{
  "title": "THE BLACK CHAPEL",
  "category": "[RADIO-SERIES]",
  "article": "\"It is a quarter of an hour until midnight...the time when, each Friday night, we visit the Black\nChapel...\"\nA fifteen-minute series broadcast always at \"a quarter of an hour until midnight\" and featuring\nthe sinister intonations of Ted Osborne, who also was a regular on the Los Angeles version of The\nWitch's Tale and would later (in 1940) play Edgar Allan Poe on KECA's Once Upon A Midnight.\nCreated by KNX continuity director Hector Chevigny (1904-1965), who was born Hector\nChevigny de la Chevrotiere in Missoula, Montana. After graduating from Gonzaga University in\n???????, he…\nIn addition to Chevigny, two other alumnae of Seattle radio were involved with the show.\nOrganist Ivan Ditmars and announcer Art Gilmore…\nOsborne was a multi-talented radio professional, functioning equally well in front of the\nmicrophone and behind the scenes. His work as a radio writer led to his hiring by Walt Disney.\nMickey-stripper Floyd Gottfredson remembered Osborne’s work in his department: “Ted Osborne\nand Dick Creedon were writers on a comedy-variety radio show that ran on KHJ… Walt brought\nthe two fellows out from this radio show to develop a Mickey Mouse radio show. They produced\nsome shows, but it didn’t last very long. When the radio show failed, Walt had to find something\nelse for Ted and Dick to do. So, he gave me Ted Osborne to write the comic strip material… Ted\nOsborne was my first regular writer… So, from that time on, Ted and I worked together…”\n“Disney assigned Ted Osborne to the Mickey strips to help Gottfredson in 1933 (\"Pluto and the\nDogcatcher\"). “Merrill de Maris at that time was in the Story Department, so he traded them.\n[Walt] took Osborne up to story and sent de Maris won to me. After three of four months,\nsomething like that, he became unhappy with Osborne in Story, and was now becoming\nimpressed with what de Maris was doing on the comic strips, so he traded again. I was never\nconsulted on these things. Walt would just call and inform me that he was making the switch.\nFinally, in late '37 or early '38, Walt made the last change and sent de Maris back to me and took\nOsborne back into Story. De Maris was a very talented writer, but Osborne was sort of\nmechanical. He had a tremendous gag file, but he did everything by formula. So, I had to make a\ndecision, and decided to keep de Maris. Osborne left the Studio then…”\n[Fresno Bee, October 3, 1931] “Tonight’s program of the Merrymakers…is Ted Osborne’s\nfarewell gesture in the manufacturing of comedy for this popular Saturday evening feature.\nOsborne is to become associated with Walt Disney in the preparation of the Mickey Mouse\ncartoon comedies.” [1945] “Ted Osborne, who appears weekly in character parts for ‘Mystery\nTheater,’ estimates that he’s appeared on every single program on the air; sounds impossible…”\n“Wasn’t that a funny story?” the Voice would often quip at the grisly conclusion of his tale.\n“Playwrights…know the necessity for comedy in horror or mystery plays,” Chevigny expanded on\nthe topic.  “Audiences can endure only so much of the gruesome; unless the comedy relief is\nprovided and skillfully timed in the writing of the play, audiences will start laughing at the horror\nwhich they no longer can endure.”\nGradually the show built up a loyal following and the occasional favorable press comment. In\nApril of 1938, when Boris Karloff was guest-starring on Chicago’s Lights Out program, William\nMoyes, the acerbic radio reviewer for The Oregonian, deemed his appearances a yawnful flop by\ncomparison with the creepiness of Ted Osborne. “Boruss,” declared Moyes, “never once sounded\nhalf as scarey as the CBS chapel narrator.”