TRIVIA QUESTION:
Who is this man...
and why wouldn't
you want to be
caught dead in
the dark with him?
and why wouldn't
you want to be
caught dead in
the dark with him?
(SCROLL DOWN)
ANSWER:
He's Arch Oboler...
...a writer, producer
and director who
made his mark in
radio, film, theater
and television.
and director who
made his mark in
radio, film, theater
and television.
Oboler is best
known for
Lights Out...
an innovative radio
drama series that
presented chilling
tales of horror and
the supernatural.
In 1962 some of Oboler's
best Lights Out tales were
assembled on the album
Drop Dead! An Exercise
in Horror. I bought that
record and enjoyed
listening to Oboler's
scary stories every
Halloween for years
thereafter. One of my
favorite segments on
Drop Dead! is "The Dark."
record and enjoyed
listening to Oboler's
scary stories every
Halloween for years
thereafter. One of my
favorite segments on
Drop Dead! is "The Dark."
"The Dark" - Arch Oboler
from 1962 album Drop Dead!
An Exercise in Horror
Now check out "Nightmare
Cafeteria," a segment of
The Simpsons that aired in
October 1994 as part of
the animated series' annual
Halloween feature Treehouse
of Horror. The piece made
reference to Arch Oboler's
spooky story "The Dark."
October 1994 as part of
the animated series' annual
Halloween feature Treehouse
of Horror. The piece made
reference to Arch Oboler's
spooky story "The Dark."
"Nightmare Cafeteria" - The Simpsons
(Halloween 1994, segment of
Treehouse of Horror V)
START PLAYING VIDEO
AT 2:10 MARK!
One of the tracks on
Bill Cosby's 1966
comedy album
Wonderfulness is
"Chicken Heart," a
nod to Arch Oboler
and one of his most
famous radio tales
originally broadcast
in the late 1930s
and early 40s and
included on the
Drop Dead! album.
Cosby retold the story in an episode of his animated
television series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.
"Chicken Heart" - Bill Cosby
(From episode of animated TV series
Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.)
What could be more fun than a day at the dentist's? BZZZZZZZ - time's up.
The answer, of course, is that NOTHING is more fun than a day at the
dentist's. You know the drill. Open wide, click and listen!
"A Day At The Dentist's" - Arch Oboler
from 1962 album Drop Dead! An Exercise in Horror
If that trip to the dentist worked up an appetite for more
Arch Oboler horror, then sink your teeth into this one.
""I'm Hungry!" - Arch Oboler
from 1962 album Drop Dead! An Exercise in Horror
I hope you enjoyed meeting one of my boyhood
idols and sampling his story telling genius.
idols and sampling his story telling genius.
Thanks for the disturbing dreams
and unsettling memories,
ARCH OBOLER.
You were one of the kings
of horror and suspense.
and unsettling memories,
ARCH OBOLER.
You were one of the kings
of horror and suspense.
Have a Shady day!
Tom,
ReplyDeleteWhat fantastic post with Halloween just days away! I do not know Arch Oboler but I can imagine the suspense his stories created portrayed over the radio. The mind is more inventive listening to a story unfold than through visual stimulation I think. Thanks for sharing. I really enjoyed it! Have spooktactular week!
Hi, Cathy!
DeleteThank you very much for dropping in to experience the story telling genius of one of my childhood idols Arch Oboler!
You're right, Cathy. Listening to Oboler's scary stories on the radio or phonograph required listeners to use their imagination, something most modern media do not ask us to do. A vivid imagination is a gift worth developing and Drop Dead! enabled me to develop mine. I love to picture the action as Oboler's morbid tales unfold.
Thank you again for coming to visit on your busy Monday, dear friend Cathy. Have a great week!
I need to find these albums!!! We got a new record player last year and it would be awesome to listen to scary stories. This is sooo cool. I tell you the Simpsons don't miss much do they?
ReplyDeleteHi Holli-ween!
