Howling on the Air (or How We Got Into All This) & The Janus Company Radio Theatre The kind of material showcased in this book [And Then We Wrote...and Re-Wrote...] is part of a vanishing breed: musical theatre on a smaller, simpler scale. No chandeliers fall from the catwalks; no lions sing in the veld–we don’t even have any dancing kitties, although we feature some cats doing some far more interesting things. Our performance pieces come from the tradition of the intimate musical revue and the small, off-Broadway-style productions that were popular in the mid 20th Century. Of the latter, "The Fantasticks" may well be the most durable, still playing somewhere. The intimate revue, however, can be evanescent, as often some of the material is extremely topical. Revues feature musical actors in mini repertoire; the casts are small and there is never a bad seat in the house. By far the most notable revue in the Hollywood area in the middle of the 20th century was the long running Turnabout Theater, usually starring the incomparable Elsa Lanchester, with music and lyrics by Forman Brown. It featured two shows--one on each end of the tiny auditorium–first a bright and clever book musical staged by Brown’s partner Harry Burnett and the Yale Puppeteers, and then an enchanting revue with a cast of outstanding comedic players. Rail car seats flipped their backs allowing the audience to reverse its view during intermission. The songs were highly character-driven; stories of people like the sorry fellow (Burnett) who studied for years so he could “stand up and go [ding!]” on the orchestral triangle. Unfortunately, as far as we can tell, nothing much survives. Fortunately, there are recordings of Elsa Lanchester singing “Bawdy Cockney Songs,” including some of her Forman Brown Turnabout specialties. Only Elsa could turn a lowly porch (“When a Lady has a Piazza”) into something deliciously suggestive. Another series of shows became especially personal for Jan as she eventually joined the cast on tour. These were the extremely entertaining Billy Barnes Revues. Joyce Jamison, Ken Berry, Bert Convy, Jackie Joseph and director/sketch writer Bob Rodgers were among the regulars. (Later, Billy Barnes became the Musical Director for Laugh In.) Like the Turnabout, the cast was small, with each number a complete vignette. Jan was totally hooked from the beginning. The idea of playing everything from a dippy lady of the evening to a nasty child in one show was this performer’s dream. Fueled further by an addiction to the twisted recordings of Tom Lehrer, and the wit of Noel Coward and friends, and musical comedy in general, Jan wrote revues and shows for intimate theatre and musical character sketchses for performance in clubs. When we got married, Mallory fell right into the whole idea and we began creating intimate theatre together. On the radio. [Lest our erstwhile listeners be confusted, Jan went from Jan McCall to Jan Ridolphi Geller. A long story. Check out our book!] Our Janus Company Radio Theatre was heard, usually live, for fourteen years on KPFK in Los Angeles. Only a fire in our home, destroying our recordings, our sound effects and our desire to continue, ended it all. The adventure started when late night DJ Jay Lacey invited us to appear on his show, doing improv comedy. Soon we were joined by John Hochheimer and Mike Hodel. We started writing radio plays and before too long we had our own weekly time slot. Other talented actors joined the fray and we were off and running, full tilt. To our knowledge, much of the time we were the only regularly scheduled live radio drama on the air. We wrote or adapted most of our scripts, created the sound effects (with super engineer Burt Handelsman), and produced and directed as well. And, of course, we were part of a vital repertory company. Jan played Alice of Wonderland fame, a nasty old crone and most everything in between. Mallory’s roles ran from a huge, lonely griffin to Frankenstein’s huge, lonely creature. On the radio, unseen, a creative actor can become just about anybody; the possibilities are limited only by skill and imagination. The cast arrived at the studio by 8pm and rehearsed until air time: 11pm. Live! Sink-or-swim live, and no net. But something was missing. Radio Musicals! It was a concept ready-made for us, especially Jan. But when some of the cast protested their lack of singing experience, we opted for the safety of pre-recording, something of a rarity for Janus. When one considers that from concept, through composing and writing, learning the songs, rehearsing, recording and editing, we delivered the tapes ready--or as ready as possible--for broadcast, all in a couple of weeks, the shows were better than might be expected. When Werewolf! the Musical was conceived, we invited actor Bill Hunt to guest star (and sing the musical’s theme, “This is My Night to Howl,” later a much requested “hit”for Mallory). Bill turned in a fine performance as laconic Larry Talbot. Jan Rabson (two Jan’s were confusing, especially since one was a man!) was a very funny gypsy. Mike Hodel (as always, writing his own patter) and the two of us completed the cast. Mallory also wrote his solo which sets the mood: “The Enchanted Stage.” Announcer: Now, it is time to switch off all your reading lights and let your dimmed eyesight behold a world you would best avoid. It is...yes! You guessed it! A trailer park! With a nasty secret! Turn the page and join us as the Janus Company Radio Theatre presents Werewolf! the Musical. (FOR THE PLOT AND THE SONGS, WELL, YOU HAVE TO GET THE BOOK!) |
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| The Janus Company |
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| THE JANUS COMPANY RADIO THEATRE, The Turnabout Theater, the Billy Barnes Revues and other intimate musical experiences. Being an exerpt from the background material included in M&Mc's Book And Then We Wrote...and Re-Wrote... |
| AFTERWORD To our dismay, the "aircheck" (the tape of the show) for "Werewolf" was lost, as were most of the Janus Company Radio Theatre productions (14 years worth) when part of our house burned. In the hope of keeping the spirit alive, we are re-recording some of the songs on the CD companion to And Then We Wrote...and Re-Wrote.... And some of the music for the songs and the plot outlines of the musicals are in the book. It would be grand to do them again, especially the musicals, but many of the original cast is out of touch. More sadly the greatly talented Mike Hodel and BobYoung are deseased. Rerecording the shows the way they were simply cannot happen. It was a time and a place now gone. But perhaps there is someone out there who would like to give it a try with some new people. We would be more than happy to participate. Also there may be some "off the air" recordings out there, or cassettes we had sent people on request. If you have a tape of any of our shows, please get in touch. Email us! And, if you were part of the Janus Company repertoire company, or a listener, get in touch and say Hi!. |
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| To actually hear HOWL and other Janus Company songs, click the faces to vist our new MySpace Page. Beware screaming dingbats and signs! |
| FOR THE PLOT, HISTORY AND CAST OF "TWO ON THE NILE" PLUS THE "DESERT LOVE SONG CLICK THE CAMEL. |
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