TGG Spooktacular 2021 – Escape!: Leiningen Versus The Ants

By Jeff McAleeron Oct 18, 2021

One actor who seemed to have been built for radio was William Conrad. In fact Conrad himself estimated he’d played 7,500 radio roles in his career. He’s no doubt best remembered for television roles like Cannon and Nero Wolfe. On radio, his deep, resonant, sometimes growing voice was a perfect match for Dodge City sheriff Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke.

Tonight’s episode of the Spooktacular featuring Conrad during his turn as the narrator of Escape. