"GAS" written by Alfred Hitchcock

GAS is a (very) short story written by Alfred Hitchcock when he was 20 years-old.

During Hitchcock's formative years as a young man, before he embarked on a career in motion pictures, he was a voracious reader of crime fiction and true-crime tales. One of his favorite authors was Edgar Allan Poe.

In a magazine article in the 1960s, Hitchcock recounted how Poe's proto-detective story Murders in the Rue Morgue made a deep impression. Hitchcock was particularly struck by the simplicity of Poe's short stories, how they provoked emotion in the reader and made their effects simply and directly, with just enough plausibility and character to allow the reader to enter the writer's world and be immersed in the drama and suspense.

Hitchcock, in his late teens during World War One, worked for a telegraph cable company called Henley's. While employed there as a draftsman and advertising designer, making illustrations and cartoons, he contributed several pieces of creative writing to the in-house company publication, called The Henley Telegraph. His very first pieces of fiction ever, Gas, was included in the premiere issue of The Henley Telegraph. He would contribute many more pieces of short fiction before leaving Henley's and going to work in the nascent British film industry.

LISTEN TO GAS HERE.

"GAS" (1919)
By Alfred Hitchcock
Performed by Mark Redfield
Announcer: Mary Anne Perry
Music: Lee David
Recording Engineer/Technical Director is Bill Dickson of Drat Productions.
Running time: 4m10sec

Copyright Mark Redfield & Damfino Media.

BEN AFFLECK, PBS AND SLAVES--JUST HOLD THE FUCK UP

 

So, Ben Affleck's ancestor, somebody-somebody, owned slaves. It made Ben Affleck uncomfortable. He was embarrassed for people to know. He asked that this information be excluded from a television show that he voluntarily was involved with. The producers, rightfully, did as Affleck wished.

Then one day, someone or some group commit a crime: they illegally hack a large corporation and steal millions of electronic documents, including private emails. They then distribute these illegally obtained, private documents and emails. 

Morally bankrupt, other groups and individuals share this private and illegally obtained material with millions of others. Others, obtaining this illegal and private material, with no moral compass to guide them, cherry-pick through this material, and with laser-focus, share this private material to more people.
Among other things learned, people are outraged that Affleck asked that producers leave out a detail about his heritage that made him uncomfortable and that he couldn't deal with.

So, the ends justifies the means. And you're okay with that. And you will be okay with me or anyone else, at any time, obtaining your personal and private documents and making something public that you wish kept secret.

Good for you.

-Mark Redfield
22 April, 2015

13th ANNUAL RONDO AWARDS--LAST DAY TO VOTE!

AND VOTE FOR POE FOREVERMORE RADIO THEATER!AND VOTE FOR POE FOREVERMORE RADIO THEATER!

www.rondoaward.com

The Rondo Awards are happening now and voting ends midnight, Sunday, April 19^th, 2015!Please take a few moments and VOTE NOW for Poe Forevermore Radio Theater in the 13^th Annual Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards! Vote for Poe Forevermore Radio Theater in category # 23 BEST MULTIMEDIA! Thank you!You don’t have to vote in every category, just the ones you know and feel comfortable voting on. And your vote for us in category #23 is greatly appreciated!Voting ballot is HERE: www.rondoaward.com and HERE http://rondoaward.com/rondoaward.com/blog/?p=168%2F%3Fp%3D168 HOW TO VOTE: – All voting is by e-mail only.  Simply copy this ballot and send an e-mail with your picks to me, David Colton, at taraco@aol.com by Sunday night at midnight, April 19
– You can cut-and-paste the ballot and highlight your choices, or place an X next to your choices; or you can type your choices in an e-mail.– And no, you do not have to vote in every category.

