{
  "title": "AMBROSE BIERCE [STORIES]",
  "category": "[SHORT-STORIES]",
  "article": "The misanthropic master of the war and horror story, Bierce was not really discovered by\nbroadcasters until the 1940s.\n[HAND] “\"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” first appeared in golden age radio on The\nWitch’s Tale in an adaptation by Alonzo Deen Cole entitled “The Deserter” (January 23, 1933;\nrevived May 30, 1935). No recording of this adaptation exists, but fortunately several versions of\nthe superb dramatization by the major radio writer-producer William N. Robson do. Robson’s\nadaptation – loyally entitled \"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” – premiered on Escape\n(December 10, 1947, starring Harry Bartell) and was revived three times on Suspense (December\n9, 1956, starring Victor Jory; December 15, 1957, starring Joseph Cotton; and July 19, 1959,\nstarring Vincent Price). Although all three performances ostensibly used the same script, close\nscrutiny reveals a number of differences between the scripted text and each performance, a result\nof live broadcasts and the individual stamp given to the central role by actors as diverse but\nequally accomplished as Joseph Cotton and Vincent Price. Regardless of the peculiar nuances and\ndifferences between the various performances, the impact of Bierce’s tale is undiminished.\nIndeed, the bleak, ironic twist of Bierce’s most famous short story creates a paradigm in radio\nhorror which is repeated, copied, or honored in countless other examples of the genre. The\nstatement in the preamble to the Escape broadcast that “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is\n\"one of the great short stories in American literature” becomes, by the time it is revived and\nrevised for Suspense, an assertion to the listener that the story is a “true classic,\" the great\nexception in a literary world of short fiction in which “few are memorable, fewer still are classics.\"\nFor one of the “true classics” of fiction, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is remarkable for its\neconomy: Bierce’s short story is characterized by its concision (it is considerably less than 4000\nwords in length) and a quality of honed yet vivid description that is almost imagistic. Like an\nImagist poet, Bierce believes in the efficacy of the “hard, clear image,” [4] yet can startlingly shift\ngear into a descriptive mode which could even be described as impressionistic; for example,\n“Objects were represented by their colors only; circular horizontal streaks of color.” [5] The\neconomy of the story is not simply with regard to description; it is a simple tale with minimal\nexposition, its three short sections painting three detailed scenes or three dramatic episodes. The\ngrotesque finale of the story is like a “punch line” to bitter Bierce’s hideous joke. The story reveals,\nas Cathy N. Davidson writes, “the fatal presumption that war can have a happy ending.” [6] The\ntale ingenuously exploits the reader’s naiveté in hoping for one. In hindsight, all the clues to the\nending are there: the ages it takes Farquhar to awaken after falling into the water and his other\ndeliriums; his impossibly microscopic visions and the fact that his run through the forest “seemed\ninterminable” (312); the haunting “whispers in an unknown tongue” (312). The story is also an\nexploration of mortality in universal terms: the precision of Farquhar’s vision when he resurfaces\nfrom the creek may be mocking irony or it may be a revelation of the return to dust. In other\nwords, the “audible music” (310) of spider’s legs and “the prismatic colors in all the dewdrops\nupon a million blades of grass” (310) signify that Farquhar is at one with creation. Similarly, with\nthe benefit of hindsight, the story has a mythic connotation. The “Federal scout” (308) is a Grim\nReaper, the bringer of death who ultimately visits everyone, while the river of life and escape is\nreally the River Styx, the dizzying “vortex” (311) that represents Farquhar’s journey into oblivion.