What is the real title of this famous radio play? It’s sometimes known as “the one about the ants,” but that’s easy to spell, and it’s not the title. Based on the original short story that appeared in the December 1938 Esquire magazine, it is “Leiningen” and not “Leinengen,” and “Versus” and not “Vs.” That didn’t stop the CBS script department, its directors or producers, and its publicity departments from treating the title as haphazard. This Suspense script misspells the title as “Leinengen” and “Vs.” and even spells author Carl Stephenson’s last name as “Stevenson.” In radio, it’s almost all pronounced the same no matter how you spell it… at least most times. The author’s spelling should prevail: he created the character, and he knows how to spell his own name. What the script has does not matter.
The Esquire issue is at The Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/Esquire-Magazine-1938-12/page/n53/mode/1up
The story was first dramatized on radio on Peter Lorre’s Mystery in the Air series on 1947-07-10, but that is not known to have survived (at least to current knowledge). The story became one of the most celebrated productions of Escape, broadcast live on four different dates. It was presented within days of each other in January 1948 when there was a Wednesday live performance and then a repeat live performance on Saturdays (affiliates could choose whichever they wanted, or do both). It was then presented in May 1948 and the final time in August 1949. With Escape off the air in 1954, and Robson’s love of re-presenting what he considers great scripts on Suspense, (even if they don’t exactly fit the Suspense mold), this was a chance to delight veteran listeners and awe new ones eight years after the last Escape production of it.
The basic story: At an Amazon jungle plantation, a swarming army of killer ants is about to arrive. It must be stopped. The owner is rather eccentric, and his actions seem out of the ordinary. But these are not ordinary ants. It is a massive column of deadly army ants, crawling over and consuming whatever is in their way. How will he stop them and save the plantation and the people and workers who live there? The story is good, the sound effects are superb.
The production was recorded on Wednesday, August 27, 1957. Rehearsal began at 2:00pm and concluded at 5:00pm. Recording began at that time, and with studio editing was completed by 7:00pm.
This production is from Hollywood and is the first time on Suspense. It is presented a second time in 1959, after the series moves to New York.
There are three surviving recordings, a network broadcast, and two releases from the Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS#s 645 and 945). AFRS#645 has excellent sound and is preferred for listening. It can be differentiated from the other AFRS recording by its first announcement. AFRS#645 has citizenship as the subject of ts opening announcement. The announcement in AFRS#945 is by Marvin Miller and is about folklore. The network and AFRS#945 have narrow range.
The story became a 1954 Paramount release as The Naked Jungle. It starred Charlton Heston and Eleanor Parker. It can be viewed at https://archive.org/details/the-naked-jungle-1954-charlton-heston-eleanor-parker-abraham-sofaer William Conrad is in the movie as a commissioner in the local government. The movie has a 6.7/10 at IMDb. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has an 88% from critics (the “Tomatometer”) and 60% from regular viewers (the “Popcornmeter”). There is an underlying love story to the movie and the pace can seem very slow, especially in comparison to the pace of the radio adaptations.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP570825
THE CAST
William Conrad (Leiningen), Ben Wright (Commissioner), Lou Merrill (Blas the foreman / Worker voice), Donald Buka (Picaru), Don Diamond (Tonayo), George Walsh (Narrator)
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