Weird CircleSeries Summary

Syndicated by Ziv Productions over the Mutual network; heard over NBC and ABC. The series originated from New York City and is complete in 78 broadcasts.

(Dates are taken from the New York Times and apply to first syndication)

Contrasted with other syndicated thriller or mystery series, this series relied upon material from occasionally great and always better-than-average authors. Cast members heard: Gladys Thornton, Audrey Totter, Chester Stratton, Eleanor Audley, ArnoldMoss, Lawson Zerbe, Walter Vaughn, Regis Joyce, Fred Barron.

“In this cave by the restless sea, we are met to call from out of past,stories strange and weird. Bell keeper, toll the bell, so that all may

know that we are gathered again in the Weird Circle!”

Number Title Broadcast Date Author1 The Fall of the House of Usher 8/29/1943 Edgar Allan Poe (1809-

1849)2 The House and the Mind 9/5/1943 Edward George Bulwer-

Lytton (1803-1873)3 The Vendettai 9/12/1943 Honore de Balzac (1799-

1850)4 Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym 9/19/1943 Edgar Allan Poe (1809-

1849)5 Declared Insane 9/26/1943 Honore de Balzac (1799-

1850)6 A Terrible Strange Bed 10/03/1943 Wilkie Collins (1824-1899)7 What Was it? 10/10/1943 Fitz James O'Brien (1828-

1862)8 The Knightsbridge Mystery 10/17/1943 Charles Reade (1814-

1884)9 The Horla 10/24/1943 Guy de Maupassant

(1850-1893)10 William Wilson 10/31/1943 Edgar Allan Poe (1809-

1849)11 Passion in the Desert 11/07/1943 Honore de Balzac (1799-

1850)12 Mateo Falcone 11/14/1943 Prosper Mérimée (1803-

1870)13 The Man Without A Country 11/21/1943 Edward Everett Hale

(1822-1909)14 Doctor Manette’s Manuscript 11/28/1943 Charles Dickens (1812-

1870) An excerpt from “A Tale of Two Cities.”

15 The Great Plague 12/05/1943 Thomas Hood (1799-1845)

16 The Expectations of an Heir 12/12/1943 Samuel Johnson17 The Hand 12/19/1943 Guy de Maupassant

(1850-1893)

© 2014 by David J. Wardell.

Number Title Broadcast Date Author

18 Jane Eyre 12/26/1943 Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855)

19 The Murders in the Rue Morgue 1/2/1944 Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

20 The Lifted Veil 1/9/1944 Mary Ann Evans ( George Elliot ) (1819-1880)

21 The 4:15 Express 1/16/1944 Amelia Edwards (1831-1892)

22 A Terrible Night 1/23/1944 Fitz James O'Brien (1828-1862)

23 The Tell-Tale Heart 1/30/1944 Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

24 The Niche of Doom 2/06/1944 Honore de Balzac (1799-1850)

25 The Heart of Ethan Brand 2/13/1944 Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)

26 Frankenstein 2/20/1944 Mary Shelley (1791-1851)27 The Feast of Redgauntlet 2/27/1944 Sir Walter Scott (1771-

1832) The Weird Circle version is based on "Wandering Willie's Tale" from Sir Walter Scott's historical novel, "Redgauntlet."

28 Murder of the Little Pig 3/05/1944 Émile Gaboriau (1832-1873)

29 The Specter of Tappington 3/12/1944 Richard Barham (1788-1845) from “The Ingoldsby Legends”

30 Strange Judgment 3/19/194431 Wuthering Heights 3/26/1944 Emily Jane Brontë (1818-

1848)32 The Curse of the Mantle 4/02/1944 Nathaniel Hawthorne

(1804-1864)33 The Cask of Amontillado 4/09/1944 Edgar Allan Poe (1809-

1849)34 The Rope of Hair 4/16/1944 Guy de Maupassant

(1850-1893) Based on the story “Apparition.”

35 Falkland 4/23/1944 Edward George Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873)

36 The Trial for Murder 4/30/1944 Charles Elster Collins37 Werewolf 5/07/1944 Captain Frederick Marryat

(1792-1848)38 The Old Nurse’s Story 5/14/1944 Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

(1810-1865)39 The Middle Toe of the Right Foot 5/28/1944 Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce

(1842-1914)40 Dream Woman 9/04/1944 Wilkie Collins (1824-1899)41 The Phantom Picture 9/10/1944 Washington Irving (1783-

1859)42 The Ghost Touch 9/17/1944 Wilkie Collins (1824-1899)

© 2014 by David J. Wardell.

Number Title Broadcast Date Author

43 The Bell Tower 9/24/1944 Herman Melville (1819-1891)

44 The Evil Eye 10/01/1944 Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier (1811-1872)

45 The Mark of the Plague 10/08/1944 Daniel Defoe (1660-1731)46 The Queer Client 10/15/1944 Charles Dickens (1812-

1870)47 The Burial of Roger Malvin 10/22/1944 Nathaniel Hawthorne

(1804-1864)48 The Fatal Love Potion 10/29/1944 Edward George Bulwer-

Lytton (1803-1873)49 Mad Monkton 11/05/1944 Wilkie Collins (1824-1899)50 Returned 11/12/1944 Edgar Allan Poe (1809-

1849)51 The Executioner 11/19/1944 Honore de Balzac (1799-

1850)52 Rappacini’s Daughter 11/26/1944 Nathaniel Hawthorne

(1804-1864)53 The Wooden Ghost 12/03/1944 John Walters54 The Last Days of a Condemned

Man12/10/1944 Victor Hugo (1802-1885)

55 The Warning 12/17/1944 R. P. Gilles56 The Doll 12/24/1944 Algernon Blackwood

(1869-1951)57 The Diamond Lens 12/31/1944 Fitz James O'Brien (1828-

1862)58 The History of Dr. John Faust 1/07/1945 Maurice Baring (1874-

1945)59 The Duel Without Honor 1/14/1945 Based on the story

“Marianna” by Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870)

60 The Specter Bride 1/21/1945 William Harrison Ainsworth(1805-1882)

61 The Tapestry Horse 1/28/1945 Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

62 The River Man 2/04/1945 Frank Lovejoy (1912-1962)63 The Ancient Mariner 2/11/1945 Samuel Taylor Coleridge

(1772-1834)64 The Oblong Box 2/18/1945 Edgar Allan Poe (1809-

1849)65 The Mysterious Bride 2/25/1945 James Hogg (1770-1835)66 The Thing in the Tunnel 3/04/1945 Charles Dickens (1812-

1870)67 Moonstone 3/11/1945 Wilkie Collins (1824-1899)

© 2014 by David J. Wardell.

Number Title Broadcast Date Author

68 The Pistol Shot 3/18/1945 Prosper Mérimée (1803-1870), Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799-1837). The 1831 story by Pushkin was translated and adapted by Prosper Mérimée and appeared in the February 1928 issue of The Strand magazine.

69 The Possessive Dead 3/25/1945 Theophile Gautier (1811-1872)

70 The Goblet 4/01/1945 Ludwig Pieck71 The Case of Monsieur Valdemar 4/08/1945 Edgar Allan Poe (1809-

1849)72 The Shadow 4/15/1945 Hans Christen Andersen

(1805-1875)73 The Bride of Death 4/22/1945 J. L. Tieck74 Dr. Jekyll and Mr., Hyde 4/29/1945 Robert Louis Stevenson

(1850-1894)75 The Red Hand 5/06/1945 Arch Oboler (1909-1987)76 The Haunted Hotel 5/13/1945 Wilkie Collins (1824-1899)77 Markheim 5/20/1945 Robert Louis Stevenson

(1850-1894)78 The Black Parchment 5/27/1945

© 2014 by David J. Wardell.

i David Goldin states that this program was the pilot for the series, but this has not been verified.