I sure hope so. Can't have a good pub without good guests having a good time.
Another question -- did you all notice the ol' Hallowe'enith radio crackling last night? That thing's possessed, I'm tellin' you! Something in those tubes...
Knew it!
The S&P's current focus on Edgar Allan Poe must be influencing the ancient airwaves that occasionally waft through the radio's coils, for tonight we have another Poe tale adapted to the medium of sound... this time starring none other than the King of Movie Monsters himself, Boris Karloff!
Mind, it's a rather loose take on the original short story, but it still has creepy eyes, beating hearts and floorboards, and a possibly mad narrator with a guilty conscience (unlike your current narrator, who doesn't have a guilty conscience, but might well be mad).
Enjoy.
DDSPoe!
Great production!
ReplyDeleteAnd the Sponsor sure brings back memories. My grandparents swore by Carter's Little Liver Pills.
I'm not sure what, if anything, the little pills had to do with a liver. It was actually a rather vicious laxative, whose main ingredient was Bisacodyl, a compound that works by stimulating enteric nerves causing colonic mass movements.
The ad also touts the pills as being like Calomel without the calomel. Glad to hear it: Calomel was Mercuryl chloride, which not only treated constipation, but syphilis as well.
In 1868, Dr. Samuel Carter of Erie, Pa. compounded a formula which he thought was good for sick headache and torpid liver (both "positively cured"), also indigestion, constipation or what-ails-you. Dr. Carter sought his raw materials in nature. One of the main ingredients was podophyllin, the resin of the dried root of the mandrake. (now there is a Halloweenish link!)
I love how the story was so rewritten that nobody really died. Now, there was a happy ending for you!
Thanks for adding the radio. It sure is fun to hear the old theater of the mind again!
DDSPoe, indeed!
Fascinating stuff, Fester.
ReplyDelete"... Mercuryl chloride, which not only treated constipation, but syphilis as well."
So whether you were going or co-... er, nevermind. This is a family joint.
But boy! Carter's Little Liver Pills sound like the Power Colon Cleanse of the '30s and '40s. A medical non-player that people just assumed worked for their bodily good, but probably did little but empty them out (and probably not always in the most pleasant manner).
Fes, your commentary and input are always so cool. See folks, THIS is the kind of guest, the kind of cool discussion we get here at the S&P!
Cool indeed! The ads on those old radio shows are often just as entertaining as the programs themselves.
ReplyDeleteThe old tubes are cool too :D
"So whether you were going or co-... er, nevermind. This is a family joint."
ReplyDeleteYeah, it was the 19th century version of multitasking.
Glad you approved of my comment. After I sent it I began wondering if I was off on some weird tangent again. I do that a lot.
Nah, Fester. You always have a neat perspective on things, and heck, half the posts here are pure wild tangents!
ReplyDeleteAnd Hallowe'en Spirit (good to hear from you!), glad you like the old tubes. I am an old radio enthusiast, not just the broadcasts but the radios themselves. In restoring so many radios, it's always crossed my mind that maybe some of the old shows are still in there somewhere, haunting the old tubes. So I just *had* to make that picture, haha!
I do so love those old radio shows! Something about watching with your imgination :)
ReplyDeleteAnd those tubes are truely stunning. How creative.
As always, thanks for sharing your treasures!
Cheers!