Re-Imagined Radio

Columbia Workshop

Background
Re-Imagined Radio presents MORE information about Columbia Workshop, a commitment by the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) to discover new forms of radio drama. From 1936-1945, and then again 1946-1947, each of the 379 episodes freely experimented with using the radio medium and sound for telling stories, many of which are considered the finest examples of radio drama ever produced.

Plots and cast varied with episodes and frequently included well known authors and actors. With each episode, production, not story, was primary and provided interesting experiments with sound effects and voices. The years 1938-1939 were particularly productive under the direction of Irving Reis.

Episodes
Total Episodes: 379
Surviving Episodes: 347
Episodes available at the Internet Archive website

Significance
Columbia Workshop is significant because of its freedom to experiment with the radio medium, its focus on sound effects and voices, and its mission to evolve new forms of radio drama.

Timeline
18 July 1936-26 April 1947
Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), 379 episodes
27 January 1956-22 September 1957
CBS, as CBS Radio Workshop, 86 episodes

Columbia Workshop aired on the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) from 18 July 1936-25 January 1947 (324 episodes). Each episode experimented with the radio medium and sound, seeking to discover new forms of radio drama. Cancelled during World War II, the show was resurrected 2 February 1946, and cancelled again, in 1947.

The idea of an experimental radio drama series was revived again on 27 January 1956, as CBS Radio Workshop with more flair and imagination. The series (85 episodes, 27 January 1956-22 September 1957), "dedicated to man's imagination—the theatre of the mind," began with a two-part adaptation of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Huxley himself narrated both episodes.

The popularity of television, however, drained radio listeners, and CBS Radio Workshop ended 22 September 1957, after only twenty-two months and eighty six episodes. It has since been called the greatest show on radio.

Experiments with sound and radio narratives

Columbia Workshop was a commitment by the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) to discover new forms of radio drama. From 1936-1945, and then again 1946-1947, each of the nearly 400 episodes of Columbia Workshop experimented with using the radio medium and sound for telling stories, many of which are considered the finest examples of radio drama ever produced.

Today we understand radio drama to include plays written for the radio medium, as well as docudramas, dramatizations of literary works, plays written orginially for the theatre, musical theatre, and opera, all adapted for radio. In the 1930s, however, the idea and form of radio drama was just beginning to evolve. Stage plays with actors moving about, interacting with each other and various props, were models. Adapting stage plays to radio, a medium based entirely on sound, meant that radio dramas had to rely on voices, sound effects, and music to help listeners imagine their characters and stories.

What was possible with the new radio medium? How might its features and affordances be best used to transfer stage plays to radio's sound stage? What new forms of radio presentations, especially radio dramas might be developed? The Columbia Experimental Dramatic Laboratory was established to answer these questions.

The Columbia Experimental Dramatic Laboratory

In 1930, CBS appointed Georgia Backus, American actress, writer, producer, and director of radio dramas, to lead the network's Dramatic Programming Division where she was to develop the new art of radio drama. Backus gathered a team of engineers, directors, writers, and producers under the title The Columbia Experimental Laboratory (noted in the press as "Columbia Experimental Laboratory" in 1931 and "Dramatic Laboratory" in 1932).

Two series of experimental radio drama
Two series of experimental radio dramas were planned by Backus and her team. The first series of eleven experiments was broadcast Wednesday evenings, 10:00 PM CST, over the CBS network. The second series premiered on Sunday, 5 June 1932 and offered eighteeen episodes until 9 October 1932.

Two series of experimental radio dramas were planned by Georgia Backus and her team. The first series of eleven experiments was broadcast Wednesday evenings, 10:00 PM CST, over the CBS network. The second series premiered on Sunday, 5 June 1932 and offered eighteeen episodes until 9 October 1932. By the end of these two series CBS had introduced many of radio's earliest writers, producers, directors, and engineers to listeners and set standards for new radio programs that appeared throughout the 1930s.

First Series
The first series included eleven experiments, broadcast Wednesday evenings, 10:00 PM CT, over the CBS network. The first series premiered 26 December 1930 and concluded 11 March 1931. According to radio historian Elizabeth McLeod, the first three experiments of the first series were to be broadcast by CBS beginning in late December (McLeod, Elizabeth. Radio's Experimental Laboratory. Return With Us Now . . ., vol. 29, no. 12, Dec., 2004).

