
Sacred to the memory of James Clarence Wythencroft.
[00:19:22] Speaker B: Cold shudder swept over me, and I sat there in silence.
The sound of birds and crickets seemed loud in my ears as we stood there looking at each other, saying nothing.
And then he mopped his brow again.
[00:19:41] Speaker H: Hot.
Hot.
[00:19:44] Speaker B: I was finally able to speak.
[00:19:46] Speaker E: Where.
[00:19:47] Speaker B: Where did you see that name? Hmm?
[00:19:50] Speaker H: I didn't see it anywhere. I wanted some name, and I put down the first that came into my head.
[00:19:57] Speaker B: It's a strange coincidence, but it happens to be mine.
[00:20:01] Speaker A: Huh?
[00:20:03] Speaker H: That's your name.
You're James Clarence Wythencroft?
[00:20:10] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:20:12] Speaker H: Well, and the dates?
[00:20:21] Speaker B: I can only answer for the birth date.
It's correct.
[00:20:29] Speaker H: That's a rum girl.
[00:20:35] Speaker B: I made a sketch this morning of you.
[00:20:40] Speaker H: Of me?
But you've never seen me before.
[00:20:45] Speaker B: No.
I took my sketch from my pocket, and I showed it to him.
As he looked, the expression on his face altered until it became more and more like that of the man I had drawn.
[00:21:03] Speaker H: And it was only the other day before that I told Maria there were no such things as ghosts.
[00:21:11] Speaker B: Neither of us had seen a ghost, but I knew what he meant. Then I spoke to him. You.
You probably heard my name someplace.
[00:21:20] Speaker H: Yes.
You must have seen me somewhere and forgotten it.
[00:21:23] Speaker B: Yes. Yes.
[00:21:24] Speaker H: Were you at Clacton on sea last July?
[00:21:29] Speaker B: No.
No, I've never been to Clacton in my life.
Then we were silent for some time again, and we stood there looking at one another.
And at the two dates on the gravestone under both. One was right, and the other was today.
[00:21:52] Speaker H: Well, come inside and have some supper.
[00:22:13] Speaker B: His wife was a strange little woman who was pallid with the look of those who live their lives indoors.
Her husband introduced me as a friend of his who was an artist. And he informed her that I was staying to supper.
I spoke, making some comment that I hoped I wouldn't be an intrusion. And she looked up at me, and she said, you have a pleasing voice, Mister Wythencroft. And you're welcome in my home. I'm sorry Charles has not brought you here before.
Very little was said during the meal. And after the sardines and watercress had been removed, she walked over to her cupboard, and she took down a thin, black book. And as she handed it to me, she spoke.
[00:23:04] Speaker G: Would you read aloud, Mister Widdlehamcroft?
[00:23:08] Speaker B: Puzzled, I. I looked down at the book which she'd opened and placed before me. It was a very tiny book. The prophet, it was called by an author unknown to me, with a strange eastern name. Khalil Gibran.
And my eyes fell across the page. And suddenly I was reading aloud as she'd asked me to.
Then Almitra spoke, saying, we would ask now of death.
And he said, you would know the secret of death, but how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?
The owl, whose night bound eyes are blind unto the day, cannot unveil the mystery of light.
If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life.
For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.
In the depth of your hopes and desires. Lies your silent knowledge of the beyond.
And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow, your heart dreams of spring.
Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.
Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd. When he stands by before the king. Whose hand is to be laid upon him in honor?
Is the shepherd not joyful beneath his trembling.
That he shall wear the mark of the king?
Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling?
For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from. From its restless tides.
That it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?
Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.
When I looked up, Mister Atkinson had gone, but his wife stood before me. And as she took the book, she spoke.
[00:25:47] Speaker G: Thank you.
[00:25:49] Speaker B: Then I went outside.
When I found Atkinson sitting on the gravestone and smoking, he looked up at me.
[00:25:58] Speaker H: Hot, hot man's not responsible for what he might do in this heat.
She never asked anyone to read aloud before.
[00:26:16] Speaker B: And then we talked about the sketch again. He looked at it.
[00:26:20] Speaker H: Likeness is me all right on trial.
[00:26:25] Speaker B: You must excuse my asking, but do you know of anything you've done for which you could be put on trial?
[00:26:33] Speaker H: No, I've done nothing.
Not yet.
[00:26:38] Speaker B: He got up, fetched a can from the porch, and he began to water the flowers.
[00:26:44] Speaker H: Twice a day, regular in the hot weather. And then the heat sometimes gets the better. The delicate ones.
[00:26:49] Speaker B: And first.
[00:26:50] Speaker H: Good Lord, they could never stand it. Where do you live?
[00:26:54] Speaker B: I told him my address. We'd take an hour's quick walk to get back home. And he stopped watering and he faced me squarely.
[00:27:03] Speaker H: It's like this. We look at the matter straight. If you both go back home tonight, you take your chance of accidents. A cart may run over here. It's always banana skins and orange peels, to say nothing of falling ladders.
[00:27:18] Speaker B: He spoke of the improbable with an intense seriousness that would have been laughable 6 hours before.
But I did not laugh.
[00:27:26] Speaker H: The best thing we can do is for you to stay here till 12:00.
Then it'll be tomorrow, d'ye see?
[00:27:33] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:27:35] Speaker H: We'll go upstairs for the smoke.
Maybe cooler inside.
[00:27:41] Speaker B: And to my surprise, I agreed.
We are sitting in a long, low room beneath the eaves.
Atkinson has sent his wife to bed.
He himself is. Is busy sharpening some tools at a little oil stone, smoking one of my cigars the while.
And as I look at my sketch before me, I suddenly see the fuzzy outline of what the man in the picture holds in his hands.
While I had not been able to sketch it before, I am able to do so now.
It is a chisel and it is stained with dark liquid.
The sketch is completed now.
The air seems charged with thunder, and I hear it in the distance.
It is ominous, but.
But it carries the hope of rain.
And perhaps this damnable heat will be broken soon.
And the day will soon be over.
It is close to twelve.
I am writing this at a shaky table before the open window.
The leg is cracked and Atkinson, who seems a handy man with his tools, is going to mend it as soon as he has finished putting an edge on his chisel.
There it is, twelve.
The day is over and I shall be going home.
But the heat.
The heat is stifling.
This heat is enough to send a man madden.
[00:30:38] Speaker F: And so closes August heat in which Roma wines have brought you Ronald Coleman as star of tonight's study. In suspense suspense is produced, edited and directed by William Speer. Music for August Heat was composed by Lucien Morrowick and conducted by Lud Gluskin. Dennis Hoy appeared as Atkinson.
[00:30:57] Speaker E: This is Truman Bradley with a word for Roma wines. The sponsor of suspense, America's famed authority on hospitality, Elsa Maxwell, recently made this suggestion for gracious entertainment.
[00:31:09] Speaker G: Your friends will respect your good taste when you serve delightful Roma California toque. Enjoyable at any time with coffee or dessert with nuts and fruit. I suggest serving Roma toque cool.
[00:31:22] Speaker E: A most timely suggestion from Miss Maxwell. You'll find flame bright Roma toque velvety smooth, moderately sweet, light, yet delightfully rich in color. And you'll find Roma wines always delicious, of unvarying fine quality and goodness. June is the month of weddings, and the most distinguished way to paint the June bride is by serving Roma California champagne. Its golden sparkle and delicious, delightful dryness. Tell you that here is a truly fine champagne. Roma champagne. Next time you plan for a special occasion, add this sparkling touch of perfection. Good Roma champagne.
[00:32:03] Speaker F: Next Thursday, you will hear John Payne and Frank McHugh as stars of suspense.
[00:32:11] Speaker E: Presented by Roma wines, Roma made in California for enjoyment throughout the world. This is CB's, the Columbia Broadcasting System.
[00:32:28] Speaker A: That was August heat from suspense, here on the mysterious old radio listening society podcast. Once again, I'm Eric.
[00:32:36] Speaker D: I'm Tim.
[00:32:36] Speaker C: And I'm Joshua Hoey.
[00:32:39] Speaker A: So, uh, is that his name?
[00:32:43] Speaker C: Sure. We were debating how to pronounce Dennis Hoey's name, even though it's in the recording.
[00:32:48] Speaker D: Please.
