June 10, 1936, every home in the United States and Canada had a radio. That night, Arch Oboler's, "BURIAL SERVICE", scared the living crap out American's and Canadian's listening to his program "LIGHTS OUT!". On June 30, 1946, he brought the program to television.
Arch Oboler, was born on December 7, 1907, in Chicago, Illinois, to Jewish immigrants from Riga, Latvia, Leon and Clara Oboler.
In 1933, other than musical and comedy programs, the radio airwaves were mainly filled with soap operas, that to 26-years-old Arch Oboler, sounded alike, except for the character's name. He decided a change was needed and submitted to the "National Broadcasting Company (NBC)", a science fiction script.
His timing couldn't have been more perfect for that submission.
The radio script was entitled "FUTURISTICS", a satire of the present world, as seen from the future. On the date of Oboler's submission, "NBC", was about to dedicate its new "futuristic looking" headquarters at "30 Rockefeller Center", and used Arch Oboler's radio script as part of their promotion.
RADIO BEGINNINGS
In Arch Oboler's 1933 radio script, one of the characters makes fun of a radio commercial for the "American Tobacco Company", founded in 1890 by James Buchanan Duke, seen below.
At one time, Duke's company dominated the cigarette manufacturing industry, having acquired 200 of his competitors including "Lucky Strike". Even after the new anti-trust laws broke parts of Duke's Empire apart in 1911, he was still the dominant manufacturer.
Making fun of such a widely known company in the United States and Canada, as the "American Tobacco Company", had appealed to Arch Oboler. However, in 1933, it was considered "taboo" to make fun of commercials and the company's behind them, because they were the major income for radio station owner's such as the "National Broadcasting Company". There was a blowback over that part of the program, but not too harsh to Oboler.
However, Arch did return to radio conformity between 1933 and 1936. During this period he wrote radio scripts for programs such as the drama series, "Grand Hotel", and "Welch's Presents Irene Rich", seen below. Both programs were anthology series giving him a variety of radio scripts to write.
1936 was the crucial year in Arch Oboler's radio career. It started with writing a short radio skit for singer, saxophonist, bandleader and actor, Rudy Vallee's radio program. The short script was entitled the "Rich Kid".
The "Rich Kid" in turn, landed Arch a 52-week contract to write radio plays for actor Don Ameche on "The Chase and Sanborn Hour".
While, Oboler continued to write for "The Rudy Vallee Show", and also the variety program, "The Magic Key of RCA".
However, Wyllis Cooper, seen below, had created a Tuesday, midnight horror radio program, "Lights Out". In 1936, Cooper stepped aside for the glamour of writing for "Hollywood". Which began his 13-screenplay career, with three, "20th Century Fox","Mr. Moto", detective features starring Peter Lorre. However, "Universal Pictures", did turn him loose on one motion picture. He singularly created the story and wrote the screenplay for 1939's, "Son of Frankenstein".
"NBC" offered Arch Oboler, the now vacant, "Witching Hour" program, but according to Oboler's, January 1, 1945 collection, "Oboler omnibus; Radio plays and personalities":
a weekly horror play that went on at Tuesday midnight to the somber introduction of 12 doleful chimes, was not exactly my idea of a writing Shangri-La...
Thinking it over, two things stood out in favor of taking on the program:
1. A midnight time slot gave him the freedom to write whatever he wanted.
2. There was no sponsor and that further empowered the young writer.
Above, Arch Oboler directing a live "Lights Out" program.
An excellent example of Oboler's empowerment, although "NBC" in 1936, like the majority of American businesses, maintained strict neutrality toward Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Showed when Arch Obler was able to include subtle attacks on both countries in his radio programs.
"BURIAL SERVICES" brought the writer letters of protest from his audience that were sent to the executives of "NBC". What caused these letters? The program ends with a young girl being buried alive without any chance of rescue.
The radio executive's were no dummies, and knew the viewership of "Lights Out!" Starting with the next program, Arch's radio scripts became more fantasy, but still a program that a person wanted to listen to with their "Lights Out!"
The date was February 23, 1938, the time Midnite on a Tuesday, you are sitting in a totally dark room with your radio on, and Arch Oboler presented "CHICKEN HEART!". In his 1981, "Danse Macabre", Stephen King mentions the radio program and is quoted on the website, "Talk Stephen King: The Man Who Scared Stephen King" at: https://talkstephenking.blogspot.com/2012/06/man-who-scared-stephen-king.html
Part of Oboler's real genius was when 'Chicken Heart' ended, you felt like laughing and throwing up at the same time.
