Fearful Symmetry

Charles Foster Kane reaches dizzying heights in life quickly, while still in youth, but then starts on a downward trajectory in life where he grows stranger, more alone, and sequesters himself in a large mansion (Xanadu) until his death, when among his final thoughts is a longing for the simpler pleasures of a time when he was a child.

Michael Jackson reaches dizzying heights in life quickly, while still in youth, but then starts on a downward trajectory in life where he grows stranger, more alone, and sequesters himself in a large mansion (Neverland) until his death, but all along he conveys a longing for the simpler pleasures of a childhood he never had.

Hmmm……….

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Orson Welles & The Mercury Theater

One of the greatest radio anthology series of the 1930s was The Mercury Theatre on the Air, featuring the talents of the New York drama company founded by Orson Welles and John Houseman.

The Mercury Theatre on the Air featured an impressive array of talent, including Agnes Moorehead, Bernard Herrmann, and George Coulouris. The show is most notable for its notorious War of the Worlds broadcast on October 30, 1938, but the troupe presented many other memorable programs.

And indeed, the premiere episode aired on July 11, 1938, presenting Bram Stoker’s classic Dracula. I’m presenting it here for your enjoyment!

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One of the true greats passes away

Sad to report that one of my favorite actors and personalities of all time, Mr. Charlton Heston, passed away at his home this past Saturday, April 4. One of my greatest thrills was meeting Mr. Heston at a book signing in the late 1990s, promoted by The Learning Annex. Mr. Heston will be missed.

RIP Charlton Heston

1923-2008

The AP ran a nice obituary, so I decided to post most if it here:

Film legend Charlton Heston dead at 84

By BOB THOMAS, Associated Press WriterSun Apr 6, 2:30 PM ET

Charlton Heston, the Oscar winner who portrayed Moses and other heroic figures on film in the ’50s and ’60s and later championed conservative values as head of the National Rifle Association, has died. He was 84.

The actor died Saturday night at his home in Beverly Hills with his wife Lydia at his side, family spokesman Bill Powers said. He declined to comment on the cause of death or provide further details.

“Charlton Heston was seen by the world as larger than life. He was known for his chiseled jaw, broad shoulders and resonating voice, and, of course, for the roles he played,” Heston’s family said in a statement.

Heston revealed in 2002 that he had symptoms consistent with Alzheimer’s disease.

With his large, muscular build, well-boned face and sonorous voice, Heston proved the ideal star during the period when Hollywood was filling movie screens with panoramas depicting the religious and historical past.

“I have a face that belongs in another century,” he often remarked.

The actor assumed the role of leader offscreen as well. He served as president of the Screen Actors Guild and chairman of the American Film Institute and marched in the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

With age, he grew more conservative and campaigned for conservative candidates. In June 1998, Heston was elected president of the NRA, for which he had posed for ads holding a rifle.

Heston famously used to say that the only way his gun would be taken away is “from my cold, dead hands.”

Read more…

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Remember, it’s Halloween

Well, it isn’t Halloween. Halloween was a couple of weeks ago. But way back in 1938 Orson Welles and his Mercury Theater broadcast an original presentation of HG Wells science fiction classic, War of the Worlds.

The broadcast was historic in that the dramatic nature of the broadcast had actually fooled many listeners into believing that aliens from Mars had actually launched an invasion of the earth.

So sit back and enjoy a broadcast that moved and shook listeners way back in October, 1938!

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But takes a few sips too many…

Leave it to screen legend Orson Welles to make a few extra bucks here and there by shilling for all sorts of stuff. In this case, he was taking a check from Paul Masson Champagne for just a few words endorsing their product.

Needless to say, the people at Paul Masson got more than they bargained for!

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To Cloud Men’s Minds

Two of my great passions are old pulp thrillers like Doc Savage, and old time radio like The Lone Ranger and Dragnet. Well, these two passions intersect with one of my favorite fictional characters of all time, The Shadow.

In 1930, magazine publisher Street and Smith sponsored a radio show promoting stories from their Detective Story Magazine. The radio program featured a fictional narrator known as The Shadow, and he became very popular with the listeners. Numerous requests from people for “that Shadow Detective Magazine” compelled Street and Smith to bring the character to the magazine world in his own adventures.

The first novel, The Living Shadow, hit newsstands in April of 1931. Its success meant that more stories were needed, and now The Shadow would be featured in his own monthly magazine, which was so popular that it became biweekly starting in 1932.

The Shadow continued hosting Detective Story Hour, but he became more prominent in the 1937 season of what had become The Shadow radio show, which featured a 22-year-old actor named Orson Welles.

The Shadow radio program and pulp magazines were very successful and soon the character would make it to the big screen: 1937′s The Shadow Strikes, and 1938′s International Crime, though The Shadow would find greater success in the 1940 movie serial simply titled The Shadow.

At around this time, The Shadow returned for a sixth season of his popular radio show, starring Bill Johnstone as The Shadow and his alter ego, Lamont Cranston, and Agnes Moorehead as his confidant, Margo Lane. The sixth season premiere was broadcast on Sunday, September 24, 1939 at 5:30pm, with the classic adventure “Dead Men Talk.”

So sit back this Sunday in 2007 and enjoy the classic radio drama, “The Shadow: Dead Men Talk.”

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