\nDespite such mythic connotations, the fact that the story is set in a Civil War context lends the\nwork, on first reading, the possibility of being real and even anecdotal – a tale of real life\nadventure and survival – although at the end of the story specific history crumbles and universal\nhorror prevails.\nWilliam N. Robson’s radio adaptation of Bierce’s mythic story presents a highly complex\nnarrative. The radio play broadly shares the same structure – indeed, in one of the broadcasts it is\nspecifically described as having three acts. However, the first act adapts section I of the short\nstory along with some of section III (the breaking of the noose and the beginnings of Farquhar’s\nescape). This is because Robson’s adaptation reworks Bierce’s tale as a suspense thriller in what\nwas a highly competitive market; radio drama needed to hook the listeners and ensure that they\ncan resist the temptation to retune their radios. Therefore, the first few minutes (approximately\nfour minutes) are highly dramatic and suspenseful: we need to know what will happen and, even\nif we are familiar with the original tale, we still need to know how the tale will be told. Another\nimportant technique employed by Robson is a shift in narrative point of view. We, the listeners,\nare often implicated: you are Peyton Farquhar; the bullet lodges under “your collar,” not “his\ncollar.\" At the same time, the action is framed – and occasionally interrupted – by an objective\naccount and description of Farquhar. Occasionally, Farquhar becomes a first-person narrator. In\nthe 1959 Suspense version, these moments are given heightened treatment with Vincent Price\nusing a mechanical filter which distorts and distances his voice to emphasize that it is a moment\nof interior monologue, as well as lending it an uncanny quality. The adaptation also develops a\nsignificant amount of exposition and narrative embellishment. Frequently, this is achieved as an\nexpansion on existing Bierce material. For example, the adaptation develops some of the short\nstory into a highly lyrical and even philosophical mode. As Farquhar awaits his execution we hear\nhis thoughts from the brink of death:\nWho has come back from the dead to tell what dying is like? I don’t recall any childhood\nmemories now. The past does not engulf me in this naked moment. I am only aware of what’s\nhere, now: those Yankees lined up on the bank; the captain’s tired eyes; that turkey buzzard\ncircling up there, waiting for me . . .\nSuch material adds dimensions to Farquhar’s character. Other expansions have a more\nexpositionary function, simply making the story clearer and, for a performance in the genre of\nsuspense, more gripping. There is, for instance, a major expansion of the retrospective section II\nin which the “gray-clad soldier” (307) arrives at the Farquhar plantation. The few, succinct lines\nof dialogue in the short story are embellished in Robson’s adaptation to create a fuller dramatic\nscene with Farquhar, his wife and, as the adaptation has it, the “confederate corporal” underneath\nthe “magnolia trees” on the plantation. This includes Civil War detail such as a discussion of the\nwar and the corporal describing the Alabama regiment he belongs to (later in the play he is\nrevealed to be a lieutenant in a Massachusetts regiment). The scene concludes with a clear set-up\nfor Farquhar’s entrapment, the corporal riding off on his horse after coaxing Farquhar into\nsabotage with the words “You couldn’t do a greater service for your country.” The substantial\nexpansion of this scene in the process of adaptation creates a more dramatically gripping episode\ninasmuch as it develops the sense of conspiracy and covert sabotage in a style similar to the many\nadventure, espionage, and hardboiled crime dramas of the same period. A scene like this is\ndesigned to hold the listener’s attention and awaken their curiosity, making one wonder “Will\nFarquhar see it through? What will go wrong?” and so on.