Escape:

  Bird  of  Paradise.

03/11/54.

***

Inner Sanctum:

“Song of the Slasher”

(04/24/45).

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Mindwebs:

“The Man Who Returned”

(12/08/78).

***

Strange As It Seems:

“The Author Who Ate His Book”

(1935-39).

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In episode one we have an Escape involving a “Bird of Paradise” from March 11 of 1954.

A spin off from Suspense, Escape ran on CBS from 1947 to 1954, and dealt in a wide variety of stories: science fiction, horror, murder.

You know,good fun for the whole family!

The program displayed a fondness for adventure tales set in the tropics or on the high seas. As far as I have been able to find out, there were a total of 194 stories.

Many of the episodes were taken from the classics, but not all. Often the writers and producers of Escape  culled material from stories that were not then considered classics but have gained that status since. Not that the radio show had anything to do with that. This distinction was brought about by the excellence of the material itself and the garnishment of time.

“Bird of Paradise” was adapted from the short story of the same name by John Russell, first published in Colliers, August 19, 1916.

Andrew Harben, a want-a-be  fortune hunter, arrives at one of the spice Islands. Once there he makes his way to a dealer in rare birds. Then with more muscle and ambition than good sense, attempts to muscle his way into the trade.

Success, after a fashion, he does find. While wandering the Solomon Sea he succumbs to an illness. Barely alive he and his boat make landfall. Uncertain of where he is, it is nevertheless here that he finds this opportunity and his nemesis. Oh, and the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Well, there’s always a Dame. Ain’t there?

Held prisoner on the island by a huge man.  He is nothing more than a slave.

This is not what he intended for himself. It does not fit in with his plans  at all!

The story was adapted for radio by John Meston and produced/directed by Norman MacDonnell. John Dehner starred and the cast included Andrew Harbin and Lawrence Dobkin.

Inner Sanctum presents a marry tune, ” Song of the Slasher”; Which originally aired on April 24 of 1945.

Taking its name from a popular series of mystery novels, Inner Sanctum Mysteries debuted over NBC’s Blue Network in Ja