Happy Haunting

Hello everyone - it's that scary time of year again!

For many years Halloween has been a hit-or-miss affair, hasn't it? But in recent years it seems to have seen a resurgence in popularity.

Fifty years ago, every kid on the block seemed to be out on the candy trail, but after several poisonous candy scares in the late 1950's and 1960's, not to mention those spine-tingling Hollywood movies that gave the "celebration" a bad name during the 1980's, Halloween's popularity had been on the wane.

Now youngsters dressed in ghoulish costumes seem to be everywhere again. Last week I read an article in USA Today about two huge Halloween warehouses in Los Angeles that are open year round. Who would have thought there'd be a demand for Dracula costumes and fake blood all year long?

Ah well, rather than buck the trend I thought I'd go along with the Halloween theme and put up some suitably spooky shows. One of these is the marvelous Suspense rendition of Donovan's Brain.

This edge-of-the-seat thriller is based on the novel by Curt Siodmak. It was deemed so worthy and so unusual by the producers of Suspense that it was broadcast in two 30-minute parts over two consecutive weeks.

Orson Welles stars as Dr. Patrick Cory who has been experimenting on keeping alive the brain of a dead monkey. A plane crashes nearby and on that plane is the ruthless millionaire William Donovan. Dr. Cory sees this as an ideal opportunity to put his skills to the test on a human brain.

Through telepathy, he succeeds in communicating with Donovan's brain but before long it starts to take over his whole mind. His wife and son both try to help, but with disastrous consequences.

Orson Welles' performance as Dr. Cory and the transition between the "normal" Dr. Cory and Dr. Cory possessed by Donovan's brain is masterful.

Have a listen. I'm sure you'll love it.

If you want more spine-tingling listening, may I suggest you turn down the lights and have a listen to a new series on RUSC called Dark Fantasy.

Dark Fantasy was a short-lived series of just 31 episodes. It first hit the airwaves on November 14, 1941 and ended its run on June 19, 1942. The series was written by Scott Bishop who also worked on The Mysterious Traveler. It originated from a station in Oklahoma City and was heard on Friday evenings on the NBC network.

For those who want to get into the Halloween mood without scaring themselves, I've added a wonderful Screen Directors Playhouse story entitled The Ghost Breakers, which is a comedy of terrors starring Bob Hope and a two-part Jack Benny program featuring Jack's inimitable version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Happy Halloween,