SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS, based on the 1964 film and adapted/produced/directed by Pete Lutz

Martians are worried that their children are being influenced by Earth trends, so they visit the planet's wise man, who tells them that they should let their children be children, and the Earthling Santa Claus isn't such a bad thing, so their decision is to travel to Earth and kidnap the jolly old elf.

The original film has been described as one of the worst films ever made, and as a result has been spoofed by theatrical companies all over the U.S. Well, the Narada Radio Company is no exception -- originally planned for a live production in December of 2024, Murphy's Law held true and strong, so they recorded it in the director's living room instead, and said director edited the voice tracks on Saturday, December 21st, and mixed all of the music and SFX on Sunday, December 22nd. Now, if you don't like the finished product...the director wishes you a very Merry Christmas.

This play would not have been possible without the following voice talents:

Mario Aguilar

Cassie Blackwell

Dana Gonsalves 

Pete Lutz

Lisa McGrew

Pam Pailes

Dawn Robertson

Merilee Robinson

Richard Robinson

Carl Thomas

Bobby Vela

Tammy Weidemann and

Nick Wommack 

Certain music passages by Dr. Ross Bernhardt; other music sourced from the public domain.

OLD-TIME RADIO ESSENTIALS Episode 46: The Mel Blanc Show (our 2024 Christmas Special!)

Old-Time Radio Essentials returns with episode 46, the 9th installment of Season 4! Pete, Paul and Patte present Paul's pick (which is our annual Christmas Special), an episode of The Mel Blanc Show, entitled "Mel Plays Santa Claus"!  Come for the old-time radio, stay for the scintillating (that's one way of putting it) discussion afterwards!

As you listen, perhaps you'll learn if we feel this entry meets the following criteria:

1. Is it truly representative of that series? (Can anyone point to it and say, "Yes, that is what [NAME OF SERIES] was all about.")

2. Is it an episode worthy of inclusion in any and every OTR aficionado's private collection?

 

So with this in mind, we three bring you, as our forty-sixth number (but 9th official episode of S4), this episode of The Mel Blanc Show, from 12-24-46. We'll introduce the show, play it in its entirety, then discuss it at length. Thanks for joining us, and we hope you enjoy it! 

Please show your support of the podcast by doing any of the following...

To comment on how we might improve OTR-E, or give suggestions for future discussions, please write to us at [email protected] . Put the word "Essentials" in the subject line.

Your feedback means a lot to us! A review at iTunes or at your usual podcatcher would be appreciated.

Next Time: It's Pete's pick again for our first show of the New Year, and he'll bring us a New Year's-themed episode of The Whistler! Join us then, won't you?

Adventures of the Federated Tec, Season 2, Episode 10: Who Killed Bob Teal?

In this exciting second-season finale, our hero gets an assignment that hits too close to home: Find the person who murdered another Federated operative, young Bob Teal. The Tec, along with San Francisco Police Detective George Dean, soon starts sniffing out the trail of the most obvious suspect...but our nameless protagonist eventually begins to wonder if maybe they're after the wrong guy. 

Adapted by Pete Lutz from the story of the same name, originally published in the November, 1924 issue of True Detective magazine. Produced and directed by Pete Lutz. Mixing and mastering by 63audio, Corpus Christi, Texas.

Our cast consisted of the following Narada Radio Company players:

Darren Rockhold as THE ANNOUNCER

Pete Lutz as THE TEC

Joe Stofko as THE OLD MAN

Frank Guglielmelli as OGBURN

Ian Federgreen as BOB TEAL

John Bell as DETECTIVE DEAN

Rhiannon McAfee as MAE LANDIS

Geri Elliff as THE LANDLADY 

Jeff Moon as WHITACRE

The theme, and some incidental music, were composed and performed by Dr. Ross Bernhardt. 

FEDERATED TEC FANS! We're happy to report that a third season is in the works. Scripts have been written for 11 episodes so far, with a likely four more to go. Each season gets longer than the previous one, because Hammett's stories, for the most part, kept getting longer, better, and more detailed, as his writing skills improved. As a huge fan of Hammett for more than 40 years, I have no desire to condense these longer tales, preferring instead to split them, as you saw in S2, into multi-episode dramas -- S2 alone had three longer stories split into two-parters, for example. Well, S3 will have both two- and three-part story arcs, full of the Hammett hard-boiled style, full of intrigue, and full of the unusual characters he was famous for. You won't wanna miss it!

