The Weird Circle was a syndicated radio drama series produced in New York and originally broadcast between 1943 and 1945.

The Weird Circle
GenreDrama and suspense
Running time30 minutes
Country of originUnited States
Language(s)English
SyndicatesMutual Broadcasting System
NBC Red network
ABC Blue Network
StarringGladys Thornton
Audrey Totter,
Chester Stratton
Eleanor Audley,
Arnold Moss,
Lawson Zerbe
Walter Vaughn
Regis Joyce
Fred Barron
Original releaseJuly 8, 1943 –
1945
No. of episodes78

Production background

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The series was a Ziv Production, produced at RCA's New York studios and licensed by the Mutual Broadcasting System, and later, NBC's Red network. It lasted two seasons, 39 shows each (78 total)[1] consisting mostly of radio adaptations of classic horror or supernatural stories written by authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson and Charles Dickens. A few scripts were written specifically for the series. The production values were modest and The Weird Circle featured very little music.[2]

Series opening/closing

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Standard opening

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(SFX: Running water, perhaps a sea surf. Bell tolls)

Old Man: "In this cave by the restless sea, we are met to call from out of the past, stories strange and weird. Bell keeper, toll the bell, so that all may know that we are gathered again in The Weird Circle."

Alternate opening

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Announcer: "Out of the past, phantoms from a world gone by speak again the immortal tale (episode title)."

Standard closing

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Host: "From the time worn pages of the past, we have recalled, (episode title). Bell Keeper, toll the bell!

(SFX: Bell tolls)

List of Episodes

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Stories dramatized in The Weird Circle came largely from public-domain 19th-century (or earlier) sources. Longer works were heavily abridged, keeping only the bare outline of the weird elements of the story. Short works were expanded and rewritten, often with additional characters and a romantic element added. In some cases, the rewriting was so extensive that the original story is almost unrecognizable save for some character names.

