{
  "title": "THE BLACK BOOK",
  "category": "[RADIO-SERIES]",
  "article": "“Come with me down the long corridor…through the shadows…to the secluded study of the\nfamous teller of tales.”\nPaul Frees played the Man in Black in this series which lasted three weeks.\n“On November 2, 1951 Paul rehearsed an audition show for CBS called The Perfect Crime. ‘This\nis The Man in Black. A year ago tonight, an innocent man was murdered in a small New England\nvillage.’ Clyde Ross, the narrator (Frees again), had told his story of killing his rich Sexton friend\nto The Man in Black just before he was executed. Like The Player, all voices were done by Frees,\nthough it read more like a short story.\n“The Man in Black (later The Black Book) audition show was done the following year on\nFebruary 2nd. ‘The Price of the Head’ by John Russell began with the dramatic opening: “Come\nwith me down the long corridor. Through the shadows. To the secluded study of the famous—\nteller of tales.’ As the door opens, a voice like Disneyland’s Ghost Host bids you, ‘Welcome. I—am\nthe Man in Black.’ He sits surrounded by a fantastic collection of books containing the great\nunusual stories of the world, from which he takes each week’s episode. The premiere show, also\nstarring John Dehner, was more action-oriented, less narrative than The Perfect Crime.\n“’I have another story to tell you today,’ speaks the playfully confidential Frees in the opening\nmoment of Nelson Bond’s “On Schedule” on The Black Book. “This one is about a crime in which\nnature, not man, trapped a murderer. Do you want to hear it?’ Trumpets herald the sinister\nmusic, at which point the announcer says, “Now, starring Paul Frees as your teller of tales,\nanother story from The Black Book.’ It was the story of an employee who, having been caught\nembezzling $300, is given a chance to steal a much larger amount with the help of his crooked\nboss. When the employee is caught and offered a lighter sentence to give state’s evidence, the\nemployer knows he has to kill him. He rehearses the killing many times, but is undone when\nsudden light shows him killing in the dark train car. Unfortunately, the employer had only\nrehearsed the dark deed while traveling on night trains; he did not expect sudden daylight to\nshow from an air shaft as they traveled through the tunnel. Frees narrated and portrayed the\nmurderous boss, who would get the chair for this crime. John Dehner was on hand to play the\nthieving employee.”",
  "origination": "KNX, Hollywood, California (CBS).",
  "duration": "February 17-March 2, 1952.",
  "personnel": "Clarence Cassell (announcer), Paul Frees (voice of “The Man in Black”), Norman\nMacdonnell (director), Leith Stevens (music).\nCASTS: John Dehner, Paul Frees.",
  "extant_recordings": "The complete series, plus two audition recordings.",
  "chronology": "THE BLACK BOOK (KNX, HOLLYWOOD—CBS)\n[Sunday—1:15-1:30 PM]\nFebruary 17, 1952\n“On Schedule”\nFebruary 24, 1952\n“My Favorite Corpse”\nMarch 2, 1952\n“The Vagabond Murder”",
  "sources": "",
  "gallery": "",
  "images": []
}