{
  "title": "BELA LUGOSI",
  "category": "[RADIO APPEARANCES]",
  "article": "Movie masters of menace such as Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre and Basil Rathbone also had\nsuccessful radio careers (and their own series), and all of them used the broadcast medium as a\nmeans of garnishing their fame and broadening their appeal. Bela Lugosi, on the other hand,\nnever was able to marshall his early appearances on the air into anything like steady work. Was it\nthe language barrier or his stated antipathy for the medium, or just sheer bad luck?\nThe Lugosi radio dossier is filled with might-have-beens, announcements and auditions of series\nthat never made it to the air. To wit:\nUP correspondent Alexander Kahn reported in his “Hollywood Roundup” column of March 14,\n1939 that “Lugosi is making 37 transcriptions for a radio mystery serial in which he is starred.”\nHollywood reporter Jimmy Fidler announced in his column of October 3, 1940 that “Bela\nLugosi’s been offered the spotlight for a new series of radio chillers.”\n[Bridgeport Post, November 19, 1947] “Bela Lugosi and comedienne Ann Thomas are readying\na comedy mystery series.”\n[Rhodes reports that Lugosi was hired “to headline the cast of a new play, Three Indelicate Ladies,\nin April 1947. A trio of women find themselves in the detective business, with Lugosi playing an\nIrishman named Francis O’Rourke… closed within a month of its opening. Hopes of getting to\nBroadway died.” Check Variety review.\n[Rhodes] “In 1932, Lugosi participated in an international broadcast linking the Americas,\nEurope, and Japan as part of a celebration for the Olympic Games; he spoke in Hungarian on the\nwidely-publicized program.”\n1944 was a busy and unsettled year for Bela Lugosi.\n[Rhodes] “…there was that successful Arsenic in Saratoga Springs, New York in 1947. Saratoga\nSprings, where he also guest-starred on one television program, two radio shows, and was then\ndriven to Schenectady for yet another radio show.”\n[Rhodes] “In 1950, Allen Funt included Lugosi in a stunt to scare a woman on his Candid\nMicrophone; listeners heard her banter with Lugosi, but it took the press to describe what radio\ncouldn’t show; the LA Times claimed she ‘clutched her throat protectively’ when it was revealed\nwho Lugosi was.’ [Walter Ames, “Movie Writer Likes Video, Film War to Weather; Bela Lugosi\nFails ‘Candid’ Stunt,” Los Angeles Times, August 7, 1950, p. 22]\n[Rhodes] In April [1954], Wood was trying to cook up a possible Lugosi radio show called The\nTerror. He sent Lugosi one script with the promise twelve more would follow. ‘Since it is radio,\nthe scripts will be read, so you will not have to worry about memorizing them—just be familiar\nwith them.’”",
  "origination": "",
  "duration": "",
  "personnel": "",
  "extant_recordings": "",
  "chronology": "STARDOM OF BROADWAY (WJZ, NEW YORK)\n[Friday—3:30-4:00 PM]\nMarch 30, 1928 “Dracula”\nSEEING SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (KHJ, LOS ANGELES)\n[Friday—4:45-5:15 PM]\nMarch 27, 1931\n[“…Bella [sic] Lugosi, creator of the role of Count Dracula… Lugosi will\ntell about human vampires…”]\nLOS ANGELES BREAKFAST CLUB (KFWB, HOLLYWOOD)\n[Wednesday—8:00-9:30 AM]\nSeptember 30, 1931\n[“…As the cat begins scratching at the back door, KFWB tunes in the\nBreakfast Club frolic… Raymond Hatton, Edmund Breese, Bela Lugosi,\nJ. Farrell MacDonald, Ian MacClaren—topping it off with Harold\nGrayson and his Hotel Roosevelt Orchestra in latest song hits…”]\nGEORGE TAYLOR’S BRIDGE HOUR (KJBS, SAN FRANCISCO)\n[Thursday—3:30-4:00 PM]\nApril 21, 