Showing posts with label Old time radio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Old time radio. Show all posts

Listen: Episode 1 of Jack Flanders and "The Mystery of Jaguar Reef"

ZBS Media is serializing one of their brilliant, funny and though-provoking Jack Flanders audio adventures starting today. Listen here.

New episodes of "The Mystery of Jaguar Reef" will appear online each Friday and Monday.

Flanders is ZBS' flagship character in a lineup that also includes Ruby the Galactic Gumshoe and more.

A sometimes reluctant adventurer, Jack travels the world and, occasionally, other dimensions, finding himself in all sorts of situations that challenge his, and our, perspectives on the world and reality in general. The stories contain elements of mystery, suspense, mysticism, science fiction, fantasy and lots of humor.

I seriously can't recommend the stories highly enough. If you're a fan of old-time radio and pop culture in general you'll thoroughly enjoy them and keep coming back for more. I've been a fan since 1976 when the college radio station in my hometown starting airing Jack's first adventure "The Fourth Tower of Inverness."

Here's is ZBS' own description of "Jaguar Reef":

As we continue with the Lesser Known Works of Meatball Fulton (who wrote these things), we step into the world of Jack Flanders.  Remember back in the days when someone would suddenly shout, “Far friggin’ out!” Well, that fits this.

The idea for The Mystery of Jaguar Reef came from Fulton meeting a few “far out” people who swore they knew at least one “Walk-In.”

Wikipedia describes this as: A "walk-in" is where the original soul of a human leaves a person's body and another soul "walks in".
Is that even remotely possible? Who knows? But it does make a good story.

The Story
Jack Flanders investigates a puzzling case of personality change and soon finds himself scuba-diving into a dilemma off the shores of Belize, Central America. Where did this mysterious pirate wreck come from? Is Jack really a pawn in a cosmic chess game? And why does everyone around him seem to be “walk-ins”, except (perhaps) Captain Coco?

Pulsing festival rhythms, a dose of potent Viper Rum, and the pirate ship ascends into the tropical night sky. A rope ladder is tossed down, and Captain Jack is suddenly at the helm, suspecting that some kind of alien plot is afloat. And so it is.

The Sounds
We recorded the sounds in Ambergris Caye, Belize, where the story takes place. Fulton even brought along his hydrophones to record underwater. This is one lush, tropical, bubbly adventure.

Plug: CBS Radio Mystery Theater site

Audio drama and old time radio is one of my myriad pop cultural interests, so I want to direct you to a great site that presents what was one of OTR's last gasps: CBS Radio Mystery Theater.

I remember listening to these shows over the car radio on family road trips and being transported (while I was being transported!) by the spooky/suspenseful stories and high-caliber acting. Episodes were stand-alone stories introduced by actor E.G. Marshall.

Not only does this site present the original programs, but includes cast info and historical background.

For those unfamiliar with the program, here are some details from the site:
In 1974 long-time radio producer Himan Brown convinced CBS to green-light a new anthology of Radio Dramas, CBS Radio Mystery Theater (CBSRMT). Radio Drama had been declared "dead" twelve years before.

CBS Radio Mystery Theater was meant to appeal to an audience that remembered when radio drama was a popular form of family entertainment.

Riding on the wave of nostalgia fever, the radio show attracted many younger listeners who would stay up late, hidden under their covers to hear the program on their bedroom radio (and many of them were not able to go to sleep after listening to the frightening program!) CBSRMT was able to attract a wide array of talent.

Many of the voices that were popular during the Golden Age of Radio made appearances on CBS Radio Mystery Theater, and younger talent, often from CBS Daytime Television and NY area stage was used as well.

Picture: Radio's Superman Bud Collyer

Via Booksteve: A rare shot of radio actor, later game show host, Bud Collyer and a stack of awesome 1940s comics.

Photo: Superman oldtime radio cast

Here are Jackson Beck (announcer), Joan Alexander (Lois Lane) and Bud Collyer (Superman) on the air.