Here's the line-up for Season Three -- and just for simplicity's sake, we'll be shortening our series title to The Federated Tec:

1. Mike, Alec, or Rufus?

2-3. The Whosis Kid

4-5. The Scorched Face

6-8. Corkscrew

9-11. The Daiwan of Chinatown (orig. title Dead Yellow Women)

12-14. The Gutting of Couffignal

15. The Creeping Siamese

COMING SOON FROM 63AUDIO!

The Jack Benny Program returns with a delightful all-new radio episode penned by former Bob Hope staff writer Robert L. Mills just for Project Audion. Jack and his regular gang - Mary Livingston, Phil Harris, Dennis Day, and Rochester - send up the movie classic "Casablanca" with  some of the movie's original cast in guest starring roles.  Jack takes the Humphrey Bogart part, inevitably. Join project Audion's talented transcontinental voice actors as they perform together in real time (like the old radio-drama days) this brand-new episode of the Jack Benny Program that sounds like it came from the 1940s! Our cast:   John Bell in Alabama Paul Patterson in Georgia Julie Hoverson in Washington Mel Rose in Pennsylvania Pete Lutz in Texas Scott McKinley in New Jersey Bob Beaumont in California Ken Jeffries in California Written and directed by Robert L. Mills in California Produced by Larry Groebe in Texas  

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Old-Time Radio Essentials returns with episode 45, the 8th installment of Season 4! Pete, Paul and Patte present Patte's pick (which is our annual Thanksgiving Special), an episode of Cincinnati, Ohio's station W-L-W comedy-variety series Fountain of Fun, called "Turkey Rationed"!  Come for the old-time radio, stay for the scintillating (that's one way of putting it) discussion afterwards!

As you listen, perhaps you'll learn if we feel this entry meets the following criteria:

1. Is it truly representative of that series? (Can anyone point to it and say, "Yes, that is what [NAME OF SERIES] was all about.")

2. Is it an episode worthy of inclusion in any and every OTR aficionado's private collection?

So with this in mind, we three bring you, as our forty-fifth number (but 8th official episode of S4), this episode of Fountain of Fun, from 11-22-42. We'll introduce the show, play it in its entirety, then discuss it at length. Thanks for joining us, and we hope you enjoy it! 

Please show your support of the podcast by doing any of the following...

To comment on how we might improve OTR-E, or give suggestions for future discussions, please write to us at [email protected] . Put the word "Essentials" in the subject line.

Your feedback means a lot to us! A review at iTunes or at your usual podcatcher would be appreciated.

Next Time: It's Paul's pick again for our annual Xmas show, and he'll decide later...

S2 E9 - The Golden Horseshoe, part 2

In the conclusion of this two-part adventure, the Tec returns to Tijuana, Mexico, to discover just who murdered his client. Once he arrives, however, there's any number of possible suspects. Story by Dashiell Hammett, adapted and dramatized by Pete Lutz.

CAST:

Pete Lutz as THE TEC

Noah Diamond as VANCE RICHMOND

Jeff Moon as ED BOHANNON

John Bell as THE FOUR WITNESSES

Rhiannon McAfee as KEWPIE

Mark Kalita as GOOSENECK

Dana Gonsalves as GORMAN

Ian Federgreen as HOOPER

Jason D. Johnson as O'GAR

With Darren Rockhold as THE ANNOUNCER GUY

Music by Ross Bernhardt. Post-production and mixing by Fishbonius Sound Design.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Old-Time Radio Essentials returns with episode 44, the 7th installment of Season 4! Pete, Paul and Patte present Pete's pick, an episode of the syndicated series Hall of Fantasy, called "Black Figurine of Death"!  Come for the old-time radio, stay for the scintillating (that's one way of putting it) discussion afterwards!

As you listen, perhaps you'll learn if we feel this entry meets the following criteria:

1. Is it truly representative of that series? (Can anyone point to it and say, "Yes, that is what [NAME OF SERIES] was all about.")

2. Is it an episode worthy of inclusion in any and every OTR aficionado's private collection?

So with this in mind, we three bring you, as our forty-fourth number (but 7th official episode of S4), this episode of Hall of Fantasy, from 1-26-53. We'll introduce the show, play it in its entirety, then discuss it at length. Thanks for joining us, and we hope you enjoy it! 

Please show your support of the podcast by doing any of the following...

To comment on how we might improve OTR-E, or give suggestions for future discussions, please write to us at [email protected] . Put the word "Essentials" in the subject line.