Radio critic John Skinner said of these first three experiments, "Miss Backus is a young woman full of vitality, which she insists on expending in a relentless search for new radio ideas. Most unashamedly does she admit that she has created nothing new, not that she is necessarily on the right path. More specifically does she feel that she may be one of those who are stirring an interest in the potential art. . . . The energy which those in Columbia are displaying toward the production of the unique in radio drama is most commendable. This 'Behind the Words,' you see, is but the first of a series of ethereal experiments with an aim to improve radio dramas. Don Clark, who heads the continuity department of C.B.S. and who has worked with Miss Backus on countless presentations, presents a mystery drama of 'psychological revelations' as the second of the series. The third experiment flows from the pen of one not so experienced in microphone presentations. In fact, this 'Threshold,' written by Edwin H. Morse, represents that writer's first step into studio presentations. Hence, Miss Backus again lends a hand. She does the adaptation, while Mr. Moore acts as guest director. They may or may not be on the right track, but at least they're on the track of desire to lead them to the right one" (Skinner, John. "Seeing What You Hear. The Studio Stage. First of Experimental Series of Radio Dramas Over Columbia Goes On Tonight with Presentation of 'Behind the Words'." The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 26 Dec. 1930, p. 11).

Details for these first three experiments include . . .
"Behind the Words: A Drama of Thoughts," 26 December 1930, ("Today's Radio Programs." The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 26 Dec. 1930, p. 11).

"Evidences," 29 December 1930
Described as "A Psychological Play written and directed by Georgia Backus." ("Today's Radio Programs." The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 29 Dec. 1930, p. 21).

"Threshold," 7 January 1931
"A one-act experimental play with Georgia Bacchus [sic], Frank Headick(?) and Larry Orattan." ("Today's Radio Programs." The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 7 Jan. 1931, p. 14).

Backus's approach to these first three experiments was received favorably. "I care very much for this new series of experiments which Georgia Backus is working on up at Columbia" (Skinner, John. "Seeing What You Hear. The Studio Stage." The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 2 Jan. 1931, p. 14).

The remaining eight experimental dramas of different genres in this first series were broadcast between 14 January and 11 March 1931. Details include . . .
"Doctor by Compulsion," 14 January 1931
"A play with Wright Kramer, Natalie Towers, Beverly Seagraves, Ned Wever, Teddy Bereman, Charles Pitt, directed by Georgia Backus." ("Today's Radio Programs." The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 14 Jan. 1931, p. 13).

"Crescendo", 21 January 1931, uncertain connection to Columbia Experimental Laboratory. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 21 Jan. 1931, p. 14).

"Murder In the Studio," 28 January 1931
"One of a series of experimental plays by Charles Tazewell." Cast and roles were noted as Ned Weaver as Jack Leader, Gale Reed as Margaret Cook, Ted Bergman as Harold Carter, Ray Burkley as William Colman, Ted Hecht as Wilbur Jewett, Frank Readick as Prosecuting Attorney, and Ada Sherman and William Green as Mr. and Mrs. Wilson ("Today's Radio Programs." The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 28 Jan. 1931, p. 10). John Skinner, referring earlier to an advance copy of the script, reported the program was to begin with the announcer saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, we present another play in the series which comprises Columbia's Dramatic Laboratory. These radio dramas are designed to stimulate an interest in experiments made in the art and tonight we are presenting a murder mystery that is baffling the minds of the greatest detectives in the country. We are doing this in hope that some of you who are listening in may be able to give the authorities some solution. On the night of Dec. 3 Dave Cross, announcer at station WTAZ, of Newton, Ill., was alone in the studio. A few minutes before midnight someone entered the announcer's booth and killed him. Although there were no sight witnesses, many people were listening to WTAZ on their radio sets that night, heard the events that led up to the tragedy" (Skinner, John. "Seeing What You Hear. The Studio Stage. Man with the Big Ear Gives Some Advance Information on the Next of Columbia's Experimental Plays—It's Murder in the Studio." 23 Jan. 1931, p. 24).

