Seattle Radio Theatre's New Facebook Page

This item just in from the Self-Serving, Self-Promotional Desk of I STILL LOVE RADIO: we've just launched the Seattle Radio Theatre Facebook page.

The page includes images from last year's production of It's A Wonderful Life (the Lux Radio Theater version); a video clip and a link to complete audio of the October 2010 production of Dracula (the Mercury Theater version); and details about our upcoming Christmas production.

This year's live holiday broadcast will take place on Friday, December 10 at 8pm at Town Hall Seattle.

And Now For Something Not Completely Different: More BBC Cover Art

As promised, here are more covers of BBC Hand Books/Year Books from the World War II era (and immediately afterward). I don't have a complete set of dustjackets, and am missing the middle years of the war (if you have the dustjackets for 1942, 1943 and/or 1944, please let me know--I'd love to see the artwork and include in a subsequent post--please scan and send my way if you can).

It's interesting to examine the progression in how the war was perceived, as depicted on these covers.

The earliest edition shown here (from January 1940) is fairly obvious in its depiction of common implements of the Phoney War--a radio (though not one of a size you'd likely carry with you over to France), a helmet, a kit bag. By January 1941, one could argue the war (which had taken a turn for the worse in the previous months) isn't even acknowledged, though the radio tower seems to be the only source of light (hope, optimism, etc.) for the otherwise darkened globe.

By January 1945 (in spite of the Battle of the Bulge), the Allies are well on their way to victory, and the cover art already looks pretty victorious.

The 1946 edition is, perhaps, the most haunting--a solitary dove of peace takes flight above a bombed-out city. By 1947, the cover art is almost jubilant, with fairy musicians floating about and above the crowded London streets (though if you look closely, you'll see that a "lorry" has pinned a pedestrian on the street in front of Broadcasting House--not sure what that's all about).

For more radio-related cover art, please check out these earlier I STILL LOVE RADIO posts:

THE ART OF RADIO

RADIO WITH PICTURES

REMAINDERS: MORE RADIO COVER ART

Dracula Audio from AM 1090 KPTK

Click here for audio from last Friday night's spooky live broadcast of the Mercury Theater On The Air version of Dracula, as performed by Seattle Radio Theatre and produced and directed by me at Town Hall for an audience of 300.

Special thanks to Pat Cashman (splendid as Orson Welles as Dracula and as Arthur Seward), Tracey Conway, Steve Wilson, John Maynard, Jim Dever, and Chris Topping for so ably playing (in some cases) multiple roles (including howling wolves and baying hounds), and to Rob Jones for perfect accompanying music and to Curtis Takahashi for authentic, period-appropriate sound effects (which were all manual--nothing was pre-recorded).

Seattle Radio Theatre is also grateful to Wier Harman and his staff at Town Hall Seattle for serving as home to our live radio drama broadcasts since 2007, and for being willing to give a Halloween show a try this year.

The audio linked above is courtesy of AM 1090 KPTK, Seattle Radio Theatre's official broadcast partner--with on-site engineering by Teurth Tran and oversight by Paul Van Erem.

The actual live broadcast on Friday, October 29 at 8pm--in glorious monaural AM replete with static and other atmospheric disturbances--sounded even better and even SCARIER!