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Everyman's Theater for Oxydol from January 24 1941

Everyman's Theater for Oxydol from January 31 1941

Oxydol was the primary commercial sponsor of Everymans Theater

Arch Oboler with Norma Shearer conferring on Everyman's Theater (1940)

Arch Oboler gives direction to one of his actors circa 1941

As late as 1962, Arch Oboler and Capitol Records teamed to create a fascinating compilation of Oboler's scarier productions with the LP, Drop Dead!: An Exercise In Horror .

1869 Procter & Gamble 'Family Lard' ad shows their 'man-in-the-moon and stars' trademark already in use.

Background

Procter & Gamble: a giant in Radio sponsorship

Procter and Gamble - Progress Through Constantly Trying to Please

Procter and Gamble (P&G) was one of radio's most prolific sponsors from the earliest days of radio:

1930 Emily Post [Camay]
1931 Sisters of the Skillet [Crisco]
1932 Stoopnagle and Bud [Ivory]
1932 The Ivory Program [Ivory]
1932 The Mills Brothers [Crisco and Chipso]
1933 Ma Perkins [Oxydol]
1934 Dreams Come True [Camay]
1934 Ivory Stamp Club [Ivory]
1934 The Story of Mary Marlin [Ivory]
1934 Vic and Sade [Crisco]
1935 Pat Barnes in Person
1935 The O’Neills [Ivory]
1936 Barry Wood [Drene]
1936 Five–Star Jones [Oxydol]
1936 Pepper Young’s Family [Camay]
1936 The Ivory Reporter [Ivory]
1936 The Jerry Cooper Show [Drene]
1937 Kitty Keene, Inc. [Dreft]
1937 Road of Life
1937 The Goldbergs [Oxydol]
1937 The Guiding Light [White Naptha]
1938 Central City [Oxydol]
1938 Life Can Be Beautiful [Ivory]
1938 This Day is Ours [Crisco]
1939 Against the Storm [Ivory]
1939 Midstream [Teel]
1939 Professor Quiz [Teel]
1939 The Man I Married [Oxydol]
1939 The Right to Happiness
1939 The Trouble with Marriage
1939 What’s My Name? [Oxydol]
1940 Everyman’s Theater [Oxydol]
1940 Knickerbocker Playhouse [Drene]
1940 Lone Journey [Dreft]
1940 Those We Love [Teel]
1940 Truth or Consequences [Ivory]
1941 The Woman in White [Oxydol, Camay]
1942 Abie’s Irish Rose [Drene]
1942 Hap Hazard
1942 Junior Miss
1942 Snow Village Sketches
1942 Young Dr. Malone
1943 A Woman of America [Ivory]
1943 Brave Tomorrow [Ivory]
1943 Dreft Star Playhouse [Dreft]
1943 I Love a Mystery [Ivory]
1943 Perry Mason [Camay]
1944 Glamour Manor [Ivory]
1944 Let’s Listen To Spencer [Ivory]
1944 Rosemary
1945 Joyce Jordan, M.D. [Dreft]
1945 Life of Riley [Teel]
1945 Meet Margaret MacDonald
1945 Mommie and the Men
1945 Teel Variety Hall [Teel]
1946 Lanny Ross
1946 Mystery of the Week [Ivory]
1946 The Bickersons (as Drene Time) [Drene]
1947 Life of Riley [Dreft, Prell]
1947 Welcome Travelers
1948 Gang Busters [Tide]
1948 The Brighter Day [Dreft]
1948 What Makes You Tick? [Ivory]
1949 Bob Burns [Dreft]
1949 Lorenzo Jones
1949 Red Ryder [Tide]
1950 The David Rose Show [Tide]
1951 Jack Smith [Oxydol]
1951 The Sheriff
1952 Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons

A quick scan of the above list will amply demonstrate why serial melodramas of the era were referred to as 'soap operas.' Procter & Gamble was a steadfast sponsor of 'soaps' throughout Radio's Golden Age.

