FIRE BURN AND CAULDRON BUBBLE
[RADIO-SPECIAL]
[Times] “…a programme of witchcraft compiled from contemporary sources and imaginative
writings by Mr. C. Denis Freeman and Mr. M. H. Allen…”
[Manchester Guardian] “Messrs. Denis Freeman and M. H. Allen, to whom listeners owe the
Miscellanies, have compiled for broadcast to-night an anthology of witchcraft. Their sources have
been imaginative writers—naturally the Elizabethans have a large place in the selections made—
and contemporary accounts of the trials of witches.”
[M.C. “The Witches’ Programme.” Manchester Guardian (November 9, 1932)] “The idea of
burning fires and bubbling cauldrons over the wireless was fresh and promising, but…somehow,
in spite of the incantations and weird music the witches fell rather flat… Regarded purely as an
anthology the programme was interesting. There were pieces read about witches, and extracts
from actual trials; a portion from Marlowe’s ‘Dr. Faustus,’ and part of the witches’ incantations
from ‘Macbeth.’ We had rather wanted to be roused or horrified, and found the programme
milder than our expectations.”
ORIGINATION: National Programme, London (BBC).
DURATION: November 8, 1932.
PERSONNEL: M. H. Allen (producer), C. Denis Freeman (producer), Leslie Woodgate (music director).
CAST: Dennis Arundell, Andrew Churchman, Wilfrid Grantham, Viola Lyel, Ion Swinley, Veronica Turleigh,
J. Fisher White, Gladys Young.
EXTANT RECORDINGS: None.
[PROGRAM LOG]
(NATIONAL PROGRAMME, LONDON)
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November 8, 1932 “Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble”