{
  "title": "THE DRAGON IN THE SUN",
  "category": "[RADIO-SERIAL]",
  "article": "The second mystery-adventure serial by Carlton E. Morse. “Written by Carlton E. Morse and\nKeltner Williamson around an old Mayan legend…” “…an absorbing chapter story of love, hate\nand terror, laid in that mysterious land of legend, the Central American jungle…” “Carlton E.\nMorse and Keltner Williamson are the authors of this mystery serial throughout which runs a\nbreath of that curious mingling of barbarism and the marvelous civilization which was the Empire\nof the ancient Mayans.”\nIt has been questioned whether Keltner Williamson was a real person or just a name conjured\nup by Morse to be an “expert” to lend authenticity to the production. Williamson would appear to\nindeed have been a real person, a scriptwriter briefly active at KGO during 1930 and 1931, turning\nout yarns for The Story Teller, The NBC Drama Hour and other KGO originations. Among his\nradio works were “Sonny” (NBC Drama Hour, June 10, 1931), “The Shadow of Allah” (The Story\nTeller, October 1, 1931), “Jungle (NBC Drama Hour, June 24, 1931), “Yang-Tse” (NBC Drama\nHour, July 29, 1931),  and “Two A.M.” (The Story Teller, June 25, 1931), described as “a realistic\nwar play.”\n“Black priests of the Mexican jungle, scientists digging in ruins of decayed temples, ancient\ndocuments and a mysterious owl are a few of the ‘angles’ used in making ‘The Dragon in the Sun’\ninteresting…”\n“The story of ‘The Dragon in the Sun’ is based on authentic archeological documents known to\nscientists which tell of a hidden city in the jungles of Mexico. This city is the headquarters of an\nancient race of Mayan priests who have a knowledge of mysticism beyond human conception. In\norder to keep mankind in ignorance of their secrets which have great destructive powers, they\nhave sworn to wipe out everyone who has any knowledge of this city.”\n“Each episode in this serial reveals an advancement on the part of the scientists towards this\nsacred city. The obstacles are many, for the mad priest of the Temple of the Sun has many agents\nwho will stop at nothing to prevent a white man from finding the lost city.”\nOakland Tribune radio columnist K. L. Ecksan wrote, after listening to the ninth episode of The\nDragon in the Sun, this bit of doggerel: “We get a most amazing thrill…From books of death and\nhorror still…But now we’ve found an added way…To trace the fearful interplay…Of violence and\nhate and fear…On Horror Night we lend an ear…To shot and scream and fatal blow…As offered\non the radio.” He also referred to Morse’s mystery serials as “plays that are melodramatic and full\nof strange noises suggestive of static.”",
  "origination": "KGO, San Francisco, California (NBC PACIFIC COAST RED).",
  "duration": "July 18-September 19, 1930.",
  "personnel": "Charles McAllister (director), Carlton E. Morse (scriptwriter), Keltner Williamson\n(scriptwriter).\nCAST: Bobbe Dean (Connie Carter), Bert Horton (Henry Biggs), Richard LeGrand (The Werewolf), Rollon\nParker (Carlos), George Rand (Mark Wells), Fred Thomas (Dr. Carter), Elizabeth Wilbur (Mrs. Roberto\nSantos).",
  "extant_recordings": "None.\n[OG-NOTE: A revamped version of this serial was presented on the author’s 1945 syndicated program Adventures by\nMorse under the title “The Land of the Living Dead.” All ten chapters of this version survive.]\nTHE DRAGON IN THE SUN (KGO, SAN FRANCISCO—NBC-PACIFIC COAST RED)\n[Friday—10:00-10:30 PM]\nJuly 18, 1930\n[PART 1] “The Feathered Serpent Strikes”\n[“…In the first episode a party of explorers come across some ancient\ndocuments while exploring the monastery of a powerful priesthood in the\njungles of Mexico. This data gives them a trace of the location of the\nsecret city. Just as young Carter is returning to his father to tell him of\nfurther important discoveries he is mysteriously killed by an Indian girl,\none of the many world wide agents of the priests. At the conclusion of the\nplay the whole party finds itself marked for death…”]\nJuly 25, 1930\n[PART 2] “The Gorilla at Sea”\n[“…A ship in a thick fog bound for Mexico provides the setting for the\nsecond episode… The condemned group of San Franciscans are fleeing by\nsea to a monastery to escape the ‘net of death spread by the Mayan\npriesthood’… But it seems that members of the Mayan brotherhood have\nfollowed the party to sea to recover the map of a secret passage to the\nSacred City. ‘Doc’, who knows where the map is and won’t tell, is\ncaptured by one of the pursuers… He is rescued from the clutches of a\ngorilla man, who jumps overboard… There are two regular gorillas down\nin the hold of the ship and a werewolf running loose on deck, so the\ndialers can settle down comfortably to several Friday nights of thrills and\nspinal chills…”]\nAugust 1, 1930\n[PART 3] “Death Comes to Chiapas”\n[OG-NOTE: This episode was originally announced as “The Green-\nEyed Murderess Again.”]