''Quiet, Please!'' was a

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

and horror program created by

Wyllis Cooper Wyllis Oswald Cooper (January 26, 1899 – June 22, 1955) was an American writer and producer. He is best remembered for creating and writing the old time radio programs '' Lights Out'' (1934–1947) and '' Quiet, Please'' (1947–194 ...

, also known for creating '' Lights Out''.

Ernest Chappell Ernest E. Chappell (June 10, 1903 - July 4, 1983)DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 53. was an American radio announcer and actor, ...

was the show's announcer and lead actor. ''Quiet, Please'' debuted June 8, 1947 on the

Mutual Broadcasting System The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the Old-time radio, golden ...

, and its last episode was broadcast June 25, 1949, on the ABC. A total of 106 shows were broadcast, with only a very few of them repeats. Earning relatively little notice during its initial run, ''Quiet, Please'' has since been praised as one of the finest efforts of the golden age of American

radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

. Professor Richard J. Hand of the

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, in a detailed critical analysis of the series, argued that Cooper and Chappell "created works of astonishing originality";Richard J. Hand. Terror on the Air!: Horror Radio in America, 1931–1952. McFarland, 2006. ; passim; especially Chapter 9 "The Unsettling Universe of Wyllis Cooper and Ernest Chappell: Quiet, Please (1947–1949)", pp. 145–166. he further describes the program as an "extraordinary body of work" which established Cooper "as one of the greatest

auteur An auteur (; , 'author') is an artist with a distinctive approach, usually a film director whose filmmaking control is so unbounded but personal that the director is likened to the "author" of the film, which thus manifests the director's unique ...

s of horror radio." Similarly, radio historian Ron Lackmann declares that the episodes "were exceptionally well written and outstandingly acted", while John Dunning describes the show as "a potent series bristling with rich imagination."

Broadcast history

Background

''Quiet, Please'' had its roots in '' The Campbell Playhouse'' (1938–1940), the successor to

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

's ''

The Mercury Theatre on the Air ''The Mercury Theatre on the Air'' is a radio series of live radio dramas created and hosted by Orson Welles. The weekly hour-long show presented classic literary works performed by Welles's celebrated Mercury Theatre repertory company, with mus ...

'', which achieved notoriety with its 1938 adaptation of

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

The War of the Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 by ''Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and by ''Cosmopolitan (magazine), Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US. The novel's first appear ...

''. Cooper was a writer for ''The Campbell Playhouse'', and Chappell was the announcer. They became friends, and 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. As Hand writes, "With ''Quiet, Please'', Cooper gave Ernest Chappell the chance to act, and the result was a revelation. Chappell proved himself to be versatile in accent and delivery." 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. Writer Harlan Ellison, a longtime ''Quiet, Please'' fan, writes that the programs were "backed by sound effects and music…but it was essentially Chappell, just speaking softly. Quietly. Terrifyingly."Harlan Ellison. ''Edgeworks I: Over the Edge/An Edge In My Voice''. Clarkston, Georgia: White Wolf Publishing, 1996, pp. 76–77 Ellison also describes Chappell as having "one of the great radio voices. A sound that combined urbanity with storytelling wisdom."

On the air

''Quiet, Please'' was produced at WOR in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, and began on the

Mutual Network The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the golden age of U.S. rad ...

on June 8, 1947. Beginning in September, 1948, it was syndicated by ABC, though

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

executive Davidson Taylor expressed an interest in the show, writing in a memo in March 1948, "I like this show a lot and believe we could get it if we wanted." 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

dirge A dirge ( la, dirige, naenia) is a somber song or lament expressing mourning or grief, such as would be appropriate for performance at a funeral. Often taking the form of a brief hymn, dirges are typically shorter and less meditative than elegi ...

y, funereal organ and

Novachord The Novachord is an electronic musical instrument often considered the world's first commercial polyphonic synthesizer. All-electronic, incorporating many circuit and control elements found in modern synthesizers, and using subtractive synth ...

version of a portion of the second movement of

César Franck César-Auguste Jean-Guillaume Hubert Franck (; 10 December 1822 – 8 November 1890) was a French Romantic composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher born in modern-day Belgium. He was born in Liège (which at the time of his birth was pa ...

'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

, horror and suspense, Cooper's ''Quiet, Please'' scripts covered a broad thematic range, including romance,

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

, family drama and humor (some of it quite self-deprecating). Dunning describes the show as "outstanding dark fantasy;" Hand notes that this description is broadly accurate, but that there are a few humorous or sentimental ''Quiet, Please'' episodes which "aren't particularly 'dark'". Hand also suggests that "any attempt to categorize the series feels like diminishing its scope of achievement." Regardless of content, most episodes had a

dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, althou ...

like, surreal quality, where odd or

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

events were not always explained: Dunning wrote that the show's "characters walked in a fuzzy dream world where the element of menace was ripe and ever present." Hand writes that "Cooper was a master of the opening line. Almost every episode of ''Quiet, Please'' begins with a sentence or two that hooks the listener, commanding their attention and their curiosity." Most episodes featured no more than two or three actors, with Chappell taking the first person voice in all but a handful of episodes (with the closing describing him as "the man who spoke to you"), usually telling the tale via flashbacks. Dunning writes that "Cooper's pet hate was of 'acting' and he wanted ach storyrelated with a deadpan sense of 'here's how it happened.'" 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 A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

gandy dancer Gandy dancer is a slang term used for early Rail transport, railroad workers in the United States, more formally referred to as "section hands", who laid and maintained Track (rail transport), railroad tracks in the years before the work was don ...

or oil platform worker. Though supporting players were sparse, a group of New York radio veterans were heard on a frequent basis: as female characters, in male bit parts, or as the supernatural or otherworldly beings the ordinary Chappell character encounters. Most notably, radio star Claudia Morgan (longtime voice of Nora Charles on '' The Adventures of the Thin Man'', and not coincidentally, Ernest Chappell's wife) was an occasional female lead, usually in tragic romances, and was heard in the final show (the appropriately titled "Quiet, Please," a meditation on war and peace). In one lost show, "Three Sides to a Story," Morgan's father Ralph Morgan was also a guest. J. Pat O'Malley, later a familiar TV character actor, was another frequent voice, heard in more than a dozen shows throughout the run, beginning with the first broadcast "Nothing Behind the Door." He played foreman Ted in "The Thing on the Fourbleboard" and was often used in parts requiring Irish or Scottish accents. Radio commentator and disc jockey Jack Lescoulie guest starred in the radio-themed "Twelve to Five." 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; a 1949 ''

Oakland Tribune The ''Oakland Tribune'' is a weekly newspaper published in Oakland, California, by the Bay Area News Group (BANG), a subsidiary of MediaNews Group. Founded in 1874, the ''Tribune'' rose to become an influential daily newspaper. With the declin ...

'' article by John Crosby notes, "There are long, long pauses, so long sometimes you wonder if your radio has gone on the blink. Networks are horrified at the amount of

dead air Dead air is an unintended period of silence that interrupts a broadcast during which no audio or video program material is transmitted. Radio and television Dead air occurs in radio broadcasting when no audio program is transmitted for an exte ...

they purchase along with Cooper. (A half hour Cooper script played at ordinary tempo would run about 11 minutes.)" Though Crosby praised ''Quiet, Please'', he thought the dramas sometimes employed confused,

deus ex machina ''Deus ex machina'' ( , ; plural: ''dei ex machina''; English "god out of the machine") is a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story is suddenly and abruptly resolved by an unexpected and unlikely occurrence. Its function ...

endings and characters were occasionally underdeveloped. He also wrote that Cooper "avoids clichés with such intensity that he's creating his own." Most episodes had a strongly

moralist Moralism is any philosophy with the central focus of applying moral judgements. The term is commonly used as a pejorative to mean "being overly concerned with making moral judgments or being illiberal in the judgments one makes". Moralism has s ...

tone: evildoers were nearly always punished, and good was typically rewarded. In 1949, Harriett Cannon wrote, "Although in no sense a 'religious' show, 'Quiet, Please''has some of its strongest supporters among the

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

." In fact, Cooper often drew upon the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

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" (6 September 1948) retells the story of Cain and Abel, suggesting that Cain's act was motivated by Abel's arrogance and taunts. Cooper's scripts were, arguably, among the best of their era; Hand argues that "Cooper employs excellent structuring devices in creating 30-minute radio drama," even comparing one episode ("Three Sides to a Story") to

Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and lite ...

's ''

No Exit ''No Exit'' (french: Huis clos, links=no, ) is a 1944 existentialist French play by Jean-Paul Sartre. The play was first performed at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in May 1944. The play begins with three characters who find themselves waiting ...

