LIGHTS OUT
[RADIO-SERIES]
Warburg: “Devoting himself entirely to morale dramas on sustaining programs for a period of
years did things to Oboler’s pocketbook that forced him to revive his Lights Out series for Ionized
[sic] Yeast… Now that Lights Out has served Oboler’s purpose, that of relining his purse, he plans
to return to his real love—the writing of Win-the-War dramas like Plays for Americans and Free
World Theater.”
The New York World-Telegram radio columnist Harriet Van Horne declared that Oboler was
“known as the most prolific, sternest principled and worst dressed writer in radio” and announced
that “the strong-stomached—the devotees of the macabre—may gorge themselves on thrills and
chills de luxe as the Lights Out series unfolds tales more terrible than Edgar Allan Poe ever
imagined, even through a glass darkly.”
(Anent the “worst dressed” remark, another columnist quipped: “If he wears a twenty-buck hat
with a twenty-one buck suit it’s Arch Oboler.”)
Oboler: “People want to escape from the horror of the headlines.”
Announcer Frank Martin recalled Oboler as a “marvelous director” who maintained total
control over his actors. “He used to say, over and over, to people, ‘Watch me. Do what I direct you
to do. Let me be wrong.’”
Haefele: “One of his memories of Lights Out is the way each program ended. Martin would
make a scripted comment about the story and Oboler would respond. ‘He would throw me bum
cues,’ he recalled. ‘I remember one time we were running short. He came to the end of his line…
He said, ‘This mass of gelatinous compound was coming closer and closer’ and I was supposed to
interrupt him by saying, ‘That’s enough, Arch, I get the picture.’ But since we were running short I
said nothing. I was just shaking my head at him.’ Oboler stretched out his conclusion with a
record repetition of the words ‘closer and closer’ until he filled the time. ‘Don’t you ever do that to
me again,’ Oboler warned. ‘Don’t you ever write the script so short again,’ the announcer
retorted.”
Finishing up the series with a bang was Oboler’s revamping of “The Author and the Thing.”
“Oboler, in a slightly sensational manner, will wind up the series by a mass murder,” commented
Warburg. “By killing off himself as writer, as well as all the actors, [he] sets a new standard in
complete annihilation…”
ORIGINATION: KNX, Hollywood, California (CBS).
[OG-NOTE: The broadcasts of December 15, 1942, and January 19 and 26 and February 2, 1943, came from WABC in
New York.]
DURATION: October 6, 1942-September 28, 1943.
PERSONNEL: Bob LeMond (announcer), Frank Martin (announcer), Arch Oboler (scriptwriter, director,
host).
CASTS: Hans Conried, Mercedes MacCambridge.
SPONSOR: Sterling Products, Inc. (Ironized Yeast).
“Bon Voyage” (11/10/42), “Come to the Bank” (11/17/42), “Mr. Maggs” (12/1/42), “Scoop” (12/8/42),
“Knock at the Door” (12/15/42), “The Meteor Man” (12/22/42), “Valse Triste” (12/29/42), “The Fast One”
(1/5/43), “The Projective Mr. Drogan” (1/26/43), “Until Dead” (2/2/43), “He Dug It Up” (2/9/43),
“Oxychloride X” (2/16/43), “They Met at Dorset” (2/23/43), “The Sea” (3/2/43), “The Ball” (3/9/43), “The
Dream” (3/16/43),
LIGHTS OUT (KNX, HOLLYWOOD—CBS)
[Tuesday—8:00-8:30 PM; re-broadcast for East Coast—11:30 PM-12:00 MIDNIGHT]
October 6, 1942 “What the Devil”
[“…A man is called by his draft board and tries to run away, but wherever
he turns, always ahead of him is a big truck loaded high with
explosives…”]
EXTANT RECORDING
October 13, 1942 “Revolt of the Worms”
[“…It tells what would happen if earthworms three inches long suddenly
began to grow to 40 feet in size. This, we are told, is based on the
‘scientific truth’ that the common earthworm has a tremendous
destructive power, and, for its size, does a better job of devastation than a
bomb…”]
EXTANT RECORDING
October 20, 1942 “Poltergeist”
[“…You had better be careful the next time you walk (or run) through a
cemetery. A poltergeist might get you. According to one dictionary a
‘poltergeist’ is ‘a noisy ghost.’ How this avenging spirit rises from the
grave to punish three city girls is told on ‘Lights Out’…”]
EXTANT RECORDING
October 27, 1942 “Mungahra”
[“…A story about the bush country of Australia and inspired by the Nazis’
strategy of terror…”]
Nov. 3, 1942 “Across the Gap”
[“…Speculation as to what would
happen to a person if he were to
travel at the speed of light over wires
—186,000 miles a second—is the
sum and substance of Arch Oboler’s
playlet…”]
Nov. 10, 1942 “Bon Voyage”
Nov. 17, 1942 “Come to the Bank”
Nov. 24, 1942 “Chicken Heart”
[“…based on experiments of Dr.
