Thanksgiving and Christmas Shows almost seemlessly delivered
The Old Time Radio Theater had a truly wonderful set of shows for the two winter Holidays. The Thanksgiving show was the Great Gildersleeve and Burns & Allen. Two turkeys and a duck graced the stage along with the players to offer up some good laughs and some sweet ahh moments. It was a nice show, even with the stubborness of an uncooperative gramophone.
The Christmas show we just wrapped up was our rendition of "It's A Wonderful Life." We had a full cast, 13 or more, and a nice sized audience. It went very well, and with a surprise visit from Harry Potter too. The show was our gift to the community. We are also giving half of our donations from the last two shows to the Frazier Park Boy's and Girl's Club. It will be a princely amount thanks to the generosity of our good citizens. And those same generous folks were not only generous with their money, they were generous with their laughs and heartfelt sighs throughout the show. At every shout, yippee, rock crashing through glass, chorus of Auld Lang Syne they were really listening and enjoying what was offered. We are very grateful. It will be no hardship after New Years Day to unload our equipment and offer up some more fun to those who get a kick out of this unique form of entertainment. Yippee!

A Memory Made

An unforgettable moment was shared at the Old Bear Bed and Breakfast on this last rainy Halloween night. I was lucky enough to be there and will remember the frisson of excitement that passed around the room at 11:00 p.m. for the rest of my life. We assembled into the cozy confines of the living room, just five of us at that late hour, to hear a live broadcast of the Old Time Radio Theater's first venture into the world of real radio. We sat around the room dressed in our Halloween togs, some of us tired after a long night of trick-or-treating and some of us exhausted after hosting a haunting. We slumped in soft chairs and sofas with candies in our laps and steaming cider cupped in our hands, to await the moment when David would dial in PineKONE radio. He bent over the radio and found the station after a few minutes, it came in fairly clearly and we heard the tail end of "The Chicken Heart" told by Bill Cosby. That threw the older ones of us gathered way down a dusty memory lane, most of us not having heard it since we were children. A terrific priming for the next story. And then it came. The words of the baritone announcer beginning our version of H.G.Well's classic. We all looked around the room at each other, quietly sharing our excitement through our widened eyes, not making a sound but speaking volumes about how much the arrival of this broadcast meant. It was a great moment, and it felt good. Let's do it again.
-Mary

Egads! The War of the Worlds is Here!!

After some minor technical issues, we now have War of the Worlds posted below! (Just scroll down the page to find the audio player and hit the play button). Also, this recording is available at archive.com . Just search under "War of the Worlds" to find the Old Time Radio Theater's recording of it. Enjoy!
-Wednesday

War Of The Worlds
Old Time Radio Theater spent a chilling full week of recording and editing our haunting version of the original War of The Worlds radio play, under the Direction of David Stenstrom and the electronical wizardry of Peter Gullerud. It has all the elements of spookiness you desire; slimy mythical martians terrorizing the east coast, while ordinary and expert citizens, react to the chaos all around. So, leave the real scares of the day behind you, as you cozy up to the radio and listen to a great Halloween tale.
To listen, starting Oct 31st, press the link below

War of the Worlds airs on Halloween

Yes, faithful listener, you may ready yourself to be thoroughly spooked on Halloween. The Old Time Radio Theater is recording H.G.Wells, "War of the Worlds", and will be airing it three times over the Halloween weekend in our mountain communities. We have changed a bit of the original radio script by H. Koch, but essentially you will be hearing the spookiest broadcast known to mankind. So, get some steaming cider, a caramel apple or popcorn ball, and snuggle up to the radio, public access TV, or the computer, for a chilling tale of celestial invasion. Details soon.

Fall is here and we meet again!
A small group of us got together to discuss the Radio Show. How did the summer go? Very, very well. Do we have any money? Yes, we are sitting pretty. Are there ideas afoot to stage more Radio hijinks? Indeed! Plans are in the works and an announcement should be out soon for a few projects. Stay tuned.
-Mary

Radio Show sails thru summer

What a Summer!
Between Music on Fridays, and Radio Shows on Saturday, and then almost a month of Shakespeare in between, you would think people up here in the mountains would have had enough entertainment. But NOOO! They still came in droves for the end of the summer Radio Show up in Pine Mountain Club! I mean a fully packed house--with bellies full of laughter. You'd think they hadn't seen any comedy all summer. But we know differently. They had been coming to shows since the second weekend in June-- and still had room for more hale and hearty guffaws! The beauty of live- full of crazy last minute changes- radio is awfully compelling to those who see edited entertainment at every corner. Refreshing, just like cool mountain air.

We must be blessed with some of the finest audiences because they appreciate funny stuff when they hear it. And just maybe we are figuring out how to deliver a better radio show. Could be. Hope so, because there is no stopping this train. We all love doing the Radio Show. It's quick, neat, incredibly filling, and you don't need a spoon. There is talk of taking the Radio Show down to the warm climes of Valencia as the frigid weather makes it's way back to the Mountains. This could be lots of fun. We also have the offer of recording some shows for local airplay. That would be swell too. What do you all think? What would you enjoy?
posted by mary