''. Love triangles were another frequent plot device for ''Quiet, Please''. 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 Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, developed in African-American communities since 1870s.Paul, Elliot, ''That Crazy American Music'' (1957), Chapter 10, p. 229. It was eventually extended from pi ...

riffs in the clandestine

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

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

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

s 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 Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a ...

: ("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 The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 U.S. states, states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and ...

)

"The Thing on the Fourble Board"

Probably the most highly regarded episode of ''Quiet, Please'' is "The Thing on the Fourble Board" (August 9, 1948), about an

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

-field worker who encounters a mysterious subterranean being hiding on the derrick's catwalk. The unusual title is a bit of oil worker

argot A cant is the jargon or language of a group, often employed to exclude or mislead people outside the group.McArthur, T. (ed.) ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (1992) Oxford University Press It may also be called a cryptolect, argo ...

: the "fourble board" of an oil derrick is a narrow catwalk that is as high up as four lengths of drilling pipe placed vertically (two lengths of pipe are a "double", three are a "thribble" and four are a "fourble.") The story's effectiveness has led some fans to label the episode one of the best radio horror programs ever broadcast. Richard J. Hand of the

notes that "The Thing on the Fourble Board" is not only cited as the finest example of radio horror, but occasionally cited as one of the best examples of radio drama as a whole. Especially effective was Cecil Roy's vocal performance as the creature. Though she performs only very briefly, Roy's vocal (barely recognizable as human) was cited by Dunning as still startling and chill-inducing even after decades. According to Hand, Cooper's script for the episode was dizzyingly multilayered, blending authentic details of oil rig workers' daily activities, with elements of what might be termed " subterranea" or

Hollow Earth The Hollow Earth is a concept proposing that the planet Earth is entirely hollow or contains a substantial interior space. Notably suggested by Edmond Halley in the late 17th century, the notion was disproven, first tentatively by Pierre Bougue ...

lore, yet managing to faintly invoke nautical stories like the kraken.

In other media

Cooper and Chappell remained friends after ''Quiet, Please'' went off the air, and even founded a

production company A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and v ...

, mainly to support their unsuccessful efforts to interest adapting ''Quiet, Please'' to television. In 2004, at the

Sacred Fools Theater Company The Sacred Fools Theater Company is a Los Angeles-based theatre company and nonprofit organization. Founded in January 1997, it's a member organization of the LA Stage Alliance. For 18 years the company resided at 660 N. Heliotrope in The Heliotr ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, Corey Klemow directed stage adaptations of two of the best-regarded Cooper scripts, ''The Thing on the Fourble Board'' and ''Whence Came You?'' A film version of the episode "The Evening & The Morning" appears on YouTube. Since 2020, the Quietly Yours podcast has featured discussions of each episode of the series (in order of original broadcast).

Meta-fiction

Though many radio programs used various meta-fictional ploys, ''Quiet, Please'' arguably offered some of the most effective and intriguing examples. Hand writes that Cooper "enjoys creating roles for the audience: passive listener, surreptitious eavesdropper, or even someone implicated in the action of the story itself." Scripts often broke down the

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...

by speaking directly to the listener. On "The Other Side of the Stars", (broadcast May 8, 1949), Chappell appeared as

Esau Esau ''Ēsaû''; la, Hesau, Esau; ar, عِيسَوْ ''‘Īsaw''; meaning "hairy"Easton, M. ''Illustrated Bible Dictionary'', (, , 2006, p. 236 or "rough".Mandel, D. ''The Ultimate Who's Who in the Bible'', (.), 2007, p. 175 is the elder son o ...

(the name is another of Cooper's many Biblical touches), a character who narrates the story as though he were broadcasting it on live radio; a show within a show. Esau relates the tale of his girlfriend's odd fate after she discovered a conquistador's armor while exploring a

well A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, but he is repeatedly interrupted by her brother, who arrived uninvited for the broadcast. Chappell's character in "Inquest" is forced to stand in front of a vast, visible radio audience, while being assured that he will be supplied with sound effects as they are necessary to accompany the story he tells. Several episodes blurred the distinction between performer and

fictional character In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life perso ...

