The art of storytelling Is truly an art form. If you look up the word in the dictionary you will find this:

Storytelling is the interactive art of using words and actions to reveal the elements and images of a story while encouraging the listener’s imagination. It involves a two-way interaction between the storyteller and one or more listeners.

Did you see that? Even the word “art” is used the in the definition. But what does it mean? We humans love our stories. It is so much much a part of our lives that we dedicate resources to it (both time and cash). We go to movies, watch TV, read novels and yes, even listen to podcasts. We have to have the latest electronic equipment do to it. So, it must be pretty important to us. But Why?

Since the very beginning of time we have wanted to remember and be remembered. From painting on caves walls to episodes of NBC’s Grimm. They all help us remember who we are and what we can do. It can also help us dream of what is to come. Storytelling helps preserve us as a people.

So, it should not be a “wonder why?” we have storytelling. We should be asking ourselves how we can keep our personal stories safe and pass them along. Are you ever truly dead if someone has your stories? It is why… I do… what I do.

-Ron

This Week’s Podcast:

On the podcast this week we have, what has been called, one of the best episodes of Suspense ever. I quite agree. Also, we will have short story written by Stephen Leacock who was the master of the humorous mystery. You can listen to this podcast this Thursday at Ron’s Amazing Stories, download it from iTunes, stream it on TuneIn Radio or listen on your radio Friday night at 8pm Eastern time. Check your local listing or find the station closest to you at this link.

The Calendar:

July 21,2016 – Glenn Miller Week (RAS252)
July 28,2016 – Hallucination Orbit (RAS253)
August 04, 2016 – Maddened By Mystery (RAS254)
August 11, 2016 – (RAS255)
August 18, 2016 – (RAS256)
August 25, 2016 – (RAS257)

When you think about all of the places we get our content from, Amazing Sports Stories, may not top the list. My feeling is that, sometimes it should. For example: If you saw the Cleveland Cavaliers play the Golden State Warriors this past weekend it was nothing short of amazing. The Cav’s were down 3 games to 1 and for the first time in history, an NBA team came back and won the series. My congratulations goes out to the city of Cleveland.

Sports in general has got amazing stuff to teach us about ourselves, hanging in there and just plain hard work. If you don’t believe me just look back at people like Muhammad Ali, Lou Gehrig or Jesse Owens. Just to name a few.  People have doing the impossible for a long time now.

So, this week on Ron’s Amazing Stories we salute the sportsman. Not just the superstar like Lebron James, but the backyard quarterback or schoolyard foursquare champion. All of us are amazing in our own right.

-Ron

This Week’s Podcast:

On the podcast this week, we honor the sportsman. We take a walk back in time to hear some amazing stories from our past. We will hear from a famous baseball player, listen to a story about a fisherman’s murder and play baseball with a Martian. You can listen to this podcast this Thursday at Ron’s Amazing Stories, download it from iTunes, stream it on TuneIn Radio or listen on your radio Friday night at 8pm Eastern time. Check your local listing or find the station closest to you at this link.

The Calendar:

May 19, 2016 – Debra Yates – Woman of Many Names (RAS245)
May 26, 2016 – Pat Novak Returns (RAS246)
June 02,2016 – Some People Don’t Die (RAS247)
June 09,2016 – The Carnival Case (RAS248)
June 16,2016 – Rikki-Tkki-Tavi (RAS249)
June 23,2016 – The Sportsman Show (RAS250)
June 30,2016 – (RAS251)

On this blog we take a look at the origins of Quiet Please one of old time radios best kept secrets. You might be asking yourself this, “If we know about it how could be a secret?” That is an amazing story on its own.

What was Quiet Please?

Quiet, please! was an old-time radio fantasy and horror program created by Wyllis Cooper and Earnest Chappel. It was first broadcast in 1947 by the Mutual Broadcasting System and its last episode ran on June 25, 1949, on ABC. A total of 106 shows were broadcast, with few repeats. The bad news was only 12 shows survived. At least, that was everyone thought. A fan of the program heard a rumor in 1980 that Chappel’s widow found a box of discs under her bed. He went to the widow and they turned out to be original transcriptions of the show. Since then a total of 89 episodes have been recovered. The only downside is that the sound quality fluctuates a lot. During the golden age of radio, stations would reuse these discs and over time the quality would become rough. In some cases, you can even hear remnants of old recordings on them. Even so, it was an amazing discovery for OTR horror.

What About the Creators of Quiet Please?

The writer and director was Wyllis Cooper. He was the same genius who created the super-series Lights Out years before. He left that show to Arch Olober, who went on to become famous with the series. Copper got lost for a time, until in 1947 he returned to his radio roots to produce Quiet Please.

Earnest Chappel was the host and main character for Quiet Please productions. The cast was usually just one or two other people. The sound effects were minimal and the music was just an organ or piano. However, the results were stunning. Chappel would tell his tales in first person, usually in flashback. He was the perfect choice for the weekly lead. There was nothing special about his voice, he didn’t exaggerate or project like many other actors of the time did. In fact, that’s one of the notable differences about this series. Nobody sounds like they are acting at all. They sound like regular people caught up in very unusual or terrifying situations. Cooper insisted on this and he proved what could be done on a small budget.

Cooper and Chappel did what they did without big bucks or big name actors. Instead, all they had was the imagination of one person and the acting talent the other. Cooper and Chappell created works of astonishing originality and the shows were well written.

This Week’s Podcast:

On the podcast this week we premier a new series to the show called, Five Minute Mysteries.  Also, it wouldn’t be right to talk about Quiet Please and not have one of their amazing programs. Also, we have a strange connection to talk about. Please tune in and find out all about it. You can listen to this podcast this Thursday at Ron’s Amazing Stories, download it from iTunes, stream it on TuneIn Radio or listen on your radio Friday night at 8pm Eastern time. Check your local listing or find the station closest to you at this link.

The Calendar:

May 19, 2016 – Debra Yates – Woman of Many Names (RAS245)
May 26, 2016 – Pat Novak Returns (RAS246)
June 02,2016 – Some People Don’t Die (RAS247)
June 09,2016 – Who Was Richard Diamond (RAS248)
June 16,2016 – (RAS249)
June 23,2016 – The Horror Express (RAS250)
June 30,2016 – (RAS251)

This time on the RAS blog we tackle the subject, “Who is Sam Spade?”

Sam Spade is a fictional private detective created by Dashiell Hammett in 1930. His most famous story is The Maltese Falcon. It was first published as a serial in the pulp fiction magazine, Black Mask.  Also, it is the only full-length novel in which Spade appears. There were several other short stories written by Hammett and most these became motion pictures or radio dramas. The character is considered the template for the hard-boiled private detective genre and many other writers followed it closely. The best example of this is Phillip Marlowe.

Spade was created specifically for The Maltese Falcon. Here, in his own words, is what Hammett had to say about this famous detective (edited some by me):

“Spade has no original. He is a dream man in the sense that he is what most of the private detectives would like to have been. Today’s private detective does want to be a cultured solver of riddles in the Sherlock Holmes manner; he wants to be a hard and shifty fellow, able to take care of himself in any situation, able to get the best of anybody he comes in contact with, whether criminal, innocent by-stander or client.” – Dashiell Hammett

Who Portrayed Sam Spade?

From the 1940s onward, the character became closely associated with actor Humphrey Bogart, who played Spade in the third and best-known film version of The Maltese Falcon. Spade was also played by Ricardo Cortez in the first film version in 1931 and then again in 1936 with Warren William. This film bombed at the box office and is best left unknown.

On the radio, Spade was played by Edward G. Robinson in the 1943 Lux Radio Theatre production, and by Bogart in 1943 Screen Guild Theater production. A 1946-1951 radio show called The Adventures of Sam Spade starred Howard Duff as Sam Spade and took a considerably more tongue-in-cheek approach to the character.

This Week’s Podcast:

On the podcast this week you will hear Howard Duff as Sam Spade, we have a Gerald Vance science fiction story and a special tale sent in by one of our listeners. It is going to be a great show.

You can listen to this podcast this Thursday (12/03) at Ron’s Amazing Stories, download it from iTunes, stream it on TuneIn Radio or listen on your radio Friday night at 8pm Eastern time. Check your local listing or find the station closest to you at this link.

The Calendar:

March 31,2016 – The Plainsman (RAS239)
April 07, 2016 – The Asimov Special (RAS240).
April 14, 2016 – Sam Spade Week (RAS241).
April 21, 2016 – Interview with Pam Ferderbar (RAS242).
April 28, 2016 – James Stewart (RAS243).