QUIET, PLEASE

This collection of "Quiet, Please" radio programs features 90 shows on 1 compact disc. Each episode is presented in the .mp3 format. There are close to 45 hours of entertaining and thrilling "Quiet, Please" episodes.

The CD is labeled and provided in a highly protective jewel case. A list of the programs on the disc as well as the date the program originally aired (if known) is also provided.


PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR EQUIPMENT WILL PLAY MP3 FORMATTED FILES BEFORE PURCHASING THIS ITEM.

IT IS ULTIMATELY THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE BUYER TO ENSURE THAT HIS OR HER EQUIPMENT IS COMPATIBLE WITH THE MP3 FORMAT.


A note concerning sound quality. The sound quality for the shows in this collection is very good to good. It is difficult to find perfect recordings from the golden age of radio due to the equipment used for recording and the fact that many of the recordings were made 60, 70 or even 80 years ago.

HERE'S SOME BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOR "QUIET, PLEASE":

"Quiet, Please!" was an old-time radio fantasy and horror program created by Wyllis Cooper, also known for creating "Lights Out". Ernest Chappell was the show's announcer and lead actor. "Quiet, Please!" was first broadcast by on June 8, 1947 by the Mutual Broadcasting System, and its last episode ran on June 25, 1949, by ABC.

"Quiet, Please" had its roots in the "Campbell Playhouse" (1938 - 1941), the successor to Orson Welles's "Mercury Theatre", who achieved notoriety with their 1938 adaptation of H. G. Wells's novel "The War of the Worlds". Cooper was a writer for the "Campbell Playhouse", and Chappell was the announcer. They became friends, though Chappell had little (if any) acting experience, Cooper imagined him as the star of a new radio program. Cooper's earlier "Lights Out" was famous for its gruesome stories and sound effects, but for "Quiet, Please", Cooper would cultivate a subdued, slower-paced, and much quieter atmosphere that could still, at its best, match "Lights Out" for frights and thrills. Chappell had ample experience in radio, but mostly as an announcer. The differences could be broad or subtle, but in nearly every episode, Chappell created a distinctive character, rarely using the same traits in multiple episodes.
"Quiet, Please" was produced at WOR in New York City, and began on the Mutual Network on June 8, 1947. Beginning in September, 1948, it was syndicated by ABC.

Each episode began with Chappell intoning the show's title, followed by a long pause (sometimes up to seven seconds), before repeating the title. Then, the show's theme music was played, a dirgey, funereal organ and piano version of a portion of the second movement of César Franck's 1899 Symphony in D Minor. The introduction established the sparse, understated tone of the show, and has inspired collectors and reviewers to remark upon Cooper's use of the dramatic power of silence.

Though the general thrust of the stories were fantasy, horror and suspense, Cooper's "Quiet, Please!" scripts covered a broad thematic range, including romance, science fiction, crime, family drama and humor (some of it self-deprecating).

Most episodes featured no more than two or three actors, with Chappell taking the first person voice in all but a handful of episodes, usually telling the tale via flashbacks. Chappell usually took a conversational tone, relating the stories slowly and casually; he frequently played a specialist worker, giving Cooper a chance to add background details from his own earlier jobs as a soldier, gandy dancer or oil rig worker.

At the end of each program, Cooper offered a teaser for the next show. These were usually unrehearsed, and often displayed Cooper's wry or morbid humor: "My story for you next week is called 'A Night to Forget'. It's about a man who wished he could –- and couldn't."

Cooper's teaser was always followed by Chappell's sign-off: "And so, until next week at this same time, I am quietly yours, Ernest Chappell."

Compared to other contemporary radio dramas, "Quiet, Please!" used fewer sound effects and less dialogue, relying instead on first person narration to drive each play. As noted above, silence was often used masterfully.

Most episodes had a strongly moralist tone: evildoers were nearly always punished, and good was typically rewarded. In fact, Cooper often drew upon the Bible for inspiration, though he generally tweaked the stories and plots past the point of easy recognizability. Even the easily recognizable Bible stories are given a twist: "The Third Man's Story" (September 6, 1948) retells the story of Cain and Abel, suggesting that Cain's act was motivated by Abel's arrogance and taunts.

As with many radio programs to feature prominent organ accompaniment, "Quiet, Please!" was a rather low-budget undertaking. The show's keyboardist (Albert Berman for most of the episodes), however, arguably utilized the instruments in a more innovative way than others — not only for punctuation of climactic moments, but also as an element of the scripts, as in the lazy, boogie woogie riffs in the clandestine casino scenes in "Good Ghost" (24 November 1948). The show's theme was used as a plot device in at least three episodes: as a post-hypnotic trigger in by a hypnotist in "Symphony in D Minor" (13 September 1948), "The Evening and the Morning" and in "Come In, Eddie".

Unusually for episodic radio drama, several episodes were sequels of earlier broadcasts, or at least recycled the same ideas: A character and setting from the very first episode "Nothing Behind the Door" (8 June 1947) are referenced in one of the last episodes, "The Other Side of the Stars"; in "The Man Who Knew Everything" (6 March 1949) the titular character seems to die at the episode's end, only to return in "The Venetian Blind Man" (3 April 1949). Another pair of episodes, though not directly sequels, both feature an enchanted watch that allows its bearer to time travel: ("It's Later Than You Think" (8 February 1948) and "Not Responsible After Thirty Years" (14 June 1948)

Despite some positive reviews (and a loyal audience that might be classified as a cult following, based on Crosby's claim the network received more requests from fans for "Quiet, Please!" scripts than for any other radio program) the show never established itself and never attracted a sponsor. "Quiet, Please!" might have suffered from poor scheduling, which was often dependent upon a regular sponsor. During its first year, "Quiet, Please!" was broadcast at 3:30 pm, a time slot usually reserved for after-school programming aimed at juveniles. Its second season found the show at a more appropriate 9:30 pm, but its third and final season the show was bumped again, this time to 5:30pm (noted times are Eastern Standard Time).

Episode Listing for the "Quiet, Please" programs included in this collection:

Quiet Please - 470608 - Nothing Behind The Door
Quiet Please - 470615 - I've Been Looking For You
Quiet Please - 470622 - We Were Here First
Quiet Please - 470629 - The Ticket Taker
Quiet Please - 470720 - Cornelia
Quiet Please - 470727 - I Remember Tomorrow
Quiet Please - 470803 - Inquest
Quiet Please - 470810 - Bring Me To Life
Quiet Please - 470910 - How Are You Pal
Quiet Please - 470922 - Be A Good Dog Darling (partial)
Quiet Please - 471006 - Not Enough Time
Quiet Please - 471013 - Camera Obscura
Quiet Please - 471027 - Don't Tell Me About Hollywood
Quiet Please - 471103 - Take Me Out To The Graveyard
Quiet Please - 471110 - Three
Quiet Please - 471117 - Kill Me Again
Quiet Please - 471124 - In Memory Of Bernadine
Quiet Please - 471201 - Come In Eddie
Quiet Please - 471208 - Some People Don't Die
Quiet Please - 471215 - Little Fellow
Quiet Please - 471229 - Rain On New Years Eve
Quiet Please - 480105 - Little Visitor
Quiet Please - 480112 - Room Where Ghosts Live
Quiet Please - 480119 - Bakers Dozen
Quiet Please - 480126 - Green Light
Quiet Please - 480202 - Pathetic Fallacy
Quiet Please - 480209 - A Red and White Guideon
Quiet Please - 480216 - Whence Came You
Quiet Please - 480223 - Wear The Dead Mans Coat
Quiet Please - 480301 - Sketch For A Screenplay
Quiet Please - 480308 - Never Send To Know
Quiet Please - 480322 - A Night to Forget
Quiet Please - 480329 - Quiet Please
Quiet Please - 480405 - I Always Marry Juliet
Quiet Please - 480412 - Twelve To Five
Quiet Please - 480419 - Clarissa
Quiet Please - 480426 - 13 And 8
Quiet Please - 480503 - How Beautiful Upon The Mountain
Quiet Please - 480510 - There Are Shadows Here
Quiet Please - 480517 - Gem Of The Purest Ray
Quiet Please - 480524 - In The House Where I Was Born
Quiet Please - 480614 - Not Responsible After 30 Years
Quiet Please - 480628 - Let the Lillies Consider
Quiet Please - 480705 - Wahine Tahiti
Quiet Please - 480719 - As Long As I Live
Quiet Please - 480726 - The Man Who Stole A Planet
Quiet Please - 480802 - It's Later Than You Think
Quiet Please - 480809 - The Thing on The Fourble Board
Quiet Please - 480816 - Presto Change O
Quiet Please - 480823 - Three Thousand Words
Quiet Please - 480906 - Third Man's Story
Quiet Please - 480913 - Symphony in D Minor
Quiet Please - 480919 - Anonymous
Quiet Please - 480926 - Light The Lamp For Me
Quiet Please - 481003 - Meet John Smith
Quiet Please - 481010 - Beezers Cellar
Quiet Please - 481017 - And Jeannie Dreams Of Me
Quiet Please - 481024 - Good Ghost
Quiet Please - 481031 - Calling All Souls
Quiet Please - 481107 - Adam And The Darkest Day
Quiet Please - 481114 - Evening and the Morn
Quiet Please - 481121 - One For The Book
Quiet Please - 481128 - My Son John
Quiet Please - 481205 - Very Unimportant Person
Quiet Please - 481226 - Berlin 45
Quiet Please - 490102 - The Time Of The Big Snow
Quiet Please - 490109 - Portrait Of A Character
Quiet Please - 490116 - Is This Murder
Quiet Please - 490123 - Summer Goodbye
Quiet Please - 490130 - Northern Lights
Quiet Please - 490206 - Tap The Heat Bogdan
Quiet Please - 490213 - Valentine
Quiet Please - 490220 - Where Do You Get Your Ideas
Quiet Please - 490227 - If I Should Wake Before I Die
Quiet Please - 490306 - The Man Who Knew Everything
Quiet Please - 490313 - Dark Rosaleen
Quiet Please - 490320 - The Smell Of High Wines
Quiet Please - 490327 - A Time To Be Born
Quiet Please - 490410 - Dialogue for A Tragedy
Quiet Please - 490417 - Shadow Of The Wings
Quiet Please - 490424 - The Veil of Glencove
Quiet Please - 490501 - Dark Grey Magic
Quiet Please - 490508 - The Other Side Of The Stars
Quiet Please - 490515 - The Little Morning
Quiet Please - 490522 - The Oldest Man In The World
Quiet Please - 490528 - In The House Where I Was Born
Quiet Please - 490604 - Tanglefoot
Quiet Please - 490611 - The Hat, The Bed and John J Catherine
Quiet Please - 490618 - Pavanne
Quiet Please - 490625 - Quiet Please (Last Show)

IMPORTANT NOTE!: The CD presented for sale contains radio programs recorded and preserved in the MP3 audio format. The MP3 format allows for audio compression and can allow the storage of over 50 hours of audio per CD. The MP3 format is compatible with many newer DVD and portable CD players, as well as MP3 players. The MP3 format is also playable on Windows based computers using Real Player, Windows Media Player or other players.

Attention EBay: After a careful search of the Library of Congress and the United States Trademark and Patent Office, it has been determined that the programs listed for sale here are in the Public Domain. They are being offered with the understanding that no valid or active copyright, trademark, and/or patent exist for them. These recordings are sold for private home listening and use only. No broadcast rights are stated, implied, or given. Historical Media assumes no responsibility for unauthorized use of these programs. The Library Of Congress has ruled that old radio broadcasts are within the Public Domain, since they were not qualified for copyright protection when presented, nor was any attempt to place them under such copyright protection when the opportunity existed in 1978-1979 when the copyright law regarding these programs was revised. Radio shows created before January 1, 1978 are protected by the Copyright Act of 1909. These shows are listed in accordance with current EBay policies concerning selling Old Time Radio Public Domain materials.