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Vincent Price |
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Vincent
Price was a regular on radio,
undoubtedly due to his distinctive and commanding voice. He is remembered
mainly for his portrayal of The Saint on radio - available from this website separately (listed as The
Saint) - but he was also the star of two great BBC radio series in the 70's
and 80's. In
1977, Aliens in the Mind
starring Vincent Price and Peter
Cushing premiered on BBC Radio to
nationwide acclaim. The six-part serial centres around the discovery, on a
remote Scottish island, of a community of 'human mutants' capable of
telepathy. A plan is in place to use them to control the British Government,
and friends Curtis Lark (Vincent Price) and Hugh Baxter (Peter Cushing) join
forces to combat them. Aliens in the Mind" is based on a story by the
then-foremost "Doctor Who"
script editor Robert Holmes. For
The Price of Fear, the BBC
dramatized the most chilling stories they could find, drawing on talented new
writers as well as the established master of terror who narrated tale, re-written
as though star, Vincent Price
actually experienced each chilling adventure himself. The show was enormously
successful in the UK and abroad, and a number of series were made during
1973, 1975 and 1982. Casting
back to 1972, Vincent Price gave a very insightful interview for the Golden
Age of Radio series. In it, he
spoke his appearances in some famous episodes of well-known radio anthology
series through the 40's and 50's. In
1946, he recreated his screen role for the Lux Radio Theatre dramatization of Dragonwyck in 1946, then followed up with a chilling
performance as The Lodger on Hollywood
Star Theatre. One
of his most famous radio performances came in 1950 with his appearance on the
Escape Radio Show in Three
Skeleton Key. This story, perhaps one
of the most famous individual 30 minute radio shows tells of three men who
worked the light at a lonely lighthouse on a barren rock off the steaming
jungle coast of French Guyana.
One day a derelict ship, filled to the gunwales with huge, starving
rats, crashes on the dangerous rocks and sinks beneath the waves. Its crew of rats don't drown, but
head en masse towards the lighthouse and the many varieties of defenseless
food within. Price's
voice ran the gamut of emotions as Jean, the new lighthouse keeper who first
spots the rat-infested ship sailing inexorably toward the rocks surrounding Three
Skeleton Key. From his opening lines, describing
the lighthouse and his compatriots with jejune enthusiasm, his voice takes on
and maintains an edge of muted terror after the arrival of the rats. "The
light drove them mad as she swung slowly and smoothly about. It blinded them
in the fierce, stabbing bar of light, moving continually about, ever turning,
ever touching, ever moving around and around. And they, twisting and
stuttering, eyes flaming when they were struck by the light. The bright light
moving and, behind, on the dark side of the room, so close--so close I dared
not turn my back but you cannot help turning your back when you're in a room
made of glass--on the dark side of the room, you could not see them. Only
their eyes. Thousands of points of blank red light, blinking and twinkling
like the stars of hell." The
excellence of the ensemble cast, the sound effects, the rats, all combined to
ensure that no one who heard this broadcast of "Three Skeleton Key"
would ever forget it. Vincent
Price also made many appearances on the Suspense Radio Show but in particular, he is remembered for The Name
of the Beast (1946), recreating his
screen role on The Pit and the Pendulum (1957), Rave Notice
(1958) and, of course another rendition of Three Skeleton Key in 1956. Want
to check out a 45 minute Golden Age of Radio documentary with Vincent Price
as guest? It
can be freely downloaded to your computer - just right button click on any
link below and chose "Download Linked File" (or words to that
effect). The file is about 37Mb - download time will depend on your
(broadband) speed: GAOR_1972-11-xx
Vincent Price.mp3 This
MP3 Disc contains all six 30 minute episodes of Aliens in the Mind, the 20
surviving episodes of The Price of Fear, the 40 minute Golden Age of Radio
Interview with Vincent Price, the 45 minute Lux Radio dramatization of
Dragonwyck, plus Price's 30 minute Escape episode: Three Skeleton Key and his
performances on the 30 minute Suspense Radio Show in The Name of the Beast, Three Skeleton Key, The Pit and the Pendulum
& Rave Notice. A. Aliens
in the Mind (6 episodes, each of 30 minutes
duration): 1.
AIM_1977-01-02 Pt. 1
Island Genesis.mp3 2.
AIM_1977-01-09 Pt. 2
Hurried Exodus.mp3 3.
AIM_1977-01-16 Pt. 3
Unexpected Visitations.mp3 4.
AIM_1977-01-23 Pt. 4
Official Intercession.mp3 5.
AIM_1977-01-30 Pt. 5
Genetic Revelation.mp3 6.
AIM_1977-02-06 Pt. 6
Final Tribulation.mp3 B.
The Price of Fear (all 20 surviving episodes, each of 30 minutes
duration): 1.
POF_1973-09-01 Remains
to Be Seen.mp3 2.
POF_1973-09-08 William
and Mary.mp3 3.
POF_1973-09-15 Cat's
Cradle.mp3 4.
POF_1973-09-22 Meeting
in Athens.mp3 5.
POF_1973-09-29 The Man
Who Hated Scenes.mp3 6.
POF_1973-10-06 Lot
132.mp3 7.
POF_1973-10-13
Waxwork.mp3 8.
POF_1973-10-20
Fish.mp3 9.
POF_1973-10-27 Soul
Music.mp3 10.
POF_1974-04-06 Come as
You Are.mp3 11.
POF_1974-04-13
Speciality of the House.mp3 12.
POF_1974-04-20 The Ninth
Removal.mp3 13.
POF_1974-04-27 Blind
Man's Bluff.mp3 14.
POF_1974-05-04 An Eye
for an Eye.mp3 15.
POF_1983-05-30 Goody
Two Shoes.mp3 16.
POF_1983-06-07 To My
Dear Dear Saladin.mp3 17.
POF_1983-06-13 Family
Album.mp3 18.
POF_1983-06-20 Out of
the Mouths.mp3 19.
POF_1983-06-27 Not
Wanted on Voyage.mp3 20.
POF_1983-07-04 Is
Anybody There.mp3 C.
Golden Age of Radio
Interview with Vincent Price (42
minutes duration): 1.
GAOR_1972-11-xx
Vincent Price.mp3 D. Lux Radio Theatre (49 minutes duration): 1.
LRT_1946-10-07
Dragonwyck.mp3 E.
Hollywood Star
Theatre (30 minutes duration): 1.
HST_1946-05-19 The
Lodger.mp3 F.
Escape (30 minutes duration): 1.
ESC_1950-03-17 Three
Skeleton Key.mp3 G. Suspense
(30 minutes duration): 1.
SUSP_1946-04-11 The
Name of the Beast.mp3 2.
SUSP_1956-11-11 Three
Skeleton Key.mp3 3.
SUSP_1957-11-10 The
Pit and the Pendulum.mp3 4.
SUSP_1958-06-01 Rave
Notice.mp3 |