When is a radio serial not a radio serial?...
[Middletown Times Herald, April 7, 1933—“Cruising the Dial with Raymond J. Dulye”] “A new
page was written in the history of Orange County amateur dramatics Sunday night when a group
from the Middletown Players Club under direction of Dr. Stanley N. Holt, sent delicious chills and
shivers up and down the vertabrae of WGNY's audience with a splendid presentation of The
Haunted Church, an episode of a radio drama labeled The City of the Dead.
“The players were Beverly Stowell as Phyllis, O. S. Hathaway 'Jr as Dr. Tooner, William
Broadhead as Mayor Long, and William Hutt as Jlmmie. Their voices registered like sunshine in
Alaska as they swept the chill-thriller to a successful climax. And judging from the numerous
comments of gratified fans, they clicked topside for sheer entertainment value. Okay and well
done sez everybody, and let's have more of it, please. A shiny, new plaudit to Doc Holt and each
member of the cast.
“Sound effects had much to do with the success of the drama—and a big handshake is extended
to Dick Whitlock and Bob Austell for their proficiency, in manipulating gadgets and gee-gaws
(made of rope, oatmeal boxes, bit of metal and wood, etc.) so as to reproduce most cleverly the
noises of clanking chains, walling winds, tolling bells, creaking beams and stairways, and all the
other sounds one would expect to hear in a haunted church.
“All well done, m'lads, and you're the envy of every dramatic society within the sight of the
Shawangunks.”
WGNY, Middletown, New York.
April 2, 1933.
Bob Austell (sound-effects), Dr. Stanley N. Holt (director), Carlton E. Morse
(scriptwriter), Dick Whitlock (sound-effects).
CAST: William Broadhead (Mayor Long), O. S. Hathaway Jr. (Dr. Tooner), William Hutt
(Jimmie), Beverly Stowell (Phyllis).
None.
THE MIDDLETOWN PLAYERS CLUB (WGNY, MIDDLETOWN)
April 2, 1933“The City of the Dead—[1] The Haunted Church”