The city of masterless men will take a master
16 May 2022
Season 10, Episode 4
Program Guide for The Fall of the City
Re-Imagined Radio pays tribute to The Columbia Workshop and its mission to explore and present new forms of radio storytelling. The Willamette Radio Workshop performs Archibald MacLeish's "The Fall of the City" which follows the ambiguous relationship humans have with freedom. Samples from Jack J. Ward's "Great Day for a War," a scheme by a broadcasting company to increase its viewers during ratings week, provides contemporary context. The Voices perform.
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Script
READ the working script for The Fall of the City.
Minor changes may have been made in production. Voice actors are creative. Otherwise, this is an accurate textual description of what is heard in the broadcast.
Cast
"The Fall of the City" performed by members of The Willamette Radio Workshop
Sam A. Mowry
Chris Porter
Linda Goertz
Holly Spencer
Tim McKinney
Ricardo Delgado
Mark Homayoun
Adam S. Moore
Alticus Mowry
Sound Design and engineering by Marc Rose
Recording by Robert Kowal and Michael Gandsey
Foley conductor Martin Gallagher
Produced by Sam A. Mowry, Robert Kowal, and Marc Rose
Co-Producer Cynthia McGean
Directed by Sam A. Mowry
Recorded at PCC Sylvania in Portland, OR
Produced by special arrangement with Mr. Richard B. McAdoo
"Great Day for a War" performed by The Voices
Sam A. Mowry as Daniel Stone
Mago Weston as Anna-Marie Hammond
Sam Gregory as GlobalWeb Announcer
Eric Newsome as GlobalWeb News Service Announcer
Eric Newsome as President
Stephanie Crowley as Sheila MacDonald
Jeff Pollard as Colonel Brachenswich
Produced by special arrangement with Jack J. Ward
Credits
"The Fall of the City" written by Archibald MacLeish
"Great Day for a War" written by Jack J. Ward
Sound Design, Music, and Engineering by Marc Rose of Fuse
Social Media by Regina Carol Social Media Management
Promotional Graphics by Holly Slocum Design
Curated and Hosted by John Barber
Responses
Thank you for a lovely melding of MacLeish's "Fall of the City" with my "Great Day for a War." Just so tickled pink to hitch my star with "The Fall of the City" and Archibald MacLeish. I feel thrilled to have my name connected with him, and even more so with Re-imagined Radio. The acting was superb. The production was on fire! And the script was a seamless blend.
— Jack J. Ward, author of "Great Day for a War"
We're thrilled and excited to hear this amazing fusion of the classic, "The Fall of the City" with an unproduced Jack J. Ward script "Great Day for a War"!
— Sonic Society
Background
This is the second tribute Re-Imagined Radio has offered to The Columbia Workshop, perhaps the most important American anthology radio program, and its mission to explore and present new forms of radio storytelling. The first was in 2015 and featured performances of "The Fall of the City" and "R.U.R." by The Willamette Radio Workshop, directed by Sam A. Mowry. See below. For this 2022 tribute we reprise a recorded performance of "The Fall of the City" by The Willamette Radio Workshop and build out the story with samples from "Great Day for a War" by Jack J. Ward. Ward’s radio drama was unpublished, unperformed. We thank him for permission to use the portions we did.
Archibald MacLeish
Archibald MacLeish (1892-1982), Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, writer, and Librarian of Congress, wrote and edited for the Yale Literary Review while he studied at Yale University, 1911-1915. In 1918 he served in France during World War I. MacLeish felt the war was the beginning of a new world order that was sensed rather than felt, and tried to capture his feelings through poetry. In 1923, he moved, with his family, to Paris, France, and began a career as a poet. MacLeish returned from Europe in 1928, continued writing poetry, but also developed a "public voice" during the worldwide political chaos of the 1930s and 1940s, feeling it was his responsibility as a poet to interpret the times and events using verse. When he returned to the United States in 1928, MacLeish committed himself to public service as Librarian of Congress from 1939 to 1944, assistant director of the Office of War Information in 1942, Assistant Secretary of State from 1944 to 1945, and chair of the US delegation to the founding conference of UNESCO in 1945. He continued to consider and explore freedom, independence, and government in poetry and verse plays through the rest of his life.
Verse is related to poetry, a major form of literature, and has several meanings and applications. Two are important for this episode of Re-Imagined Radio. First, verse and poetry both use rhythm, pulse, language, and rhyme to convey a story. But, where poetry uses aesthetic and rhythmic aspects of elevated language and symbolism to convey meaning, verse might be heard as closer to conversation. William Shakespeare is noted for his use of verse in this way.
Second, as a vehicle for storytelling, verse can be very useful. Rhythm and repetition can help keep a story focused even while encouraging audiences to use their imaginations to build on the information provided by verse. Meaning is often conveyed through word choices, their relation to one another, and associations they can make with audiences. Rhyming is not required at the end of every line, but may be used as the conclusion of a group of lines, or "stanza."
MacLeish wrote three verse plays: "Panic: A Play in Verse" (1935), "The Fall of the City" (1937) and, "Air Raid" (1938).
Panic: A Play in Verse
A stage play written in verse, in the form of a Greek chorus. Set during the bank panic of 1933, six years into the Great Depression, "Panic" concerns how individualism turns into individual greed and freedom is replaced by a failing "free enterprise" system. Orson Welles, then 19 years old, played the leading role, his first in an American stage production, for three performances, 14-16 March 1935, at the Imperial Theatre, New York.
At first, MacLeish was concerned for the ability of the young Welles to portray the lead character, 60-year-old McGafferty, modeled on financier J.P. Morgan. But, according to producer John Houseman, MacLeish set aside all doubts where he heard Welles' first reading for the part. "Hearing that voice for the first time in its full and astonishing range, MacLeish stared incredulously. It was an instrument of pathos and terror, of infinite delicacy and brutally devastating power" (Houseman, John. Run Through: A Memoir. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1972, pp. 148-151).
On 22 March, Welles began his radio career on the CBS Radio program The March of Time performing a scene from "Panic" for a news report on the stage production (Brady, Frank. Citizen Welles: A Biography of Orson Welles. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1989, pp. 70-71). Welles continued as a member of the program's reperatory cast for three years.
