Madison in the adventure
versus the Original OTR episodes
There has been a lot of… let’s say “finagling” to get Madison into these original old time radio scripts. With our second year well underway, I thought it would be fun to describe just how much changed between the OG and Madison’s version of these scripts from Year One. There are also links to the actual original OTR episode if you care to hear what changed and what was actually in the original episode.
EPISODE 1 – DRAGNET “THE BIG TRUNK” (Original episode linked HERE)
Madison stepped into the role of Joe Friday’s partner, Frank Smith. Thing with “Dragnet” is, Joe’s partners are usually just sounding boards to allow Joe to talk so he doesn’t appear to just be talking to himself. Frank didn’t have a lot to say or do in the episode, so Madison, being her first adventure, was able to have a reason to tag along and comment on things, but there was no demand for her to move the plot along. I also stuck really close to the original script in this one. You’ll find that loosens up as the episodes progress.
EPISODE 2 – GUNSMOKE “THE MORTGAGE” (Original episode linked HERE)
Marshal Matt Dillon’s unofficial deputy in the radio show was Chester Proudfoot. He may not be very bright, but he’s absolutely loyal and Matt couldn’t do his job without him. Madison stepping in for him got to keep some of the naiveté of Chester while actually contributing to the action by being the one who bids against the greedy Caleb Andrews. But Chester would never pick a fight with Kitty. He knows better.
EPISODE 3 – SUPERMAN “BATMAN’S GREAT MYSTERY” (Original scripts linked HERE)
So this one was an eleven (ELEVEN!) part story. I don’t know where to find the original audio, but I’ve linked to the scripts on Generic Radio Workshop where I got a lot of my scripts early on. It was a beast to break down into a reasonable 30ish minute episode, so the adaptation is very abridged from the original. But it did have The Boy Wonder going to Superman for help, so Madison got to don the tights of Robin and get swept up into her first superhero adventure.
EPISODE 4 – NIGHT BEAT “RAILROADED” (Original episode linked HERE)
I’m a big fan of “Night Beat” (maybe the Chicagoan in me) and thought it would be fun for Madison to actually take over for the lead, Randy Stone. I don’t want to do that too often, because she isn’t the clever detective most of these stories require. But this particular script had a character not often used in the series of Billie, the female assistant at the Chicago Star. She was able to keep Madison on track as the story unfolded.
EPISODE 5 – LET GEORGE DO IT “LADY IN DISTRESS” (Original episode linked HERE)
This script was a fun choice because it started with George Valentine’s Girl Friday/Would-be Girlfriend, Miss Brooks, taking it upon herself to reply to a letter of a desperate woman in need of help. That got Madison right into the thick of the story… and landed her in jail accused of murder. How cool is that?
EPISODE 6 – THE ADVENTURES OF SAM SPADE “THE DEAD DUCK CAPER” (Original episode linked HERE)
If you’re familiar with Sam Spade, while a fabulous gritty noir detective, you might’ve noticed he’s not very nice to his assistant, Effie. Admittedly, she’s a bit of a bubble-head, but DANG! He doesn’t treat her with much kindness at all, driving her to tears quite often. So this script was perfect. The original had Sam reluctantly going to Effie’s mother’s birthday party where the mystery of “The Duck” would begin. For us, it’s Madison’s grandmother’s birthday and instead of being bullied to tears by Sam, Madison stands up to him. Yeah… they don’t get along.
EPISODE 7 – THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES “A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA” (Original episode linked HERE)
Naturally Madison had to step in for Dr. Watson. And it was a ton of fun to have the dual storylines running between the actual adventure with Sherlock, and Madison telling the story (hopped up on caffeine) to the announcer. Dr. Watson is left out of the loop quite often when Sherlock gets going on his cases, so Madison running behind him trying to play catch up (and then getting into a fight not realizing Sherlock had staged the whole affair) worked perfectly.
EPISODE 8 – THE SHADOW “THE CAT THAT KILLED” (Original episode linked HERE)
This is the first episode I adapted myself directly from the audio recording. I didn’t like the choices of scripts available online, so I listened to a bunch of episodes until I landed on one I liked. (This is how I do all of the episodes now in Year Two) Madison steps in for another Girl Friday/Would-be Girlfriend, Margo Lane. But this episode has some plot switches. In the original, Margo is captured by the “cat man” and Lamont has to save her. I wanted Madison to have a go at clouding men’s minds as The Shadow, so I had Lamont captured by the “cat man” and Madison has to put the plan together to save the day. However, never wanting to deviate from who these characters are in the original stories, I wrote it so Lamont got captured ON PURPOSE so he could learn more about the “cat man” by being inside his hideout. So Lamont wasn’t a helpless victim. It was all part of his overall plan and, ultimately, the REAL Shadow saves the day.