British candlemaker William Procter and Irish soapmaker James Gamble had emigrated to the United States during the early 1800s, eventually settling in Cinncinati, Ohio. Sisters Olivia and Elizabeth Norris brought the unlikely pair together through marriage.

The girls' father, Alexander Norris, subequently persuaded his pair of new sons-in-law to become business partners, and on Halloween 1837 they formed Procter & Gamble.

By the mid-1850s their sales had grown to $1 million and they were employing approximately eighty workers. Seizing on the outbreak of The Civil War, Procter & Gamble won contracts to supply the Union Army with both soap and candles.

During the 1880s, P&G began marketing inexpensive floating soap bars--the Ivory Soap we know today.

Thereafter followed a period of rapid expansion, extending their factories well outside of Cinncinati, and diversifying into products such as Crisco, the now ubiquitous shortening made of vegetable oils as opposed to animal fats. The advent of Radio brought them even greater opportunities to expand the reach of both Ivory and Crisco, and their several sponsored serial melodramas soon became identified as "soap operas" in the popular vernacular of the day.

Tide laundry detergent emerged in 1946, Prell shampoo in 1947, Crest toothpaste in 1955, Charmin paper towels in 1957, Downey laundry softener in 1960, and Bounce dryer softener sheets in 1972. Their innovative Pampers synthetic diaper line was first test-marketed in 1961. Continued diversification throughout the remainder of the 20th century found P&G acquiring Folgers Coffee, Pepto-Bismol, Noxzema, Old Spice, Max Factor, and Iams, among many others.

Given its product offerings throughout the 20th Century, it becomes obvious that P&G's principal demographic continued to be domestic wives and mothers, 25-54 years of age. With P&G's dominant position in its sector, it's understandable that P&G became increasingly sensitive to cultural pressures. 1981 proved that even an industrial giant like P&G was not immune to innuendo and whispering campaigns emanating from its consumer base and competitors. Case in point, P&G's iconic corporate trademark, a 'man in the moon' surrounded by thirteen stars symbolizing the original thirteen colonies, came under fire during the early 1980s:

Procter and Gamble's most recent trademark prior to its withdrawal in 1985

Rumors had spread that the P&G man-in-the-moon and stars trademark was a satanic symbol, the charge based upon a passage in the Bible--Revelation 12:1--which states:

"And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of 12 stars."

"Some" claimed that the trademark was a "mockery" of the above quoted verse, ergo the 116-year-old, iconic trademark "must be satanic." The ending curls of its flowing beard were said to be a mirror image of the number "666"--the reflected number of the mark of the beast. And last but not least, where the flowing hair at the top and bottom meet the surrounding ring of the 'moon', were said to be "the two horns of the ram."

So sensitive was the giant international conglomerate to such a concerted--albeit spurious and ridiculous--attack, that it ultimately dropped its iconic trademark of over one hundred and sixteen years in 1985, and at a cost of millions of dollars in rebranding and repackaging. But as must be obvious from the 1869 Procter & Gamble newspaper advertisement in the sidebar (left), a rendition of P&G's man in the moon had graced their products as early as the post-Civil War years--without objection from either The North or The South during America's most divisive and tumultuous years.

P & G and NBC launch Arch Oboler's Everyman's Theater

From the October 11, 1940 edition of the Barnard Bulletin:

OVER THE ETHER

Everyman's Theater--WEAF--9:30--Friday

      The highest honor a stage actress could pay a radio author was given when Nazimova asked to play in Arch Oboler's "This Lonely Heart." Friday last the author-director began his new season by presenting the celebrated actress, and writing and acting talent combined to give a sample of radio at its best.
     "This Lonely Heart" tells of the composer, Tchaikovsky, the delicate story of a woman who loved a genius, who knew her only as "Dear Friend." For years the woman lived absorbed in her love, a love of his music, whichbecame a passionate longing to help him in his career, and anecstatic joy when he dedicated his symphonies to her.
     Arch Oboler is a veteran radio playwright, a master author of his trade, who has learned to make full use of radio to recite a play which must, and can only, appeal through the ear.
      There is an established technique for a play of the study of an individual such as "This Lonely Heart." The only real role is a monologue, and breaking in upon the woman's thoughts are other voices to play out a scene which she has mentioned. With an actress of Nazimova's gifts, the brief half-hour becomes a full vicarious experience.
     Well-suited to radio as the monologue-play is, there lies a danger in its being used too much and becoming a monotonous pattern. Oboler has promised playsfor "every man's" taste during his current series. The coming weeks will tax his ingenuity; and in watching for new developments of the radio play, his program should prove an exciting one.

R.D.H

And from a bit later in the run, this from the January 14, 1941 edition of the Long Beach Press-Telegram:

"Bette Davis will be heard in Arch Oboler's adaptation of Somerset Maugham's "Of Human Bondage" on the Everyman's Theater program next Friday night. She won an award for the outstanding dramatic performance in Oboler's original radio play, "Alter Ego," in 1938."

As you might justifiably conclude from just these two newspaper articles, Arch Oboler's fascinating Everyman's Theater was met with an extraordinary response from not only its audience, as one might imagine, given Arch Oboler's popular following from Lights Out!, but from the leading lights of the Acting profession as well.

Leading off with the famed and critically respected Nazimova, Oboler provided the actress a tour de force with his adaptation of This Lonely Heart. No less than Gordon Jenkins scores the series and for This Lonely Heart, the beautifully romantic underscore is an essential element of the production. Young writer-actor-director Elliott Lewis plays opposite Nazimova in the season opener.

Sponsored by Oxydol, Arch Oboler introduces the series with the observation that the series was conceived to appeal to the 'every man' and 'every woman' of society--their real-world passions, problems and joys. This was something of a departure for Oxydol, most often associated with melodramatic serials such as Five-Star Jones, The Goldbergs, The Man I Married, and Ma Perkins. But the gamble seems to have been quite successful--both popularly and critically.

Everyman's Theater: A Worthy Sequel to Arch Oboler's Plays

A glance at the leading artist roster for the twenty-six installments of Everyman's Theater shows a breathtaking diversity and depth of talent. Showcasing some of the most respected female actors of the era, Everyman's Theater boasted no less than the aforementioned Nazimova, as well as Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Mary Astor, Elsa Lanchester, Marlene Dietrich, and Norma Shearer. The male starring line-up included Raymond Massey, Boris Karloff, Walter Huston, Charles Laughton, Franchot Tone and Brian Donlevy. Also heard were several early repeat appearances by soon-to-be AFRS enlisted buddies Howard Duff and Elliott Lewis.

Even more interesting is the fact that the leading artists of the era were highly receptive to almost any script from Arch Oboler--let alone one written specifically for them. To keep things in historical perspective, its instructive to remember that Arch Oboler had only begun making his mark on the Stage and Radio from the mid-1930s. His considerable reputation as both writer and director was just hitting a high point in 1940. Lights Out! had already proved wildly successful for almost four years. Arch Oboler's series of well-received radioplays, Arch Oboler's Plays, during the 1939-1940 season also laid the framework to showcase Oboler's exceptional range and versatility.

Arch Oboler's Plays was Oboler's breakout dramatic showcase over Radio. Everyman's Theater further established Oboler's versatility and range, while underscoring Oboler's growing appeal to a far wider audience than he'd already established with Lights Out!. Though eight years his senior, the diminutive (5'1") Oboler, while never quite as popular as Orson Welles, invites comparison to the other great young playwright-actor-director. Their skills were clearly each other's equal, their versatility had already been amply demonstrated by 1940, and their genius was indisputable. It's also clear that both Wyllis Cooper and Norman Corwin served to influence and inform Oboler's growing, wider appeal.

