DRUMS OF AFRICA / MOON OVER AFRICA
[RADIO-SERIAL]
The enormous box-office success of the Hollywood films Trader Horn (1930) and Tarzan the Ape
Man (1932) revived the public’s interest in tales of jungle adventure. West Coast radio was quick
to fuel the appetite of its listeners for drama of a wild and exotic nature. Between 1930 and 193?
Edgar Rice Burroughs’ production company released three Tarzan serials on transcription discs,
KFI in Los Angeles had a hit with the Kenya Bill series, and two of Carlton Morse’s serials for
KGO—The Dragon in the Sun and The Return of Captain Post—featured harrowing excursions
into the “heart of darkness” in Mexico and Cambodia, respectively.
[“Georgia Fifield, who teams with Richard Le Grand in KHJ’s new Mr. And Mrs. Skits, is one of
the pioneer troupers of western radio…Came to Los Angeles in 1921 from San Jose, her
birthplace…Since that time has taken part in numerous radio and dramatic productions and
produced more than 400 half-hour one-act plays…In addition to the Mr. and Mrs. Skits she is
appearing on Hollywood Hotel and Bing Crosby’s broadcasts…Claims membership in the
Dominoes and Squids…Likes to attend horse races and usually wins…Resembles Mary Pickford.”]
[VARIETY] “Serial of mysticism and wild animal stuff that combines the elements of a Chandu
and Tarzan. Spotted three times a week, for half-hour periods early in the evening, it is aimed at
the kids, but in this section, where they are suckers for the serial fodder, it will be oke, too, for the
adult dial-turners.
“Story deals with an exploration party searching for a lost white tribe with a romance between
the explorer’s daughter and a young scientist in the party. Cast, recruited from among screen
players, handle the parts unusually well. Good sound effects lend to the illusion of the danger
supposedly existing from animals and hostile natives.”
[K. L. Ecksan, Oakland Tribune, July 7, 1935]
“He was once known as Michael Kelly, but he is now known under his real monicker, Michael
Fitzmaurice, and his distinctive Dublin-English manner of speech is nightly heard over KHJ and
other stations of the Columbia-Don Lee network as he announces various programs.
“He was born in London, April 18, 1908… took his Master of Political Science at Trinity College,
Dublin. During Summer vacations, in keeping with his ambition, he visited British embassies in
all parts of the globe.
“Then came a meeting with a young man named Noel Coward, which completely changed the
Fitzmaurice course of events. Michael joined with the Henry Lonsdell Players when barely out of
his teens, remained with them for nearly two years and then went over to the Abbey Players of
Dublin for a series of plays. Adventure then took Fitzmaurice and a party of friends to Africa on a
crocodile hunt.
“Michael was taken down with jungle fever and returned to England in such impaired health
that his theatrical career had to mark time for several months…
“Straight to Hollywood went 22-year-old Michael, but instead of a place in films, he landed in a
publicity job at a local radio station. This entailed occasional announcing, and his chief finally
seized upon the idea of having him heard under the name of Michael Kelly. ‘Fitzmaurice’ was too
difficult for most persons to spell, and was not sufficiently Irish to suit his boss. Thus, the
‘Michael Kelly” myth came into being…”
As if enough confusion didn’t exist already over the transition from Drums of Africa to Moon
Over Africa, a further mystery has come to light. In March of 1937 the MacGregor-Sollie
transcription company announced the release of a new recorded serial which, from their
description, sounds amazingly like Drums of Africa. Yet it purports to be an entirely brand new
creation. “It was written by Jack Lewis,” asserted the press release, “who spent fourteen years in
Somaliland… ‘Talking Drums’ is the story of a white party headed by Dr. Campbell, an English
scientist. With him are his attractive daughter, Barbara, and a young assistant named Grant.
Their search for African lore takes them into the heart of the jungle. Early in the serial they
encounter a mad Frenchman who has taken a terrific hold on the natives, and he mysteriously
dogs their footsteps… In the story Lewis takes the part of Ulagi, the friendly Massei chieftain who
guides Dr. Campbell’s party through darkest Africa.”
[Abilene Reporter-News, Sunday, May 15, 1938—“African Lore Reflected In New Mystery Serial
Slated By KRBC”] “The drums will not be those of fictitious, theatrical Africa, but the genuine
mood of the mysterious continent captured by Jack Lewis, a writer who spent several years there
as a member of a scientific expedition.
“During his sojourn in Africa Lewis filled several notebooks with authentic legends, gathered an
amazing collection of native exhibits, and actually learned parts of the native dialect. Like the
legendary Trader Horn, he learned to interpret the weird and terrifying legend of the drums.
“In the radio play Lewis enacts the part of Massei chieftain Ulagi by name, who befriends Dr.
Campbell and party. The story deals with the search of Dr. Campbell, his daughter, Barbara, and
young assistant, Grant, for historic lore among the jungle natives. Early in the plot, their footsteps
are dogged by a mad and wily Frenchman whom the natives consider a strange sort of god.
“Scheduled to appear as Dr. Campbell is Bruce Payne, prominent Hollywood radio actor.
