Tonight’s show features one of the most famous American short stories, Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery. Jackson was one of the finest authors of the macabre and her Haunting of Hill House is an all-time classic. For three years in the early 1950s NBC aired a prestige program aimed at bringing the finest short stories to the masses and The Lottery was one of the first tales the show tackled.
In The Lottery, a small town prepares for an annual ritual which will ensure a good harvest in the coming Fall. “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon,” but just what encompasses this lottery?
So turn out those lights and give a listen to The Lottery as it aired on NBC Presents: Short Story on March 14th, 1951.
Download the show to take on the go right here.
I’ll mention writer Ernest Kinoy made some changes to Shirley Jackson’s story; adding characters, deleting others, making a bit of a change as well but the tale still resonates. You might want to give the original story a read if you haven’t although many people don’t seem to completely “get” the story.