– Send your votes to taraco@aol.com –

– One vote per person, please. Every e-mail must include your name to be counted.
– All votes are kept strictly confidential. No e-mail addresses or personal information will ever be shared with anyone.
– Feel free to spread the word about Rondo nominations — place Rondo banners on websites, go social on Twitter or Facebook, urge fans and friends to vote. But please remember that overly organized voting campaigns (mass duplication of ballots, for example), are prohibited. Let’s try to keep this a fun vote.–Finally, thanks as always to the thousands of fans, pros and friends who have voted year after year. We look forward to hearing from you again. Let’s make RONDO13 the best ever.

Here is where you can listen to and download your favorite Poe Forevermore Radio Theater shows: http://www.poeforevermore.com/poe-radio.html
Thank you for voting for Poe Forevermore Radio Theater!
-Mark Redfield

Abraham Lincoln was a poet: "My Childhood Home I See Again"

Today is April 14, 2015, the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's assassination on 1865.


He was killed by actor John Wilkes Booth.

I've chosen a poem that he wrote in 1848 called My Childhood Home I See Again.

In the spring of 1846 Abraham Lincoln sent some poetry to his friend Andrew Johnston, and on September 6 enclosed additional stanzas with his letter. At Lincoln's request, Johnston published portions of the poetry anonymously in the Quincy, Illinois Whig on May 5, 1847.

Lincoln offered Johnston an explanation of the first poem ("My Childhood Home I See Again"), saying he had visited his boyhood neighborhood in southern Indiana in the fall of 1844 while campaigning for presidential hopeful Henry Clay. He commented that the region was "as unpoetical as any spot of the earth," but it brought back memories of loved ones such as his mother and sister who lay buried there.

He made Matthew Gentry the subject of Part II, telling Johnston: "He is three years older than I, and when we were boys we went to school together. He was rather a bright lad, and the son of the rich man of our poor neighborhood. At the age of nineteen he unaccountably became furiously mad, from which condition he gradually settled down into harmless insanity. When, as I told you in my other letter I visited my old home in the fall of 1844, I found him still lingering in this wretched condition. In my poetizing mood I could not forget the impression his case made upon me."

My Childhood Home I See Again was recorded on 14 April, 2014

You can listen to it HERE on Soundcloud.

 

FINAL WEEK TO VOTE FOR THE RONDO AWARDS! Poe Forevermore Radio Theater nominated for Best MultiMedia 2014!

The Rondo Awards are happening now and voting ends midnight, Sunday, April 19^th, 2015!

Please take a few moments and VOTE NOW for Poe Forevermore Radio Theater in the 13^th Annual Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards! Vote for Poe Forevermore Radio Theater in category # 23 BEST MULTIMEDIA! Thank you!You don’t have to vote in every category, just the ones you know and feel comfortable voting on. And your vote for us in category #23 is greatly appreciated! 

Voting ballot is HERE: www.rondoaward.com and
  HERE http://rondoaward.com/rondoaward.com/blog/?p=168%2F%3Fp%3D168  

HOW TO VOTE: – All voting is by e-mail only.  Simply copy this ballot and send an e-mail with your picks to me, David Colton, at taraco@aol.com by Sunday night at midnight, April 19
– You can cut-and-paste the ballot and highlight your choices, or place an X next to your choices; or you can type your choices in an e-mail.– And no, you do not have to vote in every category.

– Send your votes to taraco@aol.com –

– One vote per person, please. Every e-mail must include your name to be counted.
– All votes are kept strictly confidential. No e-mail addresses or personal information will ever be shared with anyone.
– Feel free to spread the word about Rondo nominations — place Rondo banners on websites, go social on Twitter or Facebook, urge fans and friends to vote. But please remember that overly organized voting campaigns (mass duplication of ballots, for example), are prohibited. Let’s try to keep this a fun vote.–Finally, thanks as always to the thousands of fans, pros and friends who have voted year after year. We look forward to hearing from you again. Let’s make RONDO13 the best ever.

Here is where you can listen to and download your favorite Poe Forevermore Radio Theater shows: http://www.poeforevermore.com/poe-radio.html
Thank you for voting for Poe Forevermore Radio Theater!

-Mark Redfield  

Here's a NEW production of Poe's THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO!
Listen to it for FREE HERE!