AND ADAM BEGOT
[RADIO-SCRIPT]
A prime example of Arch Oboler’s skill in infusing an anti-fascist message into a horror script.
[press release] “The young dramatist expects to face his biggest casting problem in filling the
roles of the two Neanderthal men which he has written into ‘And Adam Begot.’ He wants a voice,
he explains, which will instantly suggest a cave-man to the radio listener. With that in mind, he
conducted a survey of what people expect in a Neanderthal voice.
“‘A cross-section of the answers,’ Oboler says, ‘suggests a bass-voiced prizefighter, talking
double talk with his mouth full of hot potatoes.’”
It was reprinted in the anthology… and retitled “Neanderthal” for Oboler’s 1970 Lights Out
revival series, The Devil and Mr. O.
[CHRONOLOGY]
LIGHTS OUT (WMAQ, CHICAGO—NBC-RED)
[Wednesday—11:30 PM-12:00 MIDNIGHT]
March 31, 1937 “Homus Primus”
[“…the story of two men and a woman, people of London’s upper strata
of society, who suddenly through a weird twist are projected back in time
50,000 years and find themselves at the mercy of a tribe of
Neanderthalers, the pre-men of the third glacial age…”]
PERSONNEL: Arch Oboler (scriptwriter).
ARCH OBOLER’S PLAYS (WEAF, NEW YORK—NBC-RED)
[Saturday—9:30-10:00 PM]
September 9, 1939 “And Adam Begot”
[“…a powerful social play depicting struggle between force and reason, in
a setting of 50,000 years ago… Three moderns—American, French and
English—who find themselves whirled back in time and two cavemen are
the characters… The drama, presenting contemporary characters moving
against a background of Neanderthal men, poses a question old as time
itself—that of parenthood. Oboler’s fantasy will show that parenthood is
neither a duty nor an obligation, but a rare privilege which is abused
much too often. It also shows the unending struggle between brute force
and ethics…”]
PERSONNEL: Arch Oboler (scriptwriter, director).
EXTANT RECORDING
[OG-NOTE: “And Adam Begot” was scheduled for the October 25, 1940 broadcast of
Oboler’s Everyman’s Theatre, with guest stars Walter Huston and Nan Sunderland.
Instead, in a last-minute switch, the Hustons appeared in another Oboler script, “Mr.
and Mrs. Chump.” The original press release for “And Adam Begot” described it as “a
story of courage that conquers despair, told in a manner that combines fantasy and
realism. The background and incidental music by the NBC Orchestra conducted by
Charles Dant will be taken from the score of Death and Transfiguration by Strauss.”]
THE DEVIL AND MR. O
Circa 1971 “Neanderthal”
[OG-NOTE: Oboler used the 9/9/39 recording for inclusion in this series.]
EXTANT RECORDING