EPISODE 9 – THE ADVENTURES OF THE THIN MAN “THE GOOFY GROOM” (Original script linked HERE)
Another episode I only have the script for. This show was recommended to me by Lara Kristine Elliott, our voice of Nora Charles. While Madison had thus far been stepping in for the Girl Fridays to work along side the male detectives, this was a fun swap to have her step into the role of the male detective, Nick. I wanted to have more female characters, and this one not only lead to Madison having to disguise herself as a man and give a convincing kiss to Nora, but also to contend with Bingo Burns, who might’ve been more similar to Madison, herself, than she’d like to admit.
EPISODE 10 – ROCKY JORDAN “STRANGERS THREE” (Original episode linked HERE)
Well, I couldn’t find any Rocky Jordan scripts online, and this being one of my top favorites, I set out to find an episode to transcribe myself. This one is probably one of THE most altered adaptations to include Madison. To put her into the plot, I gave her the role of the actual bad guy/murderer who was using Rocky to get to Angus Morgan. HE was the one pretending to be the dead men of Svenson and Moray and the one to actually kill Angus. So I rewrote the story for Angus’ bodyguard, Phillip, to be the bad guy and reworked the motivation for why Madison was trying to find Angus (he stole her iPhone!) Poor Phillip. In the original he was a good, loyal bodyguard. Now he’s in prison.
EPISODE 11 – CASEY, CRIME PHOTOGRAPHER “PHOTO OF THE DEAD” (Original episode linked HERE)
Another one I self-transcribed. This one had a huge overhaul, too. I chose it because Miss Williams, Casey’s Would-be Girlfriend, was heavily involved in the plot to bring down the fake medium, which I thought would be fun for Madison. However, oh… dear. The “medium” was originally an Indian Swami (a male). It was just too much to tackle. The fact that Swamis are actually highly revered religious figures turned into a side-show carnival act bad-guy… ugh. And there was Loki. A huge dumb African man doing the Swamis every bidding… Eek. Decided a generic female “medium” with a generic slavic-ish European accent was a bit more palatable. Same for her servant. And it gave me a chance to have another large female role in the script.
EPISODE 12 – DRACULA (Original script linked HERE)
This one I only have the script for. The original adaptation from the novel was done by the Stage 49 people, and then Madison got a hold of it. She starts in the role of Jonathan Harker. I loved giving her a sexy male vampire to “seduce” her in the Count’s castle. But then the story jumps to London and blah, blah BORING. Why not 1940’s Los Angeles? I figured there are so very many adaptions of the original story, why not go a different direction. It was the Stage 49’s adaptation that made Dr. Seward the love interest of Lucy, I guess trying to simplify. But it was all good on our end. Madison got to stake a couple vamps and live out her Buffy fantasies.
EPISODE 13 – DIMENSION X “THE PARADE” (Original episode linked HERE)
I knew I wanted to do a sci-fi episode and Dimension X is my favorite… AND “The Parade” is my favorite episode. I transcribed this one. It worked perfectly to have Madison as Sid Ryan’s assistant (who was a dude, BTW). Although I did add her to the parade commentary because… why not? She’s definitely more aware of what is going on than Sid, who is the symbol of greedy American capitalism. Unfortunately for Sid’s original assistant, Mr. Loushar kills him. I guess to really hit home to Sid that “shyte just got real.” Madison manages to survive the adventure… through the “freaky-deaky science stuff.”
EPISODE 14 – CANDY MATSON: YUKON 2-8209 “JACK FROST” (Original episode linked HERE)
This script I found back at the beginning of putting the show together, but sat on it to have it be our Christmas episode. Madison doesn’t step into anyone’s role in this one. She’s purely a hanger-on to Candy. But Madison is so impressed by Candy that it still was a good fit. The major rewrite here came at the end. I hate to say this, everyone, but not every episode of every old time radio show is gold… just because it’s old. The original episode wrapped up with a huge Candy monologue that introduced new information in order to explain the motives and ending! What??? I took that information and actually wove it into the episode so it would be part of the plot, and then gave Candy, Madison and Rembrandt a scene to have a conversation which wrapped up the last threads. Come on, original writers, y’all got lazy here!
EPISODE 15 – THE SAINT “THE CORPSE SAID OUCH” (Original episode linked HERE)
This specific episode was recommended to me, so I did transcribe it myself. The first thought was putting Madison in Louie the cab driver’s seat, but although he’s a series regular, he didn’t do much in the episode overall. But Madison in the “might be a dead girl” role opened up so much! Her existential crisis for one, and trying to really understand what happened to cause her to travel into these shows. (Sorry… still no answer!) But also that Madison has now sublet an apartment in the OTR world and has worked some odd jobs in between the episodes we hear… in this case as a “cabaret dancer.” Oh, my!
Overall, the beauty of the show is I can do whatever I want. No rules! Madison can do anything. So the adaptations will continue to grow and evolve.