At the time of this writing, if you dare, turn off the lights and listen to "Chicken Heart" at the following link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ6HPGr6Lsg
Returning to the above mentioned work written by Arch Oboler, is this quote:
I found myself wanting the dimensions of that half hour on the air expanded to take in the actual horror of a world facing, with half-shut eyes, the fascistic Frankenstein's monster moving over Europe.
At the start of 1939, after "Lights Out" had the light's put out on that program, and using his own money. Arch Oboler recorded a version of his play, "The Ugliest Man in the World", and took it to "NBC" in the hope of writing dramatic plays expressing ideas, such as anti-fascism.
Once again, his timing couldn't have been more perfect for that submission.
"NBC" wanted to find a new experimental radio show to rival their competitor, the "Columbia Broadcasting Company's (CBS)", program, "Columbia Workshop". "Arch Oboler's Plays", premiered on March 25, 1939, in the 7 to 7:30 PM time slot, opposite "The Jack Benny Show". A hard slot to get an audience and, also, without having a sponsor for his program.
Pre-Blacklisted author and screenplay writer Dalton Trumbo, wrote the 1939 novel, "Johnny Got His Gun". The main character is American First World War soldier, "Joe Bonham", who was caught in the blast of an exploding artillery shell. He awakes in a hospital to slowly discover he has lost his arms and legs, half his face, including his eyes, nose, and tongue.
The following link takes my reader to the radio drama version of "Johnny Got His Gun", written by Arch Oboler, starring James Cagney portraying "Joe Bonham". Who drifts between fantasy and reality as he faces the fact the army will not let him commit suicide and end his current state.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CgC4DmUGww
Besides James Cagney, "Arch Oboler's Plays", featured Bette Davis, Ronald Colman, Elsa Lanchester, and Edmond O'Brien, among other "A-List" movie stars. The series finally ended on March 23, 1940.
During this period, Arch Oboler married his college sweetheart, Eleanor Helfand.
RADIO, MOTION PICTURES, AND ANTI-FASCISM
However, seven-months later, on October 4, 1940, Arch Oboler returned to the radio airwaves, but now with a sponsor, "Procter and Gamble", and a new program name, "Everyman's Theatre".
On October 11, 1940, "Everyman's Theatre", had broadcast Arch Oboler's radio play, "This Precious Freedom". It starred Raymond Massey as a man who returns from an isolated vacation to find a strange power (think the unnamed "Nazi Germany") in charge of America. The freedoms he took for granted have been eliminated.
Between the death of "Arch Oboler's Plays" and the birth of "Everyman's Theatre", Arch Oboler wrote his first motion picture screenplay.
ESCAPE premiering October 31, 1940
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Pearl Harbor Hawaii, "DECEMBER 7, 1941"
Hardly a name that film scholars would mention in the same breath with Orson Welles, in the heyday of radio drama, Arch Oboler rivaled Welles' genius for audio dramatics in the opinion of critics. The eccentric thinker behind the classic Lights Out series was, in his prime, every inch the innovator that Welles was. Further in the article, my reader will find: Like Welles, Oboler was eventually summoned to Hollywood and began churning out feature scripts for mellers like RKO's Gangway For Tomorrow. Proving to producers that he knew his way around a screenplay, Arch was at last given the opportunity to direct. |
Laszlo immigrated to America shortly before the Nazi invasion of Hungary. He became an American citizen in 1942 and served with the O.S.S. (Office of Strategic Services) during the 2nd World War.
Problem number one is with the above, the Nazi's didn't invade Hungary until March 19, 1944.
In Matt Rovner's article, "Gangway for Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow", at:
Editor of PESTI HIRLAP (daily newspaper) in Hungary for 20 years. Writer of propaganda articles, radio broadcasting in Hungary. Since coming to this country, subject has worked as a scenario writer for several of the leading motion picture studios, and has written stories about the conditions in Europe, and very successful books and plays in this country, such as "Top Hat" starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers - - -
The film’s limited release met with negative reviews from both critics and audiences. After four years of war, the public was not interested in watching a movie where Nazis had overtaken the US, as if all their hardships had been in vain — nevermind thatOboler was actually accusing the audiences of helping the fascists. Still, the film would not go away. In 1946 Claude Rains was the man of the hour after a critically lauded portrayal of Julius Caesar in Caesar and Cleopatra (1945) and an Oscar nominated turn in Hitchcock’s Notorious (1946). Poverty Row Studio PRC saw their chance to cash in on the Rains and bought the rights to the movie, edited it down to 55 minutes and gave it a new ending, which was at least slightly less ambiguous than the original one.
