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The original Time Machine motion picture based on H.G. Wells novel, which starred Rod Taylor, Alan Young and Yvette Mimieux, is still considered by many critics to be the best representation of Wells classic tale. The shape of the Time Machine itself, as used in the film, was inspired by Director, George Pal’s favourite type of childhood vehicle… a sled. The thinking behind the sled-like design of the Time Machine itself (pictured above) was so that it could ‘Slide” into time. While Wells’ version of ’The Time Machine’ will not be heard, several other brilliant tales involving Time will thrill Science Fiction fans beyond their wildest imaginations on the next ’From The Vault’ program.

On Wednesday night (30th July)

At 6:00 pm on Shoalhaven FM, ‘From The Vault,’ Harold Ellison’s program of Old-Time Radio Shows, in honour of our 300th weekly broadcast, listeners will have the enriching experience of listening to some fine examples of the Old-Time Radio genre of Science Fiction, with stories all having to do with The Manipulation of Time on a program we’ve called, “From The Vault’s There’s No Time Like Tonight Night.”

We’ll start off with ‘Dimension X,’ the show that was radio’s premier series of sophisticated adult Science Fiction tales, as opposed to shows like ‘Flash Gordon’ and ‘Buck Rogers,’ that were purely Sci-Fi for kids. In the episode, “Time and Time Again,” a 43-year-old man fighting in a future WWlll has been injured in a bomb blast and suddenly awakens back in the mid-1940’s again on the occasion of his 13th birthday. Although confused, he’s fully aware of what has happened to him as well as all the history that has occurred in between. With this knowledge, he realises that he may have the opportunity to alter history, save lives, and at the same time, make his father a wealthy man… that is, if anyone will believe his story.

Then, as ‘Dimension X’ was such a huge success for NBC, shortly afterwards, a very similar show was broadcast by the CBS Radio Network, called ‘Tales of Tomorrow,’ with story adaptations from Galaxy Sci-Fi Magazine. In the fantastic tale called “The Old Die Rich,” a brilliant, but quite mad female scientist builds a Time Machine and sends old men into the future to perform certain tasks for her, so that she can become all-powerful. Although, when the men return, they are found either dead or dying of starvation, with their pockets stuffed full of money. But one man, who comes within a hair’s breath of getting killed himself, discovers the secret of her diabolical plan, and arranges suitable retribution.

And then, we’ll hear the show ‘Quiet Please,’ created by Wyllis Cooper, the man responsible for the previous huge hit, ‘Lights Out.’ After some dabbling in motion picture work, Cooper returned to his radio roots creating ‘Quiet Please,’ a show that packed a terrifying punch. In “It’s Later Than You Think,” a man going off to war is given a watch as a parting gift from his workmates, although he soon discovers, besides all the usual features of time, day, date, etc., the watch has an extra chilling feature… by setting the time forward or back a few hours, he now has the uniquely powerful ability to actually shift time. He enjoys this power at first, but he realises there is a possibility that it could be used against him.

And, ‘Claybourne,’ our continuing radio serial from New Zealand, adds a little more Sci-Fi to your evening.

‘From The Vault’ airs immediately after Harold Ellison's other program, ‘The Jazz Café,’ relaxes you to the soothing sounds of mellow, Smooth Jazz, 4 to 6 pm. Wednesdays.

Gunsmoke’s radio cast possibly wouldn’t have worked out on television, as you can see from this cast photo in costume. William Conrad was U.S. Marshall Matt Dillon (seated Centre), Howard McNear was Doc Adams (seated left), Parley Baer was deputy Chester Proudfoot (seated right) and Georgia Ellis was saloon owner Kitty Russell (standing rear). The show was distinct from other radio westerns, as the dialogue was often slow and halting, and due to the outstanding sound effects, listeners had a nearly palpable sense of the prairie terrain where the show was set. The effects were subtle but multilayered, giving the show a spacious feel, something to keep in mind whilst listening to this excellent show on the next ’From The Vault’ program.

On Wednesday night (23rd July)

At 6:00 pm on Shoalhaven FM, ‘From The Vault,’ Harold Ellison’s program of Old-Time Radio Shows, will once again bow to numerous requests and present a genre of shows that have always been a favourite with many listener’s and these involve tales of Cowboys and the American West. You’ll get to hear some of the most popular Cowboy Western shows ever on a program we’re calling, “From The Vault’s A Horse, A Gun and a Ten Gallon Hat Night.”

