STAY TUNED FOR TERROR
[RADIO-SERIES]
Robert Bloch’s legendary radio series from 1945…
[Milwaukee Journal, November 21, 1944—“Horror Is Hot Stuff Now; Milwaukeean Cashing In”
by Harold Gauer] “‘Yours truly, Jack the Ripper’ sent chills tingling down the spines of Milwaukee
horror fans some months ago on the Kate Smith radio show. Laird Cregar took the part of the
mad killer, whose weird crimes were dramatized for the program by Milwaukee’s horror story
writer, Robert Bloch.
“Robert Bloch has been dishing out horror for his fans in the pulp magazines for almost a
decade but is a mild mannered gent who wouldn’t hit a mosquito unless it bit him first. He
seldom, if ever, wakes up screaming, and even his year old baby girl fails to see anything
disconcerting in her daddy’s face making over the typewriter.
“The current popularity of the horror show, both on the radio and in the movies, has been
building up for a long time. Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney, jr., have pioneered the art
for the films, and Peter Lorre, Laird Cregar and Basil Rathbone have moaned, chattered and
snarled the weird radio programs into top billing. All of this has required a very special kind of
scripting. Stalking in the background of their present popularity are the pulp paper magazines,
Weird Tales, Fantastic Adventures, etc., from which many of the present day themes are taken,
like zombies, from the dead, to walk again.
“Today the horror market is prospering as it never has prospered before, and Author Bloch,
listening to the squeaking door of the ‘Inner Sanctum,’ the blood curdling screams in ‘Mystery
Playhouse,’ and the sibilant terror of ‘Suspense,’ is writing more furiously than ever—for the
pulps.
“As the ‘Mad Scientist’ pursues his creation, the ‘Mad Monster,’ hypodermic needle in hand,
across the screens of thousands of movie houses, Author Bloch sticks to the pulp magazines.
“‘The pulp story, however formalized,’ says Bloch, ‘demands a much higher literary quality and
infinitely more original plotting than the average ingredient of the ‘Gruesome Twosome’ screen
play. The real horror fan,’ he explains, ‘wants authentic tales, based either on known myths and
legends (or even fairy stories), or else on historical fact, such as the Jack the Ripper stuff.
“The dyed in the wool reader—the kind that appreciate Bloch’s ‘Feast in the Abbey,’ ‘Druidic
Doom’ and ‘The Faceless God’ simply would not stand for any ‘Mad Doctor’ business.
PHOTO CAPTION: “This is a picture of Robert Bloch of Milwaukee, but honestly he doesn’t look
this menacing most of the time. He doesn’t even look this sinister when batting out a horror tale
for a pulp magazine. Bloch has been writing horror stories for 10 years. He started when only 15.
The picture was taken by Harold Gauer, a horror fan.”
Original Press Photo of Radio Stars Johnny Neblett, Angelyn Orr. Chicago IL.. Photo is dated: 12/19/1945.
This is an original 4x5 negative of Arnold Rauen, Illinois state director of the U.S. Treasury
Department, actree Angeline Orr Neblett, and Mike Wallace, January 22, 1947 in the
Balinese Room. Angeline was given a posthumous award for Johnny Neblett. Johnny
Neblett, the producer of the series,Stay Tuned For Terror, with his Neblett Radio
Productions company tragically died in a plane crash in 1946, at the age of only 33.
Contemporaneous accounts of the plane crash state that he'd only "recently" begun his
Neblett Radio Productions company, which would coincide well with Robert Bloch's
interview comments. Bloch had stated that his friend, Johnny Neblett helped him put
together the concept for Stay Tuned for Terror, by forming his own production company--
Neblett Radio Productions. Angeline Orr, one of the actresses for the series, married Mr.
Neblett during the course of the recording sessions for Stay Tuned for Terror.
A STIR OF ECHOES
A Stir of Echoes
When Tom Wallace is hypnotised by his brother-in-law it awakens psychic abilities he never knew
he possessed. Richard Matheson’s thriller is abridged by Neville Teller, read by Trevor White and
produced by Heather Larmour.
Monday to Friday at 6.30am,1pm, 8pm and 1am