Richard Beals stars in a George Bamber story as a lab scientist
working on human cell structure whose experiment goes quite wrong.
Beals’ performance is outstanding. It is tempting to compare
this script to the movies The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957
release, and highly regarded) or Attack of the Puppet People
(1958 release, not so highly regarded) that were in theaters prior to
this production. That would take away from this innovative
production.
The Bamber story is based on the search for ways to shrink cancer
cells and the project lab work goes wrong. All of the patient’s
cells shrink. The script is good, but concept is not ground-breaking
and had been done before. When you consider the kinds of special
effects and props that were needed for The Incredible Shrinking
Man, the synergy of effectiveness of Bamber, and Robson, and
especially Beals, do all of that, and more, with effects, music, and
acting ability. It becomes an example of how powerful radio drama can
be. Beals’ character realizes that his death is imminent. He
endures frustrating attempts to warn others, and makes plans for his
warnings and remains to be found after his demise. Some may consider
this to be schlock sci-fi that was common in the 1950s, but the
production rises well above that. Then there’s the professional
voice acting challenge that Beals had to meet and exceed.
Richard
Beal's wide ranging performance did not require any special effects
beyond his vocal skills
to produce the high-pitched voices, and
have them change to indicate the character’s steadily reducing
size.
He
was interviewed at a SPERDVAC meeting on April 16, 1988. It included
this exchange with interviewer Larry Gassman; the text has been
edited for clarity:
Richard Beals: The toughest
radio show for me was the Suspense show Return
to Dust. It was the toughest, toughest radio show I
ever had to do. It's the scene where I start out just about my size,
three feet tall, from average size down to three feet. And then I
keep getting smaller and smaller and smaller. I think I’ve taken a
potion of something that is going to give eternal life, but it's just
making me smaller. And then in the final scene, I’m so small, the
parakeet eats me. [audience chuckles] Getting that voice down
that small to sustain it was the toughest radio show I ever had to
do.
Larry Gassman: They didn’t
speed that up?
Beals: No, no… that was me.
Gassman: You did all that,
really?
Beals: No, that was me.
Gassman: I figured they just
sped it up.
Beals: No. We did it. We taped
it, of course. But it was live on tape. We didn't have any retakes on
that.
The one-minute audio clip of the discussion can be
found at the same link as the program recordings.
Beals was a fascinating participant of the golden age
of radio, animation entertainment, and television advertising. He had
a very long and successful career. His voice was affected by, as he
explained it, a glandular issue where he did not go through puberty.
Wikipedia has an overview
of his career and life
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Beals
His biography, Think Big,
published in 1992, can be viewed at The Internet Archive
https://archive.org/details/thinkbig0000beal
and can often be found as used
copies for $15 or
thereabouts. His biography
does not mention his
performance in Return
to Dust.
Thank you again to
SPERDVAC’s Barbara Watkins for access to the recording and to Corey
Harker, president of the organization, for permission to make the
audio clip available.
In his monologue, Robson has high praise for the earlier Bamber
script, and refers to it as The Tennis Shoe. The title of that
play was actually Like Man, Somebody Dig Me.
The title of the episode comes from Genesis 3:19. The King James
Version translates it as “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat
bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou
taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” The
Complete Jewish Bible translates it as “You will eat bread by the
sweat of your forehead till you return to the ground — for you were
taken out of it: you are dust, and you will return to dust.”
The original title of the episode was “Specimen.”
The program was recorded on Thursday, January 22, 1959. Rehearsal
began at 2:00pm and recording started at 4:30pm. Including in-house
edits that session ended at 6:00pm. Production edits were completed
by 8:00pm. Music was added at a later time before broadcast.
There are three surviving recordings. There is a network recording
that is complete but is in low quality sound with narrow range and
some wow and flutter. There is an edited network recording without
commercials that is the best quality recording. The surviving
Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS) recording is of moderate quality
and is complete.
The Incredible Shrinking Man can be viewed at The Internet
Archive https://archive.org/details/incredible-shrinking-man-1957
as can be Attack of the Puppet People
https://archive.org/details/AttackOfThePuppetPeople1958
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP590201
THE CAST
RICHARD BEALS (James Howard), Lawrence Dobkin (Dr. Warren Bader),
Paula Winslowe (Miss Prichard), George Walsh (Narrator)
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