Escape opened with the gripping voice of William Conrad booming out over the airwaves: "Tired of the everyday grind? Ever dream of a life of romantic adventure? Want to get away from it all? We offer you - ESCAPE!" Moussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain", the show's theme, assisted Conrad in creating the right opening atmosphere.
Produced by William N. Robson, it featured many seasoned West Coast radio actors. ESCAPE was heard on CBS from July 1947 to September 1954. It started, as a series, as a summer replacement for half of the hour normally occupied by THE LUX RADIO THEATER. After that, it aired for the 1947-48 season, on Sundays. During the early half of 1948, the broadcast day was different on east and west coasts. Although the same scripts were used for both coast shows, the casts and openings were different.
Unlike its teammate Suspense, Escape had a rough and tumble life. It was frequently moved to different days and times, at least 18 times. It was dropped and restarted with months in between. Because it never had a period of serious commercial backing, it had to be creative within a modest operating budget. It came late in the life of dramatic radio, which gave it a cast drawn from radio's most serious and talented artists. Artists who saw something special in the program, and enjoyed working for talented directors/producers like William N. Robson, Norman Macdonnell among others.
Many of the Escape stories became radio classics, and frequently were repeated on Suspense. There was a difference-Suspense concentrated largely on mystery and crime; Escape used more stories of the supernatural, of man against the jungle, of war and the Old West. Some of the best remembered shows of radio came from Escape: The Most Dangerous Game (Oct 1, 1947), Evening Primrose (Nov. 5, 1947), Confession (Dec. 31, 1947), Leiningen vs the Ants (Jan. 17, 1948) and Three Skeleton Key (Nov. 14, 1949).
One-Eighth Apache June 28, 1953 #38 (#202) The script indicates Sunday, 6:30-6:58:50 PM Written by Peter B Kyne, a well-known western author, it was adapted by Larry Roman.
This Escape script is a lost episode-one that has lost its recording. It"s a tale of the old west, when men could go free after killing an opponent, as long as it appeared to be a fair fight. It is a western, within a psychological framework.
The story revolves around a new sheriff, Joe Murdock, whose brother has been gunned down by Ty Burgess. He wants revenge, but knows he can"t use his legal power to do it. So he calls on his one-eighth Apache blood.
This script is courtesy of SPERDVAC, which re-created the play in the late 1990s, using many of the actors who had performed on Escape. Their cast included Frank Buxton, Peter Leeds, Larry Dobkin as Ty Burgess, Frank Thomas, George Walsh, Bob Mott, Ray Erlenborn, Herb Ellis, with Parley Baer as Joe Murdock.