"An Untold Tale, with Apologies to Dickens," 4 February 1931, ("Today's Radio Programs." The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 4 Feb. 1931, p. 27).
"Here's a bit on two more of those experimental plays with which Columbia is seeking the road to a new art. The first, to go on this week, does not strike me as particularly novel. It is merely an adaptation of an old wagon show called 'Medicine Show'. It could be entertaining but not startling in innovation. The other catches my fancy as something rather clever. 'Split Seconds,' which is to be broadcast a week from Wednesday, is a psychological exposition of the reactions of the mind of a drowning person" (Skinner, John. "Seeing What You Hear. In Anticipation." Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 9 Feb. 1931, p. 10).

"Medicine Show." 11 February 1931, ("Today's Radio Programs." Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 11 Feb. 1931, p. 16).

"Split Seconds," 18 February 1931, ("Today's Radio Programs." Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 18 Feb. 1931, p. 23).
Written and directed by Irving Reis. Reprised as the 14 March 1937 episode of Columbia Workshop.

"Columbia Experimental Laboratory," ("Today's Radio Programs." Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 25 Feb. 1931, p. 10).
No title or information provided.

No episode this week, 4 March 1931

"Columbia Experimental Laboratory," 11 March 1931, ("Today's Radio Programs." Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 11 Mar. 1931, p. 26).
No title or information provided.

Second Series
The eighteen experiments in the second series were broadcast Sunday evenings over the CBS network, 12 June 1932 to 16 October 1932. Details include . . .

"Experimental Dramatic Laboratory; adaptation of 'The Lady or the Tiger,'" 12 June 1932, 8:00 PM CT, ("Today's Radio Programs." Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 12 June 1932, p. E5).
"WABC begins a series of experimental half hour dramas tomorrow at 8 o'clock with a tricky adaptation of Frank R. Stockton's famous short story, 'The Lady or the Tiger.' The original story, which left the reader guessing whether the hero was devoured by a tiger or wed to a beautiful lady, has been dramatized with two 'surprise' endings by Don Clark, Columbia continuity chief. The playlet is the first of a series to be produced each Sunday in a search for a widened scope, increased realism and new types in radio dramatics. The playlets, each distinct to themselves, will be written by Clark and his associates in an attempt to prove that swift, complete plots can be bundeled into a half hour and remain intriguing to the radio audience" ("'Lady or the Tiger Dramatized Tonight." Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 12 June 1932, p. E5).

"Dramatic Laboratory," 19 June 1932, 8:00 PM CT, ("Today's Radio Programs" Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 19 June 1932, p. E5).
No title or information provided.

"Ups and downs of eight apartment neighbors stranded all night in an elevator will be revealed in an experimental farce over WABC tonight at 8 o'clock. What happens when the automatic lift locks up the fifth floor vamp, her poodle, the sixth floor's bearded grouch, two adolescent brats and other apartment house enigmas will be dramatized by Walton Butterfield and produced by Don Clark. Butterfield has given no title to the terrifying situation, budt defines it as an attempt to suggest through commedy the psychological changes in the relationship of people pent up for 12 hours. All their antipathies except the back fence cats, will be compressed into six square feet with standing room only. Unlike the usual 30-minute radio play, the sketch will not rely upon musical interpolations to denote time lapses. It is the second of a Summer series of experimental drama presented by Columbia in a search for increased realism, new types and widened scope. The cast will include Amy Ricard, Dorothy Harrington, Nila Mack, Julian Noa and Buford Armitage" ("Over WABC Tonight." Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 19 June 1932, p. E4).

"Dramatic Laboratory," 26 June 1932, 8:00 PM CT, no title provided. ("Today's Radio Programs" Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 26 June 1932, p. E5).
No title or information provided.

"Dramatic Laboratory," 3 July 1932, 10:30 PM CT, no title provided. ("Today's Radio Programs" Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 3 July 1932, p. B9).
No title or information provided.