DeleteHow are you, dear friend? Thanks for coming over for the last in my long line of posts for Halloween as I introduce one of the masters of horror and suspense, Arch Oboler, and Drop Dead!, one of the record albums that influenced and inspired me as a kid.
I see that the Arch Oboler horror collection Lights Out, Everybody is available on CD. The synopsis on Amazon reads:
"It... is... later... than... you... think! Radio's premier showcase for heart-stopping horror is presented in this collection of 20 great episodes of Lights Out! Produced, written, and directed by broadcasting legend Arch Oboler - and starring Boris Karloff, Mercedes McCambridge, Dinah Shore, Gloria Blondell, and more - these tales are devilishly devised to keep you up all night!
Radio, more than any other medium of popular entertainment, is an ideal vehicle for dark tales of dark deeds. Perhaps that's because the greatest fears in the back of our minds are the terrors we can't see... the murky musings made all the more horrific by the fact that we can never stare them in the eye."
The CD is rather pricey, but you get 20 classic episodes, all digitally remastered. Imagine having the stories play thru a loudspeaker as trick-or-treaters come to the door!
Thanks again for joining the fun, dear friend Holli, and happy Holli-ween to you!
Having grown up in a radio family, I can definitely appreciate this entry. Arch Oboler sounds familiar, so maybe that's a name from my distant past, trying to make its way from the depths of my brain.
ReplyDeleteGreat Halloween post!
Hi, Kelly!
DeleteThank you very much for coming by to have your brain massaged and your imagination stimulated listening to the terrifying tales of master storyteller Arch Oboler!
It's interesting to learn that you grew up in a radio family. My childhood memories revolve strictly around television and movies. It wasn't until I was eleven or twelve that I became a regular radio listener, and even then it was only to listen to the top 40 tunes. My only exposure to classic radio broadcasts like Orson Welles' The War of the Worlds and Arch Oboler's Lights Out came through listening to record albums, studying them in college and, much later, finding them on YouTube.
I'm delighted to know you enjoyed my final Halloween post of 2018. Thanks again for coming over today, dear friend Kelly. I wish you and your family a safe and happy Halloween!
Loverboy at the dentist was scary indeed. But I guess he had it coming. My son likes horror stories. He'd probably like your collection here. Me? I prefer to stay away from them because they give my impressionable mind nightmares! :)
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your week!
Hi, Sherry!
DeleteWelcome back to Shady's Place, dear friend!
I'm glad you were entertained by writer Arch Oboler, a major influence in my youth. "Loverboy" was at the wrong place at the wrong time, the last patient of the day for a dentist with hurt pride and revenge on his mind. I wonder if getting a confession out of that casanova was "like pulling teeth." :)
If Bubba is anything like me (and I'm sure he is) he would love Oboler's tales of terror. They are available in a CD collection on Amazon. That CD would make a great stocking stuffer this Christmas. :)
Thanks again for joining the fun, dear friend Sherry, and enjoy the week ahead!
Hahaha! Shady! This is really something! I remember some radio programs being like this, but I don't know Arch Oboler! We would have gotten a big kick out of him as kids. It's true, you can get a lot out of just hearing a story, and create your own visuals.
ReplyDeleteIs Arch the narrator of these tales? He certainly has the voice for expressing spook drama, and inciting fear, doesn't he. All of the the videos were good, and the pictures are creepy. Oh...that woman's scream in "The Dark" was pretty sickening, as the story went on.
I have to say "A Day at The Dentist" was killer! Since this was not live, we have no idea what is to take place! There have been similar stories using a dentist that are horrific also. And, one can only imagine what is going to happen! You can even picture what the "lover boy" looks like! I guess that's what makes some of us terrified of a dentist visit, lol!
This is very cool, Shady! I know my sister and brother would have been front row center for these tales! We had "Gregory Graves" hosting "Shock Theatre". And, Svengoolie (who hosts a horror show on TV) has nothing on Oboler's spook tactics! This was very enjoyable! Thank you for sharing!