# Title First Broadcast Original Author (Source Work)
1
The Fall of the House of Usher
08/29/1943
Edgar Allan Poe
2
The House and the Mind
09/05/1943
Edward George Bulwer-Lytton ("The Haunted and the Haunters; Or, The House and the Brain")
3
The Vendetta
09/12/1943
Honoré de Balzac (La Vendetta)
4
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym
09/19/1943
Edgar Allan Poe
5
Declared Insane
09/26/1943
Honoré de Balzac ("L'Interdiction")
6
A Terribly Strange Bed
10/03/1943
Wilkie Collins
7
What Was It? A Mystery
10/10/1943
Fitz James O'Brien
8
The Knightsbridge Mystery
10/17/1943
Charles Reade
9
The Horla
10/24/1943
Guy de Maupassant ("Le Horla")
10
William Wilson
10/31/1943
Edgar Allan Poe
11
Passion in the Desert
11/07/1943
Honoré de Balzac ("Une passion dans le désert")
12
Mateo Falcone
11/14/1943
Prosper Mérimée
13
The Man Without a Country
11/21/1943
Edward Everett Hale
14
Doctor Manette’s Manuscript
11/28/1943
Charles Dickens (from A Tale of Two Cities)
15
The Great Plague
12/05/1943
Thomas Hood ("A Tale of the Great Plague")
16
The Expectations of an Heir
12/12/1943
Samuel Johnson[Note 1]
17
The Hand
12/19/1943
Guy de Maupassant ("La Main")
18
Jane Eyre
12/26/1943
Charlotte Brontë
19
The Murders in the Rue Morgue
01/02/1944
Edgar Allan Poe
20
The Lifted Veil
01/09/1944
George Eliot
21
The 4:15 Express
01/16/1944
Amelia Edwards ("The Four Fifteen Express")
22
A Terrible Night
01/23/1944
Fitz James O'Brien
23
The Tell-Tale Heart
01/30/1944
Edgar Allan Poe
24
The Niche of Doom
02/06/1944
Honoré de Balzac ("La Grande Bretèche")
25
The Heart of Ethan Brand
02/13/1944
Nathaniel Hawthorne ("Ethan Brand")
26
Frankenstein
02/20/1944
Mary Shelley
27
The Feast of Redgauntlet
02/27/1944
Sir Walter Scott ("Wandering Willie's Tale" from Redgauntlet)
28
Murder of the Little Pig
03/05/1944
Émile Gaboriau[Note 1]
29
The Specter of Tappington
03/12/1944
Richard Barham (from The Ingoldsby Legends)
30
Strange Judgment
03/19/1944
[Note 1]
31
Wuthering Heights
03/26/1944
Emily Brontë
32
The Curse of the Mantle
04/02/1944
Nathaniel Hawthorne ("Lady Eleanore's Mantle")
33
The Cask of Amontillado
04/09/1944
Edgar Allan Poe
34
The Rope of Hair
04/16/1944
Guy de Maupassant ("Apparition")
35
Falkland
04/23/1944
Edward George Bulwer-Lytton
36
The Trial for Murder
04/30/1944
Charles Dickens & Charles Allston Collins
37
Werewolf
05/07/1944
Frederick Marryat ("The White Wolf of the Hartz Mountains" from The Phantom Ship)
38
The Old Nurse’s Story
05/14/1944
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
39
The Middle Toe of the Right Foot
05/28/1944
Ambrose Bierce
40
The Dream Woman
09/04/1944
Wilkie Collins
41
The Phantom Picture
09/10/1944
Washington Irving ("The Adventure of the Young Italian" from Tales of a Traveller, Part I: Strange Stories by a Nervous Gentleman)
42
The Ghost's Touch
09/17/1944
Wilkie Collins
43
The Bell Tower
09/24/1944
Herman Melville (from The Piazza Tales)
44
The Evil Eye
10/01/1944
Théophile Gautier (Jettatura translated as The Evil Eye)
45
The Mark of the Plague
10/08/1944
Daniel Defoe (from A Journal of the Plague Year)
46
The Queer Client
10/15/1944
Charles Dickens (The Pickwick Papers, Chapter XXI)
47
The Burial of Roger Malvin
10/22/1944
Nathaniel Hawthorne ("Roger Malvin's Burial")
48
The Fatal Love Potion
10/29/1944
Edward George Bulwer-Lytton (The Last Days of Pompeii)
49
Mad Monkton
11/05/1944
Wilkie Collins
50
The Return
11/12/1944
Edgar Allan Poe ("Ligeia")
51
The Executioner
11/19/1944
Honoré de Balzac ("El Verdugo")
52
Rappaccini's Daughter
11/26/1944
Nathaniel Hawthorne
53
The Wooden Ghost
12/03/1944
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu ("Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter" from The Purcell Papers)
54
The Last Day of a Condemned Man
12/10/1944
Victor Hugo ("Le Dernier jour d'un condamné")
55
The Warning
12/17/1944
R. P. Gilles[Note 1]
56
The Doll
12/24/1944
Fitz James O'Brien ("The Wondersmith")
57
The Diamond Lens
12/31/1944
Fitz James O'Brien
58
The History of Dr. John Faust
01/07/1945
Christopher Marlowe (The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus)[Note 2]
59
The Duel Without Honor
01/14/1945
Alexandre Dumas ("Zodomirsky’s Duel")
60
The Specter Bride
01/21/1945
William Harrison Ainsworth[Note 1]
61
The Tapestry Horse
01/28/1945
Edgar Allan Poe ("Metzengerstein")
62
The River Man
02/04/1945
[Note 1]
63
The Ancient Mariner
02/11/1945
Samuel Taylor Coleridge ("The Rime of the Ancient Mariner")
64
The Oblong Box
02/18/1945
Edgar Allan Poe
65
The Mysterious Bride
02/25/1945
James Hogg[Note 1]
66
The Thing in the Tunnel
03/04/1945
Charles Dickens ("The Signal-Man")
67
The Moonstone
03/11/1945
Wilkie Collins
68
The Pistol Shot
03/18/1945
Prosper Mérimée[Note 1]
69
The Possessive Dead
03/25/1945
Théophile Gautier ("Le Pied de momie" translated as "The Mummy's Foot")
70
The Goblet
04/01/1945
Ludwig Tieck ("Der Pokal" translated as "The Goblet" or "The Mysterious Cup")
71
The Case of Monsieur Valdemar
04/08/1945
Edgar Allan Poe ("The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar")
72
The Shadow
04/15/1945
Hans Christian Andersen
73
The Bride of Death
04/22/1945
[Note 1]
74
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
04/29/1945
Robert Louis Stevenson ("Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde")
75
The Red Hand
05/06/1945
[Note 1]
76
The Haunted Hotel
05/13/1945
Wilkie Collins
77
Markheim
05/20/1945
Robert Louis Stevenson
78
The Black Parchment
05/27/1945
[Note 1]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Source work not confirmed.
  2. ^ Probably. The legend of Faust is centuries old and several authors have rewritten it.

References

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  1. ^ Weird Circle Radio Log. Accessed July 4, 2013
  2. ^ Weird Circle entry on Radio Horror Hosts website. Accessed July 4, 2013
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