[00:32:48] Speaker C: We didn't bother to pay any attention to it.
[00:32:50] Speaker D: I'm sure it was a Dennis.
[00:32:52] Speaker A: So we kept it out of the intro, and now I just brought it out.
[00:32:56] Speaker D: That's all we're talking about.
[00:32:57] Speaker A: Yeah. Hoey, hoey, Hoeye. So, Joshua, you brought this, right? And why did you bring this to the podcast?
[00:33:06] Speaker C: Well, a month or so ago, as you gentlemen may or may not recall, depending on your age, we listened to the old nurse's tale from the weird circle, and we firmly established that Eric does not like victorian ghost stories.
[00:33:23] Speaker A: Right.
[00:33:23] Speaker C: And so I set about looking for a victorian ghost story that I thought Eric would like, and I failed.
[00:33:33] Speaker A: Why do you think you failed?
[00:33:35] Speaker C: No. Cause this is not a victorian ghost story.
[00:33:37] Speaker H: Oh.
[00:33:38] Speaker C: But it has many things in common, I think, with victorian ghost stories, but I think also has things that in it that Eric may admire.
[00:33:52] Speaker E: Hmm.
[00:33:53] Speaker C: It has a little more suspense, perhaps, than a traditional victorian ghost story, particularly in the first half. But once it crosses that halfway mark, we get into a story that runs on the dread of inevitability, which is something that a lot of victorian ghost stories rely on. And there are no ghosts. But even inside the narrative, Mister Atkinson at one point says, oh, I thought I didn't believe in ghosts. And they both acknowledge, well, this not a ghost story. This has nothing to do with the ghost story, but it has that feel.
[00:34:27] Speaker A: Right?
[00:34:28] Speaker C: So that's why I brought it as this last ditch attempt to try to see if Eric can find some appreciation for that quality in a story. That slower pace, that sense of building.
[00:34:44] Speaker D: Dread, like you've just established right now.
[00:34:48] Speaker C: Yes.
Will Eric or won't he like it? But that's suspense.
You're saying it's dread because you know he didn't like it.
That's the inevitable conclusion.
[00:35:02] Speaker A: Do you think I liked it or not?
[00:35:04] Speaker D: I just wanted to say, okay.
[00:35:07] Speaker A: Cause I was like, get out of my head if you know. Cause I'm an over here with a straight face trying to not give any details.
I really disliked it.
I'm so sorry. It was slow and waiting for the guy to die. But you said some things just now that made me go, oh, yeah, yeah, that's true. We were waiting for the inevitable. Did have that.
The lack of reaction, the lack of humanity in the. Not only the script, but in the. The actor's choices and the. The performance of it.
It's so very stoic.
[00:35:50] Speaker C: It's very british.
[00:35:51] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:35:51] Speaker D: I will address that. This is slightly different than me giving my opinion, but. And it's not to argue with you, but I think part of that is the point of these are people who are in a situation that is so alien and weird, there is no right way to react for them.
[00:36:08] Speaker A: Yeah, I just want, you know. Are you effing kidding me? Like some kind of human to show up and react. Huh? Well, let's go inside and have dinner, then we're gonna smoke for a while, and then you're gonna finish your drawing and I'm gonna sharpen my chisel in front of you and like, look, or.
[00:36:28] Speaker D: I could shoot that guy and I'd be fine.
[00:36:30] Speaker A: Or go as far away from that man as possible. There's a.
[00:36:36] Speaker C: You think in the real world, if you happened across this really strange coincidence, okay. That you would just freak out and run.
[00:36:45] Speaker A: Yeah, I know me very well.
I know me really well. Ah, I would say, well, look, dude, that's really weird. First of all, I wouldn't believe him. That he just picked an elaborate prank.
[00:37:01] Speaker D: That he got together with your wife, and like, this is gonna be hilarious.
[00:37:05] Speaker A: Or an elaborate way to kill me. And he does know me. Or either way, I'm getting out of there. Cuz if it's an elaborate prank, I'm mad because I hate pranks. There's. That's mean. Pranks are meand. You know, the worst one is that one where they scratch off the lottery ticket and for ten minutes they think they won the lottery and it's a fake lottery ticket. You people should all be damned to hell for that prank. I hate that prank. You don't know what I'm talking about.