\nIf the plantation scene is an example of the expansion of original Bierce material, some other\nscenes are complete additions. Robson adds a scene in which Farquhar is entrapped and\nsummarily tried. This partly serves to reinforce the Civil War setting of the play but it also\nintensifies the drama, permitting Farquhar’s desperate plea for his life in the presence of an\nofficer who sentences the “southern patriot” Farquhar to death for his intended treason. This\nscene evokes pity for Farquhar (another strategy to hook the attention of the listener), yet the\nmost important addition to the play is morally complex and is condemnatory of Farquhar – a\ndecision which ultimately enables the listener to assuage the shock and horror of Farquhar’s grim\nfate. When Farquhar clambers out of the water, he is assisted by a man on the riverbank fishing\nfor catfish. The man turns out to be Jethro, Farquhar’s former slave. The narrator informs us that\nFarquhar – or rather “you” – sold Jethro knowing that he was dying of consumption. Farquhar is\nastonished that Jethro is still alive, but rather than being riddled with remorse, the increasingly\nunpleasant and egotistical Farquhar believes that Jethro will exact revenge. But Jethro is imbued\nwith altruism and forgiveness, declaring, “I’m free! I’m free at last!” Farquhar’s inner narrative\nresponds with contempt that Jethro has subscribed to Abraham Lincoln’s “traitorous\nemancipation proclamation.” The fact that the terminally ill Jethro is still alive is a clue to\nFarquhar’s genuine fate, but Robson promptly steers us away from any further suggestion of the\nsupernatural when the dreaded “gray-clad soldier” returns on horseback looking for the fugitive\nFarquhar. Jethro helps Farquhar hide, after which the latter swiftly departs, interpreting Jethro’s\ndrawn knife as a sign that “he’s gonna do you in himself” despite the former slave’s assertion that\nhe is merely going to “slit up them catfish.\"\nThe most successful plays in the genre of suspense radio are able to reach an unambiguous\nclimax. The radio listener must be able to comprehend lucidly what is happening in the\ndenouement of the play, no matter how ironic, fantastical, or downright implausible it may be.\nRobson’s play succeeds in doing this in an inexorable final section that builds from the narrator’s\nquestion “How long have you been running down this endless road?,” a line that serves as\nRobson’s equivalent to Bierce’s “interminable” forest. The listener is cast into absolute darkness\nwhich is either night or “blood bursting into your congested eyeballs.” However, a burst of\nlightning (accompanied by the classic and ever-popular radio sound effect of thunder) reveals a\nworld of fierce Yankee soldiers “aiming at your heart,” Jethro baring his knife and his teeth and,\nultimately, nooses swinging from all the branches. The sequence ends in a piercing scream and\nthen the glorious sunshine as Farquhar finds himself in his garden. The moment of reunion with\nhis wife is expanded into a romantic and lyrical scene accompanied by appropriately sentimental\nmusic: all the agonies of Farquhar’s journey and fatigue are nothing compared to the “sanctuary\nof these arms, the security of these lips.” However, Robson is merely deploying a strategy of\nmisdirection. The seemingly happy ending is a technique to heighten the shocking final line:\n“Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath\nthe timbers of the Owl Creek bridge.” The line is uttered by the framing narrator and is\naccompanied by the rhythmically creaking sound of the swinging noose.\nThe creaking sound of the noose is one of the finest moments in Robson’s elaborate soundscape.