ARCH OBOLER COLLECTIONOLD TIME RADIO - 3 CD-ROM - 239 mp3 - Total Playtime: 108:16:45Arch Oboler (December 7, 1907 – March 19, 1987) was a playwright, screenwriter, novelist, producer and director who was active in radio, films, theater and television. He generated much attention with his radio scripts, and his work in radio remains the outstanding period of his career. Praised as one of broadcasting's top talents, he is regarded today as a key innovator of radio drama.Born in Chicago, Illinois, to Leon Oboler and Clara Oboler, Jewish immigrants from Riga, Latvia, Arch Oboler briefly attended the University of Chicago prior to dropping out to pursue a full-time writing career.RadioOboler sold his first radio scripts while still in high school during the 1920s and rose to fame when he began scripting the NBC horror anthology Lights Out in 1936. He later found notoriety with his script contribution to the 12 December 1937 edition of The Chase and Sanborn Hour. In Oboler's sketch, host Don Ameche and guest Mae West portrayed a slightly bawdy Adam and Eve, satirizing the Biblical tale of the Garden of Eden. On the surface, the sketch did not feature much more than West's customary suggestive double-entendres, and today it seems quite tame. But in 1937, that sketch and a subsequent routine featuring West trading suggestive quips with Edgar Bergen's dummy Charlie McCarthy helped the broadcast cause a furor that resulted in West being banned from broadcasting and from being mentioned at all on NBC programming for 15 years. The timing may have been a contributing factor, according to radio historian Gerald S. Nachman in Raised on Radio:The sketch resulted in letters from outraged listeners and decency groups... What upset churchgoing listeners wasn't the Biblical parody so much as the fact that it had the bad luck to air on a Sunday show.When Oboler took over Lights Out in 1936, the show was already a sensation because of creator Wyllis Cooper's violent, quirky scripts, and Oboler continued in a similar vein, announcing during the opening of each episode:This is Arch Oboler bringing you another of our series of stories of the unusual, and once again we caution you: These Lights Out stories are definitely not for the timid soul. So we tell you calmly and very sincerely, if you frighten easily, turn off your radio now.One of Oboler's best remembered scripts for Lights Out was Chicken Heart, first broadcast March 10, 1937:Dr. Calvin: I tell you that mass of flesh was a chicken heart... the tissue of which for some reason is undergoing constant, rapid, accelerating growth. With every passing hour its growth is doubling. Do you know what that means? If it is now one block in size, within 30 hours that cannibal flesh will have increased in size to one square block to the 30th power. In 30 hours every inch of this whole city will be crushed under that moving flesh. Within 60 hours it will have covered the entire state. Within two weeks the entire United States. You ask for the National Guard. I say call out the entire army. Blast this thing off the earth.Curiously, in the 1960s, "Chicken Heart" became more associated with comedian Bill Cosby than Oboler. Cosby's retelling of the radio drama with humorous vocalized sound effects became one of his most popular comedy routines, recorded on Cosby's Wonderfulness (1966) and available today on both YouTube and a CD reissue.In 1939, Oboler introduced another series, Arch Oboler's Plays, on NBC. In addition to horror tales, the dramas on this series often employed more topical material, especially regarding early World War II events, and the cast featured many leading film actors. After a year on NBC, it returned for a short run on Mutual in 1945. The series was syndicated in 1964.SHOWS LISTDISC 1Arch Oboler BiographyArch Obolers Plays 39-04-15 (04) The Ways of MenArch Obolers Plays 39-04-29 (06) The CliffArch Obolers Plays 39-05-06 (07) Engulfed CathedralArch Obolers Plays 39-05-13 (08) BabyArch Obolers Plays 39-05-20 (09) Crazy TownArch Obolers Plays 39-06-03 (11) SteelworkeArch Obolers Plays 39-06-10 (12) Nero's WifeArch Obolers Plays 39-07-08 (16) The Ivory TowerArch Obolers Plays 39-07-29 (19) Another WorldArch Obolers Plays 39-09-16 (26) Suffer Little Children - FinaleArch Obolers Plays 39-11-18 (35) BathysphereArch Obolers Plays 39-11-25 (36) Mirage-Miss AmericanArch Obolers Plays 39-12-16 (39) Nobody DiedArch Obolers Plays 39-12-30 (41) This Precious FreedomArch Obolers Plays 40-01-13 (43) The TruthArch Obolers Plays 40-01-27 (45) Three Stories - With Tongue-In-CheekArch Obolers Plays 40-02-24 (49) The Women Stayed at HomeArch Obolers Plays 40-03-09 (51) Johnny Got His GunArch Obolers Plays 42-06-21 (xx) Adolph and Mrs. RunyonArch Obolers Plays 44-06-17 (xx)Four For The Fifth SurrenderArch Obolers Plays 45-04-05 (01) Strange MorningArch Obolers Plays 45-04-26 (03) The House I Live InArch Obolers Plays 45-05-03 (04) Love, Love, LoveArch Obolers Plays 45-05-10 (05) Holiday 194XArch