[00:37:30] Speaker D: No, that's.
[00:37:31] Speaker A: Oh, fake lottery tickets. You can buy them and then you watch friends scratch them off and it says you won all the money, and then they film it and they put it on YouTube and people think it's hilarious. Anyway. Makes me really mad.
[00:37:41] Speaker C: Yeah. There's a special place in hell.
[00:37:43] Speaker A: Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for agreeing with the look on your two faces. That actually happens. Human beings do this. Oh, it happens. It's a big thing. It's a thing people do and they think it's hilarious. Anyway, point being is that if I.
[00:37:55] Speaker C: Just punch my friend in the balls on their birthday and film it, it's a lot easier. I don't have to buy a fake card.
[00:38:03] Speaker A: Listen, I have this idea for a TikTok thing about us punching each other on the balls that I think is gonna go well. But any way I look at that scenario, staying there doesn't make any sense. But back to the actual production itself, this story that we just listened to, other than plot holes and human reaction.
[00:38:25] Speaker C: I guess most people do not react like you react.
[00:38:29] Speaker A: They would just sit there, go, you play dead.
[00:38:31] Speaker C: Someone you don't know walks into the room like, you're like, scale. Like, this is weird.
[00:38:37] Speaker A: If a guy walked in this room with my tombstone, I put that back.
[00:38:41] Speaker C: I'm gonna need that.
[00:38:45] Speaker A: I think that also, it was just very slow and it was suspense. So what am I waiting for?
The twist. And there is no twist to this. We know that he's going to eventually draw the chisel in his hand. We know that he's going to kill him with the chisel. He tells us people do crazy things when it's hot. Well, you're going to do a crazy thing and kill him. We're just waiting for it to happen. I prayed up until the end that suspense was gonna save this for me, and then it didn't. That's what happened. And then I went, well, I mean.
[00:39:17] Speaker D: The twist that they don't actually give you is that midnight strikes and it's like, wow, that was weird. Well, it was nice to meet you.
[00:39:24] Speaker A: Bye.
[00:39:25] Speaker C: I think that's a legitimate interpretation of this. Or the other question I think is interesting about this story is was this all a coincidence that's still going to result in Atkinson murdering this guy? Because it's the actual coincidence.
[00:39:43] Speaker D: Oh, that convinced him. Like, I guess I gotta kill him.
[00:39:46] Speaker C: Yeah. Cause the heat was getting to this guy Atkinson, and it's sort of a self fulfilling coincidence. Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?
[00:39:54] Speaker A: This Chegg.
[00:40:01] Speaker D: That's good name for a dog chag.
[00:40:05] Speaker A: He does kill him at the end of this.
[00:40:07] Speaker C: No, it cuts away.
[00:40:08] Speaker D: It strongly implies it's going to happen. But you don't. You don't.
[00:40:12] Speaker A: The way you guys were just talking made me have that moment of, oh, crap, did I mis listen to this? But I just assumed he kills it.
[00:40:20] Speaker C: No, because he strongly implies he's still narrating. So he's never cut off. He's writing that letter and his letter.
[00:40:26] Speaker A: And when is he writing all this, by the way?
[00:40:28] Speaker D: He is writing it in this guy's.
[00:40:30] Speaker A: House when he's upstairs smoking at the end.
[00:40:33] Speaker D: Or why the guy's next to him or wherever, sharpening his.
[00:40:36] Speaker A: So the whole story is written in that moment.
[00:40:38] Speaker C: That moment.
[00:40:38] Speaker A: Okay, thank you. That actually helps me, which is not.
[00:40:41] Speaker D: A great time to write something down normally, but.
[00:40:43] Speaker A: But then he also finishes the drawing during that time as well.
[00:40:47] Speaker D: So very focused.
[00:40:48] Speaker C: I'm gonna.
I'm gonna share a little about the original short story. This is very, very, very true to the shortest story, but the short story is more ambiguous. Suspense clearly wanted to lead us down the path of supernatural premonition. That ends for sure in murder. Suspense adds things like describing Wittencroft drawing almost as if he is possessed. Like it's automatic writing, almost the way it's described. And in the story, he's just like, and I sat down by the pool and drew a picture, and I really liked it. And he also does not fill in a missing bloody chisel at the end of the story. It's eerie and the coincidence is creepy, and it's definitely ominous. And there's a sense of inevitability. But I think there's more room in the story to go.
Maybe nothing happens.
[00:41:46] Speaker D: That's this older age of stories where the idea of the horror is the ambiguity and unknowableness of what this means. More so than. And I'm gonna die.
[00:41:56] Speaker A: Right?
[00:41:57] Speaker C: And that's what I took away from this suspense version, is that the ambiguity they wanted to insert was, why does Atkinson kill Wittencroft? Is it because he was predestined to? Is it because this coincidence gave him this opportunity in the heat and he was already going a little crazy? Uh, the ambiguity of the original story is, does anything happen at all?
[00:42:23] Speaker D: Let me tell you what my listening experience was. So I started listening, and that gets straight into, I'm an artist who makes enough money to pay my bills. And I was just sitting down for no reason in my life, which I live for no reason, and my hand started drawing for no reason. And I drew this thing for no reason. And I'm loving it because, like, this.
[00:42:45] Speaker C: Is the sort of life you dream of.
[00:42:47] Speaker D: Well, that, and also the kind of story of purely in your head kind of living that. Like, there's nothing going on in the world around this guy. That's a little bit of hyperbole, but. And as I go through it, enjoying it for this weird story, mystery thing of it, I start to hear the voice of suspense in my head saying, you really like this is what you like? You like what we're doing for you here? You're a cheap date.
So, like, by the time I'm halfway through it, I'm really like, I really love this. And I feel really bad about myself for really enjoying it because it's so purely this story. I mean, it really is just, we're characters who for explicitly no reason, are interacting. And I mean, the sculptor at least has, like, I have a job.
I am doing this to go to a convention so I can show this thing up. But for the most part, these are just people who are just floating in narrative space, just doing what the narrative needs them to do.
[00:43:56] Speaker C: Yeah, well, you also have to keep in mind this time period, I think, and the really interesting setting in August and this extreme heat. And I have two points about that. First point is no air conditioning. He's outside just because it's so unbearably hot.
[00:44:12] Speaker A: Right.
[00:44:12] Speaker C: He can't work in his studio. So some of his seeming like he's just lollygagging because of this weather. And then .2 is. I just think it's interesting. I can't think of another supernatural story set during just oppressive heat. It's always fall, it's always dark, it's never burning sun out. And I, that I found really appealing. And that was one thing that I hoped if Eric, like nothing else about it, as a hater of heat and some weather, that he would be like. This is when all horror stories should be set.
Every monster should be sweating. Profusely.
[00:44:52] Speaker A: There's a. That Coen brothers movie, Barton Fink, which deals a lot with heat and makes me very uncomfortable. But I I would say they could have done more to explore the uncomfortability of the heat.
[00:45:06] Speaker C: Is it them just saying I'm hot a lot more?
[00:45:09] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, I'm not sure now that you say that.
[00:45:12] Speaker D: Squishy noises.
[00:45:13] Speaker A: Yeah, okay. No, it's a good point.
[00:45:16] Speaker C: I like minimalism, and I really felt the heat. The guy working outside with a chisel and he's sweating again, just the fact that he's wandering around the streets for no reason, because it's just too hot to go anywhere else or to be indoors at all. And that was very appealing to me. I also think because he's an artist, there's this implication of that he has education and is somehow above believing in superstitious things, given the time periods it's written. I think that's part of why they chose to characterize him as an artist and someone with free time like that.
[00:45:55] Speaker D: I'm not saying what I said to be critical of this story. It's because it is so in my wheelhouse. It is uncomfortably rammed right up in my wheelhouse.
[00:46:05] Speaker A: That was a visual I'll never get out of my head.
[00:46:08] Speaker D: Nor is that, like, to disagree with Eric's opinion, because my enjoyment of this is really personal. This is.
[00:46:16] Speaker A: You said an interesting thing, though, and it speaks volumes about understanding what you like in storytelling. You said these characters are floating in narrative free for all space, like they're unconnected, you know?
[00:46:28] Speaker D: I mean, that's kind of the point of, like, why did I draw this? My hand is moved. Why did I walk here? I just got up and walked.
