If Corey and his group were to do another round of QP episodes... which do you think would work?

Comments on If Corey and his group were to do another round of QP episodes... which do you think would work?

Old Timer
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Posted Oct 17, 2004 - 5:48 PM:

While (upon further reading) I agree that "100,000 diameters" wouldn't work... do you possibly think show's like "12 to 5" or Northern Lights would work? cool
GregT
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Posted Oct 19, 2004 - 12:16 PM:

How about Very Unimportant Person? Easily staged: Three actors sitting in chairs set up in rows.

MS
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Posted Oct 19, 2004 - 1:32 PM:

I like NORTHERN LIGHTS but I can see where it could be challenging to stage -- for one thing, you'd have to pre-record parts of it. On the other hand, the lighting designer could have a field day. My pick would be something more low-key, like SOME PEOPLE DON'T DIE, that's a scary one that doesn't seem to have dated much.

A TIME TO BE BORN, AND A TIME TO DIE might be relatively easy to stage since it's mainly a series of brief monologues and dialogues -- a real actors' showcase. Of course, it's not particularly scary and the fantasy element is minimal. But the actor playing "The Reader" could have a lot of fun whacking that gong.

As for movie adaptations, DON'T TELL ME ABOUT HALLOWEEN (about the guy who marries a witch) has a kind of epic sweep to it (and there WAS a film in the early 1940s called "I Married a Witch" -- wonder if Cooper saw it). LIGHT THE LAMP FOR ME (a big time travel story) has a lot of potential, too, I think.

Incidentally, the Majestic Midway Theater in Chicago is doing twice-a-month OTR recreations under the series title "Amateur Radio Hour." For Oct. 19, they scheduled Cooper's "Death Robbery" from "Lights Out!" and an episode of Fibber McGee and Molly. There's a page about it here:

http://www.majesticmidway.com/arh.htm
MS
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Posted Oct 21, 2004 - 9:01 PM:

[Another OTR re-creation of "Fourble Board" -- this time in Batavia, Illinois:]

First Street Playhouse and Strange Bardfellows are teaming to provide chills for Batavia's Batfest by presenting an evening of old-time radio horror called The Return of the Son of the Bride of a Very Good Friend of Dracula’s Radio on October 22, 23 and 24. [2004...]

With First Street Playhouse furnishing the venue and technology, Strange Bardfellows will perform five radio scripts (the show will run approximately two hours, with one intermission). Included are some of the most acclaimed horror stories in the history of radio...

[They're doing Arch Oboler's The Dark and Cat Wife (from Lights Out), Evening Primrose (from Escape), Zero Hour (from Suspense), The Thing on the Fourble Board (from QP)

More info is here:

http://www.bozolisand.com/radio.html

]
Zorka
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Posted Oct 26, 2004 - 6:42 PM:

This got me to thinking.... Would Fourble Board (or any QP episode for that matter) make a good movie? I recall the movie version of Sorry Wrong Number and well...... they shouldn't have made it imo


I suspect that any of Cooper's QP plays would be ruined by being made into a movie.

The genius of Cooper is close to what Corey is doing with his stage play - as minimalist drama. I've always imagined QP staged as an empty or nearly empty stage with Chappell spotlighted in one area and the other actors who appear occasionally staged in other areas with spots coming on or off depending upon their roles.

Cooper has always been able to bring chills by his underplaying the drama and finessing my imagination.
Paul
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Posted Oct 26, 2004 - 11:56 PM:

I think "We Were Here First" would be an good pick. The giants are supposed to be too large to really see, and most of the episode is just the main character telling a story about implied menaces that you won't see until it's too late.

"Dialogue For a Tragedy" could be very good if there's a way on stage to make it not obvious that he's talking to a mirror and holding the gun himself. (Maybe if his back is to the audience? Could be a little disconcerting, but certainly unique.)

Zorka wrote:

I suspect that any of Cooper's QP plays would be ruined by being made into a movie.


Generally true, but "Sketch for a Screenplay" might fare better. wink
MS
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Posted Nov 10, 2004 - 9:25 PM:

Just for the record, there was apparently yet another QP recreation last month, this time in Oklahoma City at something called Second Sunday Dessert Radio Theater. They scheduled "Nothing Behind the Door" from QP, "Mars is Heaven" from "X Minus One" and a "Lights Out" episode that they credit to Wyllis Cooper but which I believe is actually by Arch Oboler. Here's the info:

2nd Sunday of every month!
Actors Warehouse Studio
8051-B North Classen
Call 405-810-9299 for more information
Tickets $5 - Cheapest date in town! 

Halloween Special
Sunday, October 12, 7:00 PM

Thriller suspense classics were all the rage during Radio's Golden age, and the Second Sunday Radio Theater Company has chosen three goose-pimple raising psycho dramas for this weekend's Halloween Special. Performed by top OKC Stage and Commercial voice actors, and complete with eerie musical scores and spooky sound effects, you'll want to bring the whole family along for a good dose of old fashioned suspense & chills this Sunday at 7 PM. 