Back on July 29, 1939, the listening audience for "Alter Ego", on "Arch Oboler's Plays" heard:
Ladies and gentlemen, this is Arch Oboler. Tonight, I fully expected to bring you the story of another world, a play full of roaring rocket ships speeding through space, bringing the people of our earth to new adventures on other planets. And then I began to think, Why go out into interstellar space for a story of another world, when here, on this earth, within ourselves, there are other worlds -- the other beings we might have been? Here, then, is the story of another world -- within our own.
The Hollywood trade paper, "Variety", on July 4, 1945, the day "BEWITCHED" was released, had a review containing the following paragraph:
Produced on a low budget, with a sterling cast of actors' actors, this picture just oozes with class because of the excellent adaptation and direction it has been given by radio's Arch Oboler, author of the story "Alter Ego", on which the film is based. Climax follows climax, strong performance follows strong performance in this thrilling psychopathic study of a girl obsessed by an inner voice that drives her to murder.
Phyllis Thaxter portrayed "Joan Arlis Ellis". This picture was her second, her first role was as "Ellen Lawson", with 4th-billing in the Spencer Tracy, Van Johnson, and Robert Walker, 1944, "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo". Later, she was 5th-billed behind Robert Mitchum, Barbara Bel Geddes, Robert Preston, and Walter Brennan, in the western, 1948's, "Blood on the Moon", and still later, 4th-billed after Burt Lancaster, Charles Bickford, and Steve Cochran, in 1951's, "Jim Thrope - - All-American". Not to forget portraying "Ma Kent", in 1978's, "Superman".
Edmund Gwenn portrayed "Dr. Bergson's". Gwenn is most known for two-motion picture roles, "Kris Kringle", in the original, 1947, "Miracle on 34th Street", starring Maureen O'Hara, and John Payne, and featuring 9-years-old, Natalie Wood. His other role was as "Dr. Harold Medford", in the classic, 1954, science fiction film, 'THEM!"
As of this writing, that the following link takes my reader to "Bewitched", Arch Oboler's:
story of another world -- within our own.
https://m.ok.ru/video/3807420943085
Above left to right, Stephen McNally (billed under his birth name of Horace McNally) portraying "Eric Russell", Phyllis Thaxter, and Edmund Gwenn.
On JULY 3, 1945, the "HOUSE UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE" became a standing (permanent) committee of the House of Representatives.
On SEPTEMBER 2, 1945, Japan formally surrendered and the Second World War was finally over.
On SEPTEMBER 20, 1945, "Lights Out", presented Arch Oboler's, "ROCKET FROM MANHATTAN", described as:
- - - set in the future some 55 years hence; the date is 20th September in the year 2000. The place of the story is in a great rocket speeding away from the moon. The first trip to the moon has finally taken place and a triumphant airship is now returning to earth. Having lived through the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima this is a remarkable story of events that whilst unthinkable are quite imaginable. Thankfully the prophecy in this story has not come true.
https://www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com/thriller/arch-obolers-plays/arch-obolers-plays-45-09-20-23-rocket-from-manhattan
On Sunday, June 30, 1946, "Lights Out", became a television series with "First Person Singular". The first 18-episodes were produced by Fred Coe, who also directed 4-episodes. The series would run into 1952, for 160-episodes.
The founder and publisher of the Hollywood trade paper, "The Hollywood Reporter", William R. Wilkerson, seen below, held the somewhat strange point of view that the "Hollywood Studio's" were nothing more than "Communist Stronghold's".
On July 29, 1946, Wilkerson, wrote and published in "The Hollywood Reporter", the column "A Vote for Joe Stalin".
William R. Wilkerson's column was basically a list of Hollywood producers, directors, writers, actors, and others he claimed were members of the "Communist Party USA". He had absolutely no proof of any connection with any person on his list. However, the power of Wilkerson's column was shown with the almost immediate action by the "House Committee on Un-American Activities". By issuing subpoenas to every name on his list. See my introduction to the next second on "The Second Red Scare".