Obolers Plays 45-05-17 (06) Mr Ten PercentArch Obolers Plays 45-05-24 (07) An Exercise in Horror (A Peculiar Comedy)Arch Obolers Plays 45-05-31 (08) Double FeatureArch Obolers Plays 45-06-07 (09) NightArch Obolers Plays 45-06-14 (10) Mr PyleArch Obolers Plays 45-06-21 (11) The Naked MountainArch Obolers Plays 45-06-28 (12) The TruthArch Obolers Plays 45-07-05 (13) Dr BluffArch Obolers Plays 45-07-12 (14) A Gallery of Big Shots - FeminineArch Obolers Plays 45-07-19 (15) Special to HollywoodArch Obolers Plays 45-07-26 (16) My ChicagoArch Obolers Plays 45-08-02 (17) ParadeArch Obolers Plays 45-08-09 (18) History of a MugArch Obolers Plays 45-08-16 (19) Lust for LifeArch Obolers Plays 45-09-06 (21) MirageArch Obolers Plays 45-09-13 (22) A Gallery of Big Shots - MasculineArch Obolers Plays 45-09-20 (23) Rocket from ManhattanArch Obolers Plays 45-09-27 (24) The Family NagachiArch Obolers Plays 45-10-04 (25) Mr MillerArch Obolers Plays 45-10-11 (26) This Living Book (I Declare War)Arch Obolers Plays 48-03-09 (51) Johnny Got His Gun(1)Arch Obolers Plays 64-10-03 (01)The WordArch Obolers Plays 64-10-10 (02)The Visitor From HadesArch Obolers Plays 64-10-17 (03) Special to HollywoodArch Obolers Plays 64-10-24 (04) The Day Sinatra Got FatArch Obolers Plays 64-10-31 (05) Come to the BankArch Obolers Plays 64-11-07 (06) Immortal GentlemanArch Obolers Plays 64-11-14 (07) Big BenArch Obolers Plays 64-11-21 (08) Rocket from ManhattanArch Obolers Plays 64-11-28 (09) African StoryArch Obolers Plays 64-12-05 (10) Revolt of the WormsArch Obolers Plays 64-12-12 (11) BathysphereArch Obolers Plays 64-12-19 (12) MirageArch Obolers Plays 64-12-26 (13) Him or MeArch Obolers Plays xx-xx-xx The Dark StereoArch Obolers Plays xx-xx-xx The Day The Sun ExplBiography in Sound 56-05-15 (49) Recolections at 30Biography in Sound 56-12-04 (69) Ticket to the MoonCavalcade of America 420119 262 An American Is BornColumbia Workshop 381222 (122) Bread on the WatersEdgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy 371212 Mae WestPlays For Americans 42-02-01 (01) Johnny QuinnPlays For Americans 42-03-15 (07) A Letter At MidnightPlays For Americans 42-06-21 (20) Adolf & Mrs RunyonRudy Vallee - Royal Gelatin Hour 38-05-05 Guest - Boris KarloffRudy Vallee - Royal Gelatin Hour 38-06-16 Guest - Raymond Johnson, Irving CaesarRudy Vallee - Royal Gelatin Hour 38-09-15 Guest - Brian AherneDISC 2Drop Dead xx-xx-xx (1) Introduction to HorrorDrop Dead xx-xx-xx (2) I'm HungryDrop Dead xx-xx-xx (3) Taking Papa HomeDrop Dead xx-xx-xx (4) The DarkDrop Dead xx-xx-xx (5) A Day at the Dentist'sDrop Dead xx-xx-xx (6) The PosseDrop Dead xx-xx-xx (7) Chicken HeartDrop Dead xx-xx-xx (8) The Laughing ManLights Out 360617 002 Cat WifeLights Out 360805 009 Money Money MoneyLights Out 360812 010 Across the GapLights Out 360909 014 The Author and the ThingLights Out 360916 015 The SeaLights Out 361014 019 The Fast OneLights Out 361209 027 Nobody DiesLights Out 361216 028 PoltergeistLights Out 370217 037 Cat Wife RepeatLights Out 370303 039 SakhalinLights Out 370310 040 Chicken HeartLights Out 370317 041 State ExecutionerLights Out 370414 0Lights Out 45 The Little PeopleLights Out 370512 049 OrganLights Out 370526 051 Until DeadLights Out 370616 054 Meteor ManLights Out 370623 055 Happy EndingLights Out 370714 058 Lord Marley's GhostLights Out 371117 066 Little Old LadyLights Out 371222 071 Uninhabited aka Christmas StoryLights Out 371229 072 The DarkLights Out 380126 075 Oxychloride XLights Out 380216 078 Murder CastleLights Out 380223 079 Chicken Heart 37 03 10 RepeatLights Out 380316 082 SuperfeatureLights Out 380323 083 The Dream with Boris KarloffLights Out 380330 084 Valse Triste with Boris KarloffLights Out 380406 085 Cat Wife with Boris KarloffLights Out 380511 090 It HappenedLights Out 380608 094 SpiderLights Out 390426 128 The Devil's DueLights Out 410217 XXX Special to HollywoodLights Out 421006 001 What the DevilLights Out 421013 002 Revolt of the WormsLights Out 421020 003 PoltergeistLights Out 421027 004 MungahraLights Out 421103 005 Accross The GapLights Out 421110 006 Bon VoyageLights Out 421117 007 Come To The BankLights Out 421124 008 Chicken Heart 37 03 10 RepeatLights Out 421201 009 Mister MaggsLights Out 421208 010 ScoopLights Out 421215 011 Knock At The DoorLights Out 421222 012 Meteor ManLights Out 421229 013 Valse TriesteLights Out 430105 014 The Fast OneLights Out 430119 016 Alley CatLights Out 430126 017 Protective Mr DrogenLights Out 430202 018 Until DeadLights Out 430209 019 He Dug It UpLights Out 430216 020 Oxychloride XLights Out 430223 021 They Met At DorsetLights Out 430302 022 The SeaLights Out 430309 023 The BallLights Out 430316 024 The DreamLights Out 430323 025 The FlameLights Out 430330 026 Money Money MoneyLights Out 430406 027 Super Feature - Familiar Sudenly UnfamiliarLights Out 430413 028 Archer - AncestorLights Out 430420 029 KillLights Out 430427 030 ExecutionLights Out 430504 031 Heavenly JeepLights Out 430511 032 Murder In The Script