It's also instructive to appreciate the extraordinary talent that 1940 Radio had already begun to enjoy in its full maturity as a popular medium. Directors such as William N. Robson, William Spier, Norman Corwin, Orson Welles, and Himan Brown were revolutionizing contemporary Radio of the era. Writer-directors of the talent of Welles, Oboler, Cooper, Brown, and Corwin were expanding the envelope of Radio experimentation. 'Packagers' such as Himan Brown, Frank and Anne Hummert, and Frederick Ziv were dramatically expanding the Radio landscape with all manner of popular programming.

If there was a zenith to the Golden Age of Radio, the transition from the 1930s to the 1940s certainly qualifies. The impending involvement of America in a second world war, its only recent recovery from the devastating impact of The Great Depression, and a growing uncertainty about its immediate future combined to keep American glued to Radio. All the more justification for Oboler's perceived need in his audience for a series targeted directly at the 'everyman' and 'everywoman' of America.

Disambiguation and Conflation [OTR issues]

The various single-season dramatic offerings from Arch Oboler have apparently been a source of considerable confusion to the amateur vintage Radio collecting community self-described as 'otr' or 'old time radio' collectors. This is perhaps understandable, given the purely commercial bent of this particular faction of the greater vintage Radio collecting community worldwide.

Between 1936 and 1944, Arch Oboler either conceived or participated in an ambitious undertaking of both brief and long-running dramatic series':

1936 Lights Out!
1939 Arch Oboler's Plays
1940 Everyman's Theater
1942 Plays for Americans
1942 This Is Our America
1942 To The President
1943 Free World Theatre
1944 Four for The Fifth (with William N. Robson)
1945 Illusion
Drop Dead!: An Exercise In Horror (1962 Capitol Records LP)
The Devil and Mr. O (a 1971-1972 revival series)

Note that several series' from the Oboler canon from this period included patriotic offerings during the World War II years. Those series' are not generally confused or conflated with the remaining Oboler canon of the era. The four series that tend to be conflated or intermixed with each other by the otr community are Arch Oboler's Plays, Everyman's Theater, tracks from the Capitol Records Drop Dead! LP, and the 1972 Oboler revival series, The Devil and Mr. O.

The highly commercialized otr community and it's tens of thousands of mp3, cd, podcast, and tape hawking sites throughout the Internet and eBay tend to aggregate anything written or directed by Arch Oboler--other than Lights Out!--as a loose collection of Arch Oboler Plays, with little consideration for their actual origin from the Oboler canon of radioplays over the years. Tracks from the Drop Dead! LP and episodes from The Devil and Mr. O are often intermixed with either Arch Oboler Plays compilations or even Everyman's Theater compilations.

Admittedly, this is a cause of almost no concern whatsoever to casual Vintage Radio fans of today. As always, the timed-honored phrase 'let the buyer beware' is generally of little or no concern to the incurious or casual listener or fan. We address the above concerns only to the growing body of genuinely conscientious vintage Radio collectors.

Everyman's Theater stands on its own merits as a distinct and highly engaging exemplar of Arch Oboler's brilliant canon of radioplays over the years. As more exemplars of this fine series surface in wider circulation, there's no question that Arch Oboler's contributions to The Golden Age of Radio will continue to gain even more admirers. We're certainly two of them.

Series Derivatives:

Arch Oboler's Plays; The Devil and Mr. O

Genre:

Anthology of Golden Age Radio Dramas

Network(s):

NBC Red [WEAF]

Audition Date(s) and Title(s):

Unknown

Premiere Date(s) and Title(s):

40-10-04 01 This Lonely Heart

Run Dates(s)/ Time(s):

40-10-04 to 41-03-28; NBC Red [WEAF]; Twenty-six, 30-minute programs; Fridays, 9:30 p.m.