THE WAR WAS OVER: RADIO, MOVIES, AND TELEVISION
THE ARNELO AFFAIR released on February 13, 1947
The motion picture was directed by Arch Oboler, who wrote the screenplay.
He based it upon a short story by Jane Burr, "I'll Tell My Husband". The wording about her on the "IMDb" website, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1057728/?ref_=tt_ov_wr_2 implies this was her only work, and she was born in Texas, and died in the USA.
In actuality, Rosalind Mae Guggenheim, had an interesting life and the website, "Labor Arts", at: https://www.laborarts.org/exhibits/themasses/bios.cfm.html has a very good article about her.
The cast for this motion picture is interesting also:
John Hodiak portrayed "Tony Arnelo". Hodiak had just co-starred with Lucille Ball, in the 1946, crime drama, "Two Smart People". He followed this picture by co-starring with Lizabeth Scott, and Burt Lancaster, in the 1947, film-noir, crime drama, "Desert Fury".
George Murphy portrayed "Ted Parkson". The future California Senator, Murphy had just been seen co-starring in one of Ann Sothern's, "Maisie"comedies, 1946, "Up Goes Maisie". He followed this motion picture by co-starring with Elizabeth Taylor, in the 1947, teen drama, "Cynthia".
Francis Gifford portrayed "Anne Parkson". Gifford had just been seen in the forgotten child star, Jackie "Butch" Jenkins's, 1946, comedy drama, "Little Mister Jim". She followed this feature film with the pop musical comedy, 1948's, "Luxury Liner".
Dean Stockwell portrayed "Ricky Parkson". He was three-roles away from 1947's, anti-semitism classic feature film, "Gentleman's Agreement", starring Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, and John Garfield, and five-roles from 1948's, plea for war orphans, "The Boy with Green Hair", starring Pat O'Brien, and Robert Ryan.
Eve Arden portrayed "Vivian Delwyn". The three time nominated "Best Supporting Actress", Arden, was known to my generation for the television series, "Our Miss Brooks", portraying a school teach from 1952 through 1956, in 1978, she was promoted to "Principal McGee", in the John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Broadway based musical film, "Grease".
The story is about the framing of "Anne Parkson" for the murder of ,"Claire Lorrison", portrayed by Joan Woodbury.
The picture is best described by a review from the "Staff" of the Hollywood trade paper, "Variety":
Arch Oboler, radio’s master of suspense, has effectively transposed his technique into the visual medium with The Arnelo Affair. Strictly speaking this is not a whodunit, nor can it be catalogued as a psychological suspense picture ... There’s never a question as to who committed the murder, but the crime is secondary to its effect on the characters involved. Until the film’s very climax, no hint is given to the ultimate denouement. Dialogue instills the feeling of action where none exists for much of the footage, and the gab is excellent but for a couple of spots when Oboler gives vent to florid passages.
On Halloween, October 31, 1947, the motion picture "Christmas Eve" was released. Arch Oboler received no credit for his contribution to the story. The film is actually several short stories within the main storyline. That is about a greedy nephew trying to have his eccentric aunt declared incompetent so he can administer her wealth. Before that ruling, the aunt must find her three adopted sons to stop this from happening.
Next was an old fashion comedy.
ON OUR MERRY WAY premiered in New York City on February 3, 1948
Arch Oboler wrote three original short stories that make up a semi-three-part screenplay.
The overall screenplay was written by Laurence Stallings, co-writer of director John Ford's, 1948, "3 Godfathers", and 1949's, "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon", and co-writer, Lou Breslow. Who wrote 1945's, "Abbott and Costello Go to Hollywood", and Red Skelton's, 1947, "Merton of the Movies".
The story revolves around "Martha" and "Oliver Pease", portrayed by Paulette Goddard and Burgess Meredith. "Oliver" has deceived his bride "Martha" into believing he is a major newspaper reporter. When "Olivier" only works in the classified ad section, and their story bookends the motion picture.
Below Burgess Meredith and Paulette Goddard
Within the main story is one about two Jazz musicians, portrayed by Henry Fonda as Lank", and James Stewart as "Slim". Specific additional dialogue for both actors, was written by author, John O'Hara, 1935's, "Butterfield 8", 1940's, "Pal Joey", and 1955's, "Ten North Frederick".
The other story within the main one, has William Demarest portraying "Floyd"and Fred MacMurray portraying "Al". The two are con artists, who stumble upon a young runaway and practical joker named "Edgar (some sights call him "Eli", and some use both first names) Hobbs", portrayed by Hugh Herbert, that is getting the best of the two.
