The past few entries of Blog-o-ween 2022 have focused on more recent old time radio thrills. Today, let's jump into the wayback machine and travel to a time when commercial radio was young. In 1931, WOR and the Mutual Radio Network in New York City began to broadcast a radio program that would become one of the most influential pop culture artifacts of the 20th century. You may never have heard the raspy cackle of Old Nancy, the Witch of Salem, or the gutteral yowls of her cat, Satan, but their impact is felt even today in comic books and television. Come...sit by the fire...and listen to...The Witch's Tale.
The Witch's Tale was created, written, and directed by Alonzo Deen Cole. Cole, like any good innovator, had to convince his bosses at WOR to allow him to try his hand at a supernatural drama show. Management was unsure if a spook show was the right thing to compete with other stations' musical programming at the same time slot. The Witch's Tale, of course, became a huge hit, especially with the kids in New York City, who loved imitating the bon mots of the show's host, Old Nancy.
Old Nancy (and her pussycat, Satan -- played by Cole himself, some say!) was one of the first "Horror Hosts" in popular cutlture. The horror host acted as an MC for the evening's entertainment, guiding the listener through the more grueling aspects of the grand guignol with a well-placed zinger and pun. Other radio shows followed suit, and the idea made the jump to television in the 1950s when the Shock! films package was made available in syndication. Soon, every TV station had its own Old Nancy -- Vampira, Zacherley, Svengoolie, Chilly Billy, and Ghoulardi, to name but a few.
Even the comic books got in on the act. Bill Gaines's seminal horror line for EC Comics -- Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror, and The Haunt of Fear -- brought the horror host to the full-color page. More comic book horror hosts followed: Uncle Creepy, Cousin Eerie, and Squire Shade. Even today, actor David Dastmalchian uses a television horror host as the central character of his wonderful series Count Crowley: Reluctant Midnight Monster Hunter.
Old Nancy was originally played by stage actress Adelaide Fitz-Allen. When she died in 1935 at the age of 80, it left the show in the lurch.
No...not that Lurch...
Assistence came in the most unlikeliest of forms. One night, after a late night broadcast, 13-year-old radio actor Miriam Wolfe began doing her Old Nancy imitation for kicks right on the spot. Alonzo Deen Cole heard her and was so enchanted and horrified by her vocal abilities that he hired her to fill role!
Sadly, Cole, like so many others on the cutting edge of culture, did not see the value of his own work. He held on to the original acetate discs that all the shows were recorded on. (It was common at the time for smaller networks to do this so that the same programs could be syndicated across the country and the world.) He also was one of the first (if not the first) radio writer to copyright his stories, and he kept bound copies of 332 of his scripts. However, by 1961, Cole didn't think anyone actually cared about the show anymore, so he destroyed all of his recordings before moving across the country. Less than 10% of the recordings of The Witch's Tale survive.
So, let's stop and visit Old Nancy and Satan for a while. Maybe Satan will jump up in your lap and let you pet him while Old Nancy spins a tale of Aztecs and ouija boards, of reincarnation and possession..."The Knife of Sacrifice!"
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