Escape and Suspense! End of Summer update

Hello!

OK, it may have seemed as if we fell off a cliff sometime during the middle of summer...but no! Here we are again!

Where have we been? Let me explain. When I started this website back in January of 2007, I was guided only by the idea that each and every episode of Escape and Suspense was unique...and that I would reseach and review all of these episodes one by one...

That simple plan worked fine for about five years, but then we started running into problems. 

Remember, here at Escape and Suspense most of the staff is imaginary...and they don't really do their jobs, either.

So, production slowed to a halt in June in order to catch-up on some of my projects, improvements, updates, etc. The biggest problem, however, had nothing to do with the website.

Escape and Suspense has a virtual library collection on LibraryThing.com that everyone can visit, but the physical collection here at our headquarters turned into a mountainous collection of books, vintage periodicals, ephemora, vintage advertisements, and dvds piled up in various boxes and bookshelves.

There are over seven-hundred episodes posted on Escape and Suspense, and as you know, a good number of those episodes were based on books or short stories. I've always tried to get a copy of the original work when researching an episode, and for the most part, that has been possible. However, there are a still a few books and periodicals that are too expensive to purchase, and there are still short stories that I haven't been able to get a copy of...yet. 

But what I do have, now constitutes six boxes of material that I have had to organize and store away. Do these titles look familiar?

And oh, the fond memories!

Here is Something for Nothing, which was the basis for the Escape episode of the same name. I remember reading this back in the early days of Escape and Suspense. Still love that sassy cover art!  

Here is my battered copy of the Martin Grams, Jr. book Suspense: Twenty Years of Thrills and Chills. I've been using this particular copy since 2007, and hardly any of the pages are still stuck to the spine. That is a nuisance when it inevitably drops on the floor, but I'm sentimental. Although I purchased a second copy of the book, I still use this one because I have notes scribbled on practically every page. 

 

Anyhow, after bobbing along for five years, I only had a vague idea of how many episodes were left post. But now, I have that all worked out a spreadsheet, and I believe there are about 274 episodes remaining. So, there is still a ways to go. 

Clean-up work and improvements to the website will be continuing throughout the rest of the year, but for now, let's get back to posting regular updates.

Thanks for your patience and support!

Hugs,

Christine

Comments

[Armand S.]

Awesome. Looking forward to see and hear the results of your efforts. Kudos to you for your commitment to finding the original stories too!

[Ron Oliver]

We love you Christine - keep up the great work, honoring these terrific shows; given the huge influence of their work on the careers of many of us in the business today, the actors, the stories, the writers and producer/directors of SUSPENSE and ESCAPE should never be forgotten...!

[cmillinsf]

Thanks so much! I am trying to collect all of the source works used for these two shows--if that is still possible. (It isn't as simple as you would think.) Thanks to some resourceful S.F. public library reference librarians, I have been able to obtain digital copies of some of the more obscure short stories I've needed. But, I still don't have them all...
Anyhow, I hope everyone enjoys the improvements and projects that I have in the works.
Love ya, too! --Christine

[Jimbo]

Keep on truckin'! You do a great job and one of the few people who do OTR right. Thanks for all you do.

[Ara]

Thank you Christine for your hard work. You are giving OTR some good visibility. I love collecting old books and magazines too.

[Clarence]

Thank you for all you do. You have built something to be proud of here.

[Montgomery N.]

Excellent work! Love this website. Thank you for clearing the cobwebs off these old shows and making them interesting in a new way.

[Jane Bauer]

I really enjoy your blog, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it progresses.

[Mike Hobart]

Even the most famous radio shows need an advocate to remind us of how good they were, and why we need to remember them.

Thanks for all your hard work.