When it comes to Old Time Radio, I’m drawn to these shows as little time capsules. They are windows into our past. The way the actors perform the roles, the choice of jargon in the dialogue, and the descriptions of a world with lifestyles and technology long since changed, all take us on a journey to the past. Madison is our modern reflection peering into these places. And while a lot of her humor comes from her frustration with the older technology and her confronting the non-PC characters and situations that remind us just how far we have traveled since then, there is still an art to the adaptation to make these old scripts appeal to modern audiences.
When I was relistening to the catalogue of “Casey, Crime Photographer” episodes to pick one for Madison, I ran across “Photo of the Dead” and immediately wanted to use it because Casey’s sidekick, Ann Williams, played a very predominant part in the plot. Many of the noir/detective shows the female characters pop up every few scenes for minimal contribution, so it’s hard to envision Madison in those scripts. But this one was exactly what I like to use where a bulk of the plot centers around the female character. However, the original script was, well… kinda racist. While I enjoy writing Madison as the foil for sexist men, this original Casey script featured a character I couldn’t resolve how to handle. I like putting a spotlight on comments and characters that do not align with 2021 sensitivities, but this role was too large. So if you’ve heard our episode already, the “Medium” or “Psychic” in our script was originally a male Indian Swami. He was as stereotyped as they come – an evil Apu. Not even addressing that a Swami is actually a very important and revered religious position, a holy person, and to make him the villain felt, well, uck. Likewise, his bodyguard, Loki (yes, that is the original name from the script) was described as a “giant African.” So… yeah… not goin’ there.
I try to find ways to bring more female actors into the Madison scripts. Not a lot of call for women in OTR. I don’t believe in gender bending in the scripts because that hides my original mission statement of wanting to show how far we’ve come from the 1930s-1950s. I purposefully keep in mind that during this period of time men dominated all roles of authority such as bosses, doctors, politicians, police officers, etc. So it sends the wrong impression of the era if I rewrite those roles as women. Madison will point it out, though, don’t you worry. So where I try to bring in female voices is in the roles that don’t have to be men but Hollywood made them men anyway. But in the case of this episode of “Casey, Crime Photographer,” I made an active choice to move away from the Indian Swami to a more familiar trope: the “Gypsy Fortuneteller.”
Oh… goodness. So I only referred to Madame Lovell as a “gypsy” in the audition notice I put online for Loki, whom I took from the Indian Swami’s token African muscle to someone I envisioned was from Madame Lovell’s troupe. A trusted family member. So while I’m over here actually reenvisioning the role to be more PC, I was attacked for using the word “gypsy.” So first off, I never actually have her called a “gypsy” anywhere in the script, and secondly, I thought it was the best way to describe the ACCENT I was looking for from auditioners. Oh, and thirdly, my family is Romani Gypsy. My father-in-law is considered one of the authoritarians on Romani Gypsy Magic, having trained Penn & Teller in the art. And no one in my family has ever, EVER balked at the term. BUT… here we are in an age where the internet is full of very tiny angry people looking to pick fights with strangers. So my good intensions were slaughtered as they were taken completely out of context. At least I found Jerry Kokich who does a fabulous job as Loki. If you want to do a comparison with our version and the original “Photo of the Dead” episode, you can link to stream the original HERE.
One other fun little trick to adapting these old scripts to include Madison is my getting to explore and write for the established characters I’ve been listening to for decades. In our “Casey,” I took what I felt was a rather uninteresting (at least for us being a comedy) phone call scene where Ann Williams calls Casey to let him know Dad Phelan has died and created an entire extra scene for the comic relief, Ethelbert. That scene, is by far, my favorite in our entire episode.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them here. And thank you so much for listening!