\n[“…A forgotten city, lost in the tropic jungles of Mexico, is the locale of\nthe third episode… A group of scientists is about to be sacrificed to a\nMexican rain god. They were captured while attempting to outwit the\nmad priest of the jungle city, who has the power to break or make\ncivilization…”]\n[“…Only two of the party of five who are on their way to the Sacred City of\nthe Sun were left to carry on after last night’s episode… Mrs. Santos,\nsuspected of having some connection with the Mayan order which Dr.\nCarter and the other members of the party are fighting, disappeared. So\ndid Carter’s daughter. Henry, another member of the party, was captured\nand is being held as hostage. Dr. Carter and his one remaining\ncompanion started out last night through the jungles in search of the\nsecret entrance to the City of the Sun…”]\nAugust 8, 1930\n[PART 4] “The Tree That Eats Flesh”\nAugust 15, 1930\n[PART 5] “The Stairway to the Sun”\n[“…Dr. Carter and his friends reach the monastery in the city of Chiapas.\nHe learns of the whereabouts of his missing daughter, Connie… Evidence\npoints strongly to Mrs. Roberto Santos as the enemy rather than the\nfriend of Dr. Carter and his party…”]\nAugust 22, 1930\n[PART 6] “The Chamber of Tortures”\nAugust 29, 1930\n[PART 7] “What Becomes of the Living Dead”\n[OG-NOTE: Originally announced as “The Terror of the Sacred City”]\n[“…Connie Carter was taken before one of the masters of the Mayan\nBrotherhood by her captor, the Werewolf, in last night’s episode… She\nwas informed that she was to be made Empress of the World when the\nMayans had achieved their purpose of overthrowing the present\ncivilization. Mrs. Santos was taken into the torture chamber.  Dr. Carter,\nMark Wells and Henry Biggs were seeking to effect Connie’s rescue at the\nclose of last night’s chapter…”]\nSeptember 5, 1930\n[PART 8] “A Glimpse of the SacredCity”\n[“…Only two more days are left to save the world, threatened by the\nmalignant forces of the ancient Mayan priesthood whose hidden city a\nlittle group of Americans have found…”]\n[“…Dr. Carter and his companions, Mark and Henry, got a glimpse of the\nSacred City of the Sun during last night’s episode… They had to climb up\nto the top of a mountain from the inside to get the view… Connie, Dr.\nCarter’s daughter, was still in the hands of the Mayans… The announcer\npromised that the hiding place of Connie would be revealed next\nweek…”]\nSeptember 12, 1930\n[PART 9] “What Happened to Judas”\n[OG-NOTE: Originally announced as “On the Trail of Montezuma’s Treasure”]\n[“…Up the mysterious Stairway of the Sun to find—what? This is the\nsituation upon which tonight’s episode opens its action… The little group\nof Americans are still seeking to penetrate the murder mystery which\nbegan in San Francisco and led them to the Sacred City of the ancient\nMayans… Tonight’s episode gives them their first glimpse of the city, and\nbrings a new angle in the activities of Tula, the girl with green eyes,\nwhom they believe to be the murder agent of the Mayan priesthood in\nwhose plot they have become entangled…”]\n[“…Connie Carter was found during last night’s episode… Mrs. Santos,\nwhom the other members of the party has suspected of ‘double crossing’\nthem, proved her good faith by taking them to the room where Connie\nwas hidden safely away. Connie told the story of her capture in the\nmonastery and how the hideous creature known as the Werewolf, turned\nupon her captor, who was one of the Mayan masters. The members of the\nparty, headed by Mrs. Santos, entered the city of the sun, disguised as\nMayans. Mrs. Santos disclosed a plan of destroying the city by\ndynamiting a wall of sandstone that holds back a mountain lake from a\nlake of molten lava. Feeling that this was the only way to save civilization,\nthe others agreed to her plan. They discovered Montezuma’s treasure\nwhile waiting to put their plan into execution…”]\nSeptember 19, 1930\n[PART 10] “What Happened to Three Women”\n[OG-NOTE: Originally announced as “What Becomes of Three Women.”]\n[“…The secret passageway to the room full of gold hidden by Montezuma\nover 400 years ago is discovered by the explorers… In this episode the\nexplorers are getting ready to blow up the city which is the stronghold of\nthe powerful faction of priests known as the Brotherhood of the Sun. In\ndoing so they may also cause their own deaths…”]\n[“…Tula, the mystery girl, it was revealed, was the daughter of Mrs.\nSantos, who led Dr. Carter and the rest of the party against the Mayans\nwho had threatened to destroy civilization. The head of the movement\nagainst civilization was not a Mayan, but an English anthropologist, who\nhad become a victim of the hallucination that he was the re-incarnation\nof the head of the Mayan cult. The means by which he planned to destroy\ncivilization was also revealed. A chemical that disintegrated the cells of\nthe human body, was to be spread over the entire world in the form of\nfine powder dropped from planes. It was in one of these planes that Tula,\nshaking off the Mayan yoke, flew to the rescue of her mother and the rest\nof the party when they blew up the City of the Sun and destroyed the last\nliving evidence of the birth of civilization…”]",
  "chronology": "",
  "sources": "",
  "gallery": "",
  "images": []
}