Martin Grams Jr.

In the spring of 1961, CBS premiered a short-lived television program hosted by author Roald Dahl, titled WAY OUT. Thecreepy late-night horror program aired right before THE TWILIGHT ZONE, but spun a gruesome tale of horror for horror’s sake. With no parables or social commentary, devout fanatics with more than a few qualms about the horror material considered the program a bottom feeder’s form of entertainment. Such ghoulish delight included a headless woman at a traveling sideshow who entranced and enticed a skeptic to help her escape from the brutal carnival barker. An unhappy man decides to kill his annoying wife after he discovers there is a funeral home that offers this special service for people like him. A commanding officer of an underground military bunker must decide whether to launch a retaliatory nuclear strike after all communications with the outside world suddenly ceases. The telecasts were quickly condemned by concerned parents who wrote letters to their local CBS affiliates with complaints, causing the program to go off the air prematurely. This book documents the entire history of the program, what specifically led to the creation and the details regarding why the program went off the air after 14 episodes. Scans of archival documents, photographs and production files are reprinted, along with plot summaries for episodes that never went before the cameras. For fans of the television program hoping there would be a one-stop source with tons of material about the television program, this is that book

Known as the Barrymore on horseback, Richard Boone created a character that television audiences could relate to. For six seasons, audiences were able to tune in each week and watch their latest adventure of "Have Gun - Will Travel," a western that stepped over the boundries, and told stories that viewers today remember vividly. Broadcast over CBS Radio and Television, "Have Gun - Will Travel" is still remembered by fans as one of the best adult westerns ever made. This book documents the history behind the series, the genesis of the program, and why after six seasons, the show left the air. Memories from writers, actors, directors , producers, stuntmen and many more help give insight and a behind-the-scenes look at the making of each and every television and radio episode. Hal Needham, Frank Pierson, Peggy Rea, Andrew V. McLaglen, Sydney Pollack, Shimon Wincelberg, and hundreds of others contributed. Rare photos, over 150 to be exact, are featured - many never before seen! The author

The notorious Dr. Fu Manchu was a mad scientist, intent upon conquering the world, but was continually foiled by the British policemen Sir Denis Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie, in thirteen novels (1913–59), written by Sax Rohmer. The first of the Fu Manchu novels was The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu, published in the U.S. as The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu. A master poisoner and chemist, he chose to dispose of his enemies using members of other secret societies, pythons, cobras, poisonous fungi and black spiders. He found guns or explosives to be mundane. And like many blood and thunder devices of literary fiction, he remained more elusive and mysterious, seldom making an appearance. He almost always sends his minions to commit crimes for him. The fictional criminal mastermind was not only depicted in numerous motion-pictures, but also on radio. Documenting an aspect of the Fu Manchu franchise that has rarely been explored, the multiple radio incarnations are documented, both coast-to-coast network productions and the local regional ones dramatized in the 1930s. Other Sax Rohmer stories adapted for radio are documented, along with dozens of photographs and vintage advertisements. On top of all this, the 1944 Molle Mystery Theatre radio script is reprinted in its entirety. (A recording of that broadcast is not known to exist in recorded form.) For fans of both old-time radio and the fictional Fu Manchu, this is a must-have reference guide.

"Published posthumously in 1925, Suspense is set in Genoa in early 1815. This edition of Conrad's last novel, established through modern textual scholarship, presents the text in a form more authoritative than any so far printed. The introduction situates the novel in Conrad's career and traces its sources and contemporary reception. The explanatory notes explain literary and historical references, identify real-life places and indicate Conrad's main research materials. A glossary of foreign words and phrases enriches the explanatory matter, as do four illustrations and a map. A notebook of Conrad's research for the novel and deleted drafts are published here for the first time. The essay on the text and apparatus lay out the history of the work's composition and publication and detail interventions in the text by Richard Curle, who, as Conrad's de facto literary executor, saw the novel into print, along with typists, compositors and editors"--