Refreshing soft drinks and matinee candy are also available in the intimate, yet casual atmosphere of Actors Warehouse Studio, located at 8051B North Classen, just north of Wilshire on the West side of Classen. 

Halloween Script Line Up:
From the popular hit Radio series QUIET PLEASE the Radio Theater Live company
will perform "Nothing Behind the Door" starring Morgan Brown, Paul Austin,
John Q. Wilson, Doug Van Liew and Doug Bentin.

X MINUS ONE presented "transcribed tales of new dimensions in time and
space...adventures in which you'll live in a million could-be years on a thousand
may-be worlds." The series ran from 1955-58 and adapted then current stories by
top science fiction authors such as Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, William
Tenn, Phillip K. Dick, and Ray Bradbury, the author of the Second Sunday featured
script, "Mars Is Heaven." This recreation stars Brad Allen, Paul Austin, Doug
Bentin, Morgan Brown, Angel Davis, Jordon Knudson, Beth Thompson, Doug Van
Liew, and John Q. Wilson.

The tolling of the bell in the background, and the announcer saying "It - is
- Later - Than - You - Think" means only one thing to vintage radio fans --
another episode of LIGHTS OUT!  Second Sunday Radio theater presents "Darrell
Hall's Thoughts," a psychological drama by acclaimed radio writer, Wyllis
Cooper. Starring Second Sunday Radio Company member Brad Allen, supported by Doug Bentin, Jordan Knudson, Angel Davis, John Q. Wilson, Doug Van Liew, and Beth
Thompson.

Each of the recreated radio programs runs about 25 minutes, and the company
takes a short intermission after performing the first 2 scripts. Entire running
time for the Halloween Special is 90-100 minutes.  

Tickets are $5 per person and all scripts are safe for children of all ages.

Source: http://www.whodunit.net/radiotheatre.htm
MS
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Posted Mar 09, 2005 - 8:11 PM:

Craig Gustafson -- who staged some OTR re-creations last October in Batavia, Illinois -- posted some of his scripts online, including one for "Fourble Board." Others include Arch Oboler's "Cat Wife" and "The Dark" (from Lights Out), "The Dark Tower" (from Suspense), "Evening Primrose" (from Escape), and an episode of "Pat Novak for Hire." You can link to them from here (for a while, anyway):

http://www.simplyscripts.com/radio.html

His script for "Fourble" contains some interesting notes on the production. Apparently, he cut some of Porky's big speech about the mechanics of the oil drill because, and I'm quoting him, "IT JUST MADE EVERYBODY'S EYES GLAZE OVER IN REHEARSAL, INCLUDING THE ACTOR PLAYING PORKY. WE DIDN'T HAVE TO FILL AN EXACT HALF HOUR LIKE MR. COOPER DID. SO WE DROPPED IT."

At the end, the actor playing Porky drops his script and pulls out a gun. Mr. Gustafson writes:

"I ADAPTED THIS FOR A LIVE PERFORMANCE. THIS WAS THE CLOSING EPISODE OF THE EVENING.... THIS WAS DONE LIVE AS PART OF AN EVENING OF SPOOKY RADIO SHOWS. EXTRANEOUS CAST MEMBERS LEFT THE STAGE BEFORE THIS ONE BEGAN, AND EACH FOURBLE BOARD CAST MEMBER LEFT THE STAGE AFTER HIS LAST LINE, LEAVING ONLY PORKY... AND HIS GUN. THE AUDIENCE KNEW THAT PORKY WASN'T REALLY GOING TO SHOOT THEM... MAYBE... BUT THEN THE MONSTER NOISE CAME FROM BEHIND THEM. THEN THE LIGHTS WENT OUT, THE AUDIENCE PLANT SCREAMED - AND SO DID HALF THE AUDIENCE. IT WAS GREAT!

"ONE NIGHT WE HAD TWO YOUNG PRE-TEEN BROTHERS IN THE AUDIENCE WHO BEGAN THE EVENING BORED TO TEARS. BUT THEN THEY GOT WRAPPED UP IN THE PERFORMANCES, AND WHEN THE LIGHTS WENT OUT IN FOURBLE BOARD, ONE OF THEM SCREAMED, "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!" IF YOU'RE DOING A LIVE RADIO RECREATION, IT DOESN'T GET ANY BETTER THAN THAT."



John
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Posted Mar 27, 2005 - 10:34 PM:

I think the most visual show (that is the one I "see" the sets and the lighting and everything else when I listen to it) for me would be "Beezer's Cellar". It helps that it takes place in practically one location and during a very short space of time, unlike many of the other QP shows. This lends itself well to the medium of film. Being on the fringes of the film industry myself, this would be my first choice if I was to produce one of Cooper's scripts. I just may attempt it in the future.
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