The Fall of the City
MacLeish submitted his script for "The Fall of the City" in response to a call from Irving Reis, director of The Columbia Workshop radio series for experimental work. Remembering Orson Welles, MacLeish promoted him for the leading role as "Announcer." Featuring Welles, "The Fall of the City" episode, first broadcast 11 April 1937, is the first American verse play for radio and is often praised for its stylistic innovation and social power, and as an illustration of the artistic potential of radio broadcasting.
"The Fall of the City", the first verse play written for American radio, focuses on the collapse of a city under an unnamed dictator. MacLeish drew from two sources. The first was his 1932 long poem "Conquistador" with its descriptions of the uncontested conquest of the Aztec city Tenochtitlan (tã-nóch-tët-län, now Mexico City) by Hernán Cortéz of Spain in 1521. MacLeish visited Tenochtitlan in 1929, specifically the Zocalo, the great square at the center of the city, where he learned the Aztec legend of a woman who returned from the dead to prophesize the fall of Tenochtitlan just days before its conquest (Drabeck, Bernard A. and Helen E. Ellis, eds. Archibald MacLeish: Reflections. Amherst, The University of Massachusetts Press, 1986, pp. 106-112). MacLeish won a Pulitzer Prize for "Conquistador" in 1933, his first of three.
The second inspiration was the projected Anschluss, the takeover of Austria by Nazi Germany which did not actually happen until 12 March 1938 when German troops marched across the border unopposed by the Austrian military. On 10 April, Germany forced Austrian citizens to vote for the annexation of Austria by Germany. Those who voted against annexation could have lost their jobs, or their lives.
MacLeish said the theme of "The Fall of the City" was "the proneness of men to accept their own conqueror, accept the loss of their rights because it will in some way solve their problems or simplify their lives" (Drabeck, Bernard A. and Helen E. Ellis, eds. Archibald MacLeish: Reflections. Amherst, The University of Massachusetts Press, 1986, pp. 107).
Critics have suggested "The Fall of the City" is not about the conqueror, but rather about the way people lose or sustain the burden of freedom. We want freedom but we also like order and structure, even if that order and structure is imposed upon us. How much freedom and liberty are we willing to sacrifice to enjoy convenience and comfort, order and structure? Because of this ambiguity, we both fear and welcome the conqueror. While we vacillate, the Conqueror approaches slowly. Often unnoticed. Unbelieved. Until it is too late.
"The Fall of the City"
Episode 35, 11 April 1937
First broadcast by the Columbia Broadcast System (CBS) as part of The Columbia Workshop radio series. Orson Welles and Burgess Meredith starred, Irving Reis directed. The 30-minute broadcast originated from the Seventh Regiment Armory, New York, a location large enough to accommodate the hundreds of extra actors required for the crowd scenes. The cast included . . .
House Jameson (Studio director)
Orson Welles (Announcer)
Adelaide Klein (Dead Woman)
Carleton Young (1st Messenger; Later played Philip Gault, in the OTR crime series The Whisperer)
Burgess Meredith (Orator)
Dwight Weist (2nd Messenger)
Edgar Stehli (Priest)
William Pringle (General)
Guy Repp, Brandon Peters, Karl Swenson, Dan Davies, Kenneth Delmar (Antiphonal Chorus)
A second broadcast, 28 September 1939 (episode 156), originated in the Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, California. The cast featured Myron McCormick, Burgess Meredith, Dorothy Meredith, Ted Osborne, and Earl Ross.
Listen to The Columbia Workshop performance of "The Fall of the City," 11 April 1937 . . .
Plot
A radio announcer, voiced by Orson Welles, reports from the plaza of a nameless city, where a crowd awaits the appearance of a woman who has risen from her grave for the previous three nights. She appears and predicts
The city of masterless men will take a master.
There will be shouting then: Blood after!
The first messenger brings news of a conqueror's arrival. He says those conquered live in terror. A pacifist orator argues for non-violent acceptance of the coming conqueror. Reason and appeasement and scorn will eventually conquer the conqueror, he says.
A second messenger arrives and reports the conquered peoples have embraced the conqueror. The priests of the city then advise the people of the city to "turn to your gods" and almost instigate the sacrifice of a citizen before they are interrupted by a general who calls for resistance. The citizens have already given up, however, their will broken by the hope that their loss of freedom will solve their problems or simplify their lives.
The conqueror arrives and ascends to the podium. He raises his metal visor. Only the radio announcer can see that the suit of armor is empty. He concludes
People invent their oppressors. The city is fallen.
Reception of "The Fall of the City" was positive. The writing, use of sound effects, and radio production techniques were all noted as opening a new era for radio drama. Read a review in Time magazine (Theatre: Fall of the City, 19 April 1937).
Promotion
Press
Special thanks to Maureen Keller, Syliva Lindman, and Brenda Alling for promoting this episode of Re-Imagined Radio.
READ their Press Release
Graphics
The Fall of the City trailer by Holly Slocum and Marc Rose
The Fall of the City web poster by Holly Slocum, Holly Slocum Design (240 x 356)
The Fall of the City landscape poster by Holly Slocum, Holly Slocum Design (820 x 356)
The Fall of the City square poster by Holly Slocum, Holly Slocum Design (2000 x 2000)
The Fall of the City full poster by Holly Slocum, Holly Slocum Design (2000 x 3000)
Metadata
Name: The Fall of the City
Tagline: The city of masterless men will take a master
Season: 10
Episode: 04
Description: Re-Imagined Radio pays tribute to The Columbia Workshop and its mission to explore and present new forms of radio storytelling. The Willamette Radio Workshop performs Archibald MacLeish's "The Fall of the City" which follows the ambiguous relationship humans have with freedom. Also samples from Jack J. Ward's "Great Day for a War," a scheme by a broadcasting company to increase its viewers during ratings week, to provide contemporary context. The Voices perform.
Program type: Episodic
Length: 58:00
Media type: Radio broadcast, podcast
Premier broadcast: 16 May 2022, KXRW-FM, Vancouver, WA, KXRY-FM, Portland, OR
Recording availability: Podcast
Recording specs: Audio, MP3, stereo, 44.1Hz, 320kbps
Recording name: rir-***.mp3
Categories: radio, drama, documentary, performance, story, fictional
Keywords: radio drama, storytelling, documentary, willamette, workshop, columbia workshop, archibald, macLeish, fall, city, good, day, war, fall, city, freedom, voices
Script: Original script(s) written/adapted, research and commentary by John F. Barber
Producers: Sam A. Mowry, Robert Kowal, Marc Rose, Cynthia McGean
Host: John F. Barber
Sound Design/Music Composition: Marc Rose
The Fall of the City and R.U.R
Two experimental radio dramas
7 October 2015
Season 03, Episode 03
Re-Imagined Radio pays tribute to The Columbia Workshop and its mission to explore and present new forms of radio storytelling. Willamette Radio Workshop performs "The Fall of the City" and "R.U.R." at Kiggins Theatre, Vancouver, WA. No recording available.
