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a stranger’s voice, someone who couldn’t easily be identiﬁed by location. A key aspect of horror ﬁlm and radio success was a voice that was both unique and mysterious. On radio, these great stars thrilled listeners with voices that were completely original.

But “classic horror” lives! The old black and white movies of the ’30s and ’40s are revered, and there’s been a revival in the appreciation for the simultaneous sinister doings the horror stars performed on radio. As special effects gore replaced personality, there was less prime work in the ’70s for the remaining horror veterans Vincent Price and John Carradine. In the ’60s, radio was dead and, after the brief “monster mania” revival between 19, so were most of the horror ﬁlm legends. The ’50s proved a lean decade for Karloff, Chaney Jr., Lorre, Lugosi and the rest, and radio gave way to television. Introduction The heyday of horror stars and horror ﬁlms coincided exactly with the golden era of radio: the 1930s and ’40s. Scream Queens: Helen Chandler, Julie Bishop, Ann Doran, Louise Allbritton, Hillary Brooke, Evelyn Ankers, Jane Adams, Gloria Stuart, Elena Verdugo and Fay Wray Sinister Women: Gale Sondergaard and Agnes Mooreheadġ1. Strange Ladies: Elsa Lanchester, Una O’Connor and Maria Ouspenskayaġ0. Two-Shot Wonders: Claude Rains and Charles Laughtonĩ. Professors of Pain: Lionel Atwill, George Zucco and Henry DaniellĨ. The Horror Hams: Laird Cregar, John Carradine and Basil RathboneĦ. The Wolfmen: Henry Hull and Lon Chaney, Jr.ĥ. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640 Table of Contents IntroductionĢ. Front cover: John Carradine in House of Dracula, 1945 background and microphone ©2010 Shutterstock Manufactured in the United States of America All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Radio actors and actresses-United States-Biography. Horror radio programs-United States-History. Includes bibliographical references and index. Horror stars on radio : the broadcast histories of 29 chilling Hollywood voices / Ronald L. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Jefferson, North Carolina, and London Horror Stars on Radio The Broadcast Histories of 29 Chilling Hollywood Voices RONALD L. Comedy Stars at 78 RPM: Biographies and Discographies of 89 American and British Recording Artists, 1896–1946 (McFarland, 1998)

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