WOW. This week I have the great pleasure of presenting to you, rendered in brilliant stereo sound, this gem of a short story by the grand master Robert A. Heinlein, By His Bootstraps.

We again have to thank the esteemed Yuri Rasovsky, who produced these works for the Beyond 2000 series which aired on NPR. You can download many many more stories from this collection on Audible – search for 2000x.

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Download Radio Drama Revival Episode 177 (MP3)

This week we feature the work of another major name in audio drama – Yuri Rasovsky, a luminary who as of last week boasts two new Audies in a belt well studded with audio awards. If you’ve never heard the work of “El Fiendo,” well, you’re in for a treat.

I raved about his work in my gushing review of his rendition of The Maltese Falcon – other splendid dramatizations of his include The Odyssey, The Orestaia, Ben Franklin on Craven Street, Sweeney Todd and the String of Pearls, and much more.

Today’s focus is from the series Beyond 2000, which originally aired on NPR – oh yes, that NPR, in what was clearly a different era for radio drama.

The story is RUR – Rossum’s Universal Robots – which was first performed in Prague in 1921. It asks the question, which has haunted the science fiction world ever since: What does the creation of an artificial life form mean for the fate of humankind?

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Download Radio Drama Revival – Episode 176 (MP3)

Like this? There are MANY more titles available on Audible (search 2000x). Also, check out Yuri’s site for more about the different episodes: http://www.irasov.com/future.htm

Photo courtesy NormanCorwin.com

This week we wrap up our month-long celebration of the poet laureate of radio, Norman Corwin, who celebrated his centennial this month.

We tie together a month of great programming with a documentary by the BBC that lets Norman tell us the story of a life in radio – giving us a taste of what it was like to be producing great radio in the greatest era for the greatest in the world… and what magic is it all!

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Download Radio Drama Revival – Episode 175 (MP3)

This week we continue our celebration of Norman Corwin, audio luminary, poet laureate of radio.

We skip ahead from the Golden Age of Radio to recent memory – a series he ran sponsored by NPR called “More by Corwin.” This was all produced live with celebrity actors including, no joke, William Shatner!

Fun stuff. Enjoy this delightful tale, “The Curse of 589″ about the most classic conflict – science and magical creatures.

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This week we continue our celebration of audio luminary Norman Corwin, who recently celebrated his 100th birthday.

We have a report of the birthday bash held in Hollywood care of fellow audio artist Rich Fish:

On May 1, the program at the Writers Guild Theatre was extraordinary. Leonard Maltin hosted and Peggy Webber’s California Artists Radio Theatre performed excerpts from, or cut-down versions of, three of Norman’s plays: MARY AND THE FAIRY, SOLILOQUY TO BALANCE THE BUDGET, and OUR LADY OF THE FREEDOMS. Performers, and those who gave personal tributes, included Ian Abercrombie, Ed Asner, Shelley Berman, Samantha Eggar, John Harlan, Richard Herd, Hal Kanter, Paul Keith, Norman Lloyd, Shelley Long, Tony Palermo, Melinda Peterson, Phil Proctor, Carl Reiner, Ken Stange, Simon Templeman, Tom Willams, and Joanne Worley.

During their remarks, Phil & Melinda announced the National Audio Theatre Festivals’ creation of the Norman Corwin Award for Excellence in Audio Theatre, which will be given every year on Norman’s birthday. This received great applause from the hundreds of people in the audience.

Note the snazzy award off to the right. Rich also sends this very interesting nugget of news:

NO JOKE – Scientists have succeeded in using a SINGLE MOLECULE as a computer.

This is not a gag, or an Internet rumor.

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-05/single-molecule-computes-thousands-times-faster-your-pc

“Using quantum interference – the vibrations of the atoms themselves – the team was able to run the complete discrete Fourier transform extremely quickly by encoding the inputs into an optically tailored vibrational wave packet which is then run through an excited iodine molecule whose atomic elements are oscillating at known intervals and picked up by a receiver on the other side. The entire process takes just a few tens of femtoseconds (that’s a quadrillionth of a second).”

If I was a molecule, I’d be pretty excited too.

THE UNDECIDED MOLECULE, a brilliant 1945 fantasy by Norman Corwin, suddenly looks a lot more like Sci-Fi than fantasy. No one, I suspect, will be more astonished than Corwin.

On second thought, I could be mistaken about that…his Emersonian Receiver is really, really good.*

* “We lie in the lap of an immense intelligence, which makes us receivers of its truth and organs of its activity.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

And to celebrate! The 1945 classic, The Undecided Molecule. Enjoy!

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Radio Drama Revival – Episode 173

Norman Corwin working in control booth during radio show “Untitled”;1944 Photographer: Gjon Mili #2
Courtesy Norman Corwin website

In a bold coup for Radio Drama Revival, we look back to yesteryear and the golden age of radio drama to celebrate one of its luminaries – the magnificent Norman Corwin, also called the “poet laureate of radio,” who celebrates his 100th birthday this month.

Wow! That’s a lifespan that encompasses a lot of changes in America, and a lot of radio plays – and a pervasive and unstoppable optimism present in all of his work.

So, the whole month of May is Corwin-time – starting today, with the re-broadcast of that seminal radio play celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Bill of Rights, “We Hold These Truths.”

In a time where cynicism and jadedness have never been stronger in America, it may be more important than ever to look at where we’ve come from and what we’re capable of.

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Radio Drama Revival – Episode 172