The Black Mass

The Black Mass was an Old-time radio program.

From: MAX SCHMID Subject: Re: The Black Mass: A List

As promised, below is as much complete information as I can assemble

on the KPFA series The Black Mass. Except as noted, these programs can from the Pacifica Radio Archives.

The Flies Oh Mirror, Mirror Shidah and Kuziba Evening Primrose An Evening's Entertainment 2 By Poe - The Predicament and Tell-Tale Heart Nightmare Bartleby The Scrivener (Melville) A Country Doctor The Ash Tree Atrophy The Judgemewnt 2 By Ambrose Bierce - Oil of Dog and Esme

Sorry I don't have more info on the above, the reel is

temporarily missing.

Reel 2 The Jolly Corner by Henry James Diary of a Madman by Nikolai Gogol Legend of the Island of Falles by Betty (Sandbrook?, Sambrook?) All Hallows by Walter de la Mer Dream of a Ridiculous Man by Fyodor Dostoyevsky Death of Halpin Frasier by Ambrose Bierce Moonlit Road by A. Bierce Two By Poe - Man in the Crowd and Ms. Found in a Bottle Tales by Lord Dusaney

Reel 3 The Outsider by H.P. Lovecraft Proof Positive by Graham (sp?) Greene

    and  Witch of the Willows by Lord Dunsaney

The Renegade by Albert Camus The Squaw by Bram Stoker Rats in the Walls by H.P. Lovecraft

Pickman's Model - Lovecraft (Not Black Mass -this is a WBAI production)

The following not from Archives - mostly airchecks of KPFA or KPFK Great American Scream - KPFK

The Boarded Window by Ambrose Bierce

and A Haunted House by Virginia Wolfe

The Feeder by Earl Linder Imp of the Perverse by Poe KQED, San Francisco (15")

As you can see by the authors, this series went somewhat beyond the

scope of OTR horror series. Sorry about the phonetic spelling on some of the names. To correct something here yesterday, I see that the show Candaules Commissioner is credited to the Actor's Workshop, not Black Mass.

I have located one Black Mass show with an original archive label:

Dream of a Ridiculous Man Archive #BB5499 36:00, although this tape has no open, close, or credits, and my older copy is listed as 37:40". A cast of 6 is listed on the label, and the show is highly produced with SFX and original music by Ian Underwood. Broadcast date is listed as 1/29/67. The cast list includes Shirley Jones - could it be the same one?

I suspect that the series was produced on an irregular basis over

many years, time and budget permitting.

Rats in the Walls and The Outsider were released in the 70s on LP in

a very limited pressing, maybe 1,000, that I found at a comic book convention.

I am going to try to contact someone who worked on the series

with Erik Bauersfeld; if I get anything more on the series, I'll post it here. -Max

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