Alexis Carrel, who kept a chicken
heart alive in a glass container…”]
Dec. 1, 1942 “Mr. Maggs”
[“…a man goes digging in his garden
and finds a coffin…”]
Dec. 8, 1942 “Scoop”
[Tuesday--????? PM
Dec. 15, 1942 “Knock at the Door”
BROADCAST FROM NYC?
[Tuesday--????? PM
Dec. 22, 1942 “The Meteor Man”
Dec. 29, 1942 “Valse Triste”
[“…based on the thought that
chance plays an overwhelmingly
vital part in our daily lives…”
Harriet Van Horne: “Dinah Shore
acquitted herself right well in her
first dramatic role—a young woman
threatened by a maniac…”]
Jan. 5, 1943 “The Fast One”
[“…In this tale Oboler investigates a
criminal who can move with the
speed of light…”]
Jan. 12, 1943 “The Mirror”
[“…The radio listening audience will
at last have an opportunity to hear one
of Arch Oboler’s most famous plays…
Oboler says he has been trying to
complete this difficult play for the last
five years. At various times it was
scheduled for broadcast with such stars
as Norma Shearer, Miriam Hopkins
and Bette Davis, but Oboler was never
able to find the right ending for it.
Now that it has been completed, he
guarantees that all who hear it won’t
be able to look into a mirror for quite
some time… It tells the story of the
amazing disappearance of a motion
picture star whose alias is given as
‘Sherry Palmer.’ Sam White,
Hollywood publicity man, tells the
story and, as he puts it, ‘when you love
a lot or you hate a lot, you can tell the
truth, and brother, even if it is coming
out of Hollywood, this is the truth!...”]
[Tuesday--????
Jan. 19, 1943 “Cat Wife”
[“WILL COME FROM THE
LOCAL CBS STUDIO”—NYC
Jan. 26, 1943 “The Projective Mr. Drogan”
Feb. 2, 1943 “Until Dead”
[“…When a husband tries to avenge
the murder of his wife, watch out.
Neither can an escape-proof jail hold
him nor a death cell intimidate
him…”]
[Tuesday--????
