A few years ago, I wrote about the execution of Bathsheba Spooner in Brookfield, Massachusetts. As I wrote at the time:
Fall River may have had Lizzie Borden, and Nathaniel Hawthorne may have given us Boston’s Hester Prynne, but neither an acquitted ax murderer nor an adulterer can come close to competing with Brookfield’s Bathsheba Spooner.
I won't repeat the sordid tale here. You can go back and read that for yourself. But I have found something new that I want to share with readers.
As some people have noted, I have been looking at programming from the golden age of radio, referred to now as "old time radio." Imagine my delight at running across a program from 60 years ago that had as its very first episode "The Crime of Bathsheba Spooner."
This program is from a series titled "Crime Classics" which was aired of the CBS network in June 1953 to June 1954.
There is much available on the internet about Bathsheba Spooner. A Google search will confirm that. However, I have not found this radio episode in any of those searches.
So I want to post here for my readers the radio episode from 1953: Crime Classics: The Crime of Bathsheba Spooner.
Please note that radio was strictly a listening medium. The images in the video are few by design. I suggest that you ignore them. Just sit back, close your eyes and listen. This is radio as it was meant to be!
"Crime Classics" is now available via iTunes as a free audio-only podcast.
ReplyDeleteFor history buffs, there's also a 1-minute audio podcast version on iTunes of "Mass Moments", a sort of "this day in Massachusetts History" that's also available to be read at http://www.massmoments.org/
Thanks for the information. I was aware of the Mass Moments, but there was a bit of criticism about the perspective it takes on the Spooner affair.
DeleteThe iTunes availability was something I did not know about.
I believe that the availability of these shows and many like them are untapped resources, free of charge, that may help people return to using their imaginations as opposed to the gore that some movies show.
I think there is something to be said for recreating the radio experience which is why I used the video medium for posting. People can look at the radio if they wish, but I picture people sitting back and simply listening.
Also, I think more people have access to YouTube than to iTunes.
Thanks again for your input.