Name: The Fall of the City and R.U.R.
Tagline: Two experimental radio dramas
Season: 03
Episode: 03
Description: Re-Imagined Radio pays tribute to The Columbia Workshop and its mission to explore and present new forms of radio storytelling. Willamette Radio Workshop performs "The Fall of the City" and "R.U.R." at Kiggins Theatre, Vancouver, WA. No recording available.
Program type: Episodic
Length: ~58:00
Media type: Performance, podcast
Performance by: Willamette Radio Workshop
Premier performance: 7 October 2015, Kiggins Theatre, Vancouver, WA
Recording: No recording available
Categories: radio, drama, documentary, performance, story, fictional
Keywords: radio drama, storytelling, documentary, columbia workshop, fall of the city, rur, r.u.r., willamette, workshop
Script: Original script(s) adapted, research and commentary by John F. Barber
Producer/Host: John F. Barber
Director: Sam A. Mowry
The Columbia Workshop
The Columbia Workshop was a commitment by the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) to discover new forms of radio drama. From 1936-1945, and then again 1946-1947, each of the nearly 400 episodes of The Columbia Workshop experimented with using the radio medium and sound for telling stories, many of which are considered the finest examples of radio drama ever produced.
Today we understand radio drama to include plays written for the radio medium, as well as docudramas, dramatizations of literary works, plays written orginially for the theatre, musical theatre, and opera, all adapted for radio. In the 1930s, however, the idea and form of radio drama was just beginning to evolve. Stage plays with actors moving about, interacting with each other and various props, were models. Adapting stage plays to radio, a medium based entirely on sound, meant that radio dramas had to rely on voices, sound effects, and music to help listeners imagine their characters and stories.
What was possible with the new radio medium? How might its features and affordances be best used to transfer stage plays to radio's sound stage? What new forms of radio presentations, especially radio dramas might be developed? The Columbia Experimental Dramatic Laboratory was established to answer these questions.
The Columbia Experimental Dramatic Laboratory
In 1930, CBS appointed Georgia Backus, American actress, writer, producer, and director of radio dramas, to lead the network's Dramatic Programming Division where she was to develop the new art of radio drama. Backus gathered a team of engineers, directors, writers, and producers under the title The Columbia Experimental Laboratory (noted in the press as "Columbia Experimental Laboratory" in 1931 and "Dramatic Laboratory" in 1932).
Two series of experimental radio dramas were planned by Backus and her team. The first series of eleven experiments was broadcast Wednesday evenings, 10:00 PM CST, over the CBS network. The second series premiered on Sunday, 5 June 1932 and offered eighteeen episodes until 9 October 1932.
By the end of these two series CBS had introduced many of radio's earliest writers, producers, directors, and engineers to listeners and set standards for new radio programs that appeared throughout the 1930s.
The Columbia Workshop, Irving Reis, Director
In 1936, CBS formalized its experiments with radio drama by establishing The Columbia Workshop and appointed a new director, Irving Reis (1906-1953), a young playwright involved with The Columbia Experimental Laboratory who saw in the radio medium opportunities for new forms of storytelling. Beginning with the first episode, Reis experimented with new and different ways of radio storytelling. His efforts included developing echo chambers, sound effects (including those produced by voice), as well as microphone placements, types, and filters which are still in use today. He cast production techniques and music as characters, or in place of them. Narrative experimentation included encouraging young, unknown writers to submit their own writing, or adaptations.
Exemplary episodes under Reis's leadership included . . .
"The Fall of the City" (See above)
"R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)"
Episode 36, 18 April 1937
A classic, if little known, OTR drama. Adapted from the original play by Karel Capek "R.U.R." asks the haunting question: "How does artificial life affect the fate of humankind?" LEARN more about "R.U.R".
Listen to The Columbia Workshop performance of "R.U.R.," 18 April 1937 . . .
The Columbia Workshop, William N. Robson, Director
Reis left the The Columbia Workshop in January 1938 to become a script writer for Paramount Pictures in Hollywood. In February 1940, Reis began directing films for RKO Pictures. William N. Robson (1906-1995), Reis's protege, succeeded him as director of The Columbia Workshop and continued technical and narrative experiments. Robson worked with Bernard Herrmann, music director, hired by Reis, to offer more extended musical works, even opera, as content for The Columbia Workshop.
Air Raid
Robson commissioned Archibald MacLeish to write another verse play for radio, "Air Raid," again in the form of a radio broadcast, and aired both the dress rehearsal on 26 October 1938 and the final production on 27 October 1938 (Episode 110). The performances starred Aline McMahon and Orson Welles. "Air Raid" was inspired by the German and Italian bombing of Guernica, Spain, during the Spanish Civil War, and Pablo Picasso’s response to that slaughter with his painting Guernica. Rather than a political statement, MacLeish intended this verse play for radio to explore the changes in the nature of war and the alterations in the human spirit that permitted such changes. Script available here. MacLeish's "The Fall of the City" was produced and broadcast by The Columbia Workshop the previous year.
Listen to The Columbia Workshop performance of "Air Raid," 27 October 1938 . . .
The Columbia Workshop, Norman Corwin, Director
Robson stepped down as director in 1939. Norman Corwin (1910-2011), a CBS writer whose adaptation of Stephan Crane's The Red Badge of Courage was broadcast as an episode in 1938 took over leadership of The Columbia Workshop in 1940 and changed the focus to address social justice and current issues. Corwin contributed many radio dramas to The Columbia Workshop mostly collected series called "Corwin Presents" and encouraged other interesting experiments. One example was "The City Wears a Slouch Hat" written by Kenneth Pachen and supported with a percussion-based score by John Cage.
"The City Wears A Slouch Hat"
Episode 254, 31 May 1942
A collaboration between John Cage and Kenneth Patchen. Combines Patchen's script with live and recorded sound effects composed by John Cage. Every scene in Patchen's drama, narrated by "The Voice," is accompanied/interpreted by Cage's percussion / sound effects, creating an aural imagery that permeates every aspect of the imaginary city. LEARN more about The City Wears A Slouch Hat.