According to the "IMDb" website, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041047/episodes/?ref_=tt_ov_epl
On Friday, September 23, 1949, the first episode of "Arch Oboler's Comedy Theatre", "Ostrich in Bed", premiered on the television stations of the "American Broadcasting Company (ABC)". For families that had the money to purchase a television set.
"Ostrich in Bed" starred Sara Berner, of the "Jack Benny Radio Show", Ken Christy, a motion picture character actor since director Alfred Hitchcock's, 1940, "Foreign Correspondent", and Hans Conried, who had just been seen in the 1949 comedy, "My Friend Irma". Known for the debut of the comedy team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.
"Arch Oboler's Comedy Theatre" only consisted of 6-episodes, ending on Friday, November 4, 1949, with "Dog's Eye View". A small dog narrates the story of a love triangle and a murder that it witnessed. "The Wife" was portrayed by Olive Deering, "Miriam" in director Cecil B. DeMille's, 1956, "The Ten Commandments", "The Husband" was portrayed by Louis Merrill, Cecil B. DeMille's, 1940, "Northwest Mounted Police", and 1942's, "Reap the Wild Wind". "The Other Man", was portrayed by Hugh O'Brien. This was only his second role, in 1950, he was one of the explorers in the cult science fiction, "Rocketship X-M". From 1955 through 1961, O'Brien starred in the television series, "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp".
We know that on May 23, 1950, Arch Oboler wrote "Big Ten", for the television anthology series, "Fireside Theatre". What the screenplay was about and who performed it, is unknown.
THE SECOND RED SCARE AND BEYOND
Quoting from the website, the "Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History", found in the article, "MCCARTHYISM AND THE SECOND RED SCARE", July 2, 2015, at:
https://oxfordre.com/americanhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.001.0001/acrefore- 9780199329175-e-6
The second Red Scare refers to the fear of Communism that permeated American politics, culture, and society from the late 1940 through the 1950's, during the opening phases of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. This episode of political repression lasted longer and was more pervasive than the Red Scare that followed the Bolshevik Revolution and World War I. Popularly known as "McCarthyism"after Senator Joseph McCarthy (R-Wisonsin), - - - -
The "House Committee on Un-American Activities" called in major and minor Hollywood personalities to either confess to being a member of the "Communist Party USA (CPUSA)", or give up the names of people that were. IF NOT, that person found their careers in the United States finished. Never mind that during the Second World War, the Soviet Union was our ally, and the United States Government encouraged support of Russia, and many American's, to show that support, in name only, joined the "CPUSA",
Because of the "Office of War Information's" action on 1943's, "Gangway for Tomorrow". It has been reported, that Arch Oboler was under consideration to go before the committee, but never was called. However, among those called was actress Lucille Ball, whose career was almost ruined, African-American singer and actor, Paul Robeson, authoress, playwright, and screenplay writer, Lillian Hellman, and composer, Leonard Bernstein. One actress received a letter to appear because her name was the same as the real actress the committee wanted. The mistaken actress's name was Nancy Davis, and the president of the "Screen Actors Guild (SAG)", Ronald Reagan, was able to point out the mistake and she was excused.
Another aspect of the "Second Red Scare", that touched every American, was the fear of nuclear attack by the Soviet Union. As a young boy in elementary school, I vividly remember the drop and cover drills, that the government said would protect me from an atom bomb.
While the major movie studios, in 1950, switched to so called "Safe Movies", to keep the "House Committee" at bay, Westerns, Biblical stories, and Musicals leading the list. Smaller independent companies found they could be very political, and exploit the fear of nuclear war that American's had. These studios, most without a physical studio, and just renting office space on Gower Street, in Hollywood. Used science fiction as a means to fly under the political radar of the "House Committee".
I have already mentioned 1950's, "Rocketship X-M" in passing, but the story showed its viewers an atomic war devastated planet, Mars. 1952's, "Invasion USA", directly went for the Soviet Union, as an unnamed, but obvious to the American audience aggressor, attacks the United States with Atomic Bombs.