"Dramatic Laboratory: 1986(?) A.D.," 10 July 1932, 10:30 PM CT. ("Today's Radio Programs" Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 10 July 1932, p. E5).
"Futuristic drama"

"Dramatic Laboratory: Transient," 17 July 1932, 10:30 PM CT. "From lobby of hotel with aid of 'lapel' microphones." ("Today's Radio Programs" Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 17 July 1932, p. E5).
"Revolutionary technique in radio drama will be offered by the Columbia Broadcasting System tonight when it broadcasts a play actually originating in the lobby and grill room of a Broadway hotel and in the street outside. This departure is made possible by the lapel microphone introduced by the network at the national political conventions. Radio's first 'on location' drama is an original sketch by Don Clark, entitled 'Transient,' to be enacted while Broadway crowds, lobby loiterers and cabaret-goers look on at the Hotel Taft. The half hour of drama with all its natural movement and colorful background will be broadcast at 10:30 p.m. over WABC. A cast of veteran stage actors, with microphones on their lapels, will play the roles staged and directed in three scenes by Clark, Columbia continuity chief. The actors—possibly unnoticed by the old woman from Dubuque—will move freely from the curb under the entrance marquee, past the potted ferns and pillars of the lobby to the the room clerk's desk, and thence downstairs to the grill room, where George Hall's Orchestra and dinner dancers will lend real atmosphere to the imaginary action. From a central control station set in the mezzanine overlooking the lobby, Edwin K. Cohan, Columbia's technical director, will supervise the engineering problems of the experiment. Unobtrusive microphone lines, extended or contracted as desired by the moving cast, will lead from the mezzanine control to the main floor and the grill room level. Other lines will link Cohan's outpost with Columbia's master control room at 485 Madison Ave. for distribution to the coast-to-coast network. This set-up brings several innovations. It raises the possibility of outdodor melodrama familiar to the movies. It gives radio actors freedom of movement for the first time by removing the fixed microphone and its ever present 'mike-contactousness.' It tests the desirability of natural sounds for dramatic background. 'We will use no artificial effects,' Clark revealed. 'This is a vital in radio dramatics. We wish to determine whether or not actual sounds are more effective than their studio substitutes. We have selected stage actors for this particular experiment because they are accustomed to visible audiences. I do not expect much interference by on-lookers,' Clark added. 'The old stand-microphone has been supplanted by the "button" type and will attract less attention from the crowd. The new "mike" is not easily discerned.' Clark has written a script especially adapted to the new technique. He has woven the action so that principals in the street scene may move with ease to the grill while the action shifts to others in the lobby, or vice versa. This prevents delay in production. Nevertheless, the director expects to have a busy time of it. He lacks the usual control room in full view of the entire setting and must move a jump ahead of some shifts—including a dash down two flights of stairs. The dramatic experiment is one of a series of unusual playlets offered by Columbia in its search for new types and increased realism in the new medium" ("Drama Moves from Studio To Street with Lapel 'Mike'." Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 17 July 1932, p. E4).

"Dramatic Laboratory," 24 July 1932, 10:30 PM CT. ("Today's Radio Programs" Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 24 July 1932, p. E5).
"Death Says It Isn't So," Heywood Broun's magnificent fantasy produced by the Columbia Dramatic Laboratory at 10:30 p.m. over WABC" (Ranson, Jo. "Out of a Blue Sky. On WABC Today." Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 24 July 1932, p. E4).

"Dramatic Laboratory," 31 July 1932, 11:00 PM CT. ("Today's Radio Programs" Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 31 July 1932, p. E5).
No title or information provided.

"Dramatic Laboratory," 7 August 1932, 10:30 PM CT. ("Today's Radio Programs" Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 7 Aug. 1932, p. E5).
No title or information provided.

"Dramatic Laboratory," 14 August 1932, 10:30 PM CT. ("Today's Radio Programs" Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 7 Aug. 1932, p. E5).
No title or information provided.

18 August 1932
NO program

"Dramatic Laboratory," 21 August 1932, 10:30 PM CT. ("Today's Radio Programs" Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 21 Aug. 1932, p. E5).
No title or information provided.

"Dramatic Laboratory Gives 'News' A Tryout," 28 August 1932, 8:00 PM CT. ("Today's Radio Programs" Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 28 Aug. 1932, p. E5).
"The vital part newspapers play in the every-day life of readers will be dramatized in a half-hour playlet entitled 'News,' written and directed by Don Clark for presentation by the Columbia Dramatic Laboratory over WABC tonight at 8:00 p.m. Clark's sketch will reveal how one newspaper item, read by six widely separated individuals, brings their devious paths together in a dramatic incident. A series of individual flashes of life, as each principal glimpses the item, and the cumulative result will constitute the sketch" ("'News,' Dramatic Playlet By Don Clark, Tonight." Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 28 August 1932, p. E4).

"Dramatic Laboratory," 4 September 1932, 8:00 PM CT. ("Today's Radio Programs" Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 4 Sep. 1932, p. E5).
No title or information provided.

"Dramatic Laboratory, 'Class of 1912'," 11 September 1932, 9:00 PM CT. ("Today's Radio Programs" Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 11 Sep. 1932, p. E5).
No title or information provided.

"Dramatic Laboratory, 'The Inaminate Percy and Susie'," 18 September 1932, 9:00 PM CT. ("Today's Radio Programs" Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 18 Sep. 1932, p. E7).
"A young playwright who believes that inanimate objects play important roles in human lives—such as the carpet one stumbles over and the brick that falls on heads—will introduce a new idea in radio drama when his sketch concerning 'The Inanimate Percy and Susie' is presented by the Columbia Dramatic Laboratory over WABC tonight at 9:00 p.m. The inanimate Percy and Susie are really an aristocratic sugar bowl who raises quite a lump in your throat, and a cream pitcher, who finally spills the milk in an intriguing drama about the theft of an heirloom. The author who conceives these things is John Bothwell, a graduate of Carnegie Tech, New York playwright and player, who promises to produce another on 'Two Coat Hangers in a Night Club.' Bothwell wrote the sketch particularly for the Columbia series. Don Clark, Columbia continuity chief, will direct the production" ("What Sugar Bowl Said To the Cream Pitcher." Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 18 Sep. 1932, p. E6).

"Dramatic Laboratory, Sound Proof," 25 September 1932, 9:00 PM CT. ("Today's Radio Programs" Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 25 Sep. 1932, p. E7).
Farce with Teddy Bergman and Jaria Stuart,

2 October 1932
NO program

"Squirrel['s] Cage," 9 October 1932, ("Dramatic Laboratory Squirrel['s] Cage." Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 9 Oct. 1932, p. 69).
"An unusual bit of English concerning a man who abides by all the don'ts of life . . . The playlet is an impressionistic sketch written especially for the microphone by Tyronne Guthrie, one of the most successful radio playwrights of Great Britain. It originally was produced by the British Broadcasting Company [3 June 1929] and is being introduced in the C.B.S. experimental series by Don Clark, director, because of its novel form. The scene shifts with interludes of speaking choruses, giving voice to the progressive 'don'ts.' They begin with those of the nursery, such as 'Don't taste that; don't touch that; don't do that.' In the end the man turns out to be a most conventional being" ("Dramatic Laboratory To Give English Play." Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 9 Oct. 1932, p. 68).

Of his "microphone play" Guthrie says, "It has possibilities . . . Since the audience is dependent on one sense only, it follows that the impression they receive, though limited, is highly concentrated in quality . . . the mind of the listener is the more free to create its own illusion. Playwright, producer and actors combine to throw out a sequence of hints, of tiny clues, suggestions; and the mind of the listener collects, shapes and expands these into pictures. [This] demands a great deal of creative energy and technical ingenuity of the artists, a great deal of imaginative concentration of the listener. . . . Because [microphone play] pictures are solely of the mind, they are less substantial but more real than . . . the . . . grandeur of the stage; less substantial and vivid, because not apprehended visually, more real because the impression is partially created by the listener himself. . . . [The listener collects clues from the author] and embodies them in a picture of his own creation. It is therefore an expression of his own experience—whether physical or psychological%#8212;and therefore more real to him than the ready-made picture of the stage designer. . . . [T]he impressions of the microphone play are more intimate than those of the stage, because neither the writing nor the playing needs to be pitched high enough to carry to the back of the pit and gallery. Finally, [microphone plays] are more subtle because received by each listener privately at home, not coarsened by being flung into an auditorium, where individuals are fused together into one mass, which becomes a crowd personality, easily swayed to laughter or tears, but incapable of the minute pulsations of feeling, the delicate gradations of thought, which each member of the crowd experience experiences when alone" (Guthrie, Tyronne. Squirrel's Cage and Two Other Two Other Microphone Plays. London: Cobden and Sanderson, 1931, pp. 8-10). See also Beyond Naturalism: Tyrone Guthrie's Radio Theatre and the Stage Production of Shakespeare by Howard Fink.

