{
  "title": "THE DEVIL’S SCRAPBOOK",
  "category": "[RADIO-SERIES]",
  "article": "“I am the Devil…\nIn the latter half of 1938 Charles Penman, a radio jack-of-all-trades (actor, announcer, director)\nwho had been associated with WJR since the beginning of the decade, moved from Detroit to Los\nAngeles to take over the position of production manager at KHJ, the mother station of the Don\nLee Broadcasting System. Shortly after assuming his duties, he created a horror series very much\nin the mold of The Hermit’s Cave, which he had directed at WJR ever since its premiere broadcast\nin 1935.\n[Penman’s background] In 1929 he toured with the Walker Whiteside company and, together\nwith future Inner Sanctum host Paul McGrath, gave villainous gusto to the eerie mystery play,\nThe Hindu. “Penman spent much of his boyhood in India where his father was interested in the\nruby industry…lived in Burma and is an expert on the customs and habits of the Orientals.\n‘Practically all my waking hours were spent riding elephants,’ says Penman.”\nPenman had a deep voice and a rich melodramatic delivery—with intonation somewhat akin to\nLionel Barrymore—which he had employed at WJR for a variety of styles and broadcast purposes,\nfrom the reading of sentimental verse to the raising of  gooseflesh on late-night listeners. As “The\nDevil” he…\n[Broadcasting, Feb. 15, 1939] “Charles Penman, production manager of Don Lee Broadcastin\nSystem, Los Angeles, has taken on additional duties of program director of television broadcasts.\nChange relieves Jaime del Valle of the television post, permitting him additional radio production\nactivity.”\n[Broadcasting, May 15, 1939] “Charles Penman, production manager and television program\ndirector of Don Lee Broadcasting System, Los Angeles, has resigned to free lance. Jaime del Valle,\nwho formerly was television program director of W6XAO, has returned to that post.”\n[Oakland Tribune, July 5, 1939] “Mr. Benet Costa writes the Devil’s Scrapbook, and Billy\nBletcher plays the part of the Devil.”\n[Broadcasting, May 15, 1940] “Charles D. Penman, formerly production manager and director\nof television for the Don Lee network, has joined the NBC-Chicago production department\nreplacing Gordon T. Hughes, resigned.”\n[Amarillo Globe-Times, George Turner, October 10, 1974] “A great radio voice was that of\nCharles Penman, star of ‘The Devil’s Scrapbook,’ which scared the trousers off of homebodies\nback in 1938-39. Death, Satan and other characters one prefers to avoid seemed disturbingly real\nin this gloriously evil program nobody seems to remember.”\nORGINATION: KHJ, Los Angeles, California (Mutual-Don Lee).",
  "origination": "",
  "duration": "October 4-25, 1938 (first series), November 21, 1938-July 31, 1939 (second series).",
  "personnel": "Billy Bletcher (voice of “The Devil”—1939), Benet Costa (scriptwriter—1939), Bob Mitchell\n(organist), Charles Penman (producer, voice of “The Devil”—1938-1939).\nCASTS: Noreen Gammill, Charles Penman, Paula Winslowe, et al.",
  "extant_recordings": "“The Conquest Of David Rugg” (11/28/38).",
  "chronology": "THE DEVIL’S SCRAPBOOK (KHJ, LOS ANGELES—MUTUAL-DON LEE)\n[Tuesday—9:30-10:00 PM]\nOctober 4, 1938\nOctober 11, 1938\nOctober 18, 1938\nOctober 25, 1938\n[Monday—10:00-10:30 PM]\nNovember 21, 1938\nNovember 28, 1938\n“The Conquest of David Rugg”\nEXTANT RECORDING\nDecember 5, 1938\nDecember 12, 1938\nDecember 19, 1938\nDecember 26, 1938\nJanuary 2, 1939\nJanuary 9, 1939\nJanuary 16, 1939\nJanuary 23, 1939\nJanuary 30, 1939\nFebruary 6, 1939\nFebruary 13, 1939\nFebruary 20, 1939\nFebruary 27, 1939\nMarch 6, 1939\nMarch 13, 1939\n“The Ghost Express”\n[“…a story of a wealthy girl and a railroad wreck…”]\nMarch 20, 1939\nMarch 27, 1939\nApril 3, 1939\nApril 10, 1939\nApril 17, 1939\n[“…the play will have to do with four convicts and their efforts to escape\nfrom prison on a remote island…”]\nApril 24, 1939\n[“…will have to do with a murder which was committed in a radio\nstation…”]\nMay 1, 1939\nMay 8, 1939\nMay 15, 1939\nMay 22, 1939\nMay 29, 1939\nJune 5, 1939\nJune 12, 1939\nJune 19, 1939\nJune 26, 1939\n[Monday—10:30-11:00 PM]\nJuly 3, 1939\nJuly 10, 1939\n[Monday—10:00-10:30 PM]\nJuly 17, 1939\nJuly 24, 1939\nJuly 31, 1939",
  "sources": "",
  "gallery": "",
  "images": []
}