Between those two motion pictures, Arch Oboler went for America's jugular vein with:
FIVE premiering in New York City on April 25, 1951
Next, two more people arrive in a car, having seen smoke coming out of the house's chimney.Three, "Oliver P. Barnstable", portrayed by Earl Lee, an elderly bank clerk in denial of what has happened and mentally thinking he's only on a vacation, Four, "Charles", portrayed by Charles Lampkin, a African-American taking care of "Oliver". The audience finds out that the two survived the atomic war, because they were locked inside a bank vault. "Rosanne" reveals that she must have survived the atomic bomb, because she was in a hospital in a lead lined X-Ray room. While "Michael" says he was stuck in an elevator in New York's "Empire State Building".
"Oliver" sickens, and "Michael" suspects its radiation poisoning, However, "Barnstable" appears to become stable and he would like to see the ocean, and the four head to the Pacific Ocean in the car.
Above left to right, Susan Douglas Rubes, Earl Lee, Charles Lampkin, and Michael Rogin.
At the Pacific, the four find a man, still alive, floating in the water. The pull him out and revive, Five, "Eric", portrayed by James Anderson.
He was a mountain climber and was up on "Mount Everest" during a blizzard when the bombs started to drop. After the blizzard stopped, he made it back to base camp to find everyone dead. Next, he started walking through Asia and European countries never finding another person alive. Reaching the Atlantic Ocean, he took a boat and crossed it to the United States, finally running out of fuel opposite this beach.
While "Eric" tells his story, "Oliver" dies peacefully on the beach.
The next day, "Charles" helps "Michael" on his construction project, setting up greenhouses to raise food for the group. Since bringing "Eric" to her aunt's house, "Rosanne" has been bringing the "still weak" "Eric" food, but"Michael" warns her to watch out for him. Believing he is faking how bad off he really is to get sympathy. Later, "Eric" theorizing that somehow the five of them are immune to radiation and wants the group to go into the city and search for survivors. However, cautious "Michael", believes they are safe at the house and that it is the cities, targets of the atomic bombs, that may have the highest levels of radiation. This is followed by "Eric" using racial taunts on "Charles", and Arch Oboler's screenplay is used to tackle blatant racism in Eisenhower America. "Eric" makes it clear that he cannot stand being anywhere near "Charles", adventurually leading to the two men having a fist fight. Their fight stops, when "Rosanne" goes into labor and "Michael" delivers her son.
Things come to a head with "Eric", when he takes the jeep and purposely drives it through the cultivated fields that "Charles" and "Michael" have made and are attempting to grow crops on.
"Michael" orders "Eric" to leave, but the other pulls out a pistol and states he will leave only when he is ready to go.
Later, one night, "Eric" tells "Rosanne", that he plans to go to the town of "Oak Ridge". "Rosanne" wanting to find out what happened to her husband, agrees to go with "Eric". This was just as he had planned, and "Eric" tells "Rosanne" not to let "Michael" know what they're going to do. Next, "Eric" starts stealing supplies for the trip, but "Charles" appears, pulling out a knife, "Eric" kills him.
Once "Eric" and "Rosanne", with her baby, reach "Oak Ridge", he starts looting stores, while she goes looking for her husband at his place of work.
"Rosanne" finds her husband's workplace empty and goes to the local hospital, and discovers his remains in one of the rooms. Now wanting to go back to her aunt's house and "Michael", "Rosanne" asks "Eric" to take her back, but he refuses. "Rosanne" in a rage attacks "Eric", ripping open his shirt to reveal advance signs of radiation poisoning. "Eric" runs away, knowing he is a dead man walking, leaving "Rosanne" just standing there in shock.
"Rosanne" now starts the long walk back to her aunt's house, and on the way her baby dies. All this time, "Michael" has been searching for her and together they bury her son. The two return to the house, and the film ends with "Michael" once again cultivating the soil as "Rosanne" joins him.
On July 2, 1951, the "Lights Out" television program showed "And Adam Begot", starring Kent Smith. The radio script written by Arch Obler, that apparently was never used, had been adapted by Ernest Kinoy for television.
Next, Arch Oboler wrote two programs for the anthology television series the, "Chevron Theatre". First was the episode, "Come to the Bank", Episode 10, of Season One, March 7, 1952, about a woman in a mental hospital who had great faith in her doctor. The second episode was "The Word", Episode 11, of Season One, April 4, 1952, about honeymooners in New York City attempting to have a good time as the threat of war hangs over the world.