: In a few episodes (such as "Is This Murder"), Ernest Chappell portrayed a man named "Ernest". In "Where Do You Get Your Ideas?" Cooper played himself, while Chappell portrayed a drunken barfly, pestering the writer. In the episode "12 to 5" (broadcast April 12, 1948), Chappell plays a disk jockey who delivers an on-air commercial for "Chappell's Apples" (as well as a portion of the César Franck theme).

Extant episodes

For many years, the majority of the show's episodes were feared lost, with only 12 episodes in general circulation among collectors. In the late 1980s, more than 80 episodes were discovered, comprising the majority of the series' run. Many of the recordings are of rather poor sound quality, but are nonetheless treasured by collectors. Currently in circulation are 88 episodes, plus half of an 89th. All the episodes are believed to be in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...

, and can be downloaded free of charge. Another 17 are presumed lost, though, according to Hand, scripts survive for all of them. The fact that any episodes of ''Quiet, Please'' survive in general circulation might well be due to Chappell's efforts. He wrote to Cooper's widow Emily in 1966 to report that he owned copies of all but 11 episodes on

transcription disc Electrical transcriptions are special phonograph recordings made exclusively for radio broadcasting,Browne, Ray B. and Browne, Pat, Eds. (2001). ''The Guide to United States Popular Culture''. The University of Wisconsin Press. . P. 263. which wer ...

s and had copied them all to

reel to reel Reel-to-reel audio tape recording, also called open-reel recording, is magnetic tape audio recording in which the recording tape is spooled between reels. To prepare for use, the ''supply reel'' (or ''feed reel'') containing the tape is plac ...

tape. Stating that he would happily copy any episodes for Emily, Chappell further wrote that "It took a lot of hours to make the tape transfers but I got a big thrill out of hearing them all over again and I want to say that there were many occasions when my emotions blew up and I just plain bawled. They brought back such wonderful times and so many intimate memories of such a treasured friend."

Influence

Writer Harlan Ellison has praised ''Quiet, Please'' and rates it as one of the finest and most effective programs in the history of radio or television. He discovered the show in his youth and states that even though the bulk of the episodes were lost for decades, several ''Quiet, Please'' episodes haunted his memory and exerted a strong influence on his writing. In a 1981 column, Ellison wrote that he stumbled across one particular episode in his childhood, and afterwards, became a devoted ''Quiet, Please'' listener. He remembers the title of that episode as "Five Miles Down." Ellison writes, "I heard something I have never forgotten... What I heard that Sunday afternoon, so long ago, that has never left my thoughts for even one week, through all those years, was this: :"There is a place just five miles from where you now stand that no human eye has even seen. It is...five miles ''down!''" Ellison goes on to relate the plot (at least as he remembers it after several decades, admitting that time might have altered some of the details), and asks, " w many stories you heard or saw or read fifteen years ago, ten years ago, even ''five'' years ago...do you remember that clearly today? And I heard 'Five Miles Down' at least ''forty'' years ago. And it's still with me." Ellison's recollection is a little inaccurate: he relates the story being broadcast "early in the Forties" on ''Quiet, Please'' when it was in fact a late-1940s episode of another series, '' The Mysterious Traveler''. In 2004, Ellison took part in a recreation of the "Five Miles Down" script (by Robert Arthur and David Kogan, not Wyllis Cooper) at a convention of the Society to Preserve and Encourage Radio Drama, Variety and Comedy. He "acted and helped direct the show" and recalled hearing the episode when he was growing up.

Episode Influences

In the October 17, 1948br>episode
title

the

Stephen Foster Stephen Collins Foster (July 4, 1826January 13, 1864), known also as "the father of American music", was an American composer known primarily for his parlour and minstrel music during the Romantic period. He wrote more than 200 songs, inc ...

song Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair figured prominently. The episode uses the song throughout and its title is a reversal of the song title which acts as a foreshadowing to the theme of the episode.

References

External links

''Quiet Please'' website
* ttp://www.otrplotspot.com/quietPlease.html OTR Plot Spot: ''Quiet, Please''– plot summaries and reviews.

Audio

"The Thing on the Fourble Board" Internet Archive: ''Quiet, Please'' (91 episodes)''Quiet, Please'' (106 1947–49 episodes)
{{Fantasy and science fiction radio programs 1940s American radio programs American radio dramas Mutual Broadcasting System programs Anthology radio series Fantasy radio programs Horror fiction radio programmes American science fiction radio programs ABC radio programs