“The Hitchhiker”

As a young adult Lucille wanted to become a novelist. After she took her first job as a script typist and began reading scripts with other writers, she decided she wanted to write plays as well. She was successful at both. Fletcher penned more than twenty radio

plays, including the well know Sorry, Wrong Number and The Hitchhiker. In addition she wrote several novels. Her works were

suspenseful, full of mystery and often terrifying.

Lucille Fletcher

Lucille was a writer at heart. She spent a few days writing a story about a man who drove across the United States and was shadowed by the same hitchhiker everywhere. The story was shown to actor, Orson Welles, who showed it to the production staff for the series Suspense! The episode, "The Hitchhiker", aired on September 2, 1942. Orson Welles was Ron Adams who drove from Manhattan to Los Angeles on business. It was repeated several times on Suspense! and other series. The story changed her status at CBS from clerk-typist to scriptwriter.

She wrote many other scripts, including another for Suspense!, "Sorry, Wrong Number", which also became a hit motion picture, for which she also wrote the script. "The Hitchhiker" was also revised as an episode of TV's The Twilight Zone, featuring Leonard Strong (1908-80) in the role of the hitchhiker and Inger Stevens (1934-70) in the Orson Welles part as Nan Adams.

She spent the rest of her life writing nine mystery novels at her homes in suburban Philadelphia.

Lucille died in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, on August 31, 2000, of a stroke at her home. She was 88 years old.

ORSON WELLESOn October 30, 1938, he directed the Mercury Theatre on the Air in a dramatization of “War of the Worlds,” based on the H. G. Wells novel.

Welles set the events in contemporary locations (the landing spot for the Martian invasion, Grover’s Mill, New Jersey, was chosen at random with a New Jersey road map) and dramatized it in the style of a musical program interrupted by news bulletins, complete with eye-witness accounts.

Though television was invented in the 1920’s, most American households did not

have television sets till the late 1950’s. Before then families gathered around the radio to

listen to their favorite radio plays. These plays took the form of dramas, mysteries, or

comedies. Actors on the radio station read their lines into a microphone with dramatic flair.

Background music help set the mood. Sound effects were an important part of

radio plays. They were often produced in the radio studio. Sheet metal shaken up and down,

replaced rolling thunder. A wooden match, broken close to a microphone, sounded like a baseball bat striking a ball. Coconut halves clapped against wood imitated the sound of

horses’ hooves.

Radio Plays

HOW TO READ A RADIO PLAY*STAGE DIRECTIONSThese are written instructions that are not read aloud, but are written to help theactor know how to read his/her lines.

*SOUND EFFECTSThe sound of screeching tires, shattering glass, or other noises help the listenerto “see” what is happening in the play. These sounds suggest the action that istaking place.

HOW TO READ A RADIO PLAY*DIALOGUEThese are the words spoken by the actors.

*DIALOGUE AND STAGE DIRECTIONSSince listeners can’t see the actors, radio playwrights, (the person who writes the drama), give information about the characters through the dialogue and stage directions.

WHAT MAKES A SUSPENSE STORY ?

Thriller is a broad genre of literature, film, and television programming that uses suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements. Thrillers heavily stimulate the viewer's moods giving them a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, surprise, anxiety and/or terror. Thrillers and suspense novels tend to be adrenaline-rushing and fast-paced.

WHAT MAKES ASUSPENSE STORY?

Literary devices such as foreshadowing, red herrings, plot twists and cliffhangers are used extensively. A thriller is a villain-driven plot, whereby he or she presents obstacles that the protagonist must overcome.

WHAT MAKES A SUSPENSE STORY?*The protagonist(s) faces death, either their own or somebody else's.*The force(s) of antagonism must initially be cleverer and/or stronger than the protagonist's.*The main storyline for the protagonist is either a quest or a character who cannot be put down.*The main plotline focuses on a mystery that must be solved.*The film's narrative construction is dominated by the protagonist's point of view.*All action and characters must be credibly realistic/natural in their representation on screen.*The two major themes that underpin the thriller genre are the desire for justice and the morality of individuals.*One small, but significant, aspect of a thriller is the presence of innocence in what is seen as an essentially corrupt world.*The protagonist(s) and antagonist(s) may battle, themselves and each other, not just on a physical level, but on a mental one as well.*Either by accident or their own curiousness, characters are dragged into a dangerous conflict or situation that they are not prepared to resolve.

Route 66- In the 1940’s Route 66 was the primary highway connecting the Midwest with the West Coast. Route 66 opened in 1926

and was finally rendered obsolete in 1985 when a new interstate bypassed the last section in use. Featured in songs, ads, novels, and other elements of popular culture, Route 66 is

now considered an important part of the country’s history.

Auto CampsAlong Route 66 and other major highways came a

phenomenon know as auto camps. These were originally sections of land alongside highways that were roped off for the

use of travelers. People carried their own tents and gear in their cars. Later, toilets, showers and eventually cabins, were

added to these locations

Background

“Crossing the Brooklyn Bridge that morning in the rain, I saw a man leaning against the cables.”

THE BROOKLYN

BRIDGE

Each day, over 100,000 cars cross the Pulaski Skyway, a span of bridges that feed in and out of the Holland Tunnel connecting Manhattan and New Jersey. Traffic-choked, with hair-raising curves, slopes and exits, the Skyway is loved by few, but needed by many.

“I drive a 1940 Ford V-8, license number 6V-7989. I was born in Brooklyn. All this I know. I know that I am at this moment perfectly sane.”

Lark – a source of or quest for amusement or adventure

Junction- an intersection of roads especially where one terminates

Nondescript-belonging or appearing to belong to no particular class or kind : not easily described; lacking distinctive interesting qualities

Vocabulary

Sinister- singularly evil or productive of evil

Assurance- pledge, guarantee

Monotony- sameness of tone or sound

Vocabulary

Foreshadowing is a way of indicating or hinting at what will come later. Foreshadowing can be subtle, like storm clouds on the horizon

suggesting that danger is coming.

Example from The Hitchhiker: Adam’s mother warns him against falling

asleep, speeding and the hitchhikers.

Literacy Devices

Dialogue, or the words spoken by the actors.

Stage direction, which include instructions to the actors about how the

dialogue should be spoken and instructions to the crew about sound

effects.

Drama Elements

CHARACTERSProtagonist

Ronald Adams

AntagonistPhantom Hitchhiker (Voice)

•Adams’s Mother •Orson Welles•Mechanic•Henry, a sleepy man•Woman’s Voice (Henry’s wife)•Mrs. Whitney

Minor Characters•Hitchhiker Girl•Operator•Long-distance Operator•Albuquerque Operator•New York Operator

IS SEEING BELIEVING?

GET READY TO READ

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN SOMETHING YOU COULDN’T EXPLAIN?

Was that a man in the alley or was that only a shadow? What was that bright shape that streaked across the sky? Ronald Adams is driving across the country on Route 66.

He is desperate to prove that what he is seeing can be explained!Get ready to read the suspense drama. The Hitchhiker!

CLIMAXWHEN RONALD DECIDES TO CALL HOME

“HALL-OOO….HALL-OOOO….”-”Hitchhiker”