Escape!

By Wesley Critchfield

Escape was one of radio's leading anthology series of high-adventure dramas, airing on CBS from July 7, 1947, to September 25, 1954.

Tired of the everyday routine?

Ever dream of a life of… Romantic Adventure?

Wanna get away from it all?

WE OFFER YOU… ESCAPE!!!

Designed to free you from the four wall of Today, for a half hour of high adventure, Escape was very similar to Suspense, only this show was primarily comprised of Classic Adventure stories, from “The Heart of Darkness” to “Leiningen vs. the Ants” to “Three Skeleton Key” this classic radio program was the weekly home of names like “Joseph Conrad,” “Rudyard Kipling,” and “Richard Connell.”

From 1947 to 1954 Escape brought classic fiction into the homes of America, over the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) the same network that brought Suspense over the radio, in fact two of the men known as “The Man In Black” were frequent contributors to Escape, usually in the same function as Host, (Paul Frees and William Conrad) with the strains of Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain always in the background on the introduction. but unlike Suspense this show rarely had big stars to push it along (unless you count the writers of the original stories as stars) while you might find an occasional name considered famous today as part of the cast, they were mostly considered B or C level stars at best. Vincent Price, Jack Webb of Dragnet Fame,  Frank Lovejoy, and Bill Johnstone (known for playing The Shadow after Orson Welles left the program) were perhaps some of the most famous names to ever appear on the show, with Paul Frees and Bill Conrad very often taking the lead.

And while the voices may have felt a bit familiar at times, this did not in any way detract from the hypnotic nature of the show, if anything it felt more like a cast of old friends getting together each week to tell you one of their favorite stories.

Tales of Sinbad the Sailor, Edgar Allan Poe, M.R. James, Kipling, H. G. Wells , Ray Bradbury,  Robert Louis Stevenson, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Daphne du Maurier, Alexander Dumas, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Antony Ellis, Carl Stephenson and more would all have their work adapted for the show. It was truly an education in classic (or soon to be classic) adventure literature.

While many of the episodes would take place in the ends of the earth or the darkest jungles of Africa and South America, some took place in average places like New Orleans or the coast of England, but the show would occasionally venture into the realms of Science Fiction or “Future Fiction” taking place either in Space or on a future dystopian Earth, unlike Suspense which was almost taking place either in the present or the very recent past, and always on planet Earth. Perhaps the most notable of the “Scientifiction” (as the genre was called at the time) episodes is “The Earth Abides” by  George R. Stewart, which has the distinction of being the only two-part story ever to air on the show. (It’s actually quite good and is more than worth the hour it takes to listen.)

If Escape could be said to have a “Most Famous Story” akin to “Sorry, Wrong Number” it is probably “Three Skeleton Key” about three men who are trapped in an Island Lighthouse when as boat containing hundreds of starving giant rats, the size of a small dog crashes on the shore, and the rats smell out the only source of food, Gulp the men.

This story was highly requested and would be performed several times over the life of the show, most often by Vincent Price who would also perform the story on Suspense. But as of yet the story (which by the way was discovered in an issue of Esquire Magazine) has yet to receive a much deserved feature length Presentation or even an appearance on other Anthology TV shows such as the Twilight Zone or Amazing Stories.

In 1950 Escape attempted to make the jump to television, but sadly did not last more than three months on the air. Little of that TV adaptation is known to survive, and the biggest guest star appears to have been Lee Marvin. Considering its adventurous nature, and the vastly different locales the show would require, it’s unlikely that Escape could have been properly adapted to Television in the 1950’s as the medium was just coming into prominence and would have required a massive budget for sets and effects to be done properly every week. Only now (in 2023) with the advent of digital technology and LED screen filming such as has been used in The Mandalorian might filming such as show be truly cost effective.

In September 1954 the show breathed its last with “The Heart of Kali” and the program was no more. But it has left behind a legacy of fine adaptations and introductions to classic tales.

On a personal note, in about 1998 I discovered an anthology of classic radio programs featuring the best of some lesser known shows, from Escape, to X-Minus One. On the tape for Escape (yes it was an audio cassette, if you don’t know what that was google it kiddies, or dig through your parents sock drawer) (which I still have, by the way) where two episodes, “Three Skeleton Key,” and “Leiningen Versus the Ants”. I would listen to this cassette over and over, and virtually had both stories memorized verbatim. In 2002 I was in High School and our Literature teacher assigned us to read “Leiningen Versus the Ants.”

After glancing through the story and seeing that the radio play was as close to verbatim as one could imagine. I closed the book and never looked at the story again.

During a sort of “Pop Quiz Game” in which the teacher would go over the previous week’s short stories by having each row of seats constitute a team, the teacher asked “In ‘Leiningen Versus the Ants’ what is Leiningen’s philosophy of Life?”

When no one else responded, I put up my hand and replied, “The Human Brain has only to become fully aware of its powers to conquer even the elements.”

“Correct!” Replied the teacher, “And 5 bonus points for the exact quote!”

Later he told me, “I have been teaching this story for almost 20 years, and no one has ever come back with the exact quote to that question before.”

Escape is not only a great show, it’s an education.

As with most anthology shows the quality differs from episode to episode, and not every story ends happily, but on the whole the series is wonderful and is a definite 8 out of 10, with certain episodes hitting the 10+ mark.

(To be read in the sonorous Orson Welles-like tones:)

“You are trapped in a horrible drudgery,

A 9-to-5 existence that wants to pull you down into a mire of despair.

Nearby sits a computer with an open browser window, and only by typing in the name of a radio show from days gone by can you hope to survive. The word you must type into Youtube is “Escape”!!