Enjoy Ray Bradbury

For years I have enjoyed all Ray Bradbury books and short stories, I first found them in junior high and read as many I as could.  As I got older I discovered the movies and the episodes of Twilight Zone and others shows based on Ray's stories along with EC comics reprints of his stories in their issues of Vault of Fear, Tales from the Crypt and of course Weird Science.  Then a few years back I found old time radio shows from Dimension X, X Minus One, Escape and Suspense and then I stumbled on the HBO series "Ray Bradbury Theater" on Youtube, wow! 

I have really enjoyed the series and I found today thanks to a fellow OTR blogger, the story "USHER II" read by Leonard Nimoy on Youtube and that directed me to the episode of "RBT" of the same story.  

So now I share with you those 2 versions...Please enjoy!

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Old Time Radio Show of the Week

ESCAPE
"Mars Is Heaven" 
(based on the Ray Bradbury short story)
Aired June 2nd 1950
The story of what happened when mankind first landed on Mars, April 20th 1987.

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Old Time Radio Show of the Week

Our show this week is "Suspense" and its to celebrate what would have been the 94th birthday of a radio legend, William Conrad.  Famous for being Marshall Matt Dillon on the radio version of "Gunsmoke" during its entire run from 1952 to 1960.  He was also know for being in almost every dramatic show on radio at some point, the narrator of "Escape", roles in "X Minus One", etc., he narrated this classic episode :

"The Whole Town's Sleeping" 

June 14th 1955

Happy Birthday Buck!

Today is the birthday of my friend and podcaster elite Buck Benny!  Lets all head over to his site, Buck Benny Podcast,, and follow his podcast and send a little donation his way to make it a great birthday.

Today I would like to highlight a new favorite of mine that Buck helped me get hooked on...Suspense!

I had been listening to Suspense since my friend Rick recommended it but I just wasn't all that into it, but then Buck started posted episodes and giving a little podcast for them now and again and lo and behold now I am addicted to them have been downloading and listening to them every day.   So thanks to Rick and Buck for getting me hooked on Suspense.

Here from the Ray Bradbury life celebration is the Suspense episode from November 25th 1948,
The Screaming Woman



 Here is the version from Ray Bradbury Theater aired February 22nd 1986 (Episode 5)

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Well my friend Buck Benny at buckbenny podcast is at it again and its, as usual, wonderful stuff.  He is doing a summer of adventure while his regular shows are on summer vacation.   We get to hear Suspense from its beginnings as an audition show in 1940 on CBS' Forecast along with Gunsmoke from its first season in 1952, Escape, X Minus One and The Voyage of the Scarlett Queen and the wonderful radio series from 1984 Bradbury 13

So please stop over and listen to some of the best Old Time Radio on the internet with Buck Benny.
Enjoy his latest podcast and I have also included a couple of great episodes from Suspense one of the finest radio dramas ever that ran regular shows from 1942-1962.

Here is the audition episode for Suspense from July 22nd 1940 "The Lodger" 



Bradbury 13 from April 9th 1984 "Night Call Collect" 

  

 The first regular run episode of Suspense "The Burning Court" with Charles Ruggles. June 17th 1942

Episode 2 Suspense - "Wet Saturday" June 24th 1942
 

Ray Bradbury 1920-2012 R.I.P.

We lost one of the greatest writers the US has ever produced in Ray Bradbury.  He died yesterday at the age of 91 in California.

Read his obituary in the LA Times.

I became aware of him and also became a big fan when I was a teenager and read "The Illustrated Man".  Those stories were incredible and especially "The Veldt" , With its technology gone wrong plot, this was a prime example of what others called the "Bradbury last sentence twist".  This was adapted for the radio show Dimension X  in 1951.   After reading this story I couldn't put the book down and soon was looking for all the Bradbury collections in my library.



In the mid 80s HBO ran a great show called "Ray Bradbury Theater"  and then it moved to the USA Network from 1988 to 1992.  All episodes were written by Mr. Bradbury with most being adapted from short stories or novels he had written.
One of the stories adapted was "The Small Assassin"  from 1946 that had been back in 1953 for the EC comic book "Shock SuspenStories" issue #7 and then adapted again for television for the second season of "Ray Bradbury Theater".

 

 


The world is a little sadder today without Ray Bradbury churning out fantasy and suspense stories to keep you up at night.