Listen to The Columbia Workshop performance of "The City Wears A Slouch Hat," 31 May 1942 . . .
With the United States' entry into World War II, listeners waned. The last episode of The Columbia Workshop was broadcast 25 January 1947.
Corwin left CBS in March 1949. LEARN more about Columbia Workshop.
The CBS Radio Workshop
Nearly a decade after its cancellation, the legacy of The Columbia Workshop and its experimentation with radio dramatic presentations was revived as The CBS Radio Workshop. The new series, "dedicated to man's imagination—the theatre of the mind," began with a two-part adaptation of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, 27 January 1956. Huxley himself narrated both episodes. Subsequent episodes, hosted by William Conrad, like The Columbia Workshop gave priority to creative production. As result, The CBS Radio Workshop offered a number of interesting radio dramas in its short history. The popularity of television, however, drained radio listeners, and The CBS Radio Workshop ended 22 September 1957. Today is is remembered as one of the great radio series.
Background
"R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)" is significant as the first appearance of the term "robot" in English and the origin of discussions in science fiction regarding the fundamental tension between humans and robots, androids, cyborgs, and lately, genetic modification and artificial intelligence. With regard to robots, we want them to be workers who make our lives easier, but if those robots have the ability to think independently are they actually slaves that should have rights? And, if they can think for themselves, would they possibly overthrow humans?
Czechoslovakian writer Karel Capek (1890-1938) wrote novels, stories, and plays. [1] He is best known for his play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), which premiered 26 January 1921 at the National Theater, in Prague, former Czechoslovakia.
Capek derived the term "robot" from robota meaning "drudgery" in Czech and "labor" in Slovak. The origin of both the Czech and the Slovak word is the Old Church Slavonic rabota "servitude." Robot, as used by Kapek, represented someone or something that exercises labor.
Capek credits his older brother, Josef, the cubist painter and writer, with the actual creation of the word "robot." Explaining his story idea to Josef, Karel remarked that he did not know what to call the artificial workers. Josef suggested calling them "robots."
"R. U. R." asks the question that haunts science fiction: How does the creation of artificial life affect the fate of humankind? Capek's answer has contributed to resistance to artificial life ever since.
Plot
Rossum's Universal Robots manufactures artificial humans, called "Robots" (always capitalized), in quantity. Assembled from organic materials kneaded in large vats, Rossum's Robots behave exactly like living matter. But, they are designed to work as slaves for humans, and so have no feelings.
Helena Glory, the plant manager's wife, pities the Robots and persuades the head scientist at R. U. R., Alquist, to give them feelings. Subsequent Robots created with feelings resent their subservience to humans and revolt.
Robots kill all humans on Earth save one, Alquist, who is known to work with his hands, a noble trait to the Robots. The Robots cannot continue replicating themselves, however, because Helena destroyed the formula for Rossum's organic substance. Alquist sees that one pair of Robots have fallen in love and blesses them, implying they will found a new race. Script available here.
Timeline
1921: Premier performance at the National Theater, Prague, former Czechoslovakia.
1923: Translated into English by Paul Selver as R.U.R.: A Fantastic Melodrama (New York: Samuel French). Read the play as originally written in Czech
9 October 1922-February 1923: Performed at The Garrick Theater, New York City. Produced by The Theater Guild, directed by Phillip Moeller and Agnes Morgan, "R.U.R." ran for a total of 184 performances.
1923: Published in English (New York: Doubleday). Soon, the word "robot" was known in every language around the world.
27 November 1933: Allegedly broadcast by National Broadcasting Network (NBC Blue network) as a 60-minute episode of the Radio Guild series, 14 July 1929-*** 1940. [2]
18 April 1937: Broadcast by The Columbia Workshop (Episode #36); thirty minute radio drama adaptation.
1938: Broadcast on BBC Television, a thirty minute adaptation, one of the earliest examples of televised science fiction.
1941: Broadcast as a BBC radio adaptation.
1948: Broadcast in its entirety as a ninety minute adaptation on BBC Television.
Notes
[1] Capek is also noted as the author of The Absolute at Large (1922), and War with Newts (1937). The Absolute at Large a satire in which an atomic device, the Karburator, produces power through the conversion of energy. The device releases the essence of God, causing miracles and other effects, and ultimately, a religious war. In War with Newts, a sea-dwelling race of "newts" is enslaved by humans. The newts overthrow their masters and humanity is doomed. In the end, the novel functions as a chilling drama of class struggle and social injustice, as well as a prediction of the end of Czechoslovakia two years later.
[2] The Radio Guild offered adaptations of works by William Shakespeare and other classic drama from college reading lists around the country and original radio dramas. Schools used these radio dramas to augment classroom studies. Radio Guild also offered performances of experimental, original radio drama. Only two episodes are thought to survive,
"The Man Who Was Tomorrow" (14 May 1939; written by Ranald R. MacDougall)
and, "The Ineffable Essence of Nothing" (13 April 1940; written by Ranald R. MacDougall).
Great Plays, also broadcast on the NBC Blue network, performed drama classics from 1938-1942 and succeeded Radio Guild. It is easy to confuse these two, different, series.
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The City Wears A Slouch Hat
"The City Wears A Slouch Hat" is significant for several reasons. Both Kenneth Patchen and John Cage were major influences for the American avant garde movement. This work follows Patchen's experiments incorporating jazz music into his writing. For Cage, "The City Wears A Slouch Hat" was an experiment creating music from noise. Although a failure, "The City Wears A Slouch Hat" led to further experimentation regarding the technological future of music and the use of noise as sound source.
Background
"The City Wears A Slouch Hat" is a collaboration between two leaders of the American avant garde movement, John Cage and Kenneth Patchen. Patchen (1911-1972), an American poet and novelist, was an important inspiration for the San Francisco Renaissance and the Beat Generation. John Cage (1912-1992) was the most influential and controversial American experimental composer of the twentieth century. Beginning in 1937, Cage promoted the use of noise to make music.
In 1941, The Columbia Workshop commissioned Cage to compose a radio play based on the text "The City Wears A Slouch Hat," by Patchen. Cage was to use sound effects to demonstrate his ideas about noise making music. [1] Cage's original 250-page score was written exclusively for electronic sound effects utilized as musical instruments.
