Eva Le Gallienne, living legend of the New York theater, starred as dramatic reader on this short-
lived series on the Blue. She was at that time riding a career high, appearing in the Broadway hit
Uncle Harryin the role of the pathologically domineering sister that Geraldine Fitzgerald would
assume in the 1945 movie version. Apparently the sinister nature of the play was capitalized upon
in deciding the appropriateness of her debut as adoyenneof literary horror. On March 9 her co-
star fromUncle Harry, Joseph Schildkraut, took her place.
WJZ, New York City, New York (BLUE).
January 17-March 16, 1943.
Donald Bain (animal imitator), Eva Le Gallienne (script preparation, dramatic reader), Mort
Lewis (scriptwriter), Rosa Rio (organist), Joseph Schildkraut (dramatic reader on the March 9 broadcast).
None.
January 17, 1943“A Terribly Strange Bed”
Wilkie Collins.
January 24, 1943“The Torture of Hope”
Villiers de l’Isle-Adam.
January 31, 1943“The Haunted and the Haunters”
Bulwer-Lytton.
February 7, 1943“The Valley of the Dead”
Ralph Adams Cram.
[
At least one newspaper—theYoungstown Vindicator— announced the
night’s story as Poe’s “The Case of M. Valdemar.”]
FEBRUARY 9, 1943:
[Youngstown Vindicator—“Shift Eva Le Gallienne Program to
Tuesday Spot”]
“‘Horror, Inc.’, which brought the celebrated British-born actress Eva Le
Gallienne to the microphone for her first regular network series, will be switched
to the 7:15 spot on the Blue Network Tuesday nights…
“For tonight’s selection, Miss Le-Gallienne [sic] has chosen ‘The Man and the
Snake’ by Ambrose J. [sic] Bierce. An innovation in the handling of radio mystery
dramas, the series was originally booked on a limited basis. So favorable has been
the response that its extension and transfer to the evening schedule was made.”
February 9, 1943“The Man and the Snake”
Ambrose Bierce.
[
TheVindicator, likewise, indicated “The Valley of the Dead” for this date.]
February 16, 1943“The Black Cat”
[
“…Edgar Allen [sic] Poe, America’s foremost horror writer,
gets another chance on WJZ’s ‘Horror, Inc.’ program starring Eva Le
Gallienne… The distinguished stage star, who rejected another Poe work
for a previous ‘Horror, Inc.’ appearance because it was ‘too horrible,’ will
present a condensed version of ‘The Black Cat’…”]
Edgar Allan Poe.
FEBRUARY 20, 1943:
[TheBillboard—“Program Reviews—‘Horror,Inc.’”by Marion
Radcliff]
“The Man and the Snake, by Ambrose Bierce, was the bit of psychological
macabre chosen byEva Le Galliennefor narration on Horror, Inc.’s first
Tuesday night spot after four introductory airings on Sunday afternoons.
Originally booked on a limited basis, extension and switch of time on the show
now leave the way open for Miss Le Gallienne and her collaborator, Mort Lewis,
to continue their gory task of choosing the most hair-raising stories in all
literature and presenting them in narrative form with the help of an organ for
sound effects and a voice here and there to scream or make like a ghost.
“Choice of story for the first weekday show was a fortunate one, for the weird
tale of a snakery in a Southern mansion was enough to hold even the most
restless dial-twister. Miss Le Gallienne started off with rather slow-moving now-
I’ll-tell-a-story delivery, but as she got more involved with the complex workings
of the mind and imagination of a man who was slowly working himself into a fit
from staring into the eyes of an escaped snake, the narration became alive and
vivid. That the snake should prove to be a stuffed one with shoe-button eyes after
the victim scarced [sic] himself into a horrible death was inevitable.
“Miss Le Gallienne’s diction, voice and sense of timing were faultless, and with
the help of expert organ accompaniment by Rosa Rio the atmosphere of horror
and fear was sustained to the very end.
“With the new time for Horror, Inc., mystery lovers should have quite a chilling
time of it on Tuesday nights as four other well-known mystery shows follow on
the Blue, Columbia and Mutual networks.”
February 23, 1943“The Beast with Five Fingers”
[
“…Probably still shuddering from the anguished screams
that attended the removal of an eye from ‘The Black Cat’ last week,
listeners will find small comfort in the eerie tale to be narrated by Eva La
Gallienne… Chosen for airing by the distinguished actress and her
collaborator, Mort Lewis, is W. F. Harvey’s ‘The Beast with Five Fingers,’
one of the most popular of contemporary horror stories…”]
W.F. Harvey.
March 2, 1943“The Masque of the Red Death”
Edgar Allan Poe.
March 9, 1943
Joseph Schildkraut (substituting for La Gallienne).
MARCH 11, 1943:
[Cumberland Evening Times—“Today’s Radio Programs” by C. E.
Butterfield]
“Eva Le [sic] Gallienne was forced to drop out of her ‘Horror Inc.’ Readings on
the BLUE this week, Joseph Schildkraut taking her place…”]
March 16, 1943“The Happy Prince”
Oscar Wilde.