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The Old Time Radio Express celebrates Memorial Day with a couple of programs related to the evils that our fighting forces faced in WWII - namely, Hitler and the Nazis.We start with a program more informational and educational than entertaining - You Can't Do Business With Hitler. In fact, this is the premier episode of the program, cleverly titled "Heads They Win, Tails We Lose". (As a sidebar, did anyone else play that game with a younger sibling when younger? Or how about trying to convince your younger sibling to trade dimes for your nickels because they were bigger? Or was that just me?)
Our second example of how radio battled Nazism is in Lights Out's production of a brilliant little radio play entitled "Execution", from April 27, 1943.
As I mention in the show, there are only 4 actors in "Execution" and although each primarily was a radio talent, allow me to cross media and make a movie recommendation for each. Their talent deserves it.The main Nazi, who has written the report, is voiced by Edgar Barrier. He was not putting on a "voice" in this broadcast - that was his normal voice. As you can imagine, he found himself playing a lot of Germans and other heavily accented characters, mostly villains, throughout radio. Check him out in the Orson Welles/Joseph Cotten thriller "Journey Into Fear"
Mercedes McCambridge portrays the woman, and was an accomplished actress in both radio and film. Her film debut, "All the King's Men", garnered her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. If you want to hear her (but not see her) in something completely different, check out "The Exorcist". You know the famous scene when the devil is talking out of the little girl's mouth? Well, the lovely and innocent woman pictured to your right was that voice...only one of the most famous scenes in the horror genre!Lou Merrill plays the soldier who leads the women up to the scaffold, and was all over radio, with a voice that was suited to both paranoid killers (on Lights Out) and Santa Claus (on The Cinnamon Bear). He didn't do much in the movies, but has a nice bit part in the Orson Welles/Rita Hayworth classic "Lady From Shanghai". He's one of the sailors in the early bar scene. I can't find a picture of Lou Merrill on the internet for the life of me. That tells you he was a true radio actor!
Lastly, the Nazi reading the report to Hitler had the most success of the four in the movies. It was not for his looks, but rather for his versatile voice, that Mr. Hans Conreid relied on to get work. Have you seen the Disney animated movie "Peter Pan"? Then you've seen Conreid's work, as he play not one, but two roles, Captain Hook and Father Darling. He was the quintessential supporting player on radio, comfortable especially playing kooks, both the violent kind on the horror shows and the professorial types on the comedy shows. If you want to see Conreid's face, you can also see him in "Journey Into Fear" with Barrier.One thing for sure, we'll hear lots more of McCambridge, Barrier, Merrill and Conreid....it'd be hard not to with how prolific they were. Have a great Memorial Day weekend!