Feb. 9, 1943 “He Dug It Up”
Feb. 16, 1943 “Oxychloride X”
Feb. 23, 1943 “They Met at Dorset”
[“…a story of the fanatical attempt
by two Nazis to rescue Rudolph
Hess, held in England…”]
March 2, 1943 “The Sea”
[“…the widow Donel’s dying
confession of revenge against her
evil son…”]
March 9, 1943 “The Ball”
March 16, 1943 “The Dream”
[“…story about a woman who won’t
sleep because she killed her stepson,
dreamed about it, took too many
sleeping tablets, and woke up to find
herself dead in a river…”]
March 23, 1943 “The Flame”
[“…the story of a man who develops
a unique conception of life and
death, and carries his theory to a
dramatic conclusion…”]
March 30, 1943 “Money, Money, Money”
[“…story of two men, one of whom
wanted money for unselfish reasons,
and the other who wanted it for its
own sake…”]
April 6, 1943 “Superfeature”
April 13, 1943 “Archer”
[“…three kidnappers sit in a desolate
shack, awaiting the order to murder
the beautiful girl they have
kidnapped…”]
April 20, 1943 “Kill”
[“…the strange story of a man on
trial for his life who believes that the
evil abroad in the world today has
become a living thing…”]
April 27, 1943 “Execution”
[“…drama of tragic happenings in
the marketplace of a French village
after the German invasion…”]
May 4, 1943 “Heavenly Jeep”
[“…an Oboler fantasy which takes
the listener for a breathless ride
which starts on a mine-strewn
Tunisian road and winds up
somewhere on another planet… It
all starts when a beautiful English
girl, who has been gazing at a
strange star shortly before, finds
herself in the jeep, and soon the
military conveyance becomes an
astral taxi, riding the Milky Way…”]
May 11, 1943 “Murder in the Script
Department”
[“…Oboler was swamped with
questions by the girls in the CBS
script department regarding the art of
mystery writing. He pays them back
by writing this story and requiring
their presence at the broadcast…”]
May 18, 1943 “Spider”
[“…An equatorial jungle teeming
with weird life and weirder events
forms the fascinating background…
the hero is an explorer in search of
the world’s largest spider… Arch
Oboler once had an idea of
becoming a curator at a museum,
hence his research makes this
program one of unusual interest…”]
May 25, 1943 “Little Old Lady”
June 1, 1943 “The Ugliest Man in the
World”
June 8, 1943 “Organ”
June 15, 1943 “Prelude to Murder”
[“Screen Test” was originally
announced.]
June 22, 1943 “Nature Study”
[“…a professor of botany takes his
class on a field trip…”
June 29, 1943 “The Dictator”
July 6, 1943 “The Cliff”
July 13, 1943 “Visitor from Hades”
[“…a weird situation results from
the mutual hatred of a married
couple…”]
July 20, 1943 “Profits Unlimited”
July 27, 1943 “The Little People”
Aug. 3, 1943 “Murder Castle”
Aug. 10, 1943 “Sakhalin”
[“…Arch Oboler has written the story
of Sakhalin Island, used by old Russia
as prison… When the Soviets came
into power they abolished the place of
horror, making it into an agricultural
colony. The story revives memories of
the terror that was Sakhalin in the
czaristic days…”]
Aug. 17, 1943 “State Executioner”
[“…the tale of a hangman who came
to enjoy his brutal work for the gold
it brought him… Arch Oboler
weaves his story about a man who
lost his wife and eventually his mind
when his greed overcame
knowledge…”]
Aug. 24, 1943 “Sub-Basement”
Aug. 31, 1943 “The Immortal Gentleman”
[“…a man who feared death and
wanted eternal youth…”]
Sep. 7, 1943 “Lord Marley’s Guest”
[“…A monster from the deep
intervenes to disrupt a scheming
woman’s plan to take rich Lord
Marley from his wife…”]
Sep. 14, 1943 “The Word”
[“V-Day” was originally
announced.]
Sep. 21, 1943 “Mirage”
[“The Producer and the Thing” was
originally announced.]
Sep. 28, 1943 “The Author and the Thing”
[“…In a jovial mood, Arch Oboler
turns actor in the role of himself,
murdering his enemies and taking
his friends to heaven…”]
LIGHTS OUT
This second Lights Out revival series reverted back to two of the original people who were
involved with the show during its early Windy City days, scripter Willis Cooper and director
Howard Keegan. Keegan had been for many years one of the most prominent figures in Chicago
radio production, was manager of indie station WCFL (where Bret Morrison broadcast Dracula
back in 1931), and had just recently produced for Neblett Productions the Robert Bloch-scripted
transcription series Stay Tuned for Terror. In July 1945 he accepted a position as a staff producer
at NBC in New York. “Keegan will report to New York August 6,” reported The Billboard. “After
that date he will take over production of NBC’s Lights Out series, which starts today [JULY
21??????] as the eight-week summer replacement for Truth or Consequences.”