Told his score was impossible to produce, Cage scaled back his vision to five percussionists, and live and recorded sound effects. Instruments included tin cans, muted gongs, woodblocks, alarm bells, tam tam, bass drum, Chinese tom tom, bongos, cowbells, maracas, claves, ratchett, pod rattle, foghorn, thundersheet, sound-effect recordings, etc. Script available here.
The cast included
Les Tremayne (narrator)
Madelon Grayson, Forrest Lewis, Jonathan Hole, Frank Dane and John Larkin (actors)
Xenia Cage, Cilia Amidon, Stuart Lloyd, Ruth Hartman, Claire Oppenheim (percussionists)
John Cage (conductor)
Les Mitchell (director)
Plot
"The Voice" wanders around a city, encountering surreal circumstances, characters, and their conversations in thirteen separate scenes.
Scene 1: "Opening Stroll," "The Voice" strolls about the city on a rainy day overhearing passing conversations.
Scene 2: "Hold-Up," "The Voice" is robbed by a man with a gun, who is surprised to find a photograph of himself in "The Voice's" wallet.
Scene 3: "Nightclub," "The Voice" briefly visits a nightclub where he overhears more surrealistic conversations.
Scene 4: "Eavesdropping," back on the street, "The Voice" listens to two boys talking about horses and dogs.
Scene 5: "Along the River," has "The Voice" talks with a man about people working in a distant creamery.
Scene 6: "Followed," "The Voice" answers a phone in someone's apartment and tells the caller that the person he wants, along with his family, will all die in a car crash in ten minutes. "The Voice" also causes bullets in the guns of three thugs to disappear.
Scene 7: "Walk in the Sky," "The Voice" sees someone/something in the clouds and imagines it trying to say something to him. Loud thunder ends the scene.
Scene 8: "Woman in the Rain," "The Voice" talks with a woman who says her face was disfigured in an accident. When he realizes she is lying to him the woman says she knew it was useless to talk with him.
Scene 9: "Kidnapped," "The Voice" is forced into a car and driven away. One of his kidnappers starts to sing and wakes a baby, who begins to cry.
Scene 10: "The Mirthogram," "The Voice," returned to the place where he was kidnapped, sees a crowd standing around a machine making it laugh.
Scene 11: "Street Poetry," "The Voice" recites poetry to a murmuring crowd.
Scene 12: "The Movie House," "The Voice" hears disjointed conversations from characters in the movie and members of the audience.
Scene 13: "The Rock," "The Voice," now at the ocean, decides to swim to a distant rocky island where he talks philosophically with a man. "The Voice" concludes the drama saying, "I am coming into your house with my hand outstretched. I am your friend. Do not be afraid of me."
Resources John Cage Trust
Official John Cage blog. This post, "1942 America Speaks (The City Wears a Slouch Hat)," provides lots of information, and listener reactions.
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The Columbia Workshop
The first episode of The Columbia Workshop was indicative of the course Reis had set for experimental radio drama. Broadcast 18 July 1936, this episode included two half-hour dramas, "A Comedy of Danger" and "The Finger of God." (READ script here.
Reis, as the announcer, spoke directly to the listening audience at the episode's beginning. "Ladies and gentlemen, Columbia takes pride in inaugurating tonight a new series of programs dedicated to you and to the magic of radio. The Columbia Workshop! . . . The Columbia Workshop believes in radio. . . . [and] dedicates itself to the purposes of familiarizing you with the story behind radio . . . and to experiment in new techniques with a hope of discovering or evolving new and better forms of radio presentation, with especial emphasis on radio drama; to encourage and present the work of new writers and artists who may have fresh and vital ideas to contribute."
An article in the Oakland Tribune that same day provided additional information. "Broadening its experiments in the field of radio drama, the Columbia Broadcasting System announces a new series entitled 'Columbia Workshop,' in which Irving Reis, young CBS playwright and director, will be given an opportunity to attempt anything new and unusual in voice and sound effect which might help to further radio technique. Reis is a young engineer who deserted the control room to use his technical knowledge in original productions which won wide acclaim for their new patterns and treatment.
"The 'Workshop' series will consist of half-hour presentations to be heard each week beginning today from 4:30-5:00 p. m. Reis, as producer, will be given a free hand. New writers will create some of the plays; in others, new actors and actresses will be given an opportunity to try out anything unique in microphone manner which they may have conceived.
"During some of the broadcasts, the listening audience will be asked to participate in offering constructive criticism of new production methods. It might be a series of five sounds, with the audience being requested to determine which is the most pleasant to the ear. Then again, they will be asked comparative opinions on five-minute one-act plays, presented first by a carefully rehearsed group of actors, then by a second group which has simply read over the lines individually.
"Reis has been responsible for the writing and production of several trail-blazing experimental productions heard over the Columbia network. Outstanding among them were three which evoked wide comment—'St. Louis Blues,' 'Half Pint Flask' and 'Meridian 7-1212.'
"'We do not plan to abide by any preordained concept of radio drama,'" Reis says. 'We plan to do almost anything that lends itself to unique treatment and interesting experiments with sound effects and voices'" ("Who's Who and What's What." Oakland Tribune, 18 July 1936, p. 12, and Brown, Ross, Sound Effect: The Theatre We Hear, London, Bloomsbury, 2020, pp. 170-172).
"A Comedy of Danger," Reis said, was written by Richard Hughes and was "first produced by the British Broadcasting Company." In fact, BBC commissioned Hughes to write "A Comedy of Danger" and first broadcast his radio play on 15 January 1924. Based on this date of its premier broadcast, "A Comedy of Danger" is certainly one of the earliest dramas written for radio. "The author [Hughes] created his setting for radio's dimensions alone," the announcer explained. "It would be almost impossible to present this play properly on a stage or on a screen. We shall attempt to produce the play, giving it every advantage of radio technique."
"The Finger of God" was written originally as a stage play by Percival Wilde, but, said Reis, would be "presented with a technique never attempted in radio before. . . . The performers will pay no attention to the microphones. They'll move around as the stage business demands on a special set which we have erected in the studio. Through the cooperation of the Columbia engineering department, a parabolic microphone, which can be focused like a spotlight, will be trained on the actors from a distance of twenty feet and will follow their movements as they go through the business the play calls for."
Subsequent episodes of The Columbia Workshop followed this focus on experimentation and production creativity.