\nSeveral theaters in the San Francisco Bay area offered what they advertised as the “Black Chapel\nClub,” which was a piping-in to the theater the show at 11:45 on Friday nights. The Oaks in\nBerkeley, the Franklin in Oakland…\n[Oakland Tribune, February 23, 1939—“Franklin Horror Film Proves Hit”] “That the famed\nscreen monster, Frankenstein’s creation, is still a box office magnet is being amply proven at the\nFranklin this week, where all through the holiday, standees attested to the pull of the ‘Son of\nFrankenstein’…\n“…A special event Friday night only at the late show will be the addition of the radio shudder\nbroadcast, ‘Black Chapel’…”\n[Reno Evening Gazette, October 21, 1939] “…nearly two hundred students of the University of\nNevada presented the annual Wolves’ Frolic, homecoming musical show… Sundowners, good\nfellowship group, produced a take-off on the radio program ‘The Black Chapel’ and promised next\nyear to tell the public about the ‘mystery of the missing Nevada gymnasium’.”\nConsidering its ultimate permutations in the multi-national context—how it was transposed to\nMexican radio, and the character of the Crazy Monk ultimately became an authentic icon of\nMexican popular culture—The Black Chapel may be seen to have had probably the most unique\nhistory of any radio horror program and also—arguably—have been the most influential of any\nseries in the genre—even more so than The Witch’s Tale or Lights Out or Inner Sanctum.",
  "origination": "KNX, Hollywood, California (CBS Coast).",
  "duration": "October 11-November 1, 1936 (Sunday series), November 7-December 26, 1936 (Saturday\nseries), January 4-July 19, 1937 (Monday series), July 22, 1937-September 29, 1938 (Thursday series),\nOctober 7, 1938-July 21, 1939 (Friday series).",
  "personnel": "Hector Chevigny (scriptwriter, 1936-1937), Ivan Ditmars (organist), Art Gilmore\n(announcer), Roderick Ainsworth Mays (scriptwriter, 1938-1939), Ted Osborne (\"Voice of the Black Chapel\"\naka “The Priest of the Black Chapel” aka “The Black Priest” aka \"The Mad Monk\"), Carlos del Prado\n(scriptwriter, 1937).",
  "extant_recordings": "\"The Mystery of the Crawling Terror\" (3/15/37), \"The Mahogany Coffin\"\n(1/6/39).",
  "chronology": "THE BLACK CHAPEL (KNX, HOLLYWOOD—CBS COAST)\n[Sunday—11:45 PM-12:00 MIDNIGHT]\nOctober 11, 1936\n“The Death of Hubert Condon”\nOctober18, 1936\n[“…The Voice of the Black Chapel will tell why the hair of John O’Connor\nturned white over night…”]\nOctober 25, 1936\n“The Beast Face in the Mirror”\nNovember 1, 1936\n[Saturday—11:45 PM-12:00 MIDNIGHT]\nNovember 7, 1936\nNovember 14, 1936\nNovember 21, 1936\n“The Mask [sic] of the Red Death”\nNovember 28, 1936\n“The Revenge of Fortunato”\n[“…a spine-chilling tale of Italy’s catacombs…”]\nDecember 5, 1936\nDecember 12, 1936\nDecember 19, 1936\nDecember 26, 1936\n[Monday—11:45 PM-12:00 MIDNIGHT]\nJanuary 4, 1937\nJanuary 11, 1937\nJanuary 18, 1937\n“The Horrible Fate of an Inveterate Punster”\n[“…Puns come more or less under the head of pun-ishable offences\naccording to pundits... And when a play story is based upon a play on\nwords, its practically a major crime, say members of the Society for the\nSuppression of Puns. The punster gets his tonight…but the author\nescapes unscathed. The pun theme will be aired in the ‘Black Chapel’\nspot, and will come punning its way out of the loudspeaker at a quarter to\nmidnight…”]\nJanuary 25, 1937\n“The Mystery of the Dissection Room”\nFebruary 1, 1937\nFebruary 8, 1937\n“Death on the Treadmill”\nFebruary 15, 1937\n“The Case of the Voo-doo Drums”\nFebruary 22, 1937\n“The Tell-Tale Heart”\nMarch 1, 1937\n“The Case of the Egyptian Sarcophagus”\nMarch 8, 1937\n[“…story of a fraternity banquet…”]\nMarch 15, 1937\n“The Mystery of the Crawling Terror”\nEXTANT RECORDING\n[OG-NOTE: The existing recording of “The Mystery of the Crawling Terror” may not be\nthe 3/15/37 broadcast verbatim, but rather an audition disc of some sort, perhaps a\npilot for a transcription spin-off of the series. Reference is made by the announcer to\nthe series running five nights a week, which was never true of the KNX program. Has\nanyone ever seen the actual disc of this show? The label may provide some clue to its\ntrue nature.]