1932\nINTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC SPECIAL (KHJ, LOS ANGELES)\n[Sunday—12:30-1:30 PM]\nMay 22, 1932\n[“…Will Rogers, Dolores del Rio, Marlene Dietrich, Claudette Colbert,\nTom Mix, Elissa Landi, Maureen O’Sullivan, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy,\nJean Hersholt, Bela Lugosi and other movie stars... Radio history will\nbe made at 12:30 o’clock this afternoon when a special Olympic\nbroadcast from Los Angeles will go over the entire Columbia coast to\ncoast network and on short waves for Europe and South America. A host\nof movie stars will extend invitations to their respective countries to\nattend the Olympic games in Los Angeles this summer…”]\nTHE FLEISCHMANN HOUR (WEAF, NEW YORK)\n[Thursday—8:00-9:00 PM]\nOctober 12, 1933\n[“…Scene from ‘Murder at the Vanities’, with Bela Lugosi and Minnie\nDupree…”]\nTHE THEATRE PRESENTS (WEAF, NEW YORK)\n[Friday—12:15-1:00 AM]\nNovember 17, 1933\n“Murder at the Vanities”\n[“…presents the ensemble from ‘Murder at the Vanities,’ and members of\nits cast including James Rennie, Minnie Dupree, Naomi Ray, Olga\nBaclanova and Bela Lugosi…”]\nTHE SHELL SHOW (KHJ, LOS ANGELES)\n[Monday—8:00-9:00 PM]\nApril 30, 1934\n[“…Bela Lugosi, Hungarian actor, is scheduled to be the guest star in a\ndramatic sketch…”]\nMOVIE CLUB (WHN, NEW YORK)\n[Friday—8:00-9:00 PM\nJuly 5, 1935\n[“…Bela Lugosi, Guest…”]\nWOMEN’S MAGAZINE OF THE AIR (KFI, LOS ANGELES)\n[Tuesday—3:00-4:00 PM]\nMarch 30, 1937\n[“…Janet Baird interviews Bella [sic] (Bad Mans) Lugosi…”]\nSEEIN’ STARS IN HOLLYWOOD (KECA, LOS ANGELES)\n[Sunday—4:30-5:00 PM]\nMarch 13, 1938\n[“…Oz Nelson presents Feg Murray who in turn presents Boris Karloff\nand Bela Lugosi, who in turn scare the wits out of Harriet Hilliard…”]\nGEORGE JESSEL AND HIS CELEBRITIES (KHJ, LOS ANGELES)\n[Friday—9:30-10:00 PM]\nOctober 13, 1939\n[“…Bela Lugosi, the movie horror man, makes an appropriate guest on\nGeorge Jessel’s ‘Celebrity Program’…”]\nTUESDAY NIGHT PARTY (KNX, HOLLYWOOD)\n[Tuesday—9:00-9:30 PM]\nOctober 17, 1939\n[“…Bela Lugosi, completing his extended run on the Little Theater\nscreen [?]  in ‘The Old Dark House,’ joins strong man Charles Atlas and\nMary Martin on Walter O’Keefe’ Tuesday Night Party… A horror sketch\nto end all horror sketches is promised when Lugosi, the super-\nFrankenstein of the movies, and Atlas, will be prominent in the O’Keefe\nversion of a blood-curdler…”]\nTEXACO STAR THEATRE (KNX, HOLLYWOOD)\n[Wednesday—6:00-7:00 PM\nNovember 15, 1939\n“Dracula of Sunnybrook Farm”\nKAY KYSER’S COLLEGE OF MUSICAL KNOWLEDGE (KHJ, LOS ANGELES)\n[Wednesday—6:00-7:00 PM]\nSeptember 25, 1940\n[“…Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Peter Lorre, three of the most famous\nof the screen’s bogey men, will be guests of Kay Kyser on his college of\nmusical knowledge program…for which they will serve as judges…”]\nPLAY BROADCAST (WGN, CHICAGO)\n[Friday—8:30-9:00 PM]\nMay 2, 1941\n[“…with Quiz-master Bill Anson and his impersonations; Dorothy\nRoberts and Marvin Mueller, character actors; June Baker, home\neconomist; Announcer Guy Savage, and the W-G-N Dance orchestra,\ndirected by Harold Stokes… Bela Lugosi, professional boogie man of\nstage and screen, who is appearing at the Oriental theater, will take part\nin the program…”]\nTHREE RING TIME (KECA, LOS ANGELES)\n[Friday—9:00-9:30 PM; broadcast to East Coast 5:30-6:00 PM]\nMarch 6, 1942\n[“…with Milton Berle, Shirley Ross, and Bob Crosby’s orchestra. Guests:\nBela Lugosi and Peter Lorre…”]\nTEXACO STAR THEATRE (\n[\n??? ??, 1943\nFred Allen show\nSUSPENSE (KNX, HOLLYWOOD)\n[Tuesday—6:30-7:00]\nFebruary 2, 1943\n“The Doctor