about Norvell's Great-Niece, your Host

Roots Country and Blues artist Lonesome Liz was dubbed 'The Female Robert Johnson' by 'Southern Fried Magazine'; honoring both her sultry contralto and the Hellhound on her trail. Her performances are heavy with Southern Gothic undertones. A natural storyteller, her words shift to expose the seamy underbelly of the South, which she translates through a mystic veil of mojo; often drawing on history along with Hoodoo and other Folk traditions.

Her performances have included Drive-by Truckers artist Wes Freed, art revolutionary Molly Crabapple, Jesco the Dancing Outlaw and she's shared a stage with Timbuk III's Pat MacDonald, The Goddamn Gallows and the .357 String Band.

Featured in the upcoming Hasil Adkins documentary, 'My Blue Star' by Ron Thomas Smith, she has she has also appeared in and directed dozens of plays as well as in an award-winning independent film, 'Leon's Aspirations'. Also a playwright, she has written and produced adaptations of both 'Faust' and Sartre's 'No Exit'.

A multi-disciplinary artist, she is also a music and fine art journalist, published primarily in 'Outlaw Magazine', 'Fine Art Magazine' and GratefulWeb.net. She was the last writer to interview Mike Seeger before his death and her Levon Helm retrospective received praise from Bob Dylan himself.

She has also been tarot, astrology and mythology editor for BellaOnline.com and Suite101.com. Her writing and photography are featured in the best-selling 'Everything Ghost Hunting Guide'. She began writing in Chicago, when Slam was first emerging and her poetry as well as her lyrics have received praise from Beat Poets Charles Plymell and Robert Brannan.

Her strong, sultry voice and powerful lyrics are captivating. Though unquestionably feminine and alluring, she describes hangings, hauntings, reckonings and shoot-outs in a way that makes you think she was not only there but participated. One of Country's true Outlaw Women, Liz blasted the boundaries of Alt Country. However it's delivered, her sultry Southern vision takes you far from the expected. It's hard to resist the spell Lonesome Liz casts when her mojo's rising...

Submissions, Press, Etc: elizabeth.bissette@gmail.com

Submissions, Press, Etc: elizabeth.bissette@gmail.com

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Spider Radio Drama May Have Pre-Dated Shadow Radio Series

FYI  Lee Falk, who later created Mandrake the Magician and The Phantom, directed most shows at KMOX at this time. The main KMOX actor was baritone-voiced Marvin Mueller, later Miller. He became famous on TV later an THE MILLIONAIRE.

Posted by Yahoo Groups, "Pulp Mags" by Chris Kalb:

I've always questioned whether there was in fact a Spider radio show on KMOX out of St. Louis, as referenced in Jim Harmon's NOSTALGIA CATALOG and Don Hutchinson's THE GREAT PULP HEROES, but now I've seen the ad for myself. It appears on page 127 of the August 1935 issue of The Spider ("Master of the Death-Madness") for anyone interested. (I just got my replica from Girasol.)

No other mention is made in the issue, or in issues immediately before or after. The ad appears to be from the advertiser of the program, Blackstone's Tasty-Lax, and offers a free Spider Ring if you send in the ad's coupon with the direction slip from the 24- piece package of Tasty-Lax.

It says to tune in "every Thursday" at 6:30 CST. This doesn't make it definite that it actually aired, but it gives us times and dates to research. The August issue hit stands in July; The Thursdays in July 1935 were the 4th, 11th, 18th, and 25th. That's a good place to start for anyone near the St. Louis Public Library. Anyone?

If The Spider radio show was a drama, as opposed to someone reading the current issue on the air, am I right in saying that it would have predated The Shadow radio drama?

I like to think it may have been a drama, and scripted by Norvell

Page, as the very last line in Page's biography in Arthur Burk's AMERICAN FICTION GUILD BULLETIN dated December 1, 1935 says "Good radio script writer." There are no (other) radio credits for Page that I know of.

From me: I am certain that I read, or was told that KNOX burned down and the Spider scripts with it, as well as found Norvell wrote them from the same source. I'll try to look it up and/or recall.

Norvell wrote for radio, that is certain. But exactly what, outside of what I've heard re. the above, I don't know. My Grandmother mentioned he'd worked on several things, including the Shadow.
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3 comments:

  1. Terence Towles CanoteSeptember 3, 2010 at 10:50 PM

    I think the Little Dixie Library has The St. Louis Post-Dispatch on microfiche. If they do, I might just check to see if they have the radio schedules for August 1935. It would be interesting to find out if The Spider radio show ever aired.

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  2. Frank AbsherMay 13, 2011 at 1:55 PM

    KMOX did not burn, but no scripts from those days were kept.

    ReplyDelete
  3. JoeKApril 22, 2014 at 9:34 AM

    The Shadow started out on the radio as a narrator for one of Street and Smith's Detective magazines. The Shadow magazine was started just to get a copyright on the character because radio was considered live performance and not under copyright. The Shadow radio drama that everyone is familiar with is the 2nd Shadow radio incarnation.

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