Phil Meeder, Santos Ortega, and Ellen McRae star in the dramatization of one of Stephen Vincent Benét’s earliest and most famous stories, Elementals. The story explores existential questions about the nature of life, posed in an interesting manner, as an experiment. A teacher, about to be married, maintains that love is one of the powers that guides the destiny of men, whereas his host insists that they are, rather, hate, fear and hunger. The experiment to decide which of the two is correct proves to be a challenge to both the teacher his bride-to-be. The cruel experiment is for the couple to go without food for a week, and if they do so, they will prove the depth of their love, and receive $10,000.
The Benét short story was adapted for Suspense by Edna Rae, better known as wife of producer Paul Roberts, actress Ellen McRae. She and Roberts divorced in 1961, and after a new marriage in 1964 to Neil Burstyn, and her name became Ellen Burstyn. Her birth name was Edna Rae Gillooly, so it is easy to see how her scriptwriting pseudonym and her stage name were derivations of her name.
The title on the script is “Elemental” while the printed Stephen Vincent Benét story uses “Elementals.”
The Benét story was presented several times on radio, usually a unique production. The story was used on Author’s Playhouse on 1941-03-05 and was adapted by Charles Gusman. On 1946-07-25 it was produced on Nelson Olmsted Playhouse, and was adapted by Virginia Wells (that cast include Everett Clarke who played The Whistler in the Chicago version of that series broadcast at that time). It was produced in 1949-02-14 on Radio City Playhouse with Benét noted as the author, but no adaptor identified. On 1953-10-11 it was presented on Escape and adapted by Meyer Dolinsky.
The program was recorded on Tuesday, June 7, 1960. Rehearsal began at 3:00pm and ended at 6:30pm. Recording was done from 6:30pm to 7:00pm.
Two recordings have survived. The network recording is an aircheck. with narrow range and some other defects but is very listenable. The preferred recording is Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS#790) which has a wider range of sound. It has some defects related to the condition of the transcription disc, but is the better of the two.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
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https://archive.org/details/TSP600612
THE CAST
Phil Meeder (Latimer), Santos Ortega (Slake), Ellen McRae (Catherine)
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