The Witch's Tale

Old Time Radio is remembered for many of its suspense/horror programs, including such classics as Lights Out, Inner Sanctum Mystery, and Suspense. Not so well remembered is a radio show that debuted before all of them. The Witch's Tale was quite possibly the first ever horror radio show. What is more, it was successful in its time. In fact, it ran for seven years.

The Witch's Tale debuted on WOR in New York City on May 21 1931. The show as not a large affair by any measure. Its creator, Alonzo Deen Cole, also wrote and directed the show. His wife, Marie O'Flynn, played the female characters on the show. Its supporting cast consisted only of Mark Smith and Alan Devitte. The undisputed star of the show was its host, Old Nancy, the Witch of Salem. It was Alonzo Deen Cole himself who provided the sounds of her cat, Salem.

Old Nancy claimed to be well over one hundred years old, although her exact age would vary from episode to episode. Originally Old Nancy was played by stage actress Adelaide Fitz-Allen. Miss Fitz-Allen died at age 79 in 1935. She was replaced by Miriam Wolfe, who was only 13 years old. While Miss Wolfe was only 13, she had already had plenty of experience on radio, having appeared on the CBS children's show Let's Pretend. On that show she had played plenty of witches.

Most of the episodes of The Witch's Tale were original, although the show did feature some adaptations of classic horror stories and novels over the years, including "La Vénus d'Ille" by Prosper Mérimée (as "The Bronze Venus") in 1931, "The Bottle Imp" by Robert Louis Stevenson (adapted as "The Wonderful Bottle") in 1934, and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley in 1935.

The Witch's Tale was popular enough to have a pulp magazine based upon it. The Witch's Tales was published by Carwood Publishing Co. It would not repeat the show's success, lasting only two issues. Much of the reason for the failure of The Witch's Tales may have been because, with the exception of one original story by Alonzo Deen Cole in each of the two issues, the stories were entirely reprints from the American version of Pearson's Magazine.

Originally aired on WOR, The Witch's Tale would receive nationwide exposure when it was aired on the Mutual Radio Network starting in 1934. The show ended its run on June 13 1938. That is not to say that The Witch's Tale was gone. An Australian version of the show with a different cast and crew was syndicated to Australian radio stations from 1939 to 1943. The Australian version of The Witch's Tale adapted scripts from the original, American version.

Sadly, very little in the way of The Witch's Tale has survived. In 1961 Alonzo Deen Cole destroyed much of the show's episodes when he moved from New York to California, convinced that there was no market for old radio shows. Fortunately some episodes have survived, as have the 332 scripts for the show.

In On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, author John Dunning wrote of The Witch's Tale, "The effects were crude by later standards, and the stories were one-dimensional affairs, calculated for a single effect." Regardless, The Witch's Tale must have been effective to have run seven years. What is more, it was influential. Old Nancy was the first of many hosts of horror-suspense radio shows, predating Raymond of Inner Sanctum Mystery and the Mysterious Traveller of the radio show of the same name. The Witch's Tale may only be remembered by fans of Old Time Radio today, but it would leave a lasting impact on radio shows to come.