The Black Museum
1952
Orson Welles was the host to Scotland Yard's Museum of Murder, the so called Black Museum.
The Black Museum was recorded by the BBC in London in 1951 and played in America in 1952. A very serious Orson Welles added prestige to the role of tour guide. Listeners would hear his distinctive voice and footsteps echoing though the stone halls of the Black Museum as he pointed out various items that were used in actual murder cases. It could be something as serious as poison, or something as seemingly innocent as a child's toy. Whatever it was, the audience knew it had successfully killed someone, or else it wouldn't be in the Black Museum at all. And there hangs the tale! Orson would use the item to introduce a flashback scene that would eventually tell the entire story. Orson would return afterwards to explain who was caught and and how they were punished. This was back in the good old days before wimpy Europe did away with the capital punishment, so the items in the Black Museum usually caused the deaths of at least two people... the victim and whoever murdered that person. So we got an added bonus of two for the price of one!
The ambiance to this series was the most remarkable aspect of it. It was a brilliant setting and listeners couldn't help but visualize Orson Welles walking though a dark, dank museum after hours. He would casually pick up or point out various murder weapons and examine them, all the while droning on about the associated crime as if it were a medical procedure. He never got excited, but what he described in academic tones was both sensational and lurid. England has always been a great magnet for tourists. Exploiting the left over evidence from Scotland Yard for commercial entertainment purposes seemed to be an obvious formula just waiting to be (pardon the pun) "executed". The actual dramas had a tough act to follow, and rarely if ever matched the professionalism of Orson's introductions.They all sounded like BBC staff actors. Music and sound effects in the actual story were pedestrian in comparison. It was like enjoying a rather bland dinner with a delicious appetizer and an incredible desert! So although the show wasn't uniform from start to finish, it is difficult to resist listening to it just for the thrill of hearing Orson's creepy introductions and his "happy" endings, since the killers almost always got what was coming to them.
Artist depiction of "A Jar Of Acid" episode, courtesy Tune In For Terror © 1992
The Standard Intro:
Orson: "This is Orson Welles speaking to you from London...
(Big Ben chimes in the background.)
"From the Black Museum. The depository of death. Yes, here in a grim stone structure on the Timms which houses Scotland Yard, is a warehouse of Homicide. Here, everyday objects, a silk scarf, a length of twine, a child's toy, all our touched by murder.
(Music flairs)
An Opening Narration:
Orson: "Now this jar, probably one of those cheap glass containers, the type you would find in a laboratory, what's in it? A clear fluid. Water perhaps? A cleaning spirit? No...."
(Excerpt from story plays.)
"Today, that jar, containing the acid sample, can be seen in the Black Museum."
(Announcer): "From the annals of the Criminal Investigation Department of the London Police, we bring the dramatic stories of the crimes recorded by objects in Scotland Yard's Gallery of Death: The Black Museum."
(Reverberating foot steps. The host's voice echoes slightly, sounding as if in a large marble hall.)
Orson: "Well, here we are, in the Black Museum. Scotland Yard's Museum of Murder. Here lies Death. Unseen but ever present. Uncataloged, but orderly. Enveloping the shadows, papering the walls, carpeting the floor. Death. For display purposes, only. Here's a hypodermic syringe. It was once used to inject life preserving serums and later used to inject poison. And there... is an umbrella. An ordinary, everyday umbrella. Ordinary and everyday up to a point...
Sfx: (Loud click.)
"Look closer and you'll see just how sharp that point is. Just how lethal a sword stick can be as a weapon of murder.
"Ah, here we are, here's the acid jar. Sealed and somber looking on its place on the shelf. Once this jar rested on another shelf, a work shop shelf in Krawly. But lets not anticipate, let's begin our story at it's beginning. Not on a shelf in a work shop in Krawly but in the dining room of a hotel in Kingsington. Dinner time. In one corner of the room is a table set for two, sits an attractive, fashionably dressed woman. She's joined by another who's equally attractive and equally fashionably dressed..."
An Ending Narration:
Orson: "James Gerald Hart made no attempt to deny the accusation of murder that was subsequently leveled at him. On the contrary, knowing that the game was up, he admitted his guilt freely. Stating he had first shot Mrs. Reagen, then deprived her of her clothing and her jewelry, then deposited her body in the drum of acid. A sample of which, today, occupies this position of honor in the Black Museum."
(Commercial)
Orson: "The defense, brilliantly conceived, was of course insanity. To strengthen his plea, Hart cheerfully claimed to have done away with no less than nine other victims in a similar fashion to that in which he had disposed of Mrs. Reagen. Whether or not this claim was justified will probably never be known. But it is an established fact that at the time of his trial, five of those he had named as his victims had been missing from their homes for months. They have not been found to this day. However, justified or not, his plea was rejected and he was found guilty of murder in the first degree. His subsequent execution relieved the world of a murderous student who set up and practiced before taking his diploma. For James Gerald Hart was by no means an accomplished killer. The trail he left behind him bares out that fact. Properly described as a dabbler in the art of dealing death who dabbled just once too often."
Sfx: (Footsteps.)
The Standard Closing:
Orson: "And now, until we meet next time in this same place, I'll tell you another story about the Black Museum. I remain as always, obediently yours..."
Sfx: (Door opens and shuts.)
Hear it now, FREE!
Hear up to 19 different episodes of The Black Museum in Real Player!
(RealPlayer allows you to continue to browse other sites while you listen.)
OTR Plot Summaries of The Black Museum episodes: http://www.geocities.com/sittingduck_1313/blackmuseum.html