As with the earlier Columbia Experimental Dramatic Laboratory, the Columbia Workshop progressed in series of episodes.
Columbia Workshop, Series 1 offered 149 episodes, from 18 July 1936 to 17 August 1939.
Columbia Workshop, Series 2 offered 76 episodes, from 24 August 1939 to 27 April 1941.
26 by Corwin, special series offered 26 episodes from 4 May 1941 to 9 November 1941.
Columbia Workshop, Series 4, offered 48 episodes from 16 November 1941 to 8 November 1942.
Off Air, November 1942-March 1944
Columbia Presents Corwin, special series offered 22 episodes 7 March 1944 to 15 August 1944
Off Air until July 1945
Columbia Presents Corwin, special series offered 8 episodes 3 July 1945-21 August 1945
Off Air until February 1946
Columbia Workshop, Series 5, offered 49 episodes 2 February 1946 to 25 January 1947
Columbia Workshop, special broadcast, "We Gather Together," 21 November 1951
SEE The Columbia Workshop radio logs at Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs website.
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Columbia Experimental Dramatic Laboratory
Two series of experimental radio dramas were planned by Georgia Backus and her team. The first series of eleven experiments was broadcast Wednesday evenings, 10:00 PM CST, over the CBS network. The second series premiered on Sunday, 5 June 1932 and offered eighteeen episodes until 9 October 1932.
First Series
The first series included eleven experiments, broadcast Wednesday evenings, 10:00 PM CT, over the CBS network. The first series premiered 26 December 1930 and concluded 11 March 1931. According to radio historian Elizabeth McLeod, the first three experiments of the first series were to be broadcast by CBS beginning in late December (McLeod, Elizabeth. Radio's Experimental Laboratory. Return With Us Now . . ., vol. 29, no. 12, Dec., 2004).
Radio critic John Skinner said of these first three experiments, "Miss Backus is a young woman full of vitality, which she insists on expending in a relentless search for new radio ideas. Most unashamedly does she admit that she has created nothing new, not that she is necessarily on the right path. More specifically does she feel that she may be one of those who are stirring an interest in the potential art. . . . The energy which those in Columbia are displaying toward the production of the unique in radio drama is most commendable. This 'Behind the Words,' you see, is but the first of a series of ethereal experiments with an aim to improve radio dramas. Don Clark, who heads the continuity department of C.B.S. and who has worked with Miss Backus on countless presentations, presents a mystery drama of 'psychological revelations' as the second of the series. The third experiment flows from the pen of one not so experienced in microphone presentations. In fact, this 'Threshold,' written by Edwin H. Morse, represents that writer's first step into studio presentations. Hence, Miss Backus again lends a hand. She does the adaptation, while Mr. Moore acts as guest director. They may or may not be on the right track, but at least they're on the track of desire to lead them to the right one" (Skinner, John. "Seeing What You Hear. The Studio Stage. First of Experimental Series of Radio Dramas Over Columbia Goes On Tonight with Presentation of 'Behind the Words'." The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 26 Dec. 1930, p. 11).
Details for these first three experiments include . . .
"Behind the Words: A Drama of Thoughts," 26 December 1930, ("Today's Radio Programs." The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 26 Dec. 1930, p. 11).
"Evidences," 29 December 1930
Described as "A Psychological Play written and directed by Georgia Backus." ("Today's Radio Programs." The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 29 Dec. 1930, p. 21).
"Threshold," 7 January 1931
"A one-act experimental play with Georgia Bacchus [sic], Frank Headick(?) and Larry Orattan." ("Today's Radio Programs." The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 7 Jan. 1931, p. 14).
Backus's approach to these first three experiments was received favorably. "I care very much for this new series of experiments which Georgia Backus is working on up at Columbia" (Skinner, John. "Seeing What You Hear. The Studio Stage." The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 2 Jan. 1931, p. 14).
The remaining eight experimental dramas of different genres in this first series were broadcast between 14 January and 11 March 1931. Details include . . .
"Doctor by Compulsion," 14 January 1931
"A play with Wright Kramer, Natalie Towers, Beverly Seagraves, Ned Wever, Teddy Bereman, Charles Pitt, directed by Georgia Backus." ("Today's Radio Programs." The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 14 Jan. 1931, p. 13).
"Crescendo", 21 January 1931, uncertain connection to Columbia Experimental Laboratory. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 21 Jan. 1931, p. 14).
"Murder In the Studio," 28 January 1931
"One of a series of experimental plays by Charles Tazewell." Cast and roles were noted as Ned Weaver as Jack Leader, Gale Reed as Margaret Cook, Ted Bergman as Harold Carter, Ray Burkley as William Colman, Ted Hecht as Wilbur Jewett, Frank Readick as Prosecuting Attorney, and Ada Sherman and William Green as Mr. and Mrs. Wilson ("Today's Radio Programs." The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 28 Jan. 1931, p. 10). John Skinner, referring earlier to an advance copy of the script, reported the program was to begin with the announcer saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, we present another play in the series which comprises Columbia's Dramatic Laboratory. These radio dramas are designed to stimulate an interest in experiments made in the art and tonight we are presenting a murder mystery that is baffling the minds of the greatest detectives in the country. We are doing this in hope that some of you who are listening in may be able to give the authorities some solution. On the night of Dec. 3 Dave Cross, announcer at station WTAZ, of Newton, Ill., was alone in the studio. A few minutes before midnight someone entered the announcer's booth and killed him. Although there were no sight witnesses, many people were listening to WTAZ on their radio sets that night, heard the events that led up to the tragedy" (Skinner, John. "Seeing What You Hear. The Studio Stage. Man with the Big Ear Gives Some Advance Information on the Next of Columbia's Experimental Plays—It's Murder in the Studio." 23 Jan. 1931, p. 24).
"An Untold Tale, with Apologies to Dickens," 4 February 1931, ("Today's Radio Programs." The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 4 Feb. 1931, p. 27).
"Here's a bit on two more of those experimental plays with which Columbia is seeking the road to a new art. The first, to go on this week, does not strike me as particularly novel. It is merely an adaptation of an old wagon show called 'Medicine Show'. It could be entertaining but not startling in innovation. The other catches my fancy as something rather clever. 'Split Seconds,' which is to be broadcast a week from Wednesday, is a psychological exposition of the reactions of the mind of a drowning person" (Skinner, John. "Seeing What You Hear. In Anticipation." Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 9 Feb. 1931, p. 10).
