Mystery, Crime & Detective · Syndicated (Towers of London; recorded Sydney)
The Black Museum
· 51 broadcasts
Orson Welles opens a heavy door onto Scotland Yard's Black Museum -- the Yard's real, closed-to-the-public collection of crime relics -- and each week lifts one everyday object from the shelf: a .22 pistol, a champagne glass, a mandolin string, a pink powder puff, a spotted bedsheet. Behind every object is a true murder, its names altered but its facts kept, and Welles tells it in the grave, amused voice of a guide who knows how each story ends. Produced by Harry Alan Towers for worldwide syndication, the anthology was a feat of transnational radio: transcribed in 1951, its dramas recorded in Sydney by a repertory company led by Robert Rietti, with Welles' narration taped in London and flown south to be joined to them. Ira Marion wrote the scripts; Sidney Torch composed the score. Carried over 500-plus Mutual stations in America in 1952, all 51 episodes survive. Welles signs off each one the same way: "I remain, as always, obediently yours."
Collection status:
51 of 51 held (100% complete)
◆ ◆ ◆
Episode Spine
undated
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The 22 Caliber Pistol
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A 32 Caliber Bullet
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The Bath Tub
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The Black Gladstone Bag
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The Bloodstained Brick Bat
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The Brass Button
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A Can of Weedkiller
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The Canvas Bag
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The Car Tire
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The Champagne Glass
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A Claw Hammer
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The Door Key
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The Faded Tartan Scarf
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Four Small Bottles
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A young wife poisons her much older husband dose by dose, is tried for murder, and walks free -- then writes her lawyer a letter that confesses everything the verdict did not.
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A French English Dictionary
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The Gas Receipt
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Glass Shards
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The Hammerhead
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The Jack Handle
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A Jar of Acid
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The Khaki Handkerchief
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A Ladys Shoe
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The Leather Bag
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A Letter
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The Mandolin String
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In Edwardian England a charming woman works her way through two husbands, each garroted with a mandolin string; charged at last but never convicted, she is condemned instead by her neighbours and lives out her days shunned and alone in the north of Scotland.
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Meat Juice
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The Notes
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The Old Wooden Mallet
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The Open Ended Wrench
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The Pair Of Spectacles
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A Piece of Iron Chain
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The Pink Powder Puff
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The Post Card
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A Prescription
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The Raincoat
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The Sash Cord
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A Service Card
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The Sheath Knife
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The Shopping Bag
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A Shilling
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A Silencer
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The Small White Boxes
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The Spotted Bedsheet
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The Straight Razor
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The Tan Shoe
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The Telegram
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A Trunk
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Two Bullets
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The Walking Stick
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A Womans Pigskin Glove
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The Wool Jacket
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The Story
Orson Welles opens a heavy door onto Scotland Yard's Black Museum -- the Yard's real, closed-to-the-public collection of crime relics -- and each week lifts one everyday object from the shelf: a .22 pistol, a champagne glass, a mandolin string, a pink powder puff, a spotted bedsheet. Behind every object is a true murder, its names altered but its facts kept, and Welles tells it in the grave, amused voice of a guide who knows how each story ends. Produced by Harry Alan Towers for worldwide syndication, the anthology was a feat of transnational radio: transcribed in 1951, its dramas recorded in Sydney by a repertory company led by Robert Rietti, with Welles' narration taped in London and flown south to be joined to them. Ira Marion wrote the scripts; Sidney Torch composed the score. Carried over 500-plus Mutual stations in America in 1952, all 51 episodes survive. Welles signs off each one the same way: "I remain, as always, obediently yours."
Full story — coming soon while it's being curated.
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