Showing results by publisher "ABN" in Science Fiction & Fantasy

The CBS Radio Workshop was an experimental series of productions, subtitled "radio's distinguished series to man's imagination" that ran between 27 January 1956 and 22 September 1957. The premiere production was Brave New World, narrated by Huxley himself, with a complicated sound-effects score that evidently took a long time to construct, and comprised a ticking metronome, tom-tom beats, bubbling water, an air hose, a cow's moo, an oscillator, and three kinds of wine glasses clicking together.

The original uncut Radio Broadcast. On the evening of October 30th, 1938, Earth went to war with Mars. Martians invaded New Jersey! Here, the famous panic broadcast that shook the world, starring Orson Welles.

The opening episode begins on Trantor, capital of the Galactic Empire, with the meeting of Seldon and Dornick, their trial, and their exile to Terminus. The action then jumps forward 50 years, to the first Seldon Crisis, where the repercussions of the recent independence of the Four Kingdoms of the Periphery are being felt on Terminus, and are handled by the first Mayor, Salvor Hardin....

Theater Five was ABC's attempt to revive radio drama during the early 1960s. The series name was derived from its time slot, 5:00 p.m. Running Monday through Friday, it was an anthology of short stories, each about 20 minutes long. News programs and commercials filled out the full 30 minutes. There was a good bit of science fiction, and some of the plots seem to have been taken from the daily newspaper. Fred Foy of The Lone Ranger fame was an ABC staff announcer in the early '60s who, among other duties, did Theater Five.

The Mercury Theatre on the Air, a radio series created by Orson Welles, presented adaptations of classic literary works. These were performed by actors from Welles' celebrated Mercury Theatre repertory company, with music composed or arranged by Bernard Herrmann. The series ran from July to December 1938, after which the title was changed to The Campbell Playhouse.

Close the doors. Shut the blinds. Turn out the lights. Make that room dark. Get ready for Alfred Hitchcock Presents Ghost Stories for Young People. Originally recorded in 1962, the album features 11 ghost stories introduced by Hitchcock himself and then read by actor John Allen. If you were a kid during the early '60s, this may bring back some very good memories.

Suspense went through several major phases characterized by different hosts, sponsors, and director/producers. Formula plot devices were followed for all but a handful of episodes: The protagonist was usually a normal person suddenly dropped into a threatening or bizarre situation; solutions were "withheld until the last possible second"; and evildoers were usually punished in the end.

Orson Welles both starred in and directed The Campbell Playhouse, a radio drama (1938-40) produced by Welles and John Houseman. The episodes include adaptions of classic novels and plays as well as radio versions of the era's popular films.

Ayn Rand’s dystopic science fiction novella takes place at some unspecified future date. Mankind has entered another dark age as a result of what Rand saw as the weaknesses of socialistic thinking and economics. Technological advancement is now carefully planned -- when it is allowed to occur at all -- and the concept of individuality has been eliminated.

Orson Welles both starred in and directed The Campbell Playhouse, a radio drama (1938-40) produced by Welles and John Houseman. The episodes include adaptions of classic novels and plays as well as radio versions of the era's popular films.

The Mercury Theatre on the Air, a radio series created by Orson Welles, presented adaptations of classic literary works. These were performed by actors from Welles' celebrated Mercury Theatre repertory company, with music composed or arranged by Bernard Herrmann. The series ran from July to December 1938, after which the title was changed to The Campbell Playhouse.