Raymond Burr stars in this 1904 HG Wells short story that was presented three prior times on Escape. The story was adapted by John Dunkel. Burr plays a mountaineer who is lost in the rocky peaks of Ecuador. He finds a valley of blind people, cut off from the world for generations, with a society and culture that has found ways to thrive. He has difficulty communicating concepts with them. They consider him “as an idiot” with some strange ideas. He soon falls in love with a young woman, Medina, and proposes marriage. She accepts, but her father refuses. They consider his eyes as an impediment to his health and well-being, and believe that by removing them, he will be “cured.” He decides to leave before that can be done, heartbroken to leave her. The story has a surprising revelation at its conclusion.
This episode was recorded on Friday, October 11, 1957. Rehearsal began at 12:00pm and concluded at 4:30pm. Recording began at that time and finished at 5:00pm.
There are two surviving recordings, both from the Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS#654 and AFRS#956). The recordings can be differentiated by the announcements after the Robson monologue:
AFRS#654: Functions of the US State Department
AFRS#956: Military medals
Of the two recordings, AFRS#654 has the better sound. They are actually very close in quality.
For decades, this episode circulated as an AFRS aircheck that was heavily edited and had sub-par sound. It is good that it is finally available in much better sound and is complete. No network recording is known to exist.
Classic radio enthusiast, researcher, and modern day performer Patte Rosebank notes that Wells' name for the mountain, “Parascotopetl,” means “mountain over the darkness.” Para is Latin for “over,” Skotos is Latin for “darkness” (the ophthalmic term the “Scotoma” comes from this Greek word and refers to “blind spot”), and Petl is Aztec for “mountain.”
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https://archive.org/details/TSP571027
THE CAST
Raymond Burr (Juan Nunez), Peggy Webber (Medina-Sarote), Ben Wright (Cartwright), Ed Jerome (Pedro / Dr. Yacob), Edgar Barrier (Correa), Jay Novello (Elder), George Walsh (Narrator)
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