The Witch's Tale (1931-1934) was the first OTR fantasy-horror series. Each episode was a different story, often about ghosts or other eerie subjects, narrated by Old Nancy Holcomb, the Witch of Salem, and her black cat, Satan. The Witch's Tale is significant because it was the first OTR fantasy-horror series, and so established the standard for a host-based anthology series. Each episode was, literally a one-man production with male leads and the black cat, Satan, voiced by writer, director, and producer Alonzo Deen Cole. Female leads by his wife, Marie O'Flynn.
Total Episodes: 332(?)
Surviving Episodes: 30 (approximate)
The Haunted Crossroads
Episode #70, 17 October 1932
A ghost story about five police officers found dead at a deserted crossroads in Massachusetts over a period of seventy years. This version is probably an Australian remake, 1939-1941. Script available here.
The Witch's Tale began as a live, local production of WOR radio, New York, with episodes broadcast 28 May 1931-12 October 1934. The series switched to Mutual Radio System (MBS), 8 November 1934-13 June 1938. From 1939-1943, it was heard as a syndicated broadcast in Australia, with different cast and crew, based on remakes of the original scripts. [1]
Each episode began with this opening
The fascination of the eerie! Weird, blood-chilling tales, told by Old Nancy, the witch of Salem, and Satan, her wise black cat. They are waiting—waiting for you—now!
Each half-hour episode of The Witch's Tale, many in two parts, was written, directed, and produced by Alonzo Deen Cole (1897-1971).
The recurring cast included
Male leads (Alonzo Deen Cole)
Female leads (Marie O'Flynn)
Old Nancy Holcomb (Adelaide Fitz-Allen, Miriam Wolfe, and Martha Wentworth)
Satan, the black cat (Alonzo Deen Cole)
Director, producer, writer (Alonzo Deen Cole)
Old Nancy Holcomb, the Witch of Salem, who hosted each episode of the United States series, was voiced by Adelaide Fitz-Allen, and after her death at age 79, by thirteen-year-old Miriam Wolfe. Martha Wentworth also provided the witch's voice on occasion. Cole voiced the lead parts and the sounds of Old Nancy's cat, Satan. His wife, Marie O'Flynn, voiced the lead female character in each episode. Supporting roles were provided by Mark Smith and Alan Devitt. [2]
Cole also wrote scripts for the mystery-crime drama Crime Photographer (1945-1947), and its iterations Casey, Crime Photographer (1947-1950), and Crime Photographer (1954). Additionally, Cole wrote scripts for The Shadow (Season 7; 1943-1944), Gangbusters (dramatized FBI cases), The Hour of Charm (featuring Phil Spitalny and His Hour of Charm All Girl Orchestra and Choir with Evelyn and "Her Magic Violin"), and The Kate Smith Hour, producing in total nearly 1,000 radio plays and becoming an important OTR figure.
[1] According to David Siegel, Cole destroyed all his personal recordings of the series in 1961, thinking they had no commercial value (Siegel, David and Alonzo Deen Cole. The Witch's Tale—Stories of Gothic Horror from the Golden Age of Radio. Yorktown Heights, NY: Dunwhich Press, 1998). As a result, only about thirty transcriptions of original live United States broadcasts and Australian remakes represent the surviving episodes.
[2] Siegel, David and Alonzo Deen Cole. The Witch's Tale—Stories of Gothic Horror from the Golden Age of Radio. Yorktown Heights, NY: Dunwhich Press, 1998, 9.
Episodes (US) at Old Time Radio Researchers Library website
Episodes (AUS) at Old Time Radio Researchers Library website
The Witch's Tale radio logs at Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs website
Witch's Tale radio broadcast logs at the Audio Classics Archive website
Plot summaries and credits at Radio Gold Index website
The Witch's Tale scripts at Generic Radio Workshop website
Witch's Tale Errors notes the difficulty of establishing exact dates for each episode because of confusion between transcriptions and Australian productions. Known existing episodes are listed.