"Dramatic Laboratory," 16 October 1932, 8:30 PM CT. ("Today's Radio Programs" Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 16 Oct. 1932, p. E9).
No title or information provided

Columbia Workshop, Irving Reis, Director, 1936-1938

In 1936, CBS formalized its experiments with radio drama by establishing Columbia Workshop and appointed a new director, Irving Reis (1906-1953), a young playwright involved with The Columbia Experimental Laboratory who saw in the radio medium opportunities for new forms of storytelling. Beginning with the first episode, Reis experimented with new and different ways of radio storytelling. His efforts included developing echo chambers, sound effects (including those produced by voice), as well as microphone placements, types, and filters which are still in use today. He cast production techniques and music as characters, or in place of them. Narrative experimentation included encouraging young, unknown writers to submit their own writing, or adaptations.

Reis sets course for experimental radio drama
The first episode of Columbia Workshop is indicative of the course Reis set for experimental radio drama. Broadcast July 18, 1936, this episode includes two half-hour dramas, "A Comedy of Danger" by Richard Hughes and "The Finger of God" by Percival Wilde.

Listen to the first episode of Columbia Workshop, "A Comedy of Danger" and "The Finger of God."

READ script here.

Reis, as the announcer, spoke directly to the listening audience at the episode's beginning. "Ladies and gentlemen, Columbia takes pride in inaugurating tonight a new series of programs dedicated to you and to the magic of radio. Columbia Workshop! . . . Columbia Workshop believes in radio. . . . [and] dedicates itself to the purposes of familiarizing you with the story behind radio . . . and to experiment in new techniques with a hope of discovering or evolving new and better forms of radio presentation, with especial emphasis on radio drama; to encourage and present the work of new writers and artists who may have fresh and vital ideas to contribute."

An article in the Oakland Tribune that same day provided additional information. "Broadening its experiments in the field of radio drama, the Columbia Broadcasting System announces a new series entitled 'Columbia Workshop,' in which Irving Reis, young CBS playwright and director, will be given an opportunity to attempt anything new and unusual in voice and sound effect which might help to further radio technique. Reis is a young engineer who deserted the control room to use his technical knowledge in original productions which won wide acclaim for their new patterns and treatment.

"The 'Workshop' series will consist of half-hour presentations to be heard each week beginning today from 4:30-5:00 p. m. Reis, as producer, will be given a free hand. New writers will create some of the plays; in others, new actors and actresses will be given an opportunity to try out anything unique in microphone manner which they may have conceived.

"During some of the broadcasts, the listening audience will be asked to participate in offering constructive criticism of new production methods. It might be a series of five sounds, with the audience being requested to determine which is the most pleasant to the ear. Then again, they will be asked comparative opinions on five-minute one-act plays, presented first by a carefully rehearsed group of actors, then by a second group which has simply read over the lines individually.

"Reis has been responsible for the writing and production of several trail-blazing experimental productions heard over the Columbia network. Outstanding among them were three which evoked wide comment—'St. Louis Blues,' 'Half Pint Flask' and 'Meridian 7-1212.'

"'We do not plan to abide by any preordained concept of radio drama,'" Reis says. 'We plan to do almost anything that lends itself to unique treatment and interesting experiments with sound effects and voices'" ("Who's Who and What's What." Oakland Tribune, 18 July 1936, p. 12, and Brown, Ross, Sound Effect: The Theatre We Hear, London, Bloomsbury, 2020, pp. 170-172).

"A Comedy of Danger," Reis said, was written by Richard Hughes and was "first produced by the British Broadcasting Company." In fact, BBC commissioned Hughes to write "A Comedy of Danger" and first broadcast his radio play on 15 January 1924. Based on this date of its premier broadcast, "A Comedy of Danger" is certainly one of the earliest dramas written for radio. "The author [Hughes] created his setting for radio's dimensions alone," the announcer explained. "It would be almost impossible to present this play properly on a stage or on a screen. We shall attempt to produce the play, giving it every advantage of radio technique."

"The Finger of God" was written originally as a stage play by Percival Wilde, but, said Reis, would be "presented with a technique never attempted in radio before. . . . The performers will pay no attention to the microphones. They'll move around as the stage business demands on a special set which we have erected in the studio. Through the cooperation of the Columbia engineering department, a parabolic microphone, which can be focused like a spotlight, will be trained on the actors from a distance of twenty feet and will follow their movements as they go through the business the play calls for."

Subsequent episodes of Columbia Workshop followed this focus on experimentation and production creativity.