"Medicine Show." 11 February 1931, ("Today's Radio Programs." Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 11 Feb. 1931, p. 16).
"Split Seconds," 18 February 1931, ("Today's Radio Programs." Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 18 Feb. 1931, p. 23).
Written and directed by Irving Reis. Reprised as the 14 March 1937 episode of Columbia Workshop.
"Columbia Experimental Laboratory," ("Today's Radio Programs." Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 25 Feb. 1931, p. 10).
No title or information provided.
No episode this week, 4 March 1931
"Columbia Experimental Laboratory," 11 March 1931, ("Today's Radio Programs." Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 11 Mar. 1931, p. 26).
No title or information provided.
Second Series
The eighteen experiments in the second series were broadcast Sunday evenings over the CBS network, 12 June 1932 to 16 October 1932. Details include . . .
"Experimental Dramatic Laboratory; adaptation of 'The Lady or the Tiger,'" 12 June 1932, 8:00 PM CT, ("Today's Radio Programs." Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 12 June 1932, p. E5).
"WABC begins a series of experimental half hour dramas tomorrow at 8 o'clock with a tricky adaptation of Frank R. Stockton's famous short story, 'The Lady or the Tiger.' The original story, which left the reader guessing whether the hero was devoured by a tiger or wed to a beautiful lady, has been dramatized with two 'surprise' endings by Don Clark, Columbia continuity chief. The playlet is the first of a series to be produced each Sunday in a search for a widened scope, increased realism and new types in radio dramatics. The playlets, each distinct to themselves, will be written by Clark and his associates in an attempt to prove that swift, complete plots can be bundeled into a half hour and remain intriguing to the radio audience" ("'Lady or the Tiger Dramatized Tonight." Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 12 June 1932, p. E5).
"Dramatic Laboratory," 19 June 1932, 8:00 PM CT, ("Today's Radio Programs" Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 19 June 1932, p. E5).
No title or information provided.
"Ups and downs of eight apartment neighbors stranded all night in an elevator will be revealed in an experimental farce over WABC tonight at 8 o'clock. What happens when the automatic lift locks up the fifth floor vamp, her poodle, the sixth floor's bearded grouch, two adolescent brats and other apartment house enigmas will be dramatized by Walton Butterfield and produced by Don Clark. Butterfield has given no title to the terrifying situation, budt defines it as an attempt to suggest through commedy the psychological changes in the relationship of people pent up for 12 hours. All their antipathies except the back fence cats, will be compressed into six square feet with standing room only. Unlike the usual 30-minute radio play, the sketch will not rely upon musical interpolations to denote time lapses. It is the second of a Summer series of experimental drama presented by Columbia in a search for increased realism, new types and widened scope. The cast will include Amy Ricard, Dorothy Harrington, Nila Mack, Julian Noa and Buford Armitage" ("Over WABC Tonight." Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 19 June 1932, p. E4).
"Dramatic Laboratory," 26 June 1932, 8:00 PM CT, no title provided. ("Today's Radio Programs" Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 26 June 1932, p. E5).
No title or information provided.
"Dramatic Laboratory," 3 July 1932, 10:30 PM CT, no title provided. ("Today's Radio Programs" Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 3 July 1932, p. B9).
No title or information provided.
"Dramatic Laboratory: 1986(?) A.D.," 10 July 1932, 10:30 PM CT. ("Today's Radio Programs" Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 10 July 1932, p. E5).
"Futuristic drama"
"Dramatic Laboratory: Transient," 17 July 1932, 10:30 PM CT. "From lobby of hotel with aid of 'lapel' microphones." ("Today's Radio Programs" Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 17 July 1932, p. E5).
"Revolutionary technique in radio drama will be offered by the Columbia Broadcasting System tonight when it broadcasts a play actually originating in the lobby and grill room of a Broadway hotel and in the street outside. This departure is made possible by the lapel microphone introduced by the network at the national political conventions. Radio's first 'on location' drama is an original sketch by Don Clark, entitled 'Transient,' to be enacted while Broadway crowds, lobby loiterers and cabaret-goers look on at the Hotel Taft. The half hour of drama with all its natural movement and colorful background will be broadcast at 10:30 p.m. over WABC. A cast of veteran stage actors, with microphones on their lapels, will play the roles staged and directed in three scenes by Clark, Columbia continuity chief. The actors—possibly unnoticed by the old woman from Dubuque—will move freely from the curb under the entrance marquee, past the potted ferns and pillars of the lobby to the the room clerk's desk, and thence downstairs to the grill room, where George Hall's Orchestra and dinner dancers will lend real atmosphere to the imaginary action. From a central control station set in the mezzanine overlooking the lobby, Edwin K. Cohan, Columbia's technical director, will supervise the engineering problems of the experiment. Unobtrusive microphone lines, extended or contracted as desired by the moving cast, will lead from the mezzanine control to the main floor and the grill room level. Other lines will link Cohan's outpost with Columbia's master control room at 485 Madison Ave. for distribution to the coast-to-coast network. This set-up brings several innovations. It raises the possibility of outdodor melodrama familiar to the movies. It gives radio actors freedom of movement for the first time by removing the fixed microphone and its ever present 'mike-contactousness.' It tests the desirability of natural sounds for dramatic background. 'We will use no artificial effects,' Clark revealed. 'This is a vital in radio dramatics. We wish to determine whether or not actual sounds are more effective than their studio substitutes. We have selected stage actors for this particular experiment because they are accustomed to visible audiences. I do not expect much interference by on-lookers,' Clark added. 'The old stand-microphone has been supplanted by the "button" type and will attract less attention from the crowd. The new "mike" is not easily discerned.' Clark has written a script especially adapted to the new technique. He has woven the action so that principals in the street scene may move with ease to the grill while the action shifts to others in the lobby, or vice versa. This prevents delay in production. Nevertheless, the director expects to have a busy time of it. He lacks the usual control room in full view of the entire setting and must move a jump ahead of some shifts—including a dash down two flights of stairs. The dramatic experiment is one of a series of unusual playlets offered by Columbia in its search for new types and increased realism in the new medium" ("Drama Moves from Studio To Street with Lapel 'Mike'." Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 17 July 1932, p. E4).
"Dramatic Laboratory," 24 July 1932, 10:30 PM CT. ("Today's Radio Programs" Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 24 July 1932, p. E5).
