Escape!

FORMAT: (2) MP3 DVD / (8) MP3 CDS

Escape was radio's leading anthology series of high-adventure radio dramas, airing on CBS from July 7, 1947 to September 25, 1954. Since the program did not have a regular sponsor like Suspense, it was subjected to frequent schedule shifts and lower production budgets, although Richfield Oil signed on as a sponsor for five months in 1950.

Despite these problems, Escape enthralled many listeners during its seven-year run. The series' well-remembered opening combined Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain with this introduction, as intoned by Paul Frees and William Conrad:

"Tired of the everyday grind? Ever dream of a life of romantic adventure? Want to get away from it all? We offer you... Escape!" Following the opening theme, a second announcer (usually Roy Rowan) would add: "Escape! Designed to free you from the four walls of today for a half-hour of high adventure!"

Of the more than 230 Escape episodes, most have survived in good condition. Many story premises, both originals and adaptations, involved a protagonist in dire life-or-death straits, and the series featured more science fiction and supernatural tales than Suspense. Some of the memorable adaptations include Daphne du Maurier's "The Birds", Carl Stephenson's "Leiningen Versus the Ants" (filmed in 1954 as "The Naked Jungle", Algernon Blackwood's "Confession", Ray Bradbury's oft-reprinted "Mars Is Heaven", George R. Stewart's Earth Abides (the program's only two-parter), Richard Connell's "The Most Dangerous Game" and F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz".

John Collier's "Evening Primrose", about people who live inside a department store, was later adapted to TV as a Stephen Sondheim musical starring Anthony Perkins. Vincent Price, Harry Bartell and Jeff Corey were heard in the chilling "Three Skeleton Key" (broadcast on 17 March 1950), the tale of three men trapped in an isolated lighthouse by thousands of rats; the half-hour was adapted from an Esquire short story by the French writer George Toudouze and later remade for the 9 August 1953 broadcast starring William Conrad, Ben Wright and Jay Novello.

Actors on the series included Elvia Allman, Eleanor Audley, Parley Baer, Michael Ann Barrett, Tony Barrett, Harry Bartell, Ted Bliss, Lillian Buyeff, Ken Christy, William Conrad, Ted deCorsia, John Dehner, Don Diamond, Paul Dubov, Sam Edwards, Virginia Gregg, Lou Merrill, Howard McNear, Jess Kirkpatrick, B.J. Thompson, Shep Menken, Frank Gerstle, George Neece, Jeanette Nolan, Dan O'Herlihy, Barney Phillips, Forrest Lewis, Robert Griffin, Alan Reed, Bill Johnstone, Sandra Gould, Junius Matthews, Carleton G. Young, Frank Gerstle, Marvin Miller, Frank Lovejoy, Berry Kroeger, Vic Perrin, Elliott Lewis, Eleanore Tanin, Herb Vigran, Jack Webb, Peggy Webber and Will Wright. Music was supplied by Del Castillo, organist Ivan Ditmars, Cy Feuer, Wilbur Hatch and Leith Stevens. The announcers were Paul Frees and Roy Rowan. The program's opening announcement—"Tired of the everyday grind?"—was employed as a slogan for the counterculture magazine, New Escapologist.


During the run of this program there were several shows that were produced more than once with different actors. These were left in for completeness.

