ANCIENT SORCERIES
[SHORT-STORY]
Story by Algernon Blackwood…
Blackwood: “…that old French town of ‘Ancient Sorceries,’ where the slinking inhabitants
behaved as cats behave, sidling along the pavements with slanting gestures, twitching their sleeky
ears and snakey tails, their sharp eyes glinting, all alert and concentrated upon some hidden,
secret life of their own while they feigned attention to tourists like ourselves—ourselves just back
from climbing in the Dolomites and finding the train so boring on its way from Basle to Boulogne
that we hopped out at Laon and spent two days in this witch-ridden atmosphere. The ‘Auberge de
la Hure’ was the name of the Inn, and it was…Laon, a lovely old haunted town where the
Cathedral towers stand up against the sunset like cats’ ears, the paws running down the dusky
streets, the feline body crouched just below the hill. Yet who should guess that so much magic lay
within a kilometer of its dull, desolate train station, or that from my little bedroom window I
should presently stand enthralled as I looked across the moonlit tiles and towers, jotting down on
the backs of envelopes an experience that kept sleep away till dawn.”
[CHRONOLOGY]
ESCAPE (KNX, HOLLYWOOD—CBS)
[Sunday—7:00-7:30 PM]
February 15, 1948 “Ancient Sorceries”
[Saturday—8:30-9:00 AM]
February 21, 1948 “Ancient Sorceries”
PERSONNEL: William Conrad (announcer), Les Crutchfield (scriptwriter), Eddie
Dunstedter (organist—2/21/48), Cy Feuer (music), Norman Macdonnell
(director), William N. Robson (producer).
CAST: Kaye Brinker (Ilse), William Conrad (Dundreary/The Doctor), Paul Frees
(Arthur Llewellyn), Anne Morrison (Madame).
Escape's "Ancient Sorceries" is based on the short story of the same name
by Algernon Blackwood, a writer who was famous for his tales of horror and
the supernatural. The story was adapated for radio by Les Crutchfield, who
changed and abbreviated it considerably to fit within a half-hour program. In
the radio version, the main character's name is changed to Arthur Llewellyn,
and the setting is a remote part of Wales, rather than France. Escape's version
is good, but it is worth the time to read the short story. The text of "Ancient
Sorceries" can be found on the Algernon Blackwood
page atwww.HorrorMasters.com.
As the episode opens, Mr. Llewellyn is on a train on his way to London. He
impulsively decides to get off and spend the night in a small, Welsh village
named Malton, despite the warning from his fellow passenger. He takes a room
at the local inn, and to his surprise, they seem to have been expecting him. Mr.
Llewellyn soon becomes involved with innkeeper's daughter, Ilse, and discovers
the strange world of the townspeople and what they do in their secret lives.
THE CBS RADIO MYSTERY THEATER (WRVR, NEW YORK—CBS)
[???day—10:07-11:00 PM]
March 27, 1975 “The Velvet Claws”
[“…Vacationing in France, John Latour, a middle-aged bachelor of fixed
habits, finds himself inexplicably drawn into a French town where all the
inhabitants have feline characteristics and appear to know him. A series
of accidents prevent him from leaving, and he falls in love with Ilse,
daughter of the innkeeper, the most cat-like of them all. Ilse is convinced
Latour is the reincarnation of a long-ago warlock and urges him to join a
fiery, demonic celebration of his return…”]
SCRIPT: Murray Burnett.
PERSONNEL: Himan Brown (producer-director).
CAST: Gordon Gould (John Latour), Evelyn Juster (Ilse Duschenes), Gilbert
Mack (Driver), Arnold Moss (Dr. Hazard).
ANCIENT SORCERIES (BBC 7, LONDON—BBC)
[Thursday-Tuesday—6:30-7:00 PM]
September 1, 2005 [1]
[BBC 7: “…Timid commuter Arthur Vezin is struck by how the people of a
sleepy French village resemble cats, both in looks and behaviour…”]
September 2, 2005 [2]
[BBC 7: “…Vezin realises that despite the townsfolk’s apparent
indifference, they are watching him closely…”]
September 5, 2005 [3]
[BBC 7: “…Vezin declares his love for Ilse but realizes that he may only
have fallen deeper into the clutches of her and her mother…”]
September 6, 2005 [4]
[BBC 7: “…Mother and daughter invite Vezin to join them in the witches’
Sabbath but Vezin is suspicious…”]
BOOK AT BEDTIME—“ALGERNON BLACKWOOD GHOST STORIES (RADIO 4,
LONDON)
[Wednesday—
August 2, 2006 “Ancient Sorceries”
[“…An Englishman staying in a sleepy French town makes a terrifying
discovery…”]
SCRIPT: Fiona McAlpine (abridger).
PERSONNEL: Clive Brill (director), Hugh Ross (reader).