Chapter 1: Private Lives Part I continued...

The car ate up the miles, while Nick and Tracy sat in companionable silence. Well, they were silent – Nick was concentrating on the road and Tracy was concentrating on her puzzles, occasionally sneaking glances at the solutions in the back of the book.  

But Nick had put one of his OTR discs in the CD player and they were being regaled by the vocal tones of Orson Welles and Agnes Moorehead in such classic episodes of The Shadow as “The Temple Bells of Neban” and “Murder on Approval.”

Presently Tracy closed her puzzle book and began attempting to imitate Moorehead’s delivery. Nick smiled occasionally as she hit a line perfectly. He’d always been impressed by her ability to mimic someone after only a few minutes. He could do accents, too, but it took him a couple of months study to get it down pat. Tracy could do any accent, any voice, in a ridiculously short amount of time.

“Are you sure you don’t want to do one of the radio reenactments?” he asked. “Patrick and Diana would be ecstatic if we were to do a surprise performance together... or you could do a solo episode. Agnes Moorehead’s classic role, “Sorry, Wrong Number.”

 “Barbara Stanwyck,” Tracy corrected absently.

 “No, you’re thinking of the movie version. But before it was a movie it was a radio play. Agnes Moorehead played the role. It was such a hit with audiences that I think she reprised the role eight years in a row.”

 “Wow.”

“I’m sure Patrick and Diana would have access to the script- they could download it from the internet if nothing else.”

"Well...even if they did...I couldn't do it today. Without a rehearsal?"

"That's why actors used to like old time radio so much," Nick pointed out. "You get to read right off the script. You don't really need to do any rehearsing - at least not if you're going to do a single act."

“I suppose it might be fun,” Tracy said reluctantly, “and maybe it's something I could think about doing next year. but really, Nick, I just want to keep a low profile today. I’m nervous about the premier episode tonight.”

“There’s nothing to worry about,” Nick said confidently, with a wave of his hand. “This season’s episodes are fantastic, and the fans will love it. You know they will.”

Tracy smiled. “I hope so. But still, I can't help but be a little nervous. So I just want to wander around and take in the sights and sounds, and see just what goes on in one of these radio re-enactments. I have never seen one, as you know.”

“Well, you’re in for a treat, if I do say so myself.”

Tracy hadn’t known of Nick’s fondness for old time radio until he had told her of the invitation from Patrick and Diana - the organizers of the convention - to appear and star in a couple of re-enactments of radio episodes, and had invited her to come along.

Tracy glanced across at Nick now, concentrating on the road. Then she glanced into the back seat. Nick had been sent an advance copy of the program. Tracy reached back to grab it, opened it up, and read the introduction curiously.

On September 30, 1962, radio drama died in the United States, with the airing of the last episode of the anthology series Suspense, and the last episode of the tales of the insurance investigator Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar.

For over 20 years, from the 30s to the 50s, American audiences had been entertained by a variety of genres: comedy such as The Jack Benny Show, The Bickersons, The Burns and Allen Show and Fibber McGee and Molly.

Mystery shows featured both police dramas like Dragnet and the Black Museum, and private detectives such as The Fat Man, The Saint, and The Shadow.

Westerns were quite popular – Gunsmoke and Have Gun, Will Travel were particular favorites. Science fiction shows included X Minus One and Dimension X, as well as children’s shows such as Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon.

Television started to gain a foothold on the American psyche in the 1950s, as the comedians like Jack Benny, Red Skelton, and George Burns and Gracie Allen abandoned radio for the magic box. 

By 1962, only two radio series, both dramas, were left, and when they were gone, there was no more national radio in the United States.

Interest in the form was revived in the late 1970s, when various radio stations around the country started airing the old shows – in particular the classic The Shadow.  A few years later, nostalgia conventions were organized and the old-time actors were invited to attend and share their memories.

These conventions were usually on the East Coast – in New York and Maryland – and were very popular for over 30 years.

But time and tide wait for no man and by 2012, most of the actors who had worked in these classic shows had passed away, and the many generations of their fans had also aged and in some cases passed on.

The conventions still continue, however, but the interview panels were now manned (and womened), by folks who had written books on the classic shows, or who had known the actors, or who were attempting to bring back radio drama on the national stage. And the radio shows are now re-enacted not by their original participants but by talented amateurs and aspiring professionals who share a love of this art form.

For this year's Old Time Radio convention, the organizers have scored a tremendous coup. Nick Belfour, one of the stars of the popular science fiction TV series The Coldest Equations, will perform in two reenactments on Monday, the last day of the convention. He will play the lead in the classic Suspense episode, “Three Skeleton Key,” and in the most famous Quiet Please episode, “The Thing on the Fourble Board.”

Tracy closed the program.

“What the heck is a fourble board?” she demanded.