Have a great week, Shady! We're getting ready for the final spook down with Scootie! I am pretty tired after the Birthday celebration, and about ready to get the festivities over. But, I love October! Goes by too fast!
Take Care, dear friend! ♫
Hi, Suzanne!
DeleteHow are you, dear friend? Thanks a lot for swinging by on day one to listen to these creepy horror stories courtesy of Arch Oboler!
Yessum, that's Arch's actual voice telling the stories on Drop Dead! I was turned-on to the genius of Arch Oboler by my cousin who was the first to own the album. After listening to these gruesome tales at his house, I wanted to have my own copy of the album and soon bought one. The woman's hysterical, high-pitched cackle in "The Dark" always made me laugh and still does today. I remember a couple of horror movies that were no doubt inspired by Oboler's "A Day At the Dentist's." Corbin Bernson starred as a psychotic dentist who loved to mangle patients in The Dentist (1996) and The Dentist 2 (1998). And let us not forget the classic scene in the dentist's office in The Little Shop Of Horrors (1960). Pain loving patient Wilbur Force (played by Jack Nicholson) sits in the dentist's waiting room reading a magazine. He finds an article that interest him and reads it aloud: "The patient came to me with a large hole in his abdomen caused by a fire poker used on him by his wife. He almost bled to death and gangrene had set in. I didn't give him much of a chance. There were other complications. The man had cancer, tuberculosis, leprosy, and a touch of the grippe. I decided to operate." When masochistic Wilbur is finally called to the dentist's chair, he instructs the oral surgeon: "Now, no novocaine. It dulls the senses." :)
Every TV market had its own version of Shock Theater. I remember watching Shock Theater late on Saturday nights in the 50s. If you scroll down my right sidebar you will see pictures of another of my favorite TV ghost hosts, "Doctor Shock" aka "Shocky Doc" and his real life daughter "Bubbles." Their Philadelphia-based Saturday afternoon horror movie double feature show was much loved for years.
I'm excited to know you enjoyed this post so much, Suzanne, and once again I thank you for being here. What an exciting month this is for Scootie with his birthday and Halloween so close together. Coincidentally today is also my grandson's birthday. He is 15.
Take care and have a wonderful week, dear friend Suzanne!
It is true, we do learn something new each day! I never realized that the references in the Simpsons and Fat Albert were to Oboler. Thank you for including the episodes to refresh my memory!
ReplyDeleteWow! He was a creator and a spooky one at that! I hope I can sleep tonight, watching some of the videos you posted, it might be difficult. :)
Have a great spooky Monday, dear friend.
Hi, Jessica Marie!
DeleteThank you for dropping in for Drop Dead! :) I'm thrilled to know you enjoyed this introduction to master horror storyteller Arch Oboler.
Yessum, those cultural references came in handy for this post. I remember listening to that Bill Cosby album in my youth and remember it included the story about the giant, out-of-control "Chicken Heart," but I didn't know he used it in the animated series Fat Albert and didn't know an episode of The Simpson's referenced Oboler's "The Dark."
I hope these scary stories don't give you nightmares tonight. Thank you again for coming over and have a great week, dear friend JM!
Hi Shady,
DeleteHappy belated Halloween! I guess you learn something new every day when you research for these posts. :) Nothing wrong with that -- learning daily is good!
I hope you had a horror filled Halloween and now I hope you begin the month of Thankful November with good tidings. Have a great Thankful Thursday, dear friend!
Hi, Jessica Marie!
DeleteOne of the best aspects of blogging is learning so many new things. I learn something new every time I compose a post of my own and learn even more by reading the blogs of friends like you and doing extra reading and research on the side to help with my comments.
Halloween was a night like any other in my household because ZERO kids came to our door for trick-or-treat! We now live along a busy street that is deemed too dangerous for little ones to travel on foot.