The series is often cited in reference works under the title Fantasies from ‘Lights Out’. And, in
fact, that was genuinely the emphasis of the series. “In the revival,” reported columnist C. E.
Butterfield, “only those Cooper scripts which stressed fantasy rather than horror will be used.
Because of the earlier time it was thought best not to stir things up too much.”
ORIGINATION: WEAF, New York City, New York (NBC).
DURATION: July 14-September 1, 1945.
PERSONNEL: Wyllis Cooper (scriptwriter), Howard Keegan (producer).
CASTS: Mason Adams, Lon Clark, Will Geer, Vinton Hayworth, Arthur Kohl, Julian Noa,
Alexander Scourby, Edgar Stehli, Betty Winkler.
EXTANT RECORDINGS: “Reunion After Death” (7/21/45), “The Man in the Middle”
(8/25/45).
[NOTE: An archival copy of “The Rocket Ship” (7/28/45) is held by the Library of Congress.
LIGHTS OUT
[Saturday—8:30-9:00 PM]
July 14, 1945
July 21, 1945 “Reunion After Death”
July 28, 1945 “The Rocket Ship”
Aug. 4, 1945 “Lady from the Lake”
Aug. 11, 1945 “Did That Murder Happen?”
Aug. 25, 1945 “Man in the Middle”
Sep. 1, 1945 “Lights Out”
LIGHTS OUT
A second summer revival the following year, again based on scripts by Willis Cooper.
ORIGINATION: WEAF, New York City, New York (NBC).
DURATION: July 6-August 24, 1946.
PERSONNEL: Boris Aplon (narrator), Wyllis Cooper (scriptwriter), Albert Crews (director),
Frederick J. Lipp (scriptwriter), George Stone (announcer).
CASTS: Boris Aplon, John Barclay, Wilms Herbert, Ken Nordine, Nelson Olmsted.
EXTANT RECORDINGS: “The Coffin in Studio B” (7/13/46), “The Haunted Cell” (7/20/46),
“The Battle of the Magicians” (7/27/46), “The Revenge of India” (8/3/46), “The Ghost on the
Newsreel Negative” (8/10/46), “The Signal Man” (8/24/46).
LIGHTS OUT
[Saturday—10:00-10:30 PM]
July 6, 1946 “The Seven Plovers”
[“…A Wyllis Cooper fantasy built
around the legendary superstition that
the young Jew who jeered at Christ at
the crucifixion was doomed to wander
the world forever…”]
July 13, 1946 “The Coffin in Studio B”
July 20, 1946 “The Haunted Cell”
July 27, 1946 “The Battle of the Magicians”
Aug. 3, 1946 “The Revenge of India”
Aug. 10, 1946 “The Ghost on the Newsreel
Negative”
Aug. 17, 1946 “The Dillinger Complex”
Aug. 24, 1946 “The Signal Man”
LIGHTS OUT
“Boris Karloff plus the heat plus the characters who put together Lights Out are guaranteed to
disrupt any listener’s blood chemistry and endocrinology.”
ORIGINATION: KECA, Hollywood, California (ABC).
DURATION: July 16-30, 1947.
PERSONNEL: Willis Cooper (scriptwriter), Boris Karloff (series star), Bill Lawrence (director),
Ken Niles (announcer), Paul Pierce (scriptwriter), Larry Robertson (producer), Leith Stevens
(music director).
CASTS: Tom Collins, Boris Karloff, Lurene Tuttle.
SPONSOR: Eversharp, Inc. (Schick Injector Razors and Blades).
EXTANT RECORDINGS: “The Death Robbers” (7/16/47), “The Ring” (7/30/47; first half
only).