"Death Says It Isn't So," Heywood Broun's magnificent fantasy produced by the Columbia Dramatic Laboratory at 10:30 p.m. over WABC" (Ranson, Jo. "Out of a Blue Sky. On WABC Today." Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 24 July 1932, p. E4).
"Dramatic Laboratory," 31 July 1932, 11:00 PM CT. ("Today's Radio Programs" Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 31 July 1932, p. E5).
No title or information provided.
"Dramatic Laboratory," 7 August 1932, 10:30 PM CT. ("Today's Radio Programs" Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 7 Aug. 1932, p. E5).
No title or information provided.
"Dramatic Laboratory," 14 August 1932, 10:30 PM CT. ("Today's Radio Programs" Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 7 Aug. 1932, p. E5).
No title or information provided.
18 August 1932
NO program
"Dramatic Laboratory," 21 August 1932, 10:30 PM CT. ("Today's Radio Programs" Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 21 Aug. 1932, p. E5).
No title or information provided.
"Dramatic Laboratory Gives 'News' A Tryout," 28 August 1932, 8:00 PM CT. ("Today's Radio Programs" Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 28 Aug. 1932, p. E5).
"The vital part newspapers play in the every-day life of readers will be dramatized in a half-hour playlet entitled 'News,' written and directed by Don Clark for presentation by the Columbia Dramatic Laboratory over WABC tonight at 8:00 p.m. Clark's sketch will reveal how one newspaper item, read by six widely separated individuals, brings their devious paths together in a dramatic incident. A series of individual flashes of life, as each principal glimpses the item, and the cumulative result will constitute the sketch" ("'News,' Dramatic Playlet By Don Clark, Tonight." Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 28 August 1932, p. E4).
"Dramatic Laboratory," 4 September 1932, 8:00 PM CT. ("Today's Radio Programs" Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 4 Sep. 1932, p. E5).
No title or information provided.
"Dramatic Laboratory, 'Class of 1912'," 11 September 1932, 9:00 PM CT. ("Today's Radio Programs" Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 11 Sep. 1932, p. E5).
No title or information provided.
"Dramatic Laboratory, 'The Inaminate Percy and Susie'," 18 September 1932, 9:00 PM CT. ("Today's Radio Programs" Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 18 Sep. 1932, p. E7).
"A young playwright who believes that inanimate objects play important roles in human lives—such as the carpet one stumbles over and the brick that falls on heads—will introduce a new idea in radio drama when his sketch concerning 'The Inanimate Percy and Susie' is presented by the Columbia Dramatic Laboratory over WABC tonight at 9:00 p.m. The inanimate Percy and Susie are really an aristocratic sugar bowl who raises quite a lump in your throat, and a cream pitcher, who finally spills the milk in an intriguing drama about the theft of an heirloom. The author who conceives these things is John Bothwell, a graduate of Carnegie Tech, New York playwright and player, who promises to produce another on 'Two Coat Hangers in a Night Club.' Bothwell wrote the sketch particularly for the Columbia series. Don Clark, Columbia continuity chief, will direct the production" ("What Sugar Bowl Said To the Cream Pitcher." Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 18 Sep. 1932, p. E6).
"Dramatic Laboratory, Sound Proof," 25 September 1932, 9:00 PM CT. ("Today's Radio Programs" Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 25 Sep. 1932, p. E7).
Farce with Teddy Bergman and Jaria Stuart,
2 October 1932
NO program
"Squirrel['s] Cage," 9 October 1932, ("Dramatic Laboratory Squirrel['s] Cage." Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 9 Oct. 1932, p. 69).
"An unusual bit of English concerning a man who abides by all the don'ts of life . . . The playlet is an impressionistic sketch written especially for the microphone by Tyronne Guthrie, one of the most successful radio playwrights of Great Britain. It originally was produced by the British Broadcasting Company [3 June 1929] and is being introduced in the C.B.S. experimental series by Don Clark, director, because of its novel form. The scene shifts with interludes of speaking choruses, giving voice to the progressive 'don'ts.' They begin with those of the nursery, such as 'Don't taste that; don't touch that; don't do that.' In the end the man turns out to be a most conventional being" ("Dramatic Laboratory To Give English Play." Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 9 Oct. 1932, p. 68).
Of his "microphone play" Guthrie says, "It has possibilities . . . Since the audience is dependent on one sense only, it follows that the impression they receive, though limited, is highly concentrated in quality . . . the mind of the listener is the more free to create its own illusion. Playwright, producer and actors combine to throw out a sequence of hints, of tiny clues, suggestions; and the mind of the listener collects, shapes and expands these into pictures. [This] demands a great deal of creative energy and technical ingenuity of the artists, a great deal of imaginative concentration of the listener. . . . Because [microphone play] pictures are solely of the mind, they are less substantial but more real than . . . the . . . grandeur of the stage; less substantial and vivid, because not apprehended visually, more real because the impression is partially created by the listener himself. . . . [The listener collects clues from the author] and embodies them in a picture of his own creation. It is therefore an expression of his own experience—whether physical or psychological%#8212;and therefore more real to him than the ready-made picture of the stage designer. . . . [T]he impressions of the microphone play are more intimate than those of the stage, because neither the writing nor the playing needs to be pitched high enough to carry to the back of the pit and gallery. Finally, [microphone plays] are more subtle because received by each listener privately at home, not coarsened by being flung into an auditorium, where individuals are fused together into one mass, which becomes a crowd personality, easily swayed to laughter or tears, but incapable of the minute pulsations of feeling, the delicate gradations of thought, which each member of the crowd experience experiences when alone" (Guthrie, Tyronne. Squirrel's Cage and Two Other Two Other Microphone Plays. London: Cobden and Sanderson, 1931, pp. 8-10). See also Beyond Naturalism: Tyrone Guthrie's Radio Theatre and the Stage Production of Shakespeare by Howard Fink.
"Dramatic Laboratory," 16 October 1932, 8:30 PM CT. ("Today's Radio Programs" Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 16 Oct. 1932, p. E9).
No title or information provided
In 1930, CBS appointed Georgia Backus, American actress, writer, producer, and director of radio dramas, to lead the network's Dramatic Programming Division where she was to develop the new art of radio drama. Backus gathered a team of engineers, directors, writers, and producers under the title The Columbia Experimental Laboratory (noted in the press as "Columbia Experimental Laboratory" in 1931 and "Dramatic Laboratory" in 1932).