For a small taste of this great
series,
listen to the preview below.
This show comes on CD In MP3 Format
Quiet, Please! was an old-time radio fantasy
and horror program created by Wyllis Cooper, also known for creating
Lights Out. Ernest Chappell was the show's announcer and lead actor.
Quiet, Please! was first broadcast by on June 8, 1947 by the Mutual
Broadcasting System. Beginning in September, 1948, it was
syndicated by ABC, and its last episode ran on June 25, 1949. A
total of 106 shows were broadcast, with only a very few of them
repeats. Earning relatively little notice during its initial run,
Quiet, Please! has since been praised as one of the finest efforts
of the golden age of American radio drama.
Each episode began with Chappell intoning
the show's title, followed by a long pause (sometimes up to seven
seconds), before repeating the title. Then, the show's theme music
was played, a dirgey, funereal organ and piano version of a portion
of the second movement of César Franck's 1899 Symphony in D Minor.
The introduction established the sparse, understated tone of the
show, and has inspired collectors and reviewers to remark upon
Cooper's use of the dramatic power of silence.
Though the general thrust of the stories
were fantasy, horror and suspense, Cooper's Quiet, Please! scripts
covered a broad thematic range, including romance, science fiction,
crime, family drama and humor (some of it quite self-deprecating).
Dunning describes the show as "outstanding dark fantasy…” Regardless
of content, most episodes had a dreamlike, surreal quality.
According to Hand, "Cooper was a master of the opening line. Almost
every episode of Quiet, Please begins with a sentence or two that
hooks the listener, commanding their attention and their curiosity."
At the end of each program, Cooper offered a
teaser for the next show. These were usually unrehearsed, and often
displayed Cooper's wry or morbid humor: "My story for you next week
is called 'A Night to Forget'. It's about a man who wished he could
–- and couldn't." Cooper's teaser was always followed by Chappell's
sign-off: "And so, until next week at this same time, I am quietly
yours, Ernest Chappell."
Compared to other contemporary radio dramas,
Quiet, Please! used fewer sound effects and less dialogue, relying
instead on first person narration to drive each play. As noted
above, silence was often used masterfully.
Most episodes had a strongly moralist tone:
evildoers were nearly always punished, and good was typically
rewarded. Probably the most highly regarded episode of Quiet,
Please! is "The Thing on the Fourble Board" (August 9, 1948, episode
60), about an oil-field worker who encounters a mysterious
subterranean being hiding on the derrick's catwalk. The unusual
title is a bit of oil worker argot: the "fourble board" of an oil
derrick is a narrow catwalk that is as high up as four lengths of
drilling pipe placed vertically (two lengths of pipe are a "double",
three are a "thribble" and four are a "fourble."
The story's twist ending has led some fans
to label the episode one of the best radio horror programs ever
broadcast. In fact, Richard J. Hand of the University of Glamorgan
notes that "The Thing on the Fourble Board" is not only cited as the
finest example of radio horror, but occasionally cited as one of
best examples of radio drama as a whole.
So join us and so many others to hear “one
of the finest efforts of the golden age of American radio drama.”
You have over 40+ hours worth of great radio.
The following are the episodes contained on the CD.
We want to thank Wikipedia for some of the background
information on this show.
Presented for your enjoyment is an entire
episode for you to sample.
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