[00:46:35] Speaker A: It occurs to me that a lot of radio drama that stars Vincent Price, the character is. Get out. Is floating in narrative space.
[00:46:47] Speaker C: Like, right in his wheelhouse.
[00:46:49] Speaker D: It's still sore, man.
[00:46:50] Speaker C: Oh, Mandy.
[00:46:51] Speaker A: Is it true, though, like, that he doesn't really have, like, his characters are undefined in the sense of, what do you do for a living, and where are you?
[00:47:00] Speaker C: He's independently wealthy. Yeah. Educated and artistic.
[00:47:03] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:47:03] Speaker C: That's always been some prices.
[00:47:04] Speaker A: Thank you. So.
[00:47:05] Speaker C: And I think that's the same as this character.
[00:47:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:47:07] Speaker D: Yes. Although, I mean, for Vincent Price, it is. I want to go eat at this restaurant. I want to go.
[00:47:12] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:47:13] Speaker C: Well, you're talking specifically the price of fear.
[00:47:15] Speaker D: Price of fear, yes. Yeah.
[00:47:17] Speaker A: But.
[00:47:17] Speaker C: Which is autobiographical, except for the supernatural.
[00:47:21] Speaker D: Stuff and the cannibalism.
[00:47:22] Speaker C: Right.
[00:47:25] Speaker A: Yeah. What you're saying is that he's just wandering around, he doesn't know why the next thing that was going to happen to him is like all of a sudden my hand wrote stairway to heaven. You know, the devil was pushing my hand. That happens a lot, though, with Vincent Price characters, too, in the sense of they seem floaty. Anyway, my point is glass, but you love Vincent Price. I see why you love this. It's got that same feeling.
[00:47:51] Speaker C: Ronald Coleman has a little of that Vincent Price voice.
It's driving Aaron crazy.
[00:47:57] Speaker A: No, I just, I've said it before. If I know what the end is and I know for the entire time and it ends up that that is what the end is, and I have to slowly get there and nothing else happens along the way, I, I'm not interested. It, it's not. But you guys love brechtian. You know, the ending. It's the journey of how well you tell the story, even though we all know we're getting there. You guys love that. Me, not so much.
[00:48:24] Speaker D: The emotion is the horror of inedible that I can't get out of this lane.
[00:48:29] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:48:30] Speaker C: And what I appreciate about it is that it is that sensation of inevitability.
Like you said, Tim, you can't escape. But then also at the last minute, they don't really give you that satisfaction. It doesn't end up being the cathartic moment.
[00:48:47] Speaker D: Are you nation going to make this guy kill him?
[00:48:50] Speaker C: And I also really like this strangely cozy domestic scene that is painted at the end that you can interpret either way. Oh, he's sharpening this chisel. He's about to stab this guy to death. Or it's a stranger who's offering this kindness to somebody who might be freaked out by this coincidence. Just stay until midnight and then no one has to worry about this.
[00:49:15] Speaker D: Let me change the name on the grave. Would that make you feel.
[00:49:18] Speaker C: Yes, but there's together in his workshop and he's writing a letter and he's working and just change the angle slightly.
[00:49:25] Speaker D: And it's a, that's a blaspheming throuple.
[00:49:29] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:49:32] Speaker D: I'm sure that was the subtext they were going for.
[00:49:36] Speaker C: So the prophet is an interesting insertion here. And I'll tell you what I immediately thought when Ronald Coleman reads this rather large excerpt for a 30 minutes script of the prophet, I thought, this story's really short.
And the guy adapting it had just read the prophet.
In the short story, Atkinson's wife finds out that Wittencroft is an illustrator and shows off his her Bible. That's illustrated. I'm forgetting it's. A famous french illustrator, Dorei, a french illustrator. And it just bores the pants off the artist who's like, yes, dore, super cliche. And so he swaps that out for this passage.
[00:50:28] Speaker A: I'm thinking I'm probably going to make you laugh. So I reading the intro to this, I've never heard of the prophecy. Everything I know about the prophet below the prophet. There it is. The prophet is in this paragraph we read in the beginning of this podcast. I do read here, according to what we or Joshua wrote for our intro, that this was a very popular book.
