Leiningen Versus the Ants
Leiningen Versus the Ants by Carl Stephenson is a classic short story published in the December 1938 edition of Esquire Magazine. The story centers on plantation owner called Leiningen, and his stubborn refusal to abandon his plantation in the face of an onrushing disaster. In this case, the disaster is "an elemental—an act of God!": an advancing, seemingly unstoppable mass of army ants each the size of a mans thumb and out to eat anything that falls in its path.
In 1948 the story was adapted into a radio play as part of the CBS Radio series, Escape. William Conrad provided the voice of Leiningen and Lou Merrill that of the Commissioner for the January 17th debut broadcast, which was then repeated by Escape in May 1948. It is said to be one of the most gripping and suspenseful of all old-time-radio plays and was produced again by Suspense broadcast on August 8th, 1958 with William Conrad once again in the starring role. On 29th November, 1959 Suspense broadcast a version of this now famous story starring Luis Van Rooten as Leiningen and Martin Blaine as the Commissioner.
It was further adapted in in 1954 by Ranald MacDougall and Ben Maddow into a film entitled The Naked Jungle, starring Charlton Heston as Leiningen and featuring William Conrad as the commissioner.
On Easter Sunday through Tuesday I added all three radio versions of Leiningen Versus The Ants beginning with the originalEscape rendition. I hope that they kept you gripped in suspense!
I would also like to let you know that Joy and I will be on vacation through 9th April. I will still be checking my e-mail, but not as often as it will mean a trip to the local Internet café. So if I don’t get back to you right away, please bear with me.
I have scheduled many shows to keep you entertained and an interesting editorial about George Jessel to go live on RUSC on the 3rd April to coincide with his birthday.
Happy listening my friends,
