AN EXERCISE IN HORROR
[RADIO-SCRIPT]
[press release] “…described by Arch Oboler as ‘a peculiar comedy’…”
ORIGINATION: K???, Los Angeles, California (MBS).
DURATION: May 24, 1945.
PERSONNEL: Arch Oboler (scriptwriter, :director).
EXTANT RECORDINGS: Yes.
ARCH OBOLER’S PLAYS (K???, LOS ANGELES)
[Thursday—
May 24, 1945 “An Exercise in Horror”
[“…With the famous Hollywood
portrayer of villains, Peter Lorre, in the
lead, ‘An Exercise in Horror’ will base
its theme upon the horror-men of our
time, from Boris Karloff to the late
Adolph Hitler…”]
EXIT
[STAGE-PLAY; SHORT-STORY]
Based on a one-act play by his brother Harry, “Exit” was rewritten as a short story
for the BBC by J. Jefferson Farjeon.
No trace of this broadcast has been found in the Times, but on October 20, 1938
was listed “In Reverse,” a short story by J. Jefferson Farjeon.” It ran from 1:00 to
1:20.
“A short story about a group of people at a dinner party, including a newlywed
couple. At the end of the evening they all undertake some ritual that will make
one of them disappear, and never have existed. None of them believe it will occur,
and so they all play along. At the end of the ritual they don't believe anything has
changed, however we learn that from a newlywed couple, the wife has
disappeared and the man is a bachelor - never been married.”
“It’s about a group of people in a hotel in the mountains who play a party game.
The person who suggests the game says he can make one of the group of hotel
guests disappear. They turn the lights off and the game starts. It’s a bit like
hypnosis with the person who suggested the game describing the sensations that
the person who is to disappear will feel (a strange fluttering in the throat etc.). the
lights are turned back on and everyone laughs and says, ‘Well, I didn’t disappear,
etc.’ but it becomes apparent that the young woman who was with her husband at
the beginning of the story is now a single woman. No one has any recollection of
her husband’s existence so he has, in fact, disappeared.”
ORIGINATION: National Programme, London (BBC).
DURATION: September 21, 1937; October 20, 1938.
PERSONNEL: Felix Aylmer (reader—1943, The Wednesday Story), Rupert
Caplan (producer—1937, The Ghost Room), Carleton Hobbs (reader—1937,
National Programme).
EXTANT RECORDINGS:
[The story was published in Best Broadcasting Stories, where it was presented
under its original title, “Exit.”]
THE GHOST ROOM (CRCM, MONTREAL)
[Thursday—10:00-10:30 PM]
June 24, 1937 “Exit”
SHORT STORY (NATIONAL PROGRAMME)
[Tuesday—8:50-9:10 PM]
Sep. 21, 1937 “In Reverse”
(NATIONAL PROGRAMME, LONDON)
[Thursday—1:00-1:20 PM]
Oct. 20, 1938 “In Reverse”
(PROGRAMME FOR THE FORCES)
[Tuesday—10:15-10:30 PM
Aug. 11, 1942 “Exit”
THE WEDNESDAY STORY (PROGRAMME FOR THE FORCES)
[Wednesday—10:10-10:30 PM]
July 7, 1943 “Exit”
[“…written by Harry Farjeon, and
adapted for broadcasting by J.
Jefferson Farjeon; read by Felix
Aylmer. (Previously broadcast on
August 11, 1942…”]