Columbia Workshop progressed in series of episodes, as had the earlier Columbia Experimental Dramatic Laboratory,
Columbia Workshop, Series 1 offered 149 episodes, from 18 July 1936 to 17 August 1939.
Columbia Workshop, Series 2 offered 76 episodes, from 24 August 1939 to 27 April 1941.
26 by Corwin, special series offered 26 episodes from 4 May 1941 to 9 November 1941.
Columbia Workshop, Series 4, offered 48 episodes from 16 November 1941 to 8 November 1942.
Off Air, November 1942-March 1944
Columbia Presents Corwin, special series offered 22 episodes 7 March 1944 to 15 August 1944
Off Air until July 1945
Columbia Presents Corwin, special series offered 8 episodes 3 July 1945-21 August 1945
Off Air until February 1946
Columbia Workshop, Series 5, offered 49 episodes 2 February 1946 to 25 January 1947
Columbia Workshop, special broadcast, "We Gather Together," 21 November 1951
SEE Columbia Workshop radio logs at Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs website.

Exemplary episodes under Reis's leadership included . . .
"The Fall of the City"
Episode 35, 11 April 1937
Written by Archibald MacLeish, about the collapse of a city under an unnamed dictator, this episode provides a commentary on the growing fascism in Germany and Italy just before the start of World War II. Featuring Orson Welles, this episosde is often cited as the best example of the artistic potential of radio broadcasting in terms of both stylistic innovation and social power. LEARN more.

"R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)"
Episode 36, 18 April 1937
A classic, if little known, OTR drama. Adapted from the original play by Karel Capek "R.U.R." asks the haunting question: "How does artificial life affect the fate of humankind?".

Columbia Workshop, William N. Robson, Director, 1938-1939

Reis left the Columbia Workshop in January 1938 to become a script writer for Paramount Pictures in Hollywood. In February 1940, Reis began directing films for RKO Pictures. William N. Robson (1906-1995), Reis's protege, succeeded him as director of Columbia Workshop and continued technical and narrative experiments. Robson worked with Bernard Herrmann, music director, hired by Reis, to offer more extended musical works, even opera, as content for Columbia Workshop.

Columbia Workshop, Norman Corwin, Director, 1939-

Robson stepped down as director in 1939. Norman Corwin (1910-2011), a CBS writer whose adaptation of Stephan Crane's The Red Badge of Courage was broadcast as an episode in 1938 took over leadership of Columbia Workshop in 1940 and changed the focus to address social justice and current issues. Corwin contributed many radio dramas to Columbia Workshop mostly collected series called "Corwin Presents" and encouraged other interesting experiments. One example was "The City Wears a Slouch Hat" written by Kenneth Pachen and supported with a percussion-based score by John Cage.

"The City Wears A Slouch Hat"
Episode 254, 31 May 1942
A collaboration between John Cage and Kenneth Patchen. Combines Patchen's script with live and recorded sound effects composed by John Cage. Every scene in Patchen's drama, narrated by "The Voice," is accompanied/interpreted by Cage's percussion / sound effects, creating an aural imagery that permeates every aspect of the imaginary city.

Listen to Columbia Workshop performance of "The City Wears A Slouch Hat," May 31, 1942.

Significance
"The City Wears A Slouch Hat" is significant for several reasons. Both Kenneth Patchen and John Cage were major influences for the American avant garde movement. This work follows Patchen's experiments incorporating jazz music into his writing. For Cage, "The City Wears A Slouch Hat" was an experiment creating music from noise. Although a failure, "The City Wears A Slouch Hat" led to further experimentation regarding the technological future of music and the use of noise as sound source.

Background
"The City Wears A Slouch Hat" is a collaboration between two leaders of the American avant garde movement, John Cage and Kenneth Patchen. Patchen (1911-1972), an American poet and novelist, was an important inspiration for the San Francisco Renaissance and the Beat Generation. John Cage (1912-1992) was the most influential and controversial American experimental composer of the twentieth century. Beginning in 1937, Cage promoted the use of noise to make music.

In 1941, Columbia Workshop commissioned Cage to compose a radio play based on the text "The City Wears A Slouch Hat," by Patchen. Cage was to use sound effects to demonstrate his ideas about noise making music. [1] Cage's original 250-page score was written exclusively for electronic sound effects utilized as musical instruments.

