The Weird Circle

Last updated
The Weird Circle
GenreDrama and suspense
Running time30 minutes
Country of origin United States
Language(s) English
Syndicates Mutual Broadcasting System
NBC Red network
ABC Blue Network
StarringGladys Thornton
Audrey Totter,
Chester Stratton
Eleanor Audley,
Arnold Moss,
Lawson Zerbe
Walter Vaughn
Regis Joyce
Fred Barron
Original releaseJuly 8, 1943 
1945
No. of episodes78

The Weird Circle was a syndicated radio drama series produced in New York and originally broadcast between 1943 and 1945.

Contents

Production background

The series was a Ziv Production, produced at RCA's New York studios and licensed by the Mutual Broadcasting System, and later, NBC's Red network. It lasted two seasons, 39 shows each (78 total) [1] consisting mostly of radio adaptations of classic horror or supernatural stories written by authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson and Charles Dickens. A few scripts were written specifically for the series. The production values were modest and The Weird Circle featured very little music. [2]

Series opening/closing

Standard opening

(SFX: Running water, perhaps a sea surf. Bell tolls)

Old Man: "In this cave by the restless sea, we are met to call from out of the past, stories strange and weird. Bell keeper, toll the bell, so that all may know that we are gathered again in The Weird Circle."

Alternate opening

Announcer: "Out of the past, phantoms from a world gone by speak again the immortal tale (episode title)."

Standard closing

Host: "From the time worn pages of the past, we have recalled, (episode title). Bell Keeper, toll the bell!

(SFX: Bell tolls)

List of Episodes

Stories dramatized in The Weird Circle came largely from public-domain 19th-century (or earlier) sources. Longer works were heavily abridged, keeping only the bare outline of the weird elements of the story. Short works were expanded and rewritten, often with additional characters and a romantic element added. In some cases, the rewriting was so extensive that the original story is almost unrecognizable save for some character names.