Your feedback means a lot to us! A review at iTunes or at your usual podcatcher would be appreciated.

Next Time: It's Patte's pick again, and she'll decide later...

THE CELLAR MS4 EP5: TWIN PEEKS

RATED PG

For adult language. LISTENER DISCRETION ADVISED.

Welcome to the fourth miniseries of The Cellar! This is the fifth of five planned episodes of this long-running series, and in this, our finale, we bring you the pièce de résistance. We hope you've enjoyed all of our entries for this miniseries, and will come back next year for another one.

Episode 5, Twin Peeks, is set in the present day. Twins Judy and Jeff come back from a near-death experience, and each has a vastly different account of what they saw on the other side. Written by father and daughter team Pete and R. C. Lutz, and directed/produced by Pete Lutz.

CAST:

CADAVERA QUIVRY (Host): Angela Young

ANNOUNCER: Trevor Rines

REPORTER/ANCHOR: Carole Krohn

COP: Les Marsden

DOCTOR 1: Stephanie Stearns Dulli

YOUNG JEFF: Huck Dulli

CAPTAIN: Andy Hartson-Bowyer

FATHER PAUL: Pete Lutz

DOCTOR 2: Rhiannon McAfee

YOUNG JUDY: Piper Dulli

BROTHER MAXWELL: Tony Semczuk

TALK SHOW HOST: Tom Konkle

TEEN JEFF/TEEN JUDY: Mel Rose

PROFESSOR: Laura Mirsky

SCIENTISTS: Aileen Corpos, Mark Kalita

The Cellar theme by Tom Rory Parsons

Additional music by Dr. Ross Bernhardt 

 

Here's a tribute to my late friend Viktor Aurelius, a fellow audio dramatist and friend, who collaborated with me on several projects, some being his, and some being mine. A number of health problems shortened his life, and the audio drama community has never really recovered from the loss.

One of the bits he provided voice talent for was this fake commercial for "Redneck Airlines", which can't be described without spoiling the whole effect, so just listen and enjoy. Viktor's playing the "Bubba" character, and he overshadows my character completely. 

Miss Daisy is played by Katie Loftin. 

THE CELLAR MS4 EP4: RETURN TO THE SABBATH

RATED PG

For adult language and depictions of violence. LISTENER DISCRETION ADVISED.

Welcome to the fourth miniseries of The Cellar! This is the fourth of five planned episodes of this long-running series, and in our humble opinion, the plays keep getting better and better. 

Episode 4, Return to the Sabbath, is set in 1930s Hollywood. A film studio public relations man relates his negative experience with hiring a horror actor. Adapted from a short story by Robert Bloch, and directed/produced by Pete Lutz.

CAST:

CADAVERA QUIVRY (Host): Angela Young

ANNOUNCER: Trevor Rines

MILO MAYO: Andy Hartson-Bowyer

LESLIE KINCAID: Rhiannon McAfee 

EDWARD RELCH: David Ian

THE STUDIO BOSS: Nick Wommack 

BLESKIND: Austin Beach 

VITO: George Hatfield 

KARL JORLA: Tom Konkle 

THE REPORTER: Dana Gonsalves 

SYLVIA CHANNING: Carole Krohn

The Cellar theme by Tom Rory Parsons

Additional music by Dr. Ross Bernhardt 

THE CELLAR MS4 EP3: DEATH HOLDS THE POST

RATED PG

For depictions of war and murder. LISTENER DISCRETION ADVISED.

Welcome to the fourth miniseries of The Cellar! This is the third of five planned episodes of this long-running series, and in our humble opinion, the plays keep getting better and better. 

Episode 3, Death Holds the Post is set in mid-20th-century Algeria. A remote outpost of the French Foreign Legion has a squadron missing, and they're hearing reports of a German scientist in the area, who has escaped from a sanitarium. Adapted from a short story by August Derleth and Mark Schorer, and directed/produced by Pete Lutz.

CAST:

CADAVERA QUIVRY (Host): Angela Young

ANNOUNCER: Trevor Rines

CRANE: Mark Kalita

RADIOMAN: Nick Wommack

PRAGEUR: Les Marsden

GASPARRI: Tony Semczuk

OURLET: Andy Hartson-Bowyer

PRETTWEG: Jason D. Johnson

VOICES OF SOLDIERS: Pete Lutz

"The Cellar" theme by Tom Rory Parsons

Additional music by Dr. Ross Bernhardt