\nThe adaptation and the brilliant skills of the live sound effects technicians variously create the\nsounds of the waters of Owl Creek (varying from a gentle lapping to the frenzy of a whirlpool), the\nechoing sounds of military commands, the crack of muskets and the boom of cannons, the\ncroaking frogs on the riverbank and even an exact replication of Bierce’s description of “the\nhumming of the gnats” (310). Similarly, the use of orchestral music (once again performed live on\nair) enhances the production. On Escape, the score uses a register that is both lyrical and\nharmonious, with the interjection of dramatic chords as a punctuational strategy. The music for\nSuspense, however, is more consistently sinister, using eerie dissonances merging with military\nbugle sounds. In both programs, descriptive music, such as descending scales for Farquhar’s fall\ninto the creek, is used. In Escape and all but the final production on Suspense, an ingenious\ndramatic twist makes use of music: the narrative is accompanied by the increasing, rhythmic\nbeating of timpani, which is explained thus: “it’s your heart, of course, you hear, stepping up its\ncadence, pounding under the forced graft of fear.\"\nDespite differences in music, William N. Robson’s adaptation of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek\nBridge” remains broadly unchanged across Escape and Suspense. The actors cast as Farquhar all\ncapture and convey a distinct southern accent, although the broadness of dialect may vary. It is,\narguably, at its most broad in Harry Bartell’s performance on Escape, although, in contrast,\nJethro’s accent in the same production is less broad than in the 1950s versions. Probably the least\npronounced accent is Vincent Price’s in the 1959 production. Although Price adds considerable\nsouthern “drawl” to certain words, such as “writhe” (lengthening the word emphatically). Overall,\nthe lack of heavy accentuation on Price’s part retains the distinctive quality of his own voice: Price\nwas one of the leading stars of golden age radio, not least as the lead star on The Saint (1947-51),\nand in notable horror plays such as “Three Skeleton Key” (several productions on Suspense in the\n1950s). Any radio producers who secured Price would not want their listeners to be in any doubt\nas to the identity of the leading actor. In addition to Price’s performance, the other notable feature\nof the final production of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” on Suspense is that it is\nconsiderably shorter. The Escape and other Suspense productions are all around the 25-28\nminute range. In contrast, the 1959 Suspense production is around a mere eighteen minutes, very\nshort for the standard “thirty-minute slot.” This major reduction primarily dispenses with some of\nRobson’s longer descriptive material and lyrical exposition, although it retains the additional\nscenes such as the entrapment retrospective and the encounter with Jethro. What this sharper\nadaptation produces is a succinct, thrilling journey that never lets up its thunderous pace and is\nperhaps more in keeping with the concision and pace of Bierce’s original.\nAlthough the last adaptation of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” in the golden age of live\nradio may have aimed for unprecedented concision, the most significant radio adaptation after\nthe golden age could not have been more different. Sam Dann’s dramatization of Bierce’s tale for\nthe pre-recorded CBS Radio Mystery Theater (June 4, 1974 and repeated on August 24, 1974 and\nSeptember 15, 1979) is near the forty-five minute mark in duration and turns the story into a full\ndrama with several characters, lengthy exposition, and substantial embellishment. These\nembroideries reflected the ambitious attempt, during the 1970s, to revive American radio drama:\nthe longer time slot made demands on narrative sweep. The actions of, in this version, “Peyton\nForrester” are not part of a cunning entrapment but a calculated collaborative sabotage in which\nhis accomplice is killed. Forrester’s attempt fails, but he escapes Union custody and attempts to\nblow up the bridge again. In another major plot