Brian Bacon provides us with the very best from the hilarious Radio People as tonight’s Sonic Society feature.
IT’S AUDIO DRAMA TIME!
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If you grew up in the seventies or eighties, you couldn’t avoid the iconic presence of Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia in Star Wars. Many post modernist reviews of perhaps the first modern blockbuster series in movie history dwell on the dearth of women in the original trilogy. The fact was, it would have been hard to share screen time with Fisher who commanded the screen despite her inexperience beside veteran actors Harrison Ford and Sir Alec Guinness.
Princess Leia was, perhaps, for many kids growing up the first truly strong female character who was also a sex symbol solidifying the understanding that women were as capable as men in driving the story and holding their own.
She died today, ostensibly from a heart attack that occurred a few days previously. The world mourns her loss, but not just as Princess Leia, but as a powerfully established novelist and screenwriter. Her book Postcards from the Edge became a hit movie of its own, and her battles with addiction and depression echo the human struggle. A struggle that has now sadly ended.
I’m going to go for a walk and listen to The Princess Diarist, something I’ve put off for far too long. And while she’s not featured in it, I’m going to relisten to The NPR Star Wars because I’ll always see Princess Leia- my princess- when I’m hearing the series. Just as I would watching it.
May the Force be with you… all.
I’ve been telling many actors that audio acting is pretty unique. Unless you’re acting for comic effect, you’re not playing large like you would on the stage. I remember Grace Lee Whitney talking about her cameo on Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. She explained how Leonard Nimoy was describing to her what was happening on the blue screen so he could get her initial reactions. When he explained how badly beaten up the Enterprise was after the battle with Khan her response was as large as she would have used on the stage. She needed another take to pull back the emotion. Audio Drama is like that. You can hear someone smile over the microphone. Don’t believe me? Go try it yourself sometime. I don’t understand quite what the difference is in the facial features, but it’s true.
This article by Christopher Hooton and the Independent does a good job of looking at Academy Award winning actors and their approaches to acting. Good audio actors are precious gems. I can only think of about a score that I consider stand outs in the public domain field. Who are your favourites and why?
Using the illusionary trick of two microphones to create a surround sound playback, Mills & Boon intend to take their romance novels into the audiobook world. We’ve long lamented in the Sonic Society that while there’s no end to speculative fiction, horror and mystery shows (and we’re fans of all those), there aren’t a whole lot of new romance audio dramas out there. It’s our eclectic nature that wants to hear every genre in the sonic rainbow.
So maybe someone can take a cue from Mills & Boon and as this Telegraph article suggests mine the rich resources of ready-to-listen housebound lovelornaphiles (okay maybe that wasn’t a word but it is now! TM)
Reginald Nelson wrote a perfect post about his love for Audio Drama that mirrors many others, including this author. His show The Primordials sounds like a phenomenal story we’d love to hear on the Sonic Society someday. Audio Plays have the distinct ability to be the closest sibling to movies, or to stage plays, or even novels. There’s something incredible about how radio drama sparks the most vivid pictures in the mind. Mr. Nelson’s article in The Medium does better justice of his experience. Go have a read as we approach the end of the year and consider what your reasons are for the love of “the medium”. Make sure you let us know at the gmail sonicsociety email account for episode 500!
The Nepascene has a series of digressions in this article which thrills in the memories of old time radio. Among the great musical hits the author, Tim Thumb, remembers, there’s these fine gems of OTR:
Then, in junior high at a brand new apartment building my mom and I moved into, I discovered “CBS Radio Mystery Theater,” with host E.G. Marshall.
You can listen to many episodes (of varying quality) here. I highly recommend that you do.
Having listened whenever we could find a classic radio show with my gramps – “Amos ‘n’ Andy,” “Fibber McGee and Molly,” “The Shadow,” “Buck Rogers” – I’d already developed a pretty intense love of radio plays.
But “CBS Radio Mystery Theater” was new! It was a first-run show and current! It featured stars like Fred Gwynne (whom I knew from “Car 54, Where Are You?” and “The Musters” and you’ll know as the judge from “My Cousin Vinny”), Ed Ames, Ralph Bell, Joe Campanella, Richard Crenna, and tons more as voice actors. It was a glorious discovery, and the station it was carried on was a country format in the evening leading up to the show, which aired at midnight (I’d have that earphone in, sneaking a listen to avoid an ass whoopin’, and fully prepared to be draggin’ ass the next morning!). Since I always tuned in early so as not to miss the creaking door and “BUM BUM BUMMMMM” opening, radio is also where my love for outlaw country was born.
This and so much more in the Nepascene story. What are your remembrances of days of yore when we prepare for Christmastime?
Happy Yule Tide to everyone this year and Merry Christmas! Jack and David are thrilled to present Voices in the Wind Theatre from David Farquhar and our feature holiday presentation: Snow White.
It’s Audio Drama Time!
We’ve always wondered about radio drama outside of the traditional sources in North America and the United Kingdom. It seems like there are solid traditions in places in Africa and some nations in South America, now China has perhaps the beginning of a new renaissance in the medium (one can only hope) with the production of Murders on the Pacific Ocean. This crime suspense was written about a real-life murder case and represents a shining light in the burgeoning Asian radio drama industry. This Global Times article tells more…
Tonight we complete Big Finish Productions awesome promotional release of The Prisoner. Now’s your chance to own the entire series. Head over to Big Finish right away and tell them the Sonic Society sent you to pick up the rest of the series today! And special thanks to Michael Hudson for his work in getting this incredible release to us!
It’s Audio Drama Time!
BONUS TRACK: John Bell’s Bell’s in the Batfry episode #156!
What would the holidays be without Colonial Radio Theater? Actually, what would modern radio drama be without the incredible guiding light of Jerry Robbins and the CRT crew?
Jimmy and the Star Angel has been a labour of love by the founder of Colonial Radio and this incredibly rich musical preview explains why. Get ready for the magic of Christmas!