Radio Action Theater, based in New York City and produced by Alabama writer and director Robert Clem, was broadcast on public radio in the U.S. and abroad from 1993 to 1998. The episodes feature performances by Eli Wallach, Ossie Davis, Betty Buckley, Stacy Keach, Jeffery Wright, David Strathairn, Hope Davis, John Glover, Lois Smith, Campbell Scott, Will Patton and Michael O'Keefe, and are based on Southern literature and Southern and U.S. history, with adapted stories by William Faulkner, Charles Chesnutt and William Gilmore Simms; and history plays based on the Hamilton-Burr duel, Woodrow Wilson's curious rise to power and the deadly expedition of Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto through what is now the American South. Each episode was directed by Robert Clem with original music composed and performed by Donald Stark.
The complete title of this wildly comic story based on Tall Tales from the Hunters' Camp by South Carolina humorist William Gilmore Simms is "Bald Head Bill Bauldy and How He Went Through the Flurriday Campaign." At the nightly "Lying Camp' in a remote corner of the Smoky Mountains, camp cook and bottle washer Bill Bauldy is persuaded to retell his well-known account of how he was inveigled into the U.S. Army when they were chasing the Florida Seminoles. &n...
15 Mar 2020
THE UNTOUCHABLE DR. WILSON -- Part 1
A tale of the Progressive era, this two-part drama tells the story of how Woodrow Wilson becomes New Jersey's governor in 1910, embraces a progressive agenda and is soon on his way to the U.S. presidency. In Part One of the drama, George B.M. Harvey, editor of Harper 's Weekly and a conservative Democrat with strong ties to Wall Street, sees in Wilson a man who can offset the burgeoning reform movement. Harvey convinces New Jersey Democratic party boss Jim Smith to back Wil...
14 Mar 2020
THE UNTOUCHABLE DR. WILSON -- Part 2
In the aftermath of Wilson's victory in his campaign to become New Jersey's governor in 1910, Boss Jim Smith comes to collect his reward -- Wilson's support for Smith to fill a vacant seat in the U.S. Senate. But Democratic voters have decided in a non-binding primary that one James L. Martine is their choice for the Senate. Wilson's refusal to back Smith after Smith had backed him ignites a struggle for power between New Jersey Democratic party bosses and the party's insurgent ...
13 Mar 2020
DAVE'S NECKLISS -- Ossie Davis in a story by Charles Chesnutt
Charles Chesnutt was a pioneering African-American author who wrote a number of novels about middle class and professional blacks but found that white readers wanted only to hear about black characters from the lower strata, who spoke in dialects reminiscent of slavery. White author Joel Chandler Harris had created in Uncle Remus a kindly black man who looked back fondly on his slavery days. In The Conjure Woman, his best known work, Chesnutt created the character of Uncle Julius,...
12 Mar 2020
HONOR -- Based on a story by William Faulkner
Broadcast worldwide as part of a radio series celebrating William Faulkner's 100th birthday, the short story "Honor" from 1930 shows Faulkner in his Hollywood mode. He worked as a screenwriter on several films directed by Howard Hawks, including To Have and Have Not, and many of his novels were adapted as films including Douglas Sirk's Tarnished Angels (1957) based on Faulkner's 1935 novel Pylon and starring Rock Hudson and Dorothy Malone. In the story "Honor" a former World War I...
11 Mar 2020
SPOTTED HORSES -- Based on a story by William Faulkner
Part of a drama series hosted by Stacy Keach, based on short stories by William Faulkner. Spotted Horses, one of his greatest stories, introduces the Snopes clan, a humorless, devious bunch who descend on Yoknapatawpha County like locusts, in this case to sell a herd of worthless wild horses to the local residents. Recorded in New York City, with: John Glover as Buck HippsBetty Buckley as Mrs. ArmistidLois Smith as Mrs. LittlejohnWill Patton as the NarratorBill Raymond, Lann...
10 Mar 2020
MOUNTAIN VICTORY -- Based on a story by William Faulkner
Part of a dramatic series based on short stories by William Faulkner. Mountain Victory, a dark tale written in 1932 at Faulkner's peak, tells of a Confederate officer and his former slave traveling home to Mississippi after the war's end who find their way blocked by embittered Unionists in the mountains of Tennessee. With: David Strathairn as Maj. WeddellJeffery Wright as JubalWilliam Fichtner as VatchJeff DeMunn as the FatherWelker White as LiddySloane Shelton as the MotherSup...
9 Mar 2020
CHILD OF THE SUN The Expedition of Hernando de Soto
Hernando de Soto had helped conquer the Incas of Peru and in 1539 was sent by the Spanish crown to subjugate the native tribes of what is now the American Southeast, where he would look for treasures like those found in Central and South America. Eli Wallach is host and a cast of Hispanic and Native American actors play the roles of the Spaniards and the Cherokees, Choctaws and other American tribes who at first welcomed de Soto, then resisted fiercely. With an original mus...
8 Mar 2020
CHILD OF THE SUN -- Episode 2
After landing in Tampa Bay in 1539, Hernando de Soto finds that the natives have gone into hiding in the swamps. He burns their villages, then moves inland and northward, seeking gold. The Spaniards with some difficulty find their way through the swamps but are soon desperately short of food. Having reports of gold in a province called Cale, the Spaniards find the villages of the province abandoned and the reports of gold false. To avoid a breakdown in morale De Soto orders ...
7 Mar 2020
CHILD OF THE SUN -- Episode 3
Some of De Soto's lieutenants urge that a colony be established in the fertile country of Cofitachequi, near the Atlantic Ocean. But finding no gold in Cofitachequi only copper, mica and pearls, De Soto ignores the advice of his lieutenants and orders an immediate departure. When the princess of Cofitachequi refuses to give them bearers, complaining of pillaging and rape by De Soto's soldiers, the princess is taken hostage by Don Hernando. Her escape a few days later leaves the e...
6 Mar 2020
CHILD OF THE SUN -- Episode 4
De Soto meets the Indian chief Tascaluza and after entertaining the chief for dinner, holds him hostage. Tascaluza agrees to provide the Spaniards with supplies, bearers and women in the town of Mabila, some leagues away. Hidden in Mabila are five thousand warriors, ready to attack. Soto barely escapes from the town and a giant battle ensues. A mutiny arises among the men but De Soto, obsessed by his search for gold, heads the expedition away from the relief ships which are waitin...
2 Mar 2020
CHILD OF THE SUN -- Episode 5
After crossing a vast river in the land of the Mississippians, De Soto wearies of his search for gold and asks the Indians to point the way to the sea. When De Soto dies of a fever, the ragged survivors with some dissension decide to continue the fruitless search for gold. After another year under harsh conditions, they agree to seek an outlet to the sea. They embark on the Great River in makeshift brigantines but are soon entrapped by the Arkansas natives led by their chief Quigu...
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