change, the moment that Forrester thinks he has\nsucceeded in blowing up the bridge is the moment he hangs, dead, from Owl Creek Bridge. Dann’s\nadaptation also develops the drama of the Civil War, including the domestic ructions caused by a\nnation at war (“We’ve lost, we’ve lost, Peyton!” says Forrester’s wife, disapproving of her\nhusband’s terrorist plot). Similarly, Dann uses the development of several other characters to\nexpand the setting and scene of the play. At the start, for example, a Union officer supports a\nyoung soldier who declares “I’m gonna be sick!” as the execution is about to occur. However, as\nlaudable and rich as Dann’s adaptation is, it does diminish the intensity of Bierce’s original tale\nand the live radio versions. Similarly, although the slightly different ending may be ingenious, it is\nnot as powerful, poignant or disturbing as Bierce’s sex (Eros) and death (Thanatos) ending with\nFarquhar – in the cruellest irony of frustrated desire – dying as he is about to embrace his wife.",
  "origination": "",
  "duration": "",
  "personnel": "",
  "extant_recordings": "",
  "chronology": "STORIES BY OLMSTED (WENR, CHICAGO—NBC-BLUE)\n[Monday—9:00-9:15 PM]\nOctober 14, 1940\n“The Man and the Snake”\n[“…story of the man whose belief he could be hypnotized by a snake\nfinally resulted in his death…”]\nSCRIPT: Nelson Olmsted.\nPERSONNEL: Nelson Olmsted (reader).\nEXTANT RECORDING\n[Wednesday—\nOct. 30, 1940\n“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” ???????????\nNELSON OLMSTED STORY DRAMA (WMAQ, CHICAGO)\n[\nJanuary 2, 1942\n“A Horseman in the Sky”\nSCRIPT: Nelson Olmsted.\nPERSONNEL: Nelson Olmsted (reader).\nEXTANT RECORDING\n[Saturday—10:15-10:30 PM]\nMarch 7, 1942\n“A Man with Two Lives” / “Roast Pig”\nSeptember 9, 1942\n“The Man and the Snake”\nHORROR INC. (WJZ, NEW YORK—BLUE)\n[Tuesday—\nFebruary 9, 1943\n“The Man and the Snake”\nSCRIPT: Mel\nPERSONNEL: Eva La Gallienne (host, reader), Rosa Rio (organist).\n(HOME SERVICE—BBC)\n[\nSeptember 2, 1943\n“A Horseman in the Sky”\nPERSONNEL: J. G. Sarasin (adapter).\nAPPOINTMENT WITH FEAR (THE LIGHT PROGRAMME)\n[Thursday—9:40-10:10 PM]\nApril 27, 1944\n“A Watcher by the Dead” (Ambrose Bierce; JDC)\n[Thursday—9:30-10:00 PM]\nOctober 12, 1944\n“The Devil’s Manuscript” (JDC)\nTHE WEIRD CIRCLE (NBC TRANSCRIPTION DISC)\nCirca 1945\n“The Middle Toe of the Right Foot”\nAPPOINTMENT WITH FEAR (THE LIGHT PROGRAMME, LONDON—BBC)\n[Tuesday—9:30-10:00 PM]\nOctober 30, 1945\n“He Wasn’t Superstitious”\n[BBC TITLE CARD: “Young man comes to blackmail wife of doctor who\nkeeps snakes—he is scornful of the power of snakes to attract—but when\nhe imagines he sees one in his bedroom he is drawn towards it—imagines\nit strikes him and dies of shock. It was a stuffed voodoo snake put there\nby native servant.”]\nSCRIPT: John Dickson Carr (adapted from the story “The Man and the Snake”).\nApril 16, 1946\n“A Watcher by the Dead”\nSCRIPT: John Dickson Carr.\n(THIRD PROGRAMME, LONDON—BBC)\n[Tuesday—11:35 PM-12:00 AM]\nOctober 15, 1946\n“A Watcher by the Dead”\n[“…Short story by Ambrose Bierce read by Valentine Dyall…”]\n(HOME SERVICE, LONDON—BBC)\n[Wednesday—10:30-10:45 PM]\nJanuary 15, 1947\n“A Horseman in the Sky”\nNELSON OLMSTED (WMAQ, CHICAGO—NBC)\n[Thursday—8:15-8:30 PM]\nSeptember 18, 1947\n“The Man and the Snake”\nESCAPE (KNX, HOLLYWOOD—CBS)\n[\nDecember 10, 1947\n“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”\nCAST: Harry Bartell, William Conrad, William Johnstone, Luis Van Rooten.\n(HOME SERVICE, LONDON)\n[Friday—10:45-11:00 PM]\nJanuary 14, 1949\n“The Man and the Snake”\n[“…A short story by Ambrose Bierce. Reader, Ronald Simpson…”]\nTHE MAN IN BLACK (LIGHT PROGRAMME, LONDON)\n[Monday—8:30-9:00 PM]\nFebruary 14, 1949\n“The Middle Toe of the Right Foot”\nPERSONNEL: John Keir Cross (scriptwriter).