Episode List

A Bullet for Mr Smith
A Good Thing
A Matter of Conscience
A Passenger to Bali
A Shipment of Mute Fate (David Ellis)
A Shipment of Mute Fate (Jack Webb)
A Shipment of Mute Fate (John Lund)
A Sleeping Draft (Alec Harford)
A Sleeping Draft (John Dodsworth)
A Source of Irritation
A Study in Wax
A Tooth for Paul Revere
Action (Berry Kroeger)
Action (Joseph Kearns)
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
An Ordinary Man
Ancient Sorceries (national broadcast)
Ancient Sorceries (national broadcast, different production)
Back for Christmas
Beau Geste
Benscelina and the Fisherman
Blood Bath
Bloodwaters
Border Town
Carnival in Vienna
Casting the Runes
Classified Secret
Clear for Action
Command (Elliott Reed)
Command (Harry Bartell)
Confession
Confidential Agent
Conqueror's Isle (David Ellis)
Conqueror's Isle (Harry Bartell)
Conquest
Country of the Blind (Paul Frees, William Conrad)
Crossing Paris
Danger at Matecumbe
Dead of Night (Audition)
Diary of a Madman
Dream of Armageddon
Earth Abides Part 1
Earth Abides Part 2
El Guitarrero
Evening Primrose (Elliott Lewis)
Evening Primrose (Harry Bartell)
Evening Primrose (William Conrad)
Eye of Evil
Figure a Dame
Finger of Doom
Flood on the Goodwins (Jack Edwards)
Flood on the Goodwins (Vic Perrin)
Four Went Home
Funeral Fires
Green Splotches
Gringo
Habit
He Who Rides the Tiger
How Love Came to Professor Guildea (national broadcast)
How Love Came To Professor Guildea (national broadcast, different production)
I Saw Myself Running
Incident in Quito
Jetsam
Jimmy Goggles, the God (national broadcast)
John Jock Todd
Journey into Fear
Judgment Day at Crippled Deer
Leiningen Versus the Ants (Tudor Owen)
Leiningen Versus the Ants (William Conrad, Jay Novello)
Leiningen vs the Ants (national broadcast)
Leiningen vs the Ants (national broadcast, different production)
Letter from Jason
Lili and the Colonel
Macao
Maracas
Mars Is Heaven
Misfortune's Isle (national broadcast)
Misfortune's Isle (national broadcast)
Night in Havana
Night of the Guns
North of Polaris
Operation Fleur De Lys
Orient Express
Out Of This World (Audition)
Papa Benjamin (national broadcast)
Papa Benjamin (national broadcast)
Papa Benjamin (national broadcast, different production)
Pass to Berlin
Plunder of the Sun
Poison
Pollack and the Porroh Man
Port Royal
Present Tense
Pressure
Red Wine (Jeff Chandler)
Red Wine (Willard Waterman)
Ring of Thoth
Robert of Huntingdon
Rough Shoot
Roulette
Second Class Passenger (Parley Baer)
Second Class Passenger (Parley Baer)
Seeds of Greed
Serenade for a Cobra
Seven Hours to Freedom
Shark Bait
She
Shipment of Mute Fate (Harry Bartell)
Sire De Maletroit's Door
Snake Doctor (Ira Grossel)
Snake Doctor (national broadcast)
Snake Doctor (national broadcast, different production)
Something for Nothing
SS San Pedro
Sundown
Taboo
The Adaptive Ultimate
The Ambassador of Poker
The Birds
The Boiling Sea
The Brute
The Cave
The Country of the Blind
The Country of the Blind (Edmond O'Brien)
The Coward
The Dark Wall
The Derelict
The Diamond as Big as the Ritz (Jack Edwards, Jr)
The Diamond as Big as the Ritz (Sam Edwards, Helen Thomas)
The Diamond as Big as the Ritz (William Conrad)
The Drums of the Fore and Aft (Ben Wright))
The Drums of the Fore and Aft (Gil Stratton, Jr)
The Earthman
The Fall of the House of Usher
The Far-Away Island
The Follower
The Footprint
The Fortune of Vargas
The Fourth Man (Berry Kroeger)
The Fourth Man (Paul Frees)
The Fourth Man (Wilms Herbert)
The Fugitive
The General Died at Dawn
The Gladiator
The Golden Snake
The Great Impersonation
The Grove Of Ashtaroth (national broadcast, different production)
The Heart of Kali (last show)
The Invader
The Island (Harry Bartell)
The Island (Stacy Harris)
The Island (Stacy Harris)
The Killer Mine
The King of Owanatu
The Log of the Evening Star (national broadcast)
The Lost Special
The Loup-Garou
The Man Who Could Work Miracles
The Man Who Could Work Miracles
The Man Who Could Work Miracles
The Man Who Liked Dickens
The Man Who Stole the Bible (Ben Wright)
The Man Who Stole the Bible (Sam Pierce)
The Man Who Won the War
The Man Who Won the War
The Man Who Would Be King (Ben Wright)
The Man Who Would Be King (Ben Wright)
The Man Who Would Be King (Raymond Lawrence)
The Man with the Steel Teeth
The Match
The Most Dangerous Game
The Open Boat
The Out Station
The Outer Limit
The Pistol
The Power of Hammer
The Price of the Head (Hans Conreid)
The Price of the Head (William Conrad)
The Red Forest (Ben Wright)
The Red Mark
The Return
The Rim of Terror
The Running Man
The Second Class Passenger (national broadcast)
The Second Class Passenger (national broadcast, different production)
The Shanghai Document
The Silent Horror
The Sure Thing (Anthony Ross)
The Sure Thing (Anthony Ross)
The Sure Thing (William Conrad)
The Target
The Time Machine (Jeff Corey)
The Time Machine (John Dehner)
The Time Machine (John Dehner)
The Tramp
The Vanishing Lady (national broadcast)
The Vanishing Lady (national broadcast, different production)
The Vessel of Wrath
The Voyages of Sinbad
The Young Man with the Cream Tarts
This Side of Nowhere
Three Good Witnesses (national broadcast)
Three Good Witnesses (national broadcast, different production)
Three Skeleton Key (Vincent Price)
Three Skeleton Key (William Conrad)
Three Skeleton Key (William Conrad)
Treasure Incorporated
Treasure Incorporated
Two and Two Make Four
Two Came Back
Two If by Sea
Typhoon
Up Periscope
Vanishing Lady (Del Castillo)
When the Man Comes, Follow Him
Wild Jack Rhett (Harry Bartell)
Wild Jack Rhett (John Dehner)
Wild Jack Rhett (John Dehner)
Wild Oranges (Van Heflin)
Wild Oranges (William Conrad)
Yellow Wake