#TitleFirst BroadcastOriginal Author (Source Work)
1
The Fall of the House of Usher
08/29/1943
Edgar Allan Poe
2
The House and the Mind
09/05/1943
Edward George Bulwer-Lytton ("The Haunted and the Haunters; Or, The House and the Brain")
3
The Vendetta
09/12/1943
Honoré de Balzac ( La Vendetta )
4
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym
09/19/1943
Edgar Allan Poe
5
Declared Insane
09/26/1943
Honoré de Balzac ("L'Interdiction")
6
A Terribly Strange Bed
10/03/1943
Wilkie Collins
7
What Was It? A Mystery
10/10/1943
Fitz James O'Brien
8
The Knightsbridge Mystery
10/17/1943
Charles Reade
9
The Horla
10/24/1943
Guy de Maupassant ("Le Horla")
10
William Wilson
10/31/1943
Edgar Allan Poe
11
Passion in the Desert
11/07/1943
Honoré de Balzac ("Une passion dans le désert")
12
Mateo Falcone
11/14/1943
Prosper Mérimée
13
The Man Without a Country
11/21/1943
Edward Everett Hale
14
Doctor Manette’s Manuscript
11/28/1943
Charles Dickens (from A Tale of Two Cities )
15
The Great Plague
12/05/1943
Thomas Hood ("A Tale of the Great Plague")
16
The Expectations of an Heir
12/12/1943
Samuel Johnson [Note 1]
17
The Hand
12/19/1943
Guy de Maupassant ("La Main")
18
Jane Eyre
12/26/1943
Charlotte Brontë
19
The Murders in the Rue Morgue
01/02/1944
Edgar Allan Poe
20
The Lifted Veil
01/09/1944
George Eliot
21
The 4:15 Express
01/16/1944
Amelia Edwards ("The Four Fifteen Express")
22
A Terrible Night
01/23/1944
Fitz James O'Brien
23
The Tell-Tale Heart
01/30/1944
Edgar Allan Poe
24
The Niche of Doom
02/06/1944
Honoré de Balzac ("La Grande Bretèche")
25
The Heart of Ethan Brand
02/13/1944
Nathaniel Hawthorne ("Ethan Brand")
26
Frankenstein
02/20/1944
Mary Shelley
27
The Feast of Redgauntlet
02/27/1944
Sir Walter Scott ("Wandering Willie's Tale" from Redgauntlet )
28
Murder of the Little Pig
03/05/1944
Émile Gaboriau [Note 1]
29
The Specter of Tappington
03/12/1944
Richard Barham (from The Ingoldsby Legends )
30
Strange Judgment
03/19/1944
[Note 1]
31
Wuthering Heights
03/26/1944
Emily Brontë
32
The Curse of the Mantle
04/02/1944
Nathaniel Hawthorne ("Lady Eleanore's Mantle")
33
The Cask of Amontillado
04/09/1944
Edgar Allan Poe
34
The Rope of Hair
04/16/1944
Guy de Maupassant ("Apparition")
35
Falkland
04/23/1944
Edward George Bulwer-Lytton
36
The Trial for Murder
04/30/1944
Charles Dickens & Charles Allston Collins
37
Werewolf
05/07/1944
Frederick Marryat ("The White Wolf of the Hartz Mountains" from The Phantom Ship )
38
The Old Nurse’s Story
05/14/1944
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
39
The Middle Toe of the Right Foot
05/28/1944
Ambrose Bierce
40
The Dream Woman
09/04/1944
Wilkie Collins
41
The Phantom Picture
09/10/1944
Washington Irving ("The Adventure of the Young Italian" from Tales of a Traveller , Part I: Strange Stories by a Nervous Gentleman)
42
The Ghost's Touch
09/17/1944
Wilkie Collins
43
The Bell Tower
09/24/1944
Herman Melville (from The Piazza Tales )
44
The Evil Eye
10/01/1944
Théophile Gautier (Jettatura translated as The Evil Eye)
45
The Mark of the Plague
10/08/1944
Daniel Defoe (from A Journal of the Plague Year )
46
The Queer Client
10/15/1944
Charles Dickens ( The Pickwick Papers , Chapter XXI)
47
The Burial of Roger Malvin
10/22/1944
Nathaniel Hawthorne ("Roger Malvin's Burial")
48
The Fatal Love Potion
10/29/1944
Edward George Bulwer-Lytton ( The Last Days of Pompeii )
49
Mad Monkton
11/05/1944
Wilkie Collins
50
The Return
11/12/1944
Edgar Allan Poe ("Ligeia")
51
The Executioner
11/19/1944
Honoré de Balzac ("El Verdugo")
52
Rappaccini's Daughter
11/26/1944
Nathaniel Hawthorne
53
The Wooden Ghost
12/03/1944
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu ("Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter" from The Purcell Papers )
54
The Last Day of a Condemned Man
12/10/1944
Victor Hugo ("Le Dernier jour d'un condamné")
55
The Warning
12/17/1944
R. P. Gilles [Note 1]
56
The Doll
12/24/1944
Fitz James O'Brien ("The Wondersmith")
57
The Diamond Lens
12/31/1944
Fitz James O'Brien
58
The History of Dr. John Faust
01/07/1945
Christopher Marlowe ( The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus ) [Note 2]
59
The Duel Without Honor
01/14/1945
[Note 1]
60
The Specter Bride
01/21/1945
William Harrison Ainsworth [Note 1]
61
The Tapestry Horse
01/28/1945
Edgar Allan Poe ("Metzengerstein")
62
The River Man
02/04/1945
[Note 1]
63
The Ancient Mariner
02/11/1945
Samuel Taylor Coleridge ("The Rime of the Ancient Mariner")
64
The Oblong Box
02/18/1945
Edgar Allan Poe
65
The Mysterious Bride
02/25/1945
James Hogg [Note 1]
66
The Thing in the Tunnel
03/04/1945
Charles Dickens ("The Signal-Man")
67
The Moonstone
03/11/1945
Wilkie Collins
68
The Pistol Shot
03/18/1945
Prosper Mérimée [Note 1]
69
The Possessive Dead
03/25/1945
Théophile Gautier ("Le Pied de momie" translated as "The Mummy's Foot")
70
The Goblet
04/01/1945
Ludwig Tieck ("Der Pokal" translated as "The Goblet" or "The Mysterious Cup")
71
The Case of Monsieur Valdemar
04/08/1945
Edgar Allan Poe ("The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar")
72
The Shadow
04/15/1945
Hans Christian Andersen
73
The Bride of Death
04/22/1945
[Note 1]
74
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
04/29/1945
Robert Louis Stevenson ("Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde")
75
The Red Hand
05/06/1945
[Note 1]
76
The Haunted Hotel
05/13/1945
Wilkie Collins
77
Markheim
05/20/1945
Robert Louis Stevenson
78
The Black Parchment
05/27/1945
[Note 1]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Source work not confirmed.
  2. Probably. The legend of Faust is centuries old and several authors have rewritten it.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Bloch</span> American fiction writer (1917–1994)