\nSUSPENSE (KNX, HOLLYWOOD)\n[\nDecember 9, 1956\n“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”\nSLEEP NO MORE (WRCA, NEW YORK)\n[Wednesday—9:30-10:00 PM\nJanuary 16, 1957\n“The Waxwork” / “The Man and the Snake”\nSUSPENSE (KNX, HOLLYWOOD)\n[Sunday—\nDecember 15, 1957\n“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”\nCAST: Harry Bartell, William Conrad, Joseph Cotton, Jack Kruschen, Lou\nMerrill, Ellen Morgan.\nAMERICA’S LITERARY HERITAGE (WMCA, NEW YORK)\n[Tuesday—10:35-11:00 PM]\nJune 16, 1959\n[“…The career and some of the short stories of Ambrose Bierce, discussed\nby Prof. Theodore G. Ehrsam…”]\nSUSPENSE (KNX, HOLLYWOOD)\n[Sunday—\nJuly 19, 1959\n“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”\nCAST: Norman Alden, Sam Edwards, Cathy Lewis, Roy Glenn, Barney\nPhillips, Sam Pierce, Vincent Price.\nDREADFUL JOHN AT MIDNIGHT (WKCR, NEW YORK)\n[\nCirca 1960s\n“Oil of Dog”\nTHE BLACK MASS (\nLE THEATRE DE L’ETRANGE (FRANCE INTER AND INTER VARIETES)\n[????\nJuly 18, 1965\n“La Route au clair de lune”\n(THIRD PROGRAMME, LONDON)\n[\nMay 26, 1969\n“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”\nPERSONNEL: Christopher Whelan (libretto and music).\nSTORIES BY AMBROSE BIERCE (THIRD PROGRAMME, LONDON)\n[\nMay 30, 1969\n“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”\nTHE CBS RADIO MYSTERY THEATER (WRVR, NEW YORK)\n[???day—10:07-11:00 PM]\nJune 4, 1974\n“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”\n[“…It’s the fall of 1863 and Peyton Forrester, declared physically unfit for\nservice in the Southern Army, is caught by the Yankees as he\nunsuccessfully attempts to blow up the railroad bridge over Owl Creek\nand thus isolate the entire Union army. Union troops catch him in the\nact. Forrester is convinced that nothing can harm him after the rope\nwraps around his neck—and the rope miraculously snaps. Forrester now\nswims for his life, dodging the bullets of Union troops, and plans another\nattempt at dynamiting the bridge…”]\nCAST: Mildred Clinton (Millicent), Jack Grimes (Woody), Leon Janney\n(Corporal), William Prince (Peyton Forrester), William Redfield (Robbie\nTompkins).\nSam Dann (scriptwriter—1974, CBS Radio Mystery Theater).\nTHE BEST OF BIERCE (RADIO 4, LONDON)\n[Saturday—8:45-9:00 AM]\nDecember 31, 1977\n[Tuesday-Friday—8:45-9;00 AM]\nJanuary 3, 1978\nJanuary 4, 1978\nJanuary 5, 1978\nJanuary 6, 1978\n[Tuesday—8:45-9:00 AM]\nOctober 31, 1978\n“A Horseman in the Sky”\n[Wednesday—8:45-9:00 AM]\nNovember 1, 1978\n“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”\nTHE CBS RADIO MYSTERY THEATER (WRVR, NEW YORK)\n[???day—10:07-11:00 PM]\nNovember 20, 1978\n“The Thing at Nolan”\n[“…John May, living with his father Charles and mother Elvira in the\nOzark Mountains in 1879, is the first member of the family to learn how\nto read, a skill that causes him to develop some new-fangled notions: that\nwomen should not be mistreated and that he doesn’t have to help his\nfather seven days a week. The result is a fatherly punch in the face, which\nJohn vows his father will soon regret…”]\nCAST: Court Benson (Charles May), Russell Horton (John May), Arnold\nMoss (Harry Odell), Bryna Raeburn (Elvira May).\nArnold Moss (scriptwriter—1978, CBS Radio Mystery Theater)\n[Tuesday-Friday—8:45-9:00 AM]\nSeptember 23, 1980\n(1)\nSeptember 24, 1980\n(2)\nSeptember 25, 1980\n(3)\nSeptember 26, 1980\n(4)\nAS IT HAPPENS (CBC)\n[\nSeptember 21, 1990\n“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”\n[“…Alan Maitland, as Front Porch Al, reads the story An Occurrence at\nOwl Creek Bridge, by Ambrose Bierce.  It is a tale of the U.S. Civil War,\nand when we meet Peyton Farquhar, a civilian citizen of the Confederacy,\nhe is about to meet his fate at the hands of Union soldiers…”]\nHISTORIAS (RNE 1, BARCELONA?)\n[\nCirca 2000\n“El Guardian”\nCirca 2000\n“El funeral de John Mortonson” / “La alucinacion de Stanley\nFleming” / “Un habitante de Carcosa”",
  "sources": "Hand, Richard J. “Reanimating Peyton Farquhar: The Adaptations of Ambrose Bierce’s ‘An Occurrence at\nOwl Creek Bridge’ in American Radio and Television.” The ABP Journal (Fall 2005).",
  "gallery": "",
  "images": []
}