When you hear Rossini’s William Tell Overture and a fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust and hearty “Hi yo, Silver!,” you’ll know that (Brace Beemer stars as) ‘The Lone Ranger’… rides again! For more than 20 years this masked man, accompanied by his sidekick, Tonto, fought to keep the South-western United States free of outlaws and other bad elements. In the episode, “Death Train,” a 6 car train, careening down the tracks out of control, is nearing a curve that will surely derail it. There are no survivors, but our heroes find a hastily scribbled note that says “This was no accident,” so they set an elaborate trap to catch the baddies.

Then, around Dodge City and the territory on West there’s just one way to handle the killers and the spoilers and that’s with a U.S. Marshall and the smell of ‘Gunsmoke.’ William Conrad was brilliant as Marshall Matt Dillon as was the rest of the radio cast, but ‘Gunsmoke’ was also famous for it’s well-written scripts, exciting music and realistic (and frequent) sound effects. In the story “Hinka Do,” the Longranch Saloon’s been sold to a big, loud, rough and tough woman named ‘Mamie,’ who’s suspected of killing the saloon’s previous owner when his clothes are found buried.

And then, with action and suspense out of the old West comes the most famous hero of them all, ‘Hopalong Cassidy’ starring William Boyd. In “Right Rope, Wrong Neck,” Hoppy’s friend has been wrongly accused of murder and is scheduled to hang, but Hoppy was able to prove him innocent and rode 3 days to the jail to deliver the good news. But, upon arriving, the warden informs Hoppy that he’s 30 hours too late and that his friend escaped from jail, and in doing so, killed a guard. So now, when he’s caught, he WILL hang!

And in the last show, although Tom Mix was a popular cowboy star in movies, he never really appeared on ‘The Tom Mix Ralston Straight-Shooters,’ with Ralston being the name of the sponsor’s cereal. So integrated was the sponsor’s product into the show that the theme song’s lyrics sang about how to start your day off right with Shredded Ralston for breakfast to “give you lots of cowboy energy.” In “The Mystery of The Woman In Gray,” a woman comes to town who claims too have the power to make people do whatever she wants them to do.

And, ‘Claybourne,’ our continuing radio serial from New Zealand, makes its weekly appearance.

‘From The Vault’ airs immediately after Harold Ellison's other program, ‘The Jazz Café,’ relaxes you to the soothing sounds of mellow, Smooth Jazz, 4 to 6 pm. Wednesdays.

Ronnie Barker was probably best remembered for his TV work in his BBC television comedy sketch show with Ronnie Corbett, ‘The Two Ronnies,’ as well as ‘Porridge’ and ‘Open All Hours,’ amongst many others. Ronnie Corbett said that throughout their many years working together there was never a cross word between them and that Barker was "pure gold in triplicate - as a comedian, writer and friend". When Barker passed away in October 2005, at aged 76, his catchphrase ending from ‘The Two Ronnies’ provided the perfect epitaph: "Goodnight From Him". Barker had also been active in radio, on such shows as ‘Navy Lark’ and the sketch show ‘Lines From My Grandfather’s Forehead,’ the latter of which will be heard on the next ’From The Vault’ program.

On Wednesday night (16th July)

At 6:00 pm on Shoalhaven FM, ‘From The Vault,’ Harold Ellison’s program of Old-Time Radio Shows, has dug deep into Harold’s enormous collection to find some excellent comedy shows that he’s never previously aired on the program, and come up with 2 ½ British shows and an American one. The ½ British show was recorded just a few years ago at the Edinburgh Fringe Comedy Festival, hosted by an American comic and features stand-up comedy mainly from Aussie comedians, so you are free to label the origin of this show whatever you wish. The program, guaranteed to be a belly-laugh a minute, is being called, “From The Vault’s NEW Old Comedies Night.”

We’ll be starting off with a British show called ’It Sticks Out Half A Mile,’ which was a BBC Radio sitcom created by Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles as a sequel to the highly successful war sitcom ‘Dad's Army.’ It sort of takes over where ‘Dad's Army’ left off. Some of the characters are still there, but some are not as a few of the cast members have passed away since that series was made. It’s not only funny, but it’s fascinating to see how they’ve handled the sequel. This episode is called, “The Fancy Dress Night.”

Then, surely many of you have seen TV’s very funny “Whose Line Is It Anyway”… either the British or the American version (which are almost identical)… and if you have, then you’ll probably recall the very clever American comedian Greg Proops. Well, Greg went to the Edinburgh Fringe Comedy Festival a few years ago and taped some radio shows for the BBC. This one is called, “We Say Tomayto,” and this episode of the show, features, amongst others, Aussie comedians Julia Morris and Adam Hills. Get set to laugh yourself silly.

And we’ll follow that with an absolutely hysterical Groucho Marx show from 1944 called “Blue Ribbon Town,’ that, in spite of it being incredibly funny, has all but faded into obscurity over the decades. The Blue Ribbon in the title relates to the sponsor, as everything did in those days, and the sponsor was Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer. Groucho’s guest is Jack Benny (who’s always good for a laugh) although Groucho definitely had the best laugh of the evening that amazingly got past the censors. I’ll tell you more about that line on the program, as it probably shouldn‘t appear in print! Leo Gorcey, who became famous for his film portrayal as the leader of the group of young hooligans, the Dead End Kids, also makes an appearance.

And the last of the shows is another fine British effort, starring Ronnie Barker, called ‘Lines From My Grandfather’s Forehead.’ The programme content is difficult to define, although each episode was a sequence of comedy sketches, monologues and comic songs, the humour was askance/off-the-wall/tangential. The show was certainly different to most comedy of the time; it was announced as 'a sequential entertainment for radio', with its nearest relatives perhaps being Monty Python or The Goons.

And, ‘Claybourne,’ our continuing radio serial from New Zealand, keeps on continuing, with the occasional sheep appearing in a non-speaking role.

‘From The Vault’ airs immediately after Harold Ellison's other program, ‘The Jazz Café,’ relaxes you to the soothing sounds of mellow, Smooth Jazz, 4 to 6 pm. Wednesdays.

Katherine Hepburn was an actress whose film career was so all-consuming that there simply wasn’t time to do very much radio work, in fact, in 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Katherine Hepburn as the greatest female star in the history of American cinema, which clearly indicated where she dedicated the majority of her acting efforts. Fortunately however, you’ll have the rare opportunity to hear an absolutely brilliant radio performance of hers in Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women,” in which Hepburn starred on a show called ‘The Theatre Guild On The Air,’ and be able to appreciate this remarkable example of her acting skills on the next ’From The Vault’ program.

On Wednesday night (9th July)

At 6:00 pm on Shoalhaven FM (previously known as TripleU-FM), ‘From The Vault,’ Harold Ellison’s program of Old-Time Radio Shows, will demonstrate to listeners a bit of personal indulgence by presenting an evening of shows featuring (for a change) some of Harold’s favourite stars and not at all influenced by anything that listeners have requested. After all, ‘From The Vault’ has been on air for nearly six years now and this is the very first time Harold has been so bold as to put on a program and call it, “From The Vault’s Host’s Favourites Night,” which will play shows featuring your Host’s favourite Actor and favourite American Comedy Team.

Like most everyone else, I have several actors which I could reasonably call my favourites, and in all probability, just like most everyone else, these stars became favourites for a variety of reasons, not the least of which involved the actor‘s looks, but as this attraction is distinctly absent on radio, I was then limited to selecting an actor who is or was able to project the full range of their talent through their voice and for me, in this area you‘d have to go pretty far to beat Katherine Hepburn, with her distinctive brisk upper-class New England accent. Hepburn was a spirited performer with a touch of eccentricity, elements which made her ideal for the role of Jo in Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women,” first in the 1933 film version and then again in 1945 on ‘The Theatre Guild On The Air,’ a performance that I feel compelled to go back and listen to every now and again, it’s that close to perfection. Don’t be surprised if, after hearing it, you feel the same way.

The American comedy team was a little more difficult to select, as there were so many greats… and on top of that, the team that I leaned in the direction of was made up of one American and one British comedian, although, without a shadow of a doubt, they made their all their most successful films in the U.S. You may have already guessed that I’m talking about Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, affectionately known to the world as simply Laurel and Hardy. Another problem was that these two were in the movie-making business, and in a similar manner to my favourite actress, did very little radio. However, I do believe that I’ve found a superb example of their radio appearances, called ‘The Laurel and Hardy Show’ that was not only excellent, but it comes about as close to sounding like one of their classic films as it possibly could. Add to this an episode of ‘This Is Your Life - Laurel and Hardy’ and you have not only some wonderful rollicking humour, but the story behind the humour as well.

And, needless to say, we’ll also be hearing the next episode of ‘Claybourne,’ our continuing radio serial from New Zealand.

‘From The Vault’ airs immediately after Harold Ellison's other program, ‘The Jazz Café,’ relaxes you to the soothing sounds of mellow, Smooth Jazz, 4 to 6 pm. Wednesdays.