The following comes from my article, "THIRD DIMENSION the Golden Age of 3-D Motion Pictures" found, wear your 3-D blue-red glasses, at:
https://www.bewaretheblog.com/2015/08/third-dimension-golden-age-of-3-d.html
While attending Harvard University, a student named Edward H. Land, took a leave of absence from his studies and developed, on his own, a means of reducing the glare of polarized light. In 1932, he introduced the "Polaroid J Filter". Unknown to Mr. Land, he had created a means for motion pictures to move from the Anaglyph process, by improving stereoscopic filming. Had anyone in the motion picture industry been interested, Land was also on the way to creating one of the most innovative camera and film manufacturers in the world.
However, even though shorts were shot in his process, it remained a gimmick to motion picture producers. During the Second World War, the military used Land's process to photograph enemy targets in three dimensions, but again after the war ended. So did the idea of his creation being utilized for any form of photographing, until along came Arch Oboler in 1952.
Above Arch Oboler by a poster for his film, "Bwana Devil".
Oboler started out writing horror scripts for radio in its Golden Age. He took over the Radio Program "Lights Out". That show was pure terror especially on radio when you only had sound effects and his script. He also produced radio, television and motion pictures. Along with being a novelist.
Oboler is important, because most people think the first 3-D motion picture was Warner Brother's "House of Wax" in 1953. Actually the first film was Produced, Directed and Written by Arch Oboler. Sid Pink ("The Angry Red Planet" and "Reptilicus") was his co-producer.
The movie starred Robert Stack, Nigel Bruce and Barbara Britton, and was entitled "Bwana Devil", filmed in the Congo, and released in "Natural Vision 3-D" on November 30, 1952. The total costs for Oboler and Pink were $323,000. The motion picture, upon its initial release grossed over $6 million. The story would be remade in 1996 starring Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer as "The Ghost and the Darkness", with a budget of $55 million. Both films are based upon the true story of the hunt for two man eater lions, that stoped the building of the first railway in Uganda,, which at the time was located in British East Africa.
The tag line for the movie was:
The Miracle of the Age!!! A LION in your lap! A LOVER in your arms!
Arch Oboler's screenplay was based upon a science fiction short story, "The Twonky". That had appeared in "Astonishing Science Fiction" magazine for, September 1942, written by Lewis Padgett. There really wasn't a "Lewis Padgett", he was husband, Henry Kuttner, and co-author, wife, Catherine Lucille "C. L." Moore.
When interviewed in 1970, Hans Conried, recalled that he told the producer that The Twonky would probably bomb at the box-office (which it did), whereupon the producer genially replied "That's all right. I need a tax write-off this year anyway."
The following is from "Time Magazine", for December 17, 1956.
Night of the Auk (by Arch Oboler) took place on a rocket ship returning to the earth from man's first landing on the moon (time: "The day after some tomorrow"). The mood of the return voyage is far from jubilant, what with a loathed egomaniac in command, a succession of murders and suicides, the discovery that full-scale atomic war has broken out on earth, and the knowledge that the rocket ship itself is almost surely doomed. Playwright Oboler seems indeed to be prophesying that the atomic age may end up with man as extinct as the great auk. Closing at week's end, the play mingled one or two thrills with an appalling number of frills, one or two philosophic truths with a succession of Polonius-like truisms, an occasional feeling for language with pretentious and barbarous misuse of it. A good cast of actors, including Claude Rains, Christopher Plummer and Wendell Corey, were unhappily squandered on a pudding of a script – part scientific jargon, part Mermaid Tavern verse, part Madison Avenue prose – that sounded like cosmic advertising copy.
Professor Logan (Leo G. Carroll) is involved in an adult panel discussion of five sex-related issues dramatized in five separate but integrated sequences: "Honeymoon" (pre-marital relations), "Homecoming'(extra-marital relations), "The Divorcee" (promiscuity among divorcees), "Average Man" (problems of the average man in sexual relations) and "Baby" (a story of abortion).
This was the only photo I was able to locate from the motion picture.
SEE THE SCIENCE FICTION SENSATION OF THE 80'S!
The motion picture was produced, directed, and written by Arch Oboler.
Michael Cole portrayed "Mark". Two-years-later and he was "Pete Cochran" on television's counterculture police show, "The Mod Squad", 1968 through 1973.
Deborah Walley portrayed "Catherine". Her first on-screen appearance was taking over the role of "Gidget" from Sandra Dee, who took over the role of "Tammy" from Debbie Reynolds, in 1961's, "Gidget Goes Hawaiian". Walley then appeared in two Walt Disney productions, 1962's, "Bon Voyage", and 1963's, "Summer Magic".
Johnny Desmond portrayed "Tony Herric". Desmond was a "Big Band" singer. He started out, in 1940, with Bing's brother, fronting, Bob Crosby's "Bob Cats". In 1941, he was with Gene Krupa's band, and in 1942, Desmond joined the army and became a singer for "Glenn Miller's Army Air Forces Orchestra". During the 1950's, Johnny Desmond had several top single records and appeared as a guest on different television musical shows. He also took over the role of "Nicky Arnstein", opposite Barbara Streisand, in the original Broadway production of "Funny Girl", after Sydney Chaplin left.
Above left to right, Michael Cole, Deborah Walley, and Johnny Desmond.
The Plot:
"Tony" is flying "Mark" and his pregnant wife, "Catherine", who is in labor, to a local city. A sudden storm comes up and forces the small plane to land near a small town. In the town, "Catherine" is taken to the local hospital and a doctor delivers her baby. All of this has occupied both "Mark" and "Tony" and it finally dawns on the two that it isn't raining in the town, and there is no wind from the storm. Adding to this mystery is that "Tony's" plane is now missing.
Walking around the town, two things stand out, the first is that the architecture is a combination of very old pre-Civil War to futuristic yet built anywhere else in the world. The second are the people they meet, they act like zombies and repeat the same sentences over and over as if those are the only words they know.
Entering one of the buildings, "Mark" and "Tony" find a chair carved out of rock, that seems throne-like in appearance, and "Tony" sits down on it. Suddenly, he is no longer able to talk coherently and sounds like the townspeople. As "Mark" watches, zombie like, "Tony" walks away from him. Locating "Tony", "Mark" again try's to get him to stop this nonsense speech, and in frustration knocks out him out. When "Tony" regains consciousness, he's back to his normal speech and the two men are left wondering what is really going on in this town?
When the, now four, outsiders attempt to leave, they discover the town is encased in some giant dome-like-bubble. "Mark" comes up with a theory, as weird as it may sound to his wife and "Tony", that aliens have surrounded the town with "The Bubble" to study humans. As they haven't found any food, or seen any of the townspeople eat, "Mark" further theorizes that the rock chair provides the sustenance that the people need to live on.
Next, a giant shadow falls over "The Bubble" and a woman and her child are pulled into the air and disappear. Hysterical, "Catherine" takes her baby and hides in an old mill on the edge of the town. While, "Mark" and "Tony" try to figure out a way to escape from inside the dome.
The two men decide to dig their way out of "The Bubble", again in frustration, "Mark" now takes a sledgehammer to the dome without results. The shadow now comes over the dome and "Tony" is lifted into the air and disappears. "Mark" finds the edge of the dome and digs a way out. He goes back to get "Catherine" and the baby at the old mill, and as they're about to leave, they become surrounded by the towns people chanting for food.
This is when "Arch Oboler's" old Anti-fascism kicks in, and "Mark" gives a stirring speech about "Freedom". Suddenly, the rain starts to fall, the wind returns, the townspeople speak normally, and "The Bubble" is gone, THE END!
When "The Bubble" was first released, the critics thought it too long and had too many slow spots. The original running time was 112-minutes. Arch re-edited the picture down to 93-minutes for its re-release under the 1976 title, "Fantastic Invasion of Planet Earth".
On January 15, 1972, a made for television movie version of "Lights Out" was shown. Arch Oboler was given credit as the creator of the original program. However, the name of Wyllis Cooper, the actual creator of the program, was nowhere to be seen,
DOMO ARIGATO (THANK YOU VERY MUCH) had a test screening in Los Angeles on June 26, 1973
Arch Oboler's last motion picture was produced, directed, and written by him. The story is about a med-school drop out and GI on his way home from a tour in Vietnam, "Doug", portrayed by Jason Ledger, in his 4th of 7-roles. "Doug" stops in Japan and meets college student, "Tara", portrayed by Bonnie Sher, the daughter of the executive producer Louis K, Sher, in the 2nd of her 4-roles. The two tour Japan, the movie was filmed in Tokyo, and she is hiding something every review I've read, calls "a terrible secret". Yes, she's hiding something, and I won't reveal it. The following link takes my reader to the motion picture at the time of writing, BUT you need 3-D glasses that go with the picture to watch it clearly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tovif3fFDOQ
On March 19, 1987, 79-years-old Arch Oboler passed away.