[00:50:53] Speaker C: That particularly mid century.
[00:50:54] Speaker A: Right. So I'm a little embarrassed that I've never heard about it.
[00:50:57] Speaker D: I've never heard of it.
[00:50:58] Speaker A: Good. All right.
[00:50:59] Speaker C: You guys probably don't remember, but you're of an age where I guarantee your grandparents.
[00:51:04] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:51:05] Speaker C: And your parents somewhere had a copy of the prophet. Like, it's one of those books that.
[00:51:08] Speaker D: Live near my grandparents.
[00:51:09] Speaker C: Okay, it's one of those books that.
[00:51:10] Speaker A: But I live near yours.
[00:51:12] Speaker D: Creepy.
[00:51:12] Speaker A: I lived with your grandparents and they had one.
[00:51:14] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:51:15] Speaker C: It's a famous book for everyone owning it, but nobody ever reading it.
[00:51:19] Speaker A: Okay, so I'm hearing her read passages, and because I also don't know anything about the Bible, I assumed she in this story that she was reading the Bible. Up until we read that intro, I thought she was reading the Bible, which.
[00:51:37] Speaker C: Is what was in the original short story.
[00:51:40] Speaker A: Right.
[00:51:40] Speaker C: Well, they did. They don't read it. She's showing off the dirty pictures.
[00:51:44] Speaker A: They sound the same to me in the. In the flow and the style.
[00:51:47] Speaker C: The prophet was popular because of its humanist, universalist spirituality. So it was probably intentionally inserted in place of the Bible reference by the writer.
[00:52:01] Speaker A: Was the prophet's book intention to give the same rules to live by with.
[00:52:08] Speaker C: It was just a combination of western and eastern philosophy and poetry.
[00:52:12] Speaker A: This was sort of don't kill a guy.
[00:52:14] Speaker C: Yeah. It wasn't intended to be a religion or anything. It was just basically a early poetic self help book, but barely that interesting.
[00:52:24] Speaker A: I'm kind of curious. I might read that. Seriously, you've intrigued me. Is it hard?
[00:52:29] Speaker C: I've never read it. It just seems boring because it's so universalist as to almost feel like it applies to no one.
[00:52:35] Speaker D: Ask my grandparents.
[00:52:40] Speaker C: Any final thoughts, Tim? Did you resist that inner suspense voice that was saying, oh, yeah, you like it? Or did you just give in and.
[00:52:49] Speaker D: Go, yeah, no, it was just like. It just affected my enjoyment for the rest of the episode. Tended with a little bit of shame, which is you know, normal state for me.
[00:52:59] Speaker A: The book of lists, that's what we had in our house. Do you remember? That was a big.
[00:53:07] Speaker C: Believe it or not.
[00:53:08] Speaker A: Yeah, those were big. But. And I do remember. Did you guys have the book of lists?
[00:53:12] Speaker D: No, don't think I did.
[00:53:13] Speaker A: Oh, that was a big deal. Everybody had one of those in your house. We'll talk about it later. You want to vote?
[00:53:18] Speaker C: Sure.
[00:53:20] Speaker A: You go first, Tim.
[00:53:21] Speaker D: Sure. I can't even say this stance, the test of time. Because part of why I like it. Cause it doesn't.
This is really old fashioned, super fun. Had a good time. Felt dirty.
[00:53:36] Speaker A: Felt dirty.
Felt dirty.
All the things I like when they make me happy. I'm ashamed.
Yeah, no, nothing. I I'm trying to think of something nice to say about it. Against suspense. No, uh, Ronald Coleman's fine. Uh, there was nothing really about it that grabbed me, and I'm so sorry, judge, but this is what I do like about it. You ready?
I'm kind of touched that you really wanted to find me a. You went out of your way to find a story that, oh, I can find him a victorian story, and I do appreciate it a lot. That's really nice.
[00:54:16] Speaker C: Mostly I just want to say, like, gotcha.
But also a little sweetness was in there. Yes. I think I'm gonna surprise no one by saying I prefer the ambiguity of the short story over suspense's attempt to really guide the listener. It makes sense from a suspense point of view that they want to build this suspense.