I wish you a safe and happy weekend, dear friend JM!
What a post, friend Shady … I'm not one to stomach any kind of "entertaining" horror … but I remember my mumme spinning tales for me at bed time when I was a lil girl … and her stories would go on and on, and many nights she would think up a sequel to the sequel before that and the sequel before that … about kings and queens, and talking animals and witches and gnomes and mountains and oceans and bad people and good people and punishment and rewards … things like that. Anyway … ya … Much love, cat.
ReplyDeleteHi, cat!
DeleteHow are you, dear friend? I am pleased to see you!
This is a wonderful share, cat. Storytelling is an art passed down through generations. I suspect it is a dying art today. My dad used to tell me stories at bedtime. I looked forward to it and will always admire him for taking time to do that. You were fortunate to have a mother who sent you off to dream land with imaginative stories and all those sequels.
Thank you again for your kind visit and comment, dear friend cat. Much love to you, too!
Now that was fun! I love scary stuff. But I cracked up at "the Simpsons children". Lol. They cracksme up, the whole lot of them!
ReplyDeleteAnd I haven't thought of Fat Albert in a long time. I used to watch that show every week. Unfortunately the fun series is now tainted with the Bill Cosby association, at least in my mind.
I enjoyed listening to your Arch Oboler selections. Until your introduction, I was unfamiliar with him. I have over the years sampled some of the Inner Sanctum radio show. My Mom often referenced the show while I was growing up, especially its effective sound effects, the "creaky door" being the most famous.
I'm about to get ready to take my Mom to see the latest "Halloween" movie, which is reprising Jamie Lee Curtis' role. I'm so excited to see it. I've seen Jamie Lee on several talk shows over the last few weeks promoting her new movie. She looks amazing, after all these years! I like her a lot.
Are you and Kathy planning on going to see it?
Thanks for bringing the joy of old time radio shows into our consciousness this season. Here's one that I'm listening to now:
https://youtu.be/sL4hwfWkmFs
Have a great day,
Michele at Angels Bark
Hi, Michele!
DeleteThank you very much for coming over, dear friend! I'm happy to know you enjoy scary stuff and liked the twisted tales of Arch Oboler.
Thanks for reminding us of The Inner Sanctum, another radio show that featured strange, frightening tales and the voices of famous screen actors like Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. Peter Lorre was another voice actor on Inner Sanctum and, you might have noticed, either Lorre or someone doing an impression of him acted in the last skit of this post "I'm Hungry." The Inner Sanctum was brought to television in 1954 and I am sure I must have watched it as a child.
Yessum, those early Bill Cosby albums aren't quite as funny anymore and his animated series Fat Albert and Cosby Show sitcom have also been tainted by recent revelations. (I am enjoying "Cosby kid" Theo (Malcolm-Jamal Warner) as one of the stars of the medical TV series The Resident.)
I see that the new Halloween movie is doing very well at the box office. I hope you and your mother enjoy it. Please email a review to me. Mrs. Shady does not like horror films. I couldn't even get her to watch the spoof horror TV series Scream Queens with me. (Jamie Lee Curtis was in the main cast both seasons.) Therefore, I doubt she will want to see Halloween. Thanks for linking me to that episode of The Inner Sanctum. I love to listen to the perfect diction of the actors and actresses - so different from the way most celebs sound nowadays.
Thank you again for joining the fun, dear friend Michele, and enjoy the rest of your week!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi, Kirk!
DeleteThanks for helping me to artificially inflate my comment total. I’ll takeum any way I can getum! :)
Arch Oboler also wrote and directed Five (1951), one of the first post-nuclear apocalypse movies (that's where I first came across his name--the film is an unheralded classic), and Bwana Devil (1952) the first 3D movie.
