THE BOTTLE IMP
[SHORT-STORY]
Neither a true horror story nor even a cautionary fable, Stevenson’s yarn is an
exercise in island folklore (and was the first English-language story to be
translated into Samoan).
Originally published as one of three tales in Island Nights’ Entertainment
(1893), it was reviewed by the Times: “…is almost Arabian in respect of the
habitat of the demon and of the general naivete of the story; while there is
something medieval in the idea which underlies it.
‘The imp looked out of the bottle, and in again, swift as a lizard; and there sat
Keawe and Lopaka turned to stone. The night had quite come before either found
a thought to say or voice to say it with… I declare since I have seen that little face,
I cannot eat or sleep or pray till it is gone from me.’ How infinitely more
expressive is this silence than the most gruesome description; and what a world
of meaning in, ‘since I have seen that little face!’”
[Program information]
ORIGINATION: Various.
DURATION: Various.
PERSONNEL: Gordon Atkinson (scriptwriter—1958, Drama in Sound),
Norman Bortnick (scriptwriter—1962, Prairie Playhouse), Himan Brown
(producer-director—1974, CBS Radio Mystery Theater), Rupert Caplan
(producer—1958, Drama in Sound), Alonzo Deen Cole (scriptwriter, director—
1932, The Witch’s Tale), Donald Johnson (scriptwriter—1994, BBC Scotland),
Romance C. Koopman (scriptwriter—1949, Beckley College Radio Workshop),
James MacGregor (scriptwriter—1933, BBC), Fritz Mack (scriptwriter—1933,
Hilversum), Ian Martin (scriptwriter—1974, CBS Radio Mystery Theater),
Alexander McKee (scriptwriter—1952, Quartet With RLS; 1953, Thursday
Playhouse), Dolores Meyers (director—1949, KSMO), David Rintoul (narrator—
1994, BBC Scotland), Lance Sieveking (producer—1933, BBC), Jo Ann Thomas
(director—1947, East by East), Raymond Whitehouse (producer—1952, Quartet
With RLS; 1953, Thursday Playhouse).
CAST [1933, BBC]: Elizabeth Addison, Beckett Bould, George Carr, Herbert de
Leon, Rosalinde Fuller, Gonneske Komai, Harold Scott, Alistair Sim, Philip
Wade, The Waikiki Boys, Ben Welden, Geoffrey Wincott, Y. Wuriu.
CAST [1944, Molle Mystery Theatre]: Berry Kroeger, et al.
CAST [1947, Favorite Story]: Jeff Corey, Mary Jane Croft, et al.
CAST [1947, East by East]: Bob Bloomer, Don Brockman, John Collins, Bob
Edland, Ronnie Kurth, Charles Mintz, Beth Mitchell, Marily Parrish, Pat
Runstrom, Elsa Splett.
CAST [1949, KSMO]: Ted Bjolstad (Young Man), Ronnie Gargulio (Old Man), Jo
Anne Hamilton (Maid), Dick Hansen (Lopaka), Tony Henning (Keawe), Don
Peterson (Bo’sun), Paula Reed (Tody), Marilyn Ricks (Kokua), Alie Straub
(Chang).
CAST [1949, Beckley College Radio Workshop]: Elsie Solonka, Paul Wassum, et
al.
CAST [1951, Radio Workshop]: Mary Abu-Arab, Pat Brooks, Earl Dawkins, Don
Dew, Mary Carol Langston, Sonny Martin, Billy McCaskell, Dotty Rogers, Jerry
Rollins, Ginger Summerall, Dicky Weaver.
CAST [1953, Colonial Players Radio Workshop]: Claire Brandon, Roy Fox, Mr.
Goldman, A. R. Hefler, Nancy Huntington, David Kearse, Hubbard Mitchie.
CAST [1994, BBC Scotland]: Ian Masters (Lopaka), Don McCorkindale (The
Bosun), Tony Osoba (Keawe), Nina Wadia (Kokua), Malcolm Ward (Lawyer /
Young Man/ Chinaman), Peter Whitman (Man / Old Man).
EXTANT RECORDINGS: “The Wonderful Bottle” (The Witch’s Tale, 1934),
“The Bottle Imp” (Molle Mystery Theatre, 12/12/44), “The Bottle Imp” (Favorite
Story, )
[Program log]
THE WITCH’S TALE (WOR, NEW YORK)
[Monday—9:30-10:00 PM]
March 21, 1932 “The Wonderful Bottle”
(HILVERSUM)
[Saturday—4:00-4:30 PM]
April 15, 1933 “The Bottle Imp”
[“…Fairy Tale (Fritz Mack)…”]
(LONDON REGIONAL PROGRAMME, LONDON)
[Saturday—9:15-10:15 PM]
May 20, 1933 “The Bottle Imp”
(COPENHAGEN)
[Friday—8:10-8:45 PM]
June 23, 1933 “The Bottle Imp”
THE WITCH’S TALE (WOR, NEW YORK)
[Monday—9:00-9:30 PM]
February 18, 1935 “The Wonderful Bottle”
(BAROMUNSTER)
[Wednesday—9:10-9:55 PM]
July 24, 1935 “The Bottle Imp”
[“…Play after Robert Louis Stevenson (Mack)…”]
(PRAGUE)
[Monday—8:15-9:00 PM]
October 7, 1935 “The Bottle Imp”
[“…Play after Stevenson (Mack)…”]
MOLLE MYSTERY THEATRE (WEAF, NEW YORK)
[
December 12, 1944 “The Bottle Imp”
EAST BY EAST (WIBA, MADISON)
[Saturday—6:30-7:00 PM]
September 27, 1947 “The Bottle Imp”
FAVORITE STORY
[
August 21, 1948 “The Bottle Imp”
RadioGold says May 27, 1947
FAVORITE STORY (ZIV TRANSCRIPTION)
[
??? ??, 1949 “The Bottle Imp”
[“…selected by the old Fire Chief, Ed Wynn…”]
(KSMO, SAN MATEO)
[???day—11:30-11:45 AM]
April 26, 1949 “The Bottle Imp”
[“…the San Mateo High school radio production class
presents its weekly play…”
THE BECKLEY COLLEGE RADIO WORKSHOP (WCFC, RALEIGH)
[Sunday—3:30-4:00 PM]
December 18, 1949 “The Bottle Imp”
RADIO WORKSHOP (FLORENCE)
[Wednesday—8:30-9:00 PM]
June 13, 1951 “The Bottle Imp”
QUARTET WITH RLS (VANCOUVER)
[
July 28, 1952 “The Bottle Imp”
THURSDAY PLAYHOUSE (VANCOUVER)
[
May 28, 1953 “ The Bottle Imp”
THE COLONIAL PLAYERS RADIO WORKSHOP (WNAV,
ANNAPOLIS)
[Wednesday—8:00-8:30 PM]
December 2, 1953 “The Bottle Imp”
DRAMA IN SOUND (MONTREAL)
[
Circa 1958 “The Bottle Imp”
PRAIRIE PLAYHOUSE (CBW, WINNIPEG)
[
February 6, 1962 “The Bottle Imp”
TWO ISLAND TALES (RADIO 4, LONDON)
[Monday—11:30 AM-12:00 NOON]
August 19, 1968 “The Bottle Imp”
THE CBS RADIO MYSTERY THEATER (WRVR. NEW YORK)
[???day—10:07-11:00 PM]
September 3, 1974 “The Imp in the Bottle”
[“…Upon wealthy Jasper Sheridan’s death, his nephew, Barry
Holden, inherits an antique bottle containing an imp able to
grant Barry any amount of money he desires. The owner
must resell the bottle, however, to another before his death
for less than he paid for it, or the imp will claim his soul for
the devil. When the bottle goes to Barry’s former wife, whom
he still loves, Barry wants to save her soul by repurchasing
the bottle, but Lisha only paid a penny for it…”]
CAST: Joan Lorring (Lisha Breedenhall), Ian Martin
(Jasper), Santos Ortega (Lawyer Barnes), William Redfield
(Barry Holden).
(BBC SCOTLAND)
[Tuesday—
December 6, 1994 “The Bottle Imp”