There. I said it eventually, but what we didn't talk about, and I'll just mention it very briefly, is I just think the production is here, is really, really strong. I love the minimalism. I love the sound of the chisel on the headstones. I love the footsteps down the street. I like the music. I love Ronald Coleman for this role. I don't like him in a lot of roles because it's a strong, really, you instantly know that's Ronald Coleman, and it can take you out because of the quality of this character, which we've already described. He's perfect for it. And Dennis Hoyahua, he somehow is able to suggest through his performance how oppressively hot it is, how enormously fat apparently he is. Hell of a time you get all this through. So this is going to be one of our weirdest votes, because I think this is a suspense classic in my mock, because I love this sense of just gnawing building tread, and I think it's just expertly performed and produced. It just has that elegance to it where you see, like, stupid and simple.
[00:55:59] Speaker D: The one thing I do have to give it praise for an elevated level of praise is this is a fantastic adaptation of this kind of story, of these kind of uncanny experiences, that it's not necessarily easy to capture that in audio format. And I think this does a really good job of adapting that genre and.
[00:56:17] Speaker A: That experience just listening to you guys vote on this board. Me, Tim, tell him stuff.
[00:56:26] Speaker D: Hey, please go visit ghoulishdelights.com if you like. There's other episodes there, but you can get these episodes wherever you get your podcasts,
[email protected]. you can leave comments, you can vote in polls, let us know what you think of these. You can also find a link to our store and buy some merchandise themed with oh my God, that was.
[00:56:48] Speaker C: Did you just say Dennis Huey?
[00:56:50] Speaker D: It was about to plug. Look, mano pants.
[00:56:52] Speaker B: Was it?
[00:56:52] Speaker H: What? Wow.
[00:56:54] Speaker C: That is a wow. That is a show that Tim and I were in 20 years ago.
[00:56:59] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:57:00] Speaker D: Now I gotta put some look my no pants swag on the stone.
[00:57:03] Speaker C: Oh, wow. Tim, are you moving toward the light?
[00:57:05] Speaker A: You need to drop out of the presidential race.
[00:57:10] Speaker D: You can go to our store and buy some mysterious old radio listing society themed products, and you can also sign up for our Patreon.
[00:57:18] Speaker C: Yes, go to lookmondopants.com. the morals.
I'm sorry? Go to patreon.com themorals and please support this podcast. Thank you to all our patrons who do support it. We really appreciate it. It is not only one of the reasons we are able to continue doing the podcast is to have some compensation for it, but also it is just an amazing community, and we often are talking when we plug Patreon about, you know, extra podcasts and other perks like that. But I think the biggest perk is to be a part of this morals community that is online, and it's a really friendly, welcoming, open community, and that's worth the price of admission. So go to patreon.com elz.
[00:58:10] Speaker A: Join us. Speaking of community, you can see us performing live as the mysterious old radio listening society theater company does recreations of classic old time radio drama and a lot of our own original pieces live on stage monthly, sometimes more than once a month. You can find out where we're performing audio drama live by going to ghoulishdelights.com and find out where we are and how to get tickets and what we're performing each month. And usually it's in places that serve really good food. So it makes for a great night out, and a lot of patreons show up, and we get to meet them there as well. Also, if you can't make it, because they're all in the Twin Cities area. Listen, someday we're gonna. We're gonna get one of them tour buses. We're gonna go around the country non stop. But if you can't see us performing.
[00:59:04] Speaker C: Tour tandem bicycles, if you can't see.
[00:59:07] Speaker A: Us performing live, then you, as a Patreon, we film them, or at least the audio version of those live performances are available as part of your Patreon perks, so you can participate that way. Or partake, I should say. All right, so coming up next, it's gonna be my choice, and we're gonna do the adventures of Sam Spade, the mad scientist caper.
[00:59:32] Speaker D: Until then, Barry Kroger stepped in for Ronald Coleman, along with Dennis hoy. Hooey.
[00:59:38] Speaker E: Hoey.
[00:59:39] Speaker B: No.
[00:59:40] Speaker C: I don't know. Says it in the broadcast, and I should have actually. Hoi. It is a dumb sounding name.
[00:59:44] Speaker D: You have a dumb name, Dennis.
[00:59:45] Speaker C: Sorry, Dennis. I'm glad you're dead.