ReplyDeleteListening to The Dark, it occurred to me that during the Twilight Zone-Outer Limits-Boris Karloff's Thiller era, you couldn't have shown a body turned inside-out on TV. If they did the story at all, the horror would have to have been purely descriptive, as it was on radio. By the time of The X-Files in the 1990s, they actually did do that type of story (the person was actually skinned alive, but, you know, kind of the same thing) in all its gory detail, but I don't know that it was necessarily as creepy or scary as what Oboler did in the 1930s.
Hi, Kirk!
DeleteWelcome, good buddy! Thanks for coming over to add the the discussion of Arch Oboler, one of the great writers who inspired me in my youth.
Thanks for adding those tidbits about Oboler's other important works. It would be fun if we could pinpoint the tipping point when mainstream visual entertainment stopped relying primarily on the audience's imagination and started actually showing the blood and gore. I think a lot has been lost over the last few decades as a result of the trend. Sometimes a "reax" camera shot showing the terrified expression on an onlooker's face is more powerful than showing the carnage. Some of the best horror films of all time leave a great deal to the imagination and show only brief glimpses of the monster.
Thanks again for your visit and comment, good buddy Kirk!
Hi Shady! I'm back from Oregon, Portland..and Sophia said she doesn't remember saying it that way but I assured her we remember it! Anyway, this is such a fun post. I'd never heard of Arch Oboler but what terror he must have put in the minds of the listener..I jumped every time that lady cackled in the first clip! Dentists give me the creeps too! When you use your imagination it's a whole new experience! With Halloween tomorrow this is a perfect way to enjoy the day...listening to scary stories! Hope you get tons of little scary kiddos who want some treats but don't do any tricks! Happy Halloween!
ReplyDeleteHi, YaYa!
DeleteWelcome back to Ohio, Ashland and Place Shady, dear friend! :) I'm glad my memory is intact and that it was indeed Sophia who made us laugh years ago by saying she lives in Oregon, Portland. I'm surprised she doesn't remember that. I am very happy to have you here to enjoy the spine tingling tales of Arch Oboler.
Yessum, that cackling woman in "The Dark" is a hoot, and the sound effect of people being turned inside out turns the stomach. I like how a loud gong is used to begin and end each horror story on the album. I'm glad you agree a vivid imagination is all you need to be thoroughly entertained and have frightening fun at Halloween. The very first thing Arch Oboler instructs the listener to do at the beginning of the Drop Dead! album is to turn off all the lights and sit quietly in the pitch dark and listen. I used to do that and it really heightened my imagination and the excitement. The sound of that dentist's drill always gives me goose bumps! :)
Thanks again for coming over tonight, dear friend YaYa. I'm glad you made it back home safely and I wish you and your family a happy Halloween at The Pines!
I never heard of this man but I enjoyed it and it shows how inventive Radio was in its heyday. Did you ever watch Frasier? There was an episode where Frasier decides to recreate an old radio program for one night but, of course, things go horribly wrong which was very funny. I wonder if this was based on this man at all. Love the Simpsons Halloween stories with one favourite being Mr. Burns as Dracula. Another is when Homer uses a time machine. Happy Halloween
ReplyDeleteHi, Birgit!
DeleteThank you very much for coming by to experience the storytelling genius of Arch Oboler, a man who had a profound effect on me in my youth. Oboler's record album Drop Dead! fueled my passion for horror, science fiction, mystery and suspense.
Mrs. Shady and I watched the Frasier series first run from beginning to end. I don't recall that particular episode but I am sure we'd remember it if we saw it again. Perhaps it was inspired by Orson Welles' notorious broadcast "The War of the Worlds," part of the radio series The Mercury Theatre on the Air. As I am sure you know, that program sparked widespread panic among listeners who thought a real alien invasion was underway. FYI - mrs. Shady and I are currently enjoying Frasier fugitive Jane Leeves ("Daphne") in her new role in the main cast of the medical drama The Resident alongside "Cosby kid Theo" - Malcolm-Jamal Warner.
Thank you again for your kind visit and comment, dear friend BB!