LIGHTS OUT (KECA, HOLLYWOOD—ABC)
[Wednesday—10:30-11:00 PM]
July 16, 1947 “The Death Robbers”
[“…story about a doctor who has the
knack of restoring dead persons to
life—including his wife who had
been killed in an automobile
accident…”]
July 23, 1947 “The Undead”
[“…tonight’s chiller-diller concerns a
strictly non-mercy type of killing,
that of a wife of a distinguished
doctor. The assailant, a vampire, is
kept as a pet in the refrigerator of a
practicing ghoul…”]
July 30, 1947 “The Ring”
[“…Boris Karloff stars as a man who
returns from the grave to retrieve the
engagement ring he gave the girl he
loved…”]
LIGHTS OUT
[RADIO-PLAY]
THE RADIO THEATRE GUILD (CKY,
[Sunday—7:00-7:30 PM]
May 26, 1935 “Lights Out”
[WINNIPEG FREE PRESS: “…CKY will carry the Commission’s Radio
Theatre Guild offering, ‘Lights Out.’ Don’t confuse this with Willis
Cooper’s Wednesday night hair-raisers on the NBC. Future Guild
productions include ‘The Last Mile,’ ‘Dear Brutus,’ ‘By Candlelight,’
‘Quality Street,’ ‘Topaze,’ and ‘The Late Christopher Bean.’ Look
interesting, don’t they? The time is 7 p.m. ‘Lights Out’ is billed as a
‘mystery play of the better kind, dealing in an original fashion with the
affairs of spiritualism.’”
LISTEN TO A STRANGE TALE
“Studies in behaviorism are the focal point of a new series of programs based on the
pathological… While not shying away from horror, it will run the whole gamut of the strange
and unusual.”
“Marjorie Haye Camp, free-lance radio writer and formerly on the editorial staff of Time and Life
Magazines, has joined WMCA, New York, as a continuity writer.”
“This series constitutes a major effort for this station,” noted Joe Cohen in The Billboard.
“Sample heard indicates that stories are fraught with interest, imagination and good writing…
Marjorie Hayes Camp deserves a nod for the script and Walter Craig did well with the pacing and
design of the production.”
ORIGINATION: WMCA, New York City, New York.
DURATION: October 9, 1941-
PERSONNEL: Marjorie Hayes Camp (scriptwriter), Walter Craig (producer).
CASTS: Horace Braham, Paul Clarke, Jean Colbert, John Forster, Sylvia Leigh, Julian Noa, Marie
Pichler, John Wheeler.
EXTANT RECORDINGS: None.
LISTEN TO A STRANGE TALE
[Thursday—10:00-10:30 PM]
Oct. 9, 1941
Oct. 16, 1941
Oct. 23, 1941
Oct. 30, 1941
Nov. 6, 1941
Nov. 13, 1941 “Substitute for Murder”
[“…a weird yarn about a couple of
spirits who decided to tamper with
man’s life down below…The powers
of the nether regions decree that,
because of the heavy traffic of
incoming souls, a 30-day respite in
death is necessary. The allegory
dwells upon the effect on a triangular
love situation on this planet. The
decree didn’t work out as hoped…”]
Nov. 20, 1941
Nov. 27, 1941
LO QUE CUENTA EL VIENTO
Chilean horror program that dramatized the traditional legends of the Chilean fields.
LA CUARTA: “’Lo que cuenta el viento’ y ‘El Doctor Mortis’, que dejaban albos a los
radioescuchas con sus terrorificos relatos.” (“’What the wind tells’ and ‘Doctor Mortis’, that left
radio listeners white with their terrorific stories.”)
ORIGINATION: Chile.
DURATION: Unknown.
PERSONNEL: Unknown.
EXTANT RECORDINGS: “El diablo en el (cid:0)idwes,” “El hombre condenado.”
LUCILE FLETCHER RADIO SCRIPTS
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