Robert Albert Bloch was an American fiction writer, primarily of crime, psychological horror and fantasy, much of which has been dramatized for radio, cinema and television. He also wrote a relatively small amount of science fiction. His writing career lasted 60 years, including more than 30 years in television and film. He began his professional writing career immediately after graduation from high school, aged 17. Best known as the writer of Psycho (1959), the basis for the film of the same name by Alfred Hitchcock, Bloch wrote hundreds of short stories and over 30 novels. He was a protégé of H. P. Lovecraft, who was the first to seriously encourage his talent. However, while he started emulating Lovecraft and his brand of cosmic horror, he later specialized in crime and horror stories working with a more psychological approach.

<i>The Twilight Zone</i> Media franchise based on an American television anthology series

The Twilight Zone is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling in which characters find themselves dealing with often disturbing or unusual events, an experience described as entering "the Twilight Zone". The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, supernatural drama, black comedy, and psychological thriller, frequently concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist, and usually with a moral. A popular and critical success, it introduced many Americans to common science fiction and fantasy tropes. The first series, shot entirely in black-and-white, ran on CBS for five seasons from 1959 to 1964.

<i>Night Gallery</i> American anthology TV series (1970–1973)

Night Gallery is an American anthology television series that aired on NBC from December 16, 1970, to May 27, 1973, featuring stories of horror and the macabre. Rod Serling, who had gained fame from an earlier series, The Twilight Zone, served both as the on-air host of Night Gallery and as a major contributor of scripts, although he did not have the same control of content and tone as he had on The Twilight Zone. Serling viewed Night Gallery as a logical extension of The Twilight Zone, but while both series shared an interest in thought-provoking dark fantasy, more of Zone's offerings were science fiction while Night Gallery focused on horrors of the supernatural.

Inner Sanctum Mystery, also known as Inner Sanctum, is a popular old-time radio program that aired from January 7, 1941, to October 5, 1952. It was created by producer Himan Brown and was based on the imprint given to the mystery novels of Simon & Schuster. In all, 526 episodes were broadcast.

<i>Lights Out</i> (radio show) American old-time radio program

Lights Out is an American old-time radio program devoted mostly to horror and the supernatural.

A miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. "Limited series" is a more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. As of 2021, the popularity of miniseries format has increased in both streaming services and broadcast television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Kuttner</span> American author of speculative fiction (1915–1958)

Henry Kuttner was an American author of science fiction, fantasy and horror.

<i>Tales from the Crypt</i> (TV series) American horror anthology television series

Tales from the Crypt, sometimes titled HBO's Tales from the Crypt, is an American horror anthology television series created by William Gaines and Steven Dodd that ran for seven seasons on the premium cable channel HBO, from June 10, 1989, to July 19, 1996, with a total of 93 episodes. The show's title is based on the 1950s EC Comics series of the same name, published by William Gaines and edited by Al Feldstein. Most of the program's episodes are based on stories that originally appeared in that comic or other EC Comics of the time, The Haunt of Fear, The Vault of Horror, Crime SuspenStories, Shock SuspenStories, and Two-Fisted Tales.

Doctor Who spin-offs refers to material created outside of, but related to, the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.

<i>Death Valley Days</i> American television series

Death Valley Days is an American Western anthology series featuring true accounts of the American Old West, particularly the Death Valley country of southeastern California. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program was broadcast on radio until 1945. From 1952 to 1970, it became a syndicated television series, with reruns continuing through August 1, 1975. The radio and television versions combined to make the show "one of the longest-running Western programs in broadcast history."

