Old tube invasion.

Greetings, S&P-brains!

I hope you're all comfy and ready for a fun summer!

Here at the S&P we're gearing up for a few eventful months of hot, humid days and nights in the October Country, but it's worth it -- for all my aching and yearning for Fall, there is much to be said for Summer.

As I mentioned in my last update, I knew I'd heard some humming and crackling coming from the ol' Hallowe'enith radio console over in the corner, and sure enough, there are a few new old recordings to enjoy... shall we say, ghosts of radio days long gone...?

First, this spooky old radio console must have a direct link in the ether to important dates and historic events -- an appropriately historic broadcast from some 67 years ago this very day.

I am sure I needn't educate anyone over the age of 12 about the significance of June 6, 1944.

 Wanna be really impressed? Click and enlarge -- and start counting ships, trucks, tanks...

From an NBC broadcast early that morning, Robert St. John informs us of the momentous Invasion of Normandy by Allied forces... and then President Franklin D. Roosevelt leads the nation in a prayer heard on every station, on every radio, shortly after the invasion had been reported.

We will never forget the bravery, sacrifice and terrifying glory of that day. Thank you to all who took part -- the 7,000 planes and 12,000 seagoing vessels bringing nearly 160,000 troops to Normandy. The world forever thanks you.

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Still we are a Hallowe'en pub after all, and for some crazy reason the Hallowe'enith radio selected another kind of invasion program to fill our ears, minds, hearts and darkened souls.

Oh, not the old radio invasion program you're thinking it is. That would have been too easy for the ol' console, I think.

No, this is a rather surprisingly disturbing little tale about a very unique kind of Summer invasion, penned by Ray Bradbury in the late '40s and adapted to radio for the wildly popular Escape series in 1953. Hosted by the famous voice of William Conrad, Zero Hour chronicles a healthy, happy middle American town full of Summertime children gathering materials for a very odd new game they call 'invasion', and how one mother begins to think it a little too odd, especially when she hears it's happening on other streets... in other towns...

It's a decidedly different sort of invasion tale I believe you will all thoroughly enjoy, even as the final seconds linger in your mind for a good long while.

So... from D-Day to Zero Hour.

Sounds pretty violent and bleak.

One most certainly was. The other certainly makes you think.

And that can't be a bad thing.

Enjoy!

D-DAY-SP!