Blog-o-ween 2022: Mummies

Ugh. After the week I've had at work, it's not enough to just curl up on the couch, throw on an episode or two of old time radio, and veg out. No, I need something more. I need to be comforted and soothed.

I NEED MY MUMMY!

Yeah, I know that's bad joke, so sue me.

Today for Blog-o-ween 2022, we're gonna take a look at the impact that Howard Carter's 1922 discovery of the tomb of 18th Dynasty King Tutankhamun had on spooky old time radio. After Carter plundered...er...I mean...after Carter conserved the 5,000 relics in King Tut's burial chamber, public interest in all things Egyptian was sky high. Egyptian motifs could be found everywhere from fashion to architecture. For instance, the famed Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, CA, was originally going to be built following a more Spanish style design. However, once mummy-mania hit, the plans were quickly changed.

It wasn't just the discovery of King Tut's tomb that fired the public's imagination. Following the mysterious death of Carter's patron, George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, the public lapped up any story that dealt with ancient burial grounds and the curses purportedly connected to them.

Hollywood hit the (burial) ground running in 1932 with the Boris Karloff vehicle, The Mummy. This movie spawned many sequels, none of which had the romantic power of the original. Hammer Studios in England, as part of their Universal Monsters remake cycle, which included Frankenstein, Dracula, and the Wolf-Man, made a few Egyptology-centric films in the 1950s and 1960s. The Brendan Fraser Mummy movies from around the turn of the 20th century were probably the last hurrah for the venerable monster. After that...it's pretty much a wrap.

Hey-O!

But we're here to talk old time radio, and there is plenty to talk about. I've picked three stories out of the sands of time that run the gamut from ancient curses to Ace bandages. There is much more out there...you just have to dig for them.

I'm killin' it tonight!

First up is another story from yesterday's subject, The Witch's Tale. In "The Priest of Sekhet," a young British archeologist becomes trapped in an ancient tomb, along with a dead priest from ancient Egypt. After his rescue, the archeologist undergoers a strange change of character. I wonder what that could entail?

Next is an entry from The Hall of Fantasy, a radio series that ran on the Mutual Broadcasting System from August, 1952, until September, 1953. "The Golden Bracelet Of Amun-Iris" is another “curse of the mummy” type of tale. The titular bracelet belongs to a long dead queen who has put a curse on anyone who steals her gee-gaws. Naturally enough, archeologists discover her tomb, take the bracelet, and then...well...you should hear it for yourself.

Last up is an episode of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater, a series that aired on CBS Radio Network affiliates from 1974 to 1982. Hosted by E.G. Marshall, the Mystery Theater was probably radio's last bastion of regularly programmed audio drama. In "The Pharaoh's Curse," a beautiful female singer (played by Kim Hunter) joins an expedition to the forbidden tomb of an ancient Egyptian princess...and that's in spite of (natch!) the curse placed on the tomb against intruders and the strange string of 'accidents' that have befallen previous explorers. Ahh-Ooooo!...scary!