Prescribed Death”\n[Originally announced under the title “The Boomerang”]\nWILLIAM S. GAILMORE\n[Sunday—\nApr. 23, 1944\nTHE KATE SMITH HOUR (WABC, NEW YORK)\n[Friday—\nMay 5, 1944\n[“…Kate Smith observes her 13th anniversary on the air, and on CBS,\nwith a special broadcast… Ted Collins has signed Bela Lugosi as\nprogram guest, and Kate sings 4 songs which she did on her first\nbroadcast in 1931. Lugosi, famed ‘Dracula’ of the movies, is heard in an\noriginal dramatic sketch…”]\nMUSICAL AUTOGRAPHS (WJZ, NEW YORK)\n[Saturday—10:00-10:30 PM]\nMay 20, 1944\n[“…The heartfelt relief of moviegoers will greet the announcement by Guy\nLombardo that the ‘musical autograph,’ or favorite tune, of Bela Lugosi,\nspecialist in macabre film roles, is ‘I’ll Walk Alone.’ Guy and His Royal\nCanadians will play it for Bela during the WJZ broadcast…”]\nMYSTERY HOUSE (NBC TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE, HOLLYWOOD)\nCirca July 1944 “The Thirsty Death”\nCOUNTY FAIR (KECA, LOS ANGELES)\n[Tuesday—7:30-8:00 PM]\nJuly 31, 1945\n[“…Woman’n Half by Bela Lugosi on Radio Fair…”]\nTHE RUDY VALLEE SHOW (\n[Tuesday—\nOctober 22, 1946\n“The Pre-fabricated Woman”\nCOMMAND PERFORMANCE (AFRS)\nNovember 10, 1946\n“Superman”\nWith Bob Hope, Paulette Goddard, Bela Lugosi\n[RADIO GOLDINDEX: “Bela Lugosi appears as the mad scientist\nBikini with Sterling Holloway as his assistant Atoll…”]\nELLERY QUEEN (\n[Wednesday—7:30-8:00 PM]\nMarch 19, 1947 “The Specialist in Cops”\n[“…Bela Lugosi is guest detective…”]\nQUICK AS A FLASH (WOR, NEW YORK)\n[Sunday—\nMay 18, 1947\n[“…Bela Lugosi, famous vampire and bogey-man of the ‘arts’ cooks up a\nwhodunit for the contestants on ‘Quick as a Flash,’ emceed by Ken\nRoberts…”]\nTHE ABBOTT AND COSTELLO SHOW (KECA, LOS ANGELES)\n[Wednesday—8:00-8:30 PM]\nMay 5, 1948\n[RADIOGOLDINDEX: “Lou becomes mayor of Encino and has to\ninvestigate the spooky house owned by guest Bela Lugosi (who has\nsome trouble reading his lines)…”]\nTHE MARTHA DEANE PROGRAM (WOR, NEW YORK)\n[Monday—10:15-11:00 AM]\nAugust 9, 1948\n[“…Guests—Everett R. Smith and Bela Lugosi…”]\nVARIETY (WCBS, NEW YORK)\n[Monday—6:30-6:45 PM]\nNovember 22, 1948\n[“…Herb Schriner; Raymond Scott Quintet; Guest—Bela Lugosi…”]\nTALES OF FATIMA (KNX, HOLLYWOOD)\n[Saturday—6:30-7:00 PM]\nSeptember 10, 1949\n“The Man in the Shadows”\nCRIME DOES NOT PAY (MGM DISC SERIES ON WMGM, NEW YORK]\n[Monday—7:30-8:00 PM]\nDecember 12, 1949\n“Gasoline Cocktail”\nCANDID MICROPHONE (KNX, HOLLYWOOD)\n[Tuesday—6:30-7:00 PM]\nJune 27, 1950\n[“…Bela Lugosi, Guest…”]\n(RECORDING MADE AT WCAX, BURLINGTON)\nCirca July 1950 “The Cask of Amontillado”\nTHE BUDDY ROGERS SHOW (WOR, NEW YORK)\n[Wednesday—3:00-3:30 PM]\nJanuary 3, 1951\n[“…Bela Lugosi, Guest…”]\nTHE BETTY CROCKER MAGAZINE OF THE AIR (KECA, LOS ANGELES)\n[Monday—10:55-11:15 PM]\nJanuary 29, 1951\n[“…Bela Lugosi discarded a Dracula outfit for a kitchen apron… Mr.\nLugosi told his air audience of several Hungarian delicacies—also of how\nhe and Mrs. Lugosi, now celebrating their 18th anniversary, first met…”]\nRadio programs about Lugosi:\nTHE FRIDAY PLAY (RADIO 4, EDINBURGH)\n[Friday—9:00-?? PM]\nNovember 9, 2001\n“There Are Such Things”\n[“…written and performed by Edinburgh Fringe veterans Steven\nMcNicoll and Mark McDonnell…based on the fluctuating career of the\nHungarian-born actor Bela Lugosi… Focusing on Lugosi and his well-\ndocumented struggle to escape from the role that had typecast him, the\nplay went on to receive the Hamilton Deane award for best dramatic\npresentation from the Dracula Society in 2002…”]",
  "sources": "",
  "gallery": "",
  "images": []
}