\nMarch 22, 1937\n“The Mystery of the Murder with the Blank Cartridge”\nMarch 29, 1937\n“The Mystery of the Phantom Ship”\nApril 5, 1937\n“The Mystery of the O’Fallon Catacomb”\nApril 12, 1937\n“The Black Cat”\nApril 19, 1937\n“The Hypnosis of Dr. Davidson”\nApril 26, 1937\n“The Mystery of the Mass Murders in Miami”\n[“…Why did the spirit of Mazie Leech arise from its coffin to do murder?\nWhy did her fingers of death take terrible vengeance for age-old\nwrongs?…”]\nMay 3, 1937\n“The Horrible Case of the Polish Pianist”\nMay 10, 1937\n“The Mask [sic] of the Red Death”\nMay 17, 1937\nMay 24, 1937\n“The Horrible Case of the Wandering Somnambulist”\n[“…The Voice, seated at the ruined old studio organ, pecking at the\ncracked keys with talon hands, moans that this bedtime story is designed\nto quiet forever those who believe not in the supernatural, who scoff at\nghosts, as did the Somnambulist until—until—heh heh heh heh heh heh—\nonly the Voice can tell…”]\nMay 31, 1937\n“The Case of the Eleven Open Graves”\nJune 7, 1937\n“The Horrible Case of the Man-Eating Plants”\n[“…The story deals with Dr. Hugo Langsforff, a noted but much-hated\nscientific wizard, who develops sea anemone to gigantic size in order to\nget rid of his enemies…”]\nJune 14, 1937\n“The Case of the Eight Chained Orang-Outangs”\nJune 21, 1937\n“The Mystery of the Music in the Fourth Dimension”\n[“…the story of Doctor von Langsdorff who attempted to write a\ntone poem in the fourth dimension although authorities called him\ncrazy…”]\nJune 28, 1937\n“The Secret of the Chapman Crypt”\nJuly 5, 1937\n“The Case of the Eleven Dead Pearl Divers”\nJuly 12, 1937\nJuly 19, 1937\n[Thursday—11:45 PM-12:00 MIDNIGHT]\nJuly 22, 1937\n“The Case of the Yellow Murder”\n[“…A young chemist plans to poison his aunt to inherit a lot of money.”]\nJuly 29, 1937\n“The Human Gargoyle”\n[“…The central figure is a sculptor whose desire for money leads him to\ncommit a murder…”]\nAugust 5, 1937\nAugust 12, 1937\n“The Blue Requiem”\n[“…a story of a young and gifted composer found dead in his studio,\npresumably a suicide… A man asks permission to stay with the body for\nan entire night in order to get inspiration for a ‘Blue Requiem’ to be\nplayed at the funeral. Something supernatural happens…”]\nAugust 19, 1937\n“The Mystery of the Penguin Palace”\nAugust 26, 1937\n“The Franciscan Cross”\n[“…An Indian about to die tells an old mining prospector about buried\ntreasure, supposedly left behind by Franciscan monks forced to leave\ntheir mission. The miner, overcome by greed, goes in search of the\ntreasure…”]\nSeptember 2, 1937\n[“…the theft of a valuable emerald in Tibet…”]\nSeptember 9, 1937\n“The Strange Case of Sister Filomena”\nSeptember 16, 1937\n“Dr. Roumanoff’s Marvelous Microbe”\n[“…a Russian phrenologist and his unique method of revenge”]\nSeptember 23, 1937\n“The Mystery of the Black Lagoon”\nSeptember 30, 1937\n“The Strange Case of Abigail Norton”\n[“…A brother and sister, both unmarried, are left the property of\ntheir mother. If a hint of insanity develops in one, the other is to have the\nentire estate. Greed enters into the situation…”]\nOctober 7, 1937\n“The Reincarnation of Vilma Bordoni”\n[“…the story of a plastic surgeon whose mind is crazed by the loss of his\nyoung wife, killed in an accident…”]\nOctober 14, 1937\n“The Strange Case of the Mad Alchemist”\nOctober 21, 1937\n“The Strange Case of the Seven Dead Cats”\nOctober 28, 1937\n“The Mystery of the Voice from the Dead”\n[“…a story of two brothers and a dead uncle…”]\nNovember 4, 1937\n“The Mystery of the Black Sepulcher”\n[“…the story of a chap who stole bodies for medical students to\ndissect…”]\nNovember 11, 1937\n“The Horrible Case of Dame Weatherbee’s Curse”\n[“…Dame Weatherbee, who causes a great deal of unhappiness, is