The Ark in Space is the second serial of the 12th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 25 January to 15 February 1975.

The Moonbase is the half-missing sixth serial of the fourth season in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 11 February to 4 March 1967.

"The Shakespeare Code" is the second episode of the third series of the revived British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 7 April 2007. According to the BARB figures this episode was seen by 7.23 million viewers and was the fifth most popular broadcast on British television in that week. Originally titled "Love's Labour's Won", was also titled by David Tennant as "Theatre of Doom" during the "David's Video Diaries 2", part of the Series 3 DVD, the episode was re-titled as a reference to The Da Vinci Code.

<i>The Bell System Science Series</i> Television series

The Bell System Science Series consists of nine television specials made for the AT&T Corporation that were originally broadcast in color between 1956 and 1964. Marcel LaFollette has described them as "specials that combined clever story lines, sophisticated animation, veteran character actors, films of natural phenomena, interviews with scientists, and precise explanation of scientific and technical concepts—all in the pursuit of better public understanding of science." Geoff Alexander and Rick Prelinger have described the films as "among the best known and remembered educational films ever made, and enthroning Dr. Frank Baxter, professor at the University of Southern California, as something of a legend as the omniscient king of academic science films hosts."

<i>The Outer Limits</i> (1963 TV series) American television series on ABC (1963-1965)

The Outer Limits is an American television series that was broadcast on ABC from September 16, 1963, to January 16, 1965, at 7:30 PM Eastern Time on Mondays. It is often compared to The Twilight Zone, but with a greater emphasis on science fiction stories. It is an anthology of self-contained episodes, sometimes with plot twists at their ends.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horror comics</span> Horror comics book

Horror comics are comic books, graphic novels, black-and-white comics magazines, and manga focusing on horror fiction. In the US market, horror comic books reached a peak in the late 1940s through the mid-1950s, when concern over content and the imposition of the self-censorship Comics Code Authority contributed to the demise of many titles and the toning down of others. Black-and-white horror-comics magazines, which did not fall under the Code, flourished from the mid-1960s through the early 1980s from a variety of publishers. Mainstream American color comic books experienced a horror resurgence in the 1970s, following a loosening of the Code. While the genre has had greater and lesser periods of popularity, it occupies a firm niche in comics as of the 2010s.

<i>Doctor Who</i> series 7 2012-2013 series of Doctor Who

The seventh series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who was broadcast concurrently on BBC One in the United Kingdom, and was split into two parts as the previous series had been. Following its premiere on 1 September 2012, the series aired weekly with five episodes until 29 September. The remaining eight episodes were broadcast between 30 March and 18 May 2013. The 2012 Christmas special, "The Snowmen", aired separately from the main series and introduced a new TARDIS interior, title sequence, theme tune, and outfit for the Doctor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Snowmen</span> 2012 Doctor Who episode

"The Snowmen" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, first broadcast on Christmas Day 2012 on BBC One. It is the eighth Doctor Who Christmas special since the show's 2005 revival and the first to be within a series. It was written by head writer and executive producer Steven Moffat and directed by Saul Metzstein, with the special produced in August 2012, and filmed on location in Newport, Wales and Bristol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Crimson Horror</span> 2013 Doctor Who episode

"The Crimson Horror" is the eleventh episode of the seventh series of the British science-fiction drama Doctor Who. It was written by Mark Gatiss and directed by Saul Metzstein, and was first broadcast on BBC One on 4 May 2013. It marks the 100th episode, including specials, since the return of Doctor Who on 26 March 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dinosaurs on a Spaceship</span> 2012 Doctor Who episode

"Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" is the second episode of the seventh series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who. It first aired on BBC One in the UK on 8 September 2012 and on BBC America on the same date in the United States. It was written by Chris Chibnall and directed by Saul Metzstein.

References

  1. Weird Circle Radio Log. Accessed July 4, 2013
  2. Weird Circle entry on Radio Horror Hosts website. Accessed July 4, 2013