Escape - The Blue Hotel

Escape's "The Blue Hotel" (episode #185) aired on May 24, 1953, and it has since become a "lost" episode. No known recording of their broadcast exists. What we do have, however, is a re-creation of this episode using the original script.

Fortunately, "The Blue Hotel" was an episode based on a classic short story by Stephen Crane, so we know what is supposed to happen and we can tell if the episode is complete. "The Blue Hotel" was first published in Crane's 1898 book The Monster and Other Stories, and the full text is available online at Wikisource. Escape's radio adaptation was written by E. Jack Neuman, and it is excellent.

Escape's version of"The Blue Hotel" was re-created by the program Something's Happening on radio station KPFK 90.7 FM in Los Angeles. (The date given is October 15, 1977.) If you listen to the introduction to this episode, the announcers explain (around the 1:33 mark) how that happened. Their version doesn't have the great acting talent of Escape, but they did an admirable job of presenting this show. While listening to their rendition of this radio drama, it is easy to imagine how William Conrad and the other Escape regulars would have acted out this script.

The story opens at the Palace Hotel in Fort Romper in rural Nebraska in the 1880's. The proprietor of the hotel, which is painted a distinct color of blue, has brought three guests up from the nearby train station. They are known as the Easterner, the Cowboy, and the Swede. The introduction to the story is given to us by the Easterner.

Of the three of them, the Swede is the most uncomfortable in his new surroundings. Having read about the "Wild West," he envisions the hotel as a dangerous place where he could be killed at any moment. The proprietor and the others try to assure him that everything is fine, but as the night goes on, the tension surrounding the off-key behaviour of the Swede escalates...

. Download Escape 771015 The Blue Hotel (re-creation)

"The Blue Hotel" was directed by David L. Krebs. Larry Moss played Scully, Steven Baitsell played Johnny, Dave Krebs played the cowboy, Ed Thomas played the Swede, and Dudly Knight was the narrator, Mr. Blank.

There is also "The Blue Hotel-Swedish version." This presentation has all but one of the actors speaking  with fake Swedish accents. The "Swede" in this version is portrayed as an Asian. It is the same Escape script, and it was also done by the Something's Happening players. The same actors played the same roles in both versions.

Download Esc-BlueHotel-SwedishVersion

See also Escape's adaptation of Stephen Crane's short story "The Open Boat"

(Image of Stephen Crane (1871-1900) from Wikipedia)

 

Comments

[shonokin]

This is unrelated to the current post, but wanted to let you know that the trailer for THE BIG CLOCK on youtube starts out in the Suspense radio studio. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tqK08N_aQU

[Cmillinsf]

Hi Shonokin,
Thanks for posting the link! That trailer is fun to watch--and we get to see Anton M. Leader!