Classic Radio: "Biblical Dramas"

Rare book jacket to the first collection of scripts from the "Biblical Dramas" radio series.
The play enacted by the cast on the cover is unknown.

Biblical Dramas
(NBC Red network series of religious dramas)
Broadcast: 1927 - 1929, Sundays at various times.
Production: William Ford Manley (scripts, writer), Gerald Stopp (director).
Cast: John Knight, Emma Dunn, Charles Webster various

Possibly the first on-going series of dramatized Bible stories on a major broadcasting network. From the same network that would bring us "A.D. The Bible Continues" over 80 years later.

Possibly the first of its kind, the Biblical Dramas series was broadcast from NBC with scripts written by William Ford Manley (1896-1954) and directed by Gerald Stoop. The show's performers included some Broadway performers, usually credited as a group called the "National Players".

Manley was a successful scriptwriter best known for the Snow Villiage Sketches a.k.a. Soconyland Sketches, (1928-1946) a radio series about life in a small New England town. Many contemporary radio history resources have overlooked his achievements.

Episodes of Biblical Dramas are not known to exist but Manley authored three books with scripts for home and church use published by the Fleming H. Revell Company. Newspaper church bulletins reveal that Manley's scripts were popular and used for worship and drama services into the early 1940s. Manley allowed use of his scripts for church use provided the source of the drama was always acknowledged.

Right now I am examining newspaper radio schedules to determine exact titles and broadcast dates, but here are several episode titles and dates as given in news bulletins. The dramas were broadcast at various times (10:15pm, 2:00pm EST), always on Sundays.

19270123 - Samson and Delilah
19270227 - Saul and the Witch of En-dor
1927061? - Samson and Delilah
19280129 - King's Dream
19280129 - The King's Dream
19280226 - Abraham and Issac
19280323 - David and Johnathon
19280408 - The Unconquered
19280422 - Saul of Tarsus
19280513 - Ruth and Naomi
19280609 - The Come Back (Samson and Delilah)
19280624 - A Mess of Pottage
19280628 - A Mess of Pottage
19280701 - The Stolen Blessing (sequel to "The Mess of Pottage")
19280715 - Joab and Amassa
19281007 - Road to Ninevah
19281030 - Noah

Biblical Dramas collections by William Ford Manley:
Manley's books are rare and I was fortunate to find a copy with its original bookjacket for less than $20. Copies are available at some theological libraries. Check Your Church Basement!

Manley, William Ford. 1928. Bible dramas for church and home. New York: Fleming H. Revell Company.

Manley, William Ford. 1928. Bible dramas: radio plays adapted for church and social gatherings. New York: Fleming H. Revell Co.

Manley, William Ford. 1930. A second book of Bible dramas. New York: Fleming H. Revell Company.

Sources:

Manley, William Ford. 1928. Bible dramas for church and home. New York: Fleming H. Revell Company.

Swartz, Jon David, and Robert C. Reinehr. 1993. Handbook of old-time radio: a comprehensive guide to golden age radio listening and collecting. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press.

Various newspaper articles pulled from Fulton History, particularly the following publications:
Rochester NY Times Union
Utica NY Observer
NY Evening Post

Classic Radio: Unshackled - Happy 65th Anniversary

Unshackled 

9/23/1950 - present. Syndicated.  
Production: Pacific Garden Missions, Chicago, Illinois
The Longest Running Broadcast Drama In History!
Official website: www.unshackled.org

It was 65 years ago this week that Unshackled debuted over WGN in Chicago with the dramatization of the life of evangelist Billy Sunday.

Above: One of the earliest press articles on "Unshackled" from Broadcasting, March 24, 1952.
Click on the image to read in context of the original magazine.

This broadcast series tells the true stories of countless individuals whose lives were "unshackled" by salvation in Jesus Christ.  Probably none of the original cast and crew members could have ever imagined that radio drama would soon cease on the major networks (NBC, CBS, ABC, Mutual,) and only Unshackled would go on to have an audience who would tune in more than a half century later for any of the 7,000 times it is broadcast a week, to listen in 15 languages in over 140 nations.

Unshackled holds a special place in my heart. As a teenager, I was an old-time radio collector and an usher in the church who secretly struggled with an addiction to pornography.  One day as I was fiddling with my radio I was startled to hear a radio drama on a random AM station and the program was telling the story of an alcoholic whose life was transformed and renewed by Jesus Christ.

This program was Unshackled, and I wanted to hear more.  My amazement was from so much more than hearing a current radio drama. This was the first time in my life that I truly understood that not only did Jesus want me free from this addiction, but that he was still with me and if he could do it for that man whose story I heard on the radio, then he could do it for me too. The stories on Unshackled have ministered to me countless times and I have partly created this blog so that more people can learn about the dynamic media ministries like Pacific Garden Missions Unshackled, whom God has ordained to preach the gospel to the world.

I hope that Unshackled will stay on the air for many more years. Unlike 99% of broadcast dramas on radio or television, Unshackled has as its fuel, a theme that will never end.........lives transformed by the Gospels and redeemed by the love of Jesus Christ.

Internet resources for the history of Unshackled:

For a Chicago Tribune Article recognizing the series 65 years:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-unshackled-radio-65th-anniversary-met-3-20150405-story.html

For a more complete history of Unshackled please visit their official history page:
at http://www.unshackled.org/history_1.html 

For biographical information on one of the series earliest scriptwriters, producers and directors, Eugenia Price (1916-1996)
http://www.gacoast.com/navigator/ep2.html


Also seek out these texts from used bookstores and libraries:

Bailey, F. C., & Unshackled (Radio program). (1962). These, too, were unshackled: 15 dramatic stories from the Pacific Garden Mission. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Pub. House.

Price, E. (1982). The burden is light: The autobiography of a transformed pagan who took God at his word. New York: Dial Press.

Price, E., & Bailey, F. C. (1953). Unshackled: Stories of transformed lives, adapted from "Unshackled" radio broadcasts: stories from Pacific Garden Mission. Chicago: Moody Press.