Barbara is played by Barbara Luddy, star of the ‘First Nighter’ and other network programs. Grant
is portrayed by Joe Kearns, rising Hollywood juvenile.”
[Winnipeg Free Press, September 14, 1938] “Drums talk across the veldts of darkest Africa
when Professors Adrian and Aalbert Smith (you know Aalbert, ‘oo was et by lion) set out over the
CBC airwaves in quest of the Talking Skull, which alone of all the skulls in the world knows the
secret of the Elephants’ Graveyard. Accompanying the Smith Brothers will be those two intrepid
explorers, Col. Theodore Woodhouse and Frank (Bring ‘Em Back Alive) Hawkins, with whom will
march Deadshot Oftenbroke, the celebrated big-game hunter, Egbert (The Lion-Killer) Holloway,
Lord Percy, and Uncle Andrew (Bang Goes Saxpence) MacGregor.”
[Winnipeg Free Press, Sepember 21, 1938] “The profoundest secrets of darkest Africa revealed
as the Laughing Skull expedition—which began last week in the CBC’s Winnipeg studios winds its
way into the remotest fastnesses of the high veldt… Characters in the stirring drama include Chief
Woochabi, alias Hawkins; Toolagi, the Witch Doctor; Boola Boola, native guide; and the fearless
big game hunter Captain Featherhead… There be a Laughing Skull named Brian Hodgkinson also
in the offing…”
The transcription series is believed to have been released in 1935. Several sources list broadcast
dates from March 16 to September 7 of that year, but this has not been confirmed nor has it been
determined what station might have broadcast the show on those dates.
Another source, the 1938-39 edition of the Variety Radio Directory, cites Moon Over Africa as
a release of Radio Recorders, Inc. in Hollywood. Research has determined that it played on ????
station ???? in 193?. It was also broadcast from several facilities in Australia—from Bathurst
station 2BS in 1937, from Canberra station 2KA (“The Voice of the Mountains”) in 1938, and from
Armidale station 2AD in 1939.
ORIGINATION: KNX, Hollywood, California.
[OG-NOTE: Electrical transcriptions of an expanded version of this series were released by Transco under the title
Moon Over Africa.]
DURATION: September 19-October 8, 1932 (KNX); ca. 1936 (release of transcription series).
PERSONNEL: True Boardman (announcer), Georgia Fifield (producer), Michael Kelly (scriptwriter).
[OG-NOTE: Talbot Mundy has been credited by one source as the author of this serial, but there is no confirmation
of this assertion.]
CAST: Lionel Belmore (Professor Anton Edwards), True Boardman (N’guru), Georgia Fifield (Lorna
Edwards), Fred Shields (Jack Martin).
EXTANT RECORDINGS: Episodes nos. 1-26 of the transcription program are extant, but there remains
some question as to whether this is the entire series or not.
DRUMS OF AFRICA (KNX, HOLLYWOOD)
[Monday, Wednesday & Saturday---8:45-9:00 PM]
September 19, 1932 [1]
[“…A young man in love with the professor’s daughter. A bit of the
‘Drums of Africa’… Jungle love ‘n everything…”]
September 21, 1932 [2] ?????
September 24, 1932 [3]
[“…The jungle wireless!… Mystery, adventure and for good measure a
‘mummified head’… Weird hypnotism…”]
September 26, 1932 [4]
September 28, 1932 [5]
[“…In the jungles searching for a mythical white race…”]
October 1, 1932 [6]
[“…Led by a weird talking, mummified head, they are captured by
savages…”]
October 3, 1932 [7]
October 5, 1932 [8]
October 8, 1932 [9]
MOON OVER AFRICA (1935 DISC SERIES)
March 16, 1935 [1] “The Talking Head”
March 23, 1935 [2] “The Atlantis Quest”
March 30, 1935 [3] “Jungle Trance”
April 6, 1935 [4] “The Sacred Python”
April 13, 1935 [5] “The Rhinocerous Hill”
April 20, 1935 [6] “Captured by Cannibals”
April 27, 1935 [7] “Escape”
May 4, 1935 [8] “A New Land”
May 11, 1935 [9] “Inside the Volcano”
May 18, 1935 [10] “Prisoners in the Palace”
May 25, 1935 [11] “Sacrificed”
June 1, 1935 [12] “Revolution”
June 8, 1935 [13] “The Secret of the Talking
Head”
June 15, 1935 [14] “Passage of the Rock”
June 22, 1935 [15] “The Witch Woman of the
Rock”
June 29, 1935 [16] “Back to the Jungle”
July 6, 1935 [17] “The Eyes of the Moon”
July 13, 1935 [18] “The Leopard Cult”
July 20, 1935 [19] “The Leopard Woman”
July 27, 1935 [20] “The Devil Doll”
Aug. 3, 1935 [21] “White Magic”
Aug. 10, 1935 [22] “Native Revenge”
Aug. 17, 1935 [23] “The Whispering Forest of
Death”
Aug. 24, 1935 [24] “Treachery”
Aug. 31, 1935 [25] “The Orchids of Death”
Sep. 7, 1935 [26] “The Treasure of the
Ancients”
[Episode titles are not from the original series, but were added descriptively by OTR collectors in
the Seventies.]
Georgia Fifield