the\ncentral figure in the horror tale…”]\nNovember 18, 1937\n“The Horrible Case of the Seven Floating Bodies”\nNovember 25, 1937\n“The Strange Case of the Vampire Bats”\nDecember 2, 1937\n“The Strange Case of Esmeralda Taylor”\n[“…the story of a normal girl who becomes a haunted, neurotic\nwoman…”]\nDecember 9, 1937\n“The Strange Case of the Evil Eye”\nDecember 16, 1937\n“The Horrible Case of Anthony Graves”\nDecember 23, 1937\n“The Case of the Living Dead”\n[“…Zombies, a witch doctor, an avaricious Frenchman, and his young\npartner…”]\nDecember 30, 1937\nJanuary 6, 1938\n“The Horrible Case of the Head Without a Body”\n[“…Spreading a heavy layer of horror over the air, the Voice of the Black\nChapel moans its way through another delightful tale designed to send us\nto bed with pleasant dreams. His story concerns a medical professor who\nharbored a nice plot to decapitate a human being and keep the living\nhead on a pedestal…”]\nJanuary 13, 1938\n“The Case of the Madman’s Formula”\nJanuary 20, 1938\n“The Weird Case of the Werewolf Killings”\nJanuary 27, 1938\n“The Gruesome Case of the Murderous Mechanic”\nFebruary 3, 1938\n“The Ghastly Case of the Shipwrecked Scientist”\n[“…It is the tale of what greed will do to a person…”]\nFebruary 10, 1938\n“The Terrifying Case of the Plague-Ridden Village”\nFebruary 17, 1938\nFebruary 24, 1938\n“The Strange Case of the Partners-in-Crime”\nMarch 3, 1938\n“The Horrible Case of the Cat and the Bride”\nMarch 10, 1938\n“The Horrible Case of the Cat and the Bride”\nMarch 17, 1938\n“The Eerie Case of the Fisherman’s Dream”\nMarch 24, 1938\n“The Weird Case of the Parisian Music Lover”\nMarch 31, 1938\n“The Mysterious Case of Black Magic”\n[“…story of a scorned suitor who seeks the services of an old woman,\nreputed to be a witch, to cast an evil spell over the girl who did not return\nhis affections…”]\nApril 7, 1938\n“The Gruesome Case of the Jaguar’s Eyes”\nApril 14, 1938\n“The Uncanny Case of the Lost Indian Treasure”\nApril 21, 1938\n“The Case of the Castle of Murdered Men”\nApril 28, 1938\n“Six Dead Men on a Treadmill”\nMay 5, 1938\n“The Macabre Case of the Two Old Friends”\nMay 12, 1938\n“The Ghastly Case of the Forbidden City”\nMay 19, 1938\n“The Horrible Case of Gila Monster Hill”\nMay 26, 1938\n“The Fearful Case of the Trapper’s Ghost”\nJune 2, 1938\n“The Horrible Case of the Climax of Discord”\nJune 9, 1938\n“The Gruesome Case of the Three Brothers”\nJune 16, 1938\n“The Weird Case of the White Witch Doctor”\n[“…the story of a white physician who became a witch doctor of a tribe of\nblacks in Africa…”]\nJune 23, 1938\n“The Grisly Case of Ebeneezer’s Children”\nJune 30, 1938\n“The Terrifying Case of Murder on Lonely Lake”\nJuly 7, 1938\n“The Diabolic Case of the Devil’s Point Pirates”\nJuly 14, 1938\n“The Horrible Case of the Man without a Memory”\n[“…the story of an amnesia victim who awakens in a grave and\nremembers nothing of his past life…”]\nJuly 21, 1938\n“The Grotesque Case of the Man Who Couldn’t Be Killed”\nJuly 28, 1938\n“The Macabre Case of the Seven of Spades”\n[“…When Charles Ormay arrives at the home of a boyhood friend he sees\na knife sticking through a card, the seven of spades, on a dining room\ntable, a broken window and a curtain on the floor. What follows these\ndiscoveries will be related by the Voice of the Black Chapel…”]\nAugust 4, 1938\n“The Mysterious Case of the Ghost of Hangman’s Gulch”\nAugust 11, 1938\n“The Ghastly Case of the Man Who Wasn’t Dead”\nAugust 18, 1938\n“The Sardonic Case of the Twin Sisters”\n[“…The Voice of the Black Chapel continues to keep dialers up late to get\na nightcap of horror before turning in for a ‘turn and toss’ rest between\nthe sheets… The story tells of murder, a twisted mind avid for power and\na serpent ring with an emerald eye…”]\nAugust 25, 1938\n“The Mystifying Case of Jonathan Gray”\nSeptember 1, 1938\n“The Gruesome Case of the Suicide Pact”\n[“…what happened