Told his score was impossible to produce, Cage scaled back his vision to five percussionists, and live and recorded sound effects. Instruments included tin cans, muted gongs, woodblocks, alarm bells, tam tam, bass drum, Chinese tom tom, bongos, cowbells, maracas, claves, ratchett, pod rattle, foghorn, thundersheet, sound-effect recordings, etc. Script available here.

The cast included
Les Tremayne (narrator)
Madelon Grayson, Forrest Lewis, Jonathan Hole, Frank Dane and John Larkin (actors)
Xenia Cage, Cilia Amidon, Stuart Lloyd, Ruth Hartman, Claire Oppenheim (percussionists)
John Cage (conductor)
Les Mitchell (director)

Notes
[1] James Pritchett. The story of John Cage's The city wears a slouch hat.

Plot
"The Voice" wanders around a city, encountering surreal circumstances, characters, and their conversations in thirteen separate scenes.
Scene 1: "Opening Stroll," "The Voice" strolls about the city on a rainy day overhearing passing conversations.
Scene 2: "Hold-Up," "The Voice" is robbed by a man with a gun, who is surprised to find a photograph of himself in "The Voice's" wallet.
Scene 3: "Nightclub," "The Voice" briefly visits a nightclub where he overhears more surrealistic conversations.
Scene 4: "Eavesdropping," back on the street, "The Voice" listens to two boys talking about horses and dogs.
Scene 5: "Along the River," has "The Voice" talks with a man about people working in a distant creamery.
Scene 6: "Followed," "The Voice" answers a phone in someone's apartment and tells the caller that the person he wants, along with his family, will all die in a car crash in ten minutes. "The Voice" also causes bullets in the guns of three thugs to disappear.
Scene 7: "Walk in the Sky," "The Voice" sees someone/something in the clouds and imagines it trying to say something to him. Loud thunder ends the scene.
Scene 8: "Woman in the Rain," "The Voice" talks with a woman who says her face was disfigured in an accident. When he realizes she is lying to him the woman says she knew it was useless to talk with him.
Scene 9: "Kidnapped," "The Voice" is forced into a car and driven away. One of his kidnappers starts to sing and wakes a baby, who begins to cry.
Scene 10: "The Mirthogram," "The Voice," returned to the place where he was kidnapped, sees a crowd standing around a machine making it laugh.
Scene 11: "Street Poetry," "The Voice" recites poetry to a murmuring crowd.
Scene 12: "The Movie House," "The Voice" hears disjointed conversations from characters in the movie and members of the audience.
Scene 13: "The Rock," "The Voice," now at the ocean, decides to swim to a distant rocky island where he talks philosophically with a man. "The Voice" concludes the drama saying, "I am coming into your house with my hand outstretched. I am your friend. Do not be afraid of me."

Resources
John Cage Trust
Official John Cage blog. This post, "1942 America Speaks (The City Wears a Slouch Hat)," provides lots of information, and listener reactions.

Columbia Workshop shuttered during World War II
With the United States' entry into World War II, listeners waned. The last episode of Columbia Workshop was broadcast 25 January 1947. Corwin left CBS in March 1949.

Columbia Workshop revived as The CBS Radio Workshop, 1956-1957
Nearly a decade after its cancellation, the legacy of Columbia Workshop and its experimentation with radio dramatic presentations was revived as The CBS Radio Workshop. The new series, "dedicated to man's imagination—the theatre of the mind," began with a two-part adaptation of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, 27 January 1956. Huxley himself narrated both episodes. Subsequent episodes, hosted by William Conrad, like Columbia Workshop gave priority to creative production. As result, The CBS Radio Workshop offered a number of interesting radio dramas in its short history. The popularity of television, however, drained radio listeners, and The CBS Radio Workshop ended 22 September 1957. Today, Columbia Workshop is remembered as one of the great radio series.

Resources
Episodes of Columbia Workshop at the Internet Archive website
Episodes at the Old Time Radio Researchers Group Library website
Columbia Workshop radio logs at Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs website
CBS Radio Workshop radio logs at Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs website
Columbia Workshop at Digital Deli Too website preserved at Internet Archive
CBS Radio Workshop at The Digital Deli Too website preserved at Internet Archive
Columbia Workshop scripts at the Generic Radio website

Graphics

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