Syndication:

NBC Orthacoustic Transcriptions

Sponsors:

Oxydol

Director(s):

Arch Oboler

Principal Actors:

Raymond Massey, Nazimova, Elliott Lewis, Mary Astor, Boris Karloff, Edmond McDonald, Harold Peary, Norma Shearer, Hans Conried, Howard Duff, Gale Page, Walter Huston, Nan Sunderland, Joan Crawford, Mary Astor, Charles Laughton, Elsa Lanchester, Elisazeth Bergner, Helen Mack, Brian Donlevy, Martha Scott, Bette Davis, Marlene Dietrich, Franchot Tone, Benny Rubin, Dick Holland, Martha Scott

Recurring Character(s):

None

Protagonist(s):

None

Author(s):

Arch Oboler, Jane Burr, Eric Knight, Somerset Maugham

Writer(s)

Arch Oboler

Music Direction:

Gordon Jenkins [Music Arranger/Conductor]

Musical Theme(s):

Unknown

Announcer(s):

Arch Oboler [Host]

Estimated Scripts or
Broadcasts:

Episodes in Circulation:

Total Episodes in Collection:

Provenances:

RadioGOLDINdex, Hickerson Guide.

Notes on Provenances:

The most helpful provenances were the log of the radioGOLDINdex and newspaper listings.

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The Everyman's Theater Radio Program Log
Date	Episode	Title	Avail.	Notes
40-10-04	1	This Lonely Heart	Y	40-10-04 San Antonio Express 8:30 P.M.--WOAI--Premier Broadcast of Everyman's Theater. This new series of dramatizations is written expecially for radio by famed Arch Oboler. 40-10-04 Daily Mail - WEAF-NBC 9:30 Arch Oboler's Everyman's Theater, Nazimova in "This Lonely Heart."
40-10-11	2	This Precious Freedom	Y	40-10-11 San Antonio Light Raymond Massey, stage and screen star will be heard at Everyman's theater (WOAI--8:30) in "This Precious Freedom."
40-10-18	3	Cat Wife	Y	40-10-18 Dunkirk Evening Observer 9:30 WKAF--Everyman's Theater--"Cat Wife."
40-10-25	4	Mr and Mrs Chump	N	40-10-25 San Antonio Light At Everyman's theater (WOAI--8:30) Walter Huston and Nan Sunderland will appear " Mr. And Mrs. Chump" a play written especially for them.
40-11-01	5	The Word	N	41-11-01 Port Arthur News Everyman's Theater, starring Joan Crawford, 8:30, NBC.
40-11-08	6	I'll Tell My Husband	N	40-11-08 San Antonio Light Mary Astor, screen star, will be presented at the Everyman's theater in a radio dramatization, "I'll Tell My Husband" (WOAI--8:30).
40-11-15	7	The Flying Yorkshireman	N	40-11-15 San Antonio Light Charles Laughton and his wife, Elsa Lanchester, will be starred by Arch Oboler in "The Flying Yorkshireman"--Eric Knight's celebrated story of a little Britisher who decides he can fly just by flapping his arms--at Everyman's theater (WOAI--8:30).
40-11-22	8	The Word - Two - Eve	N	40-11-22 Port Arthur News Everyman's Theater, 8:30, NBC.
40-11-29	9	An American Is Born	N	40-11-29 San Antonio Light 8:30 p.m.--WOAI--Elisazeth Bergner makes her radio debut on Everyman's Theater. 40-11-29 Charleston Daily Mail - 9:30--(NBC-Red) "An American Is Born on Oboler's Everyman's Theater.
40-12-06	10	The Visitor From Hades	N	40-12-06 San Antonio Light Helen Mack of the screen will be presented in an Arch Oboler drama, "The Visitor From Hades," at Everyman's theater on N.B.C. tonight (WOAI--8:30).
40-12-13	11	Mr Whiskers	N	40-12-13 San Antonio Light At Everyman's theater (WOAI--8:30), the presentation will be "Mr. Whiskers," a drama stressing the importance of citizenship in a democracy.
40-12-20	12	The Women Stayed At Home	Y	40-12-20 San Antonio Light Norma Shearer, screen star, will be heard at Everyman's theater (WOAI--8:30) in "The Mirror," an Arch Oboler radio drama.
40-12-27	13	These Are Your Brothers	N	40-12-27 San Antonio Light Brian Donley, of the screen, will have the leading role in "These Are Your Brothers," an Arch Oboler Christmas drama, at Everyman's Theater (WOAI--8:30).
41-01-03	14	Suffer the Little Children	N	41-01-03 Charleston Daily Mail Martha Scott, noted film star, will star in "Suffer Little Children," an Arch Oboler play, on Everyman's Theater program from 9:30 to 10 o'clock tonight on the NBC-Red network.
41-01-10	15	Flight From Destiny	N	41-01-10 San Antonio Light 8:30--Everyman's Theater (N).
41-01-17	16	You and I	N	41-01-17 San Antonio Light 8:30--Everyman's Theater (N).
41-01-24	17	Of Human Bondage	N	41-01-14 Long Beach Independent Bette Davis will be heard in Arch Oboler's adaptation of Somerset Maugham's "Of Human Bondage" on the Everyman's Theater program next Friday night. Shw won an award for the outstanding dramatic performane in Oboler's original radio play, "Alter Ego," in 1938.
41-01-31	18	Madame Affame	N	41-01-31 San Antonio Light Marlene Dietrich, film star, will be presented at Everyman's theater (WOAI--8:30) in an original drama by Arch Oboler called "Madame Affamee." It concerns a noblewoman trying to escape from Europe.
41-02-07	19	Special To Hollywood	N	41-02-07 Capital Times 8:30 WMAQ (670)--Everyman's Theater
41-02-14	20	The Immortal Gentleman	N	41-02-14 San Antonio Express 8:30 p.m.--WOAI--Arch Oboler presents Franchot Tone in tonight's drama, "The Immortal Gentleman." This broadcast of Everyman's Theater portrays a world in which nobody dies or relinquishes a job.
41-02-21	21	Mr Ginsburg	N	41-02-21 San Antonio Express 8:30 p.m.--WOAI--Benny Rubin, comedian, will play the lead in Arch Oboler's tragedy of the prize fight ring, "Mr. Ginsburg," during Everyman's Theater.
41-02-28	22	The Family	N	41-02-28 Kokomo Tribune 8:30 Everyman's Theater. Wlw.
41-03-07	23	Problem Papa	N	41-03-07 Evening Gazette 9:30 p.m., "Problem Papa", starring Dick Holland, Chicago radio actor, "Everyman's Theater", WLW.
41-03-14	24	The Ugliest Man In the World	N	41-03-14 Evening Gazette 9:30 p.m., Arch Oboler presents "The Ugliest Man in the World," Everyman's Theater, WLW.
41-03-21	25	The Listener	N	41-03-21 Evening Gazette 9:30 p.m., "The Listener" on "Everyman's Theater", WLW.
41-03-28	26	Baby	N	41-03-28 Evening Gazette 9:30 p.m., Martha Scott in "Baby", "Everyman's Theaater", WLW.

The Everyman's Theater Radio Program Biographies

Arch Oboler (Writer, Director, Producer) Stage, Screen, Radio and Television Writer, Director, Producer; Playwright; Mineralogist (1907-1987) Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. Radiography: 1937 Lights Out 1937 The Chase and Sanborn Hour 1938 The Royal Desserts Hour 1938 Good News 1938 The Rudy Vallee Hour 1938 Texaco Star Theatre 1938 Columbia Workshop 1939 Curtain Time 1939 Arch Oboler's Plays 1940 Gulf Screen Guild Theatre 1940 Everyman's Theatre 1941 The Treasury Hour 1942 Cavalcade Of America 1942 Hollywood March Of Dimes Of the Air 1942 Plays For Americans 1942 Keep 'Em Rolling 1942 To the President 1943 Cavalcade For Victory 1944 Everything For the Boys 1944 The First Nighter Program 1944 The Adventures Of Mark Twain 1944 Four For the Fifth 1945 Weird Circle 1945 Chicago, Germany 1945 Wonderful World 1945 Radio Hall Of Fame 1945 The Victory Chest Program 1946 The AFRA Refresher Course Workshop Of the Air 1953 Think 1956 Biography In Sound 1970 The Devil and Mr O 1972 Same Time, Same Station 1979 Sears Radio Theatre Drop Dead! Arch Oboler Drama AFRTS Playhouse 25 The Joe Pyne Show Treasury Star Parade Hollywood Calling I Have No Prayer Yarns For Yanks	Arch Oboler goes over The Hollywood March Of Dimes Of The Air script with emcee Tommy Cook at the NBC mike (1942) Arch Oboler with Raymond Edward Johnson rehearsing at the MBS Mike Arch Oboler goes over a script with one of his actors circa 1941 Arch Oboler gives direction to one of his actors circa 1941 Arch Oboler with Norma Shearer conferring on Everyman's Theater (1940) Oboler's post-Apocalyptic film Five (1951) Arch Oboler on the set of Five circa 1951 Perky piece punctuates penta-psychodrama proposing pitiful post-pandemic panic. Oboler's F.L.Wright-designed beachhouse was used as the final location for his movie Five (1951) The gatehouse of Oboler's Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home, 'Eaglefeather,' in Malibu Canyon. Arch Oboler's Twonky (1953) Oboler's Bwana Devil (1952) boasted its claim as the first feature length 3-D film As late as 1962, Arch Oboler and Capitol Records teamed to create a fascinating compilation of Oboler's scarier productions.	5'1" tall Arch Oboler, pound for pound, inch for inch one of Radio history's scariest writers/directors--ever--was born in 1909, in Chicago. He was also, by most accounts, one of Radio's most sensitive, introspective writers, and a giant by virtually any conventional measure of the industry. ARCH OBOLER, WROTE THRILLERS FOR RADIO IN 1930'S AND 40'S By WILLIAM G. BLAIR Published: Sunday, March 22, 1987 Arch Oboler, who enthralled listeners with his tales of suspense and horror in the golden age of radio in the 1930's and 40's, died Thursday of heart failure at the Westlake Community Hospital in Westlake, Calif. He was 79 years old and lived in Malibu. Although Mr. Oboler was perhaps best known as the writer of a series of nighttime radio dramas that were broadcast under the name ''Lights Out,'' he also wrote for screen and stage. The ''Lights Out'' programs, delightfully chilling fare to many now over the age of 50, began with these words: ''These stories are definitely not for the timid soul. So we tell you calmly and very sincerely, if you frighten easily, turn off your radio now. Lights out, everybody!'' 'I Wrote About Human Beings' The rights to rebroadcast and distribute many of the ''Lights Out'' thrillers were acquired from Mr. Oboler late last year by Metacom, a Minneapolis-based concern that specializes in the distribution of old radio shows. In an interview with The New York Times in October, Mr. Oboler said he had turned down offers to sell his radio stories to television in the 1950's because ''basically, I think TV talks too much and shows too much.'' Mr. Oboler said he believed his thrillers had not lost their ability to terrify because ''I wrote about human beings, not special effects.'' ''What we fear most is the monster within - the girl who lets you down, the husband who is unfaithful,'' he said. ''The greatest horrors are within ourselves.'' In movies, he first made a name for himself as the writer of the 1940 screen version of ''Escape,'' the anti-Nazi best-selling novel by Ethel Vance, that starred Norma Shearer and Robert Taylor. Three-Dimensional Movie More than a decade later, he wrote, directed and produced the first three-dimensional movie, ''Bwana Devil,'' which had moviegoers in special eyeglasses ducking when African spears and lions appeared to be flying off the screen directly at them. In the mid-1950's, Mr. Oboler turned to Broadway. He wrote ''Night of the Auk,'' a science-fiction drama set aboard a spaceship. The show, produced by Kermit Bloomgarden and directed by Sidney Lumet, ran for eight performances and was briefly revived in 1963. From the 1960's on, as head of Oboler Productions, he continued to write for radio, movies and the theater. In 1969, he wrote a book called ''House on Fire'' that a reviewer for The Times described as ''pretty much what Mr. Oboler used to terrify America with.'' He is survived by his wife, the former Eleanor Helfand, and a son, Dr. Steven Oboler of Denver. A private funeral is planned. Between 1936 and 1944, Arch Oboler either conceived or participated in an ambitious undertaking of both brief and long-running dramatic series': 1936 Lights Out! 1939 Arch Oboler's Plays 1940 Everyman's Theater 1942 Plays for Americans 1942 This Is Our America 1942 To The President 1943 Free World Theatre 1944 Four for The Fifth (with William N. Robson) Drop Dead!: An Exercise In Horror (1962 Capitol Records LP) The Devil and Mr. O (a 1970s revival series) Arch Oboler's Plays was Oboler's breakout dramatic showcase over Radio. Everyman's Theater further established Oboler's versatility and range, while underscoring Oboler's growing appeal to a far wider audience than he'd already established with Lights Out!. Though eight years his senior, the diminutive Oboler, while never as widely popular as Orson Welles, invites comparison to the other great young playwright-actor-director. Their skills were clearly each other's equal, their versatility had already been amply demonstrated by 1940, and their genius was indisputable. It's also clear that both Wyllis Cooper and Norman Corwin served to influence and inform Oboler's growing, wider appeal. The reach and effect of Arch Oboler's writing style, subject matter, and point of view remain significant influences to this day. Indeed a world of imitators, 'hat tippers', homages, and unabashed worshippers of his style have sprung up every year since the mid-1950s. And for good reason. Devising new ways to scare the be-jee-zuzz out of people has become something of a cottage industry at various times during the past 60 years. Thillers sell when the public is in the mood for them. And when the public is in the mood for them, they tend to be insatiable for them. Wyllis Cooper and Arch Oboler were arguably the two of the most significant influences in supernatural thrillers over Radio, of the 20th Century. Virtually every modern fiction writer of the past seventy years cites both Cooper and Oboler as influences. Arch Oboler's fortunes waned with the waning of The Golden Age of Radio. His solo Film projects were, while revolutionary in many respects, not nearly up to the standards of his Radio work. His Five (1951) was a rather overly contrived, over-ripe, and self-important opus about a post-apocalyptic world and its five widely differing survivors. Filmed around his property and home in Malibu Canyon, it's become more of a cult flick than a representative Atomic Age sci-fi drama. Bwana Devil (1952) was the first feature-length film to be produced in 3-D, yet another of Oboler's signature--albeit eccentric--innovations. Historic for only its innovative technology, the film, while popular as a novelty, was a stinker in every critically measurable way. His Twonky (1953), starring pal, Hans Conreid, was a fascinating concept, somewhat frivolously executed. It featured a television set with a mind of its own, purportedly receiving direction from an alien force in geoconcentric orbit around Earth. This was highly reminiscent of the CBS Radio Workshop program, The Enormous Radio (1956), wherein a similar problem surfaces with a Radio set. Oboler later released the Capitol LP, Drop Dead!: An Exercise In Horror (1962), reprised many of his Arch Oboler's Plays with the 1971 revival series The Devil and Mr. O, and in 1969, employed his 3-D production skills in another first, Stewardesses, a soft-core porn feature he wrote and directed for 3-D, under the pseudonym, 'Alf Silliman.' Arch Oboler spent much of the remainder of his life attending to the various elements of his Oboler Productions company and the various writing, Film, Radio and Television projects Oboler managed through it.

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