when an Oriental maid kept a tryst with a plotter with\nwhom she had made a suicide pact to jump into a flaming volcano…”]\nSeptember 8, 1938\n“The Fantastic Case of the Whistling Parrot”\n[“…a story of a college professor and his insane wife…”]\nSeptember 15, 1938\n“The Incredible Case of the Living Head”\nSeptember 22, 1938\n“The Dismal Case of the Deserted Monastery”\n[“…about a man who was afraid of death so worked and searched to find\nthe key to eternal life…”]\nSeptember 29, 1938\n“The Case of Even Money on Murder”\n[“…It is the story of an author and his friend who are bored with life.”]\n[Friday—11:45 PM-12:00 MIDNIGHT]\nOctober 7, 1938\n“The Uncanny Case of the Third Murder”\n[“…concerned with two sons who seek to avenge the death of their father\nwho had been falsely accused and shot for betraying his country.”]\nOctober 14, 1938\n“The Gruesome Case of the Wolf Man”\n[Announced as “The Wolf Hunter.” “…It is a story of primitive life on the\nSiberian Steppes…”]\nOctober 21, 1938\n“The Hideous Case of the White Dungeon”\n[“…a horror tale of a son who wants to control his father’s estate without\nany advice from his older brother…”]\nOctober 28, 1938\n“The Gruesome Case of the Hallowe’en Joke”\n[“…concerned with an old man who attempts to get revenge for a\ndisappointment in love 40 years before…”]\nNovember 4, 1938\n“The Weird Case of the Parisian Music Lover”\nNovember 11, 1938\n“The Strange Case of Elias Wick”\nNovember 18, 1938\n“The Mysterious Case of the Man in Gray”\nNovember 25, 1938\n“The Ghastly Case of the Criminal in Command”\nDecember 2, 1938\n“The Weird Case of the Maniacal Doctor Means”\nDecember 9, 1938\n“The Weird Case of the Unexpected Guest”\nDecember 16, 1938\n“The Hideous Tale of the Malevolent Butler\"\nDecember 23, 1938\n“The Tale of Four Dinner Guests and a Murderer”\nDecember 30, 1938\n“The Death Song Murder”\nJanuary 6, 1939\n“The Mahogany Coffin”\nEXTANT RECORDING\nJanuary 13, 1939\n“The Sinister Tale of the Strange Bequest”\nJanuary 20, 1939\n“The Direful Tale of the Midnight Listeners”\nJanuary 27, 1939\n“The Gruesome Case of the Beautiful Witch”\nFebruary 3, 1939\n“The Horrible Case of the Hounded Cripple”\nFebruary 10, 1939\n“The Rockabye Baby Murder”\nFebruary 17, 1939\n“The Strange Case of Sylvester Black”\nFebruary 24, 1939\n“The Remarkable Case of the Surgeon’s Hands”\n[“…a famous surgeon whose hands are lost in an accident…”]\nMarch 3, 1939\n“The Strange Case of the Unknown Fingerprints”\nMarch 10, 1939\n“The Horrible Case of Anthony Wolfe”\nMarch 17, 1939\n“The Sinister Case of the Forest of Death”\nMarch 24, 1939\n“The Eerie Case of the Midnight Séance”\nMarch 31, 1939\n“The Macabre Case of the April Fools Joke”\nApril 7, 1939\n“The Tale the Dead Man Told”\nApril 14, 1939\n“The Fearful Case of the Black Point Spectre”\n[“…Story of a ghost ship that visits the bleak coasts of Labrador and\nNewfoundland each spring…”]\nApril 21, 1939\n“The Horrible Case of the Man Who Sold His Corpse”\nApril 28, 1939\n“The Uncanny Case of Jeremy James”\nMay 5, 1939\n“The Strange Hypnosis of Dr. Davidson”\nMay 12, 1939\n“The Uncanny Case of the Black Cat”\nMay 19, 1939\n“The Gruesome Tale of the Sinking Death”\nMay 26, 1939\n“The Gruesome Case of the Mad Scientist”\nJune 2, 1939\n“The Uncanny Case of the Iron Maiden”\nJune 9, 1939\n“The Weird Mystery of the Catacombs”\nJune 16, 1939\n“The Gruesome Case of the Grinning Corpse”\nJune 23, 1939\n“The Sinister Case of Mr. Vorhees”\n[“…a tale of murder in a darkened skyscraper at midnight…”]\nJune 30, 1939\n“The Gruesome Mystery of the House on the Hill”\nJuly 7, 1939\n“The Sinister Case of Leviticus Pettigrew”\nJuly 14, 1939\n“The Uncanny Case of the Black Crow”\nJuly 21, 1939\n“The Tale of the Monastery Crypt”",
  "sources": "PERIODICALS: Los Angeles Times, Hollywood Citizen-News, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, San\nJose Mercury Herald.",
  "gallery": "",
  "images": []
}