Mystery & Suspense

My Dear Fellows & Dear Princess,

I've been listening to a lot of old-timey radio at work to pass the time. My taste runs especially to mysterious tales of suspense, murder, hauntings and the macabre.

I know they are creaky and over-wrought but, for me, that is part of the appeal. I like to imagine the sound effects man, popping balloons to simulate gunshots, or wobbling a big board to make thunder, or stamping up and down in a thing of gravel whenever the hero is following someone.

And then there's the organ, which is always present. Every time something exciting happens, the organist will play a jarring chord:

(A BALLOON POPS)

WOMAN: Frank! Oh! Oh! He's... he's been shot!

(JARRING CHORD)

And then there's the acting. Because it is not a visual medium, poor radio actors have to spend a lot of time describing things to their audience:

MAN 1: Look at that hideous beast! Why... it's some sort of... half-squid, half-man creature!
MAN 2: Look out!
MAN 1: Aieee!

Or explaining what has just happened:

WOMAN: Frank! Look out! He's got a gun!

(THERE IS THE SOUND OF A SCUFFLE. A BALLOON POPS.)

WOMAN: Oh Frank! During the struggle, he accidentally fatally shot himself!
FRANK: He's dead!
WOMAN: Told you.

The actors are the thing that really appeal to me. It's like a treasure-trove of material from my favourites. Peter Lorre, Vincent Prince, Basil Rathbone, Charles Laughton - they all did TONS of this stuff.

At the moment, I am doing lots of really effing dull data analysis, which is not as interesting as I make it sound. So these silly little playlets really help me from dying of boredom at work. Also, we are deep in midwinter here. Admittedly, it is more like your late Autumn in terms of temperature, but the evenings are dark, the food is stodgy and the atmosphere is eldritch. It's the perfect time of year for an episode of SUSPENSE!

I make no apologies for loving this stuff. 

(JARRING CHORD).

S.