Boxcars711 Old Time Radio Pod - Lights Out "Little Old Lady" (5-25-43)

Lights Out was originally a 15 minute program created by Wyllis Cooper, but it was eventually expanded to 30 minutes (Buxton, 140). Cooper was a magnificent horror writer, but he moved to Hollywood in 1936 to try his hand at script writing (Dunning, 399). Cooper wrote Son Of Frankenstein and other screenplays, but nothing as remarkable as his radio stories. Arch Oboler took over the show and Lights Out grew into a household name. Obler's incredible plots included a "Chicken Heart" that ate the world, or in the case of "Meteor Man," a large alien head that floated about hungry for humans. It became increasingly difficult for Oboler to top his last story. By 1938, he also left the show to write anti-Nazi propaganda for a series called Arch Olber's Plays. Lights Out continued for another year with other NBC writers and directors. Then Oboler brought it back in 1942 and became the host, using Bob LeMond as his announcer (Dunning, 400). This was the year during the war that that the series really took off. He left it again in 1943 and it was reduced to summer status and recycled older Cooper scripts. But Oboler would return with more of his Lights Out stories from 1970 to 1973 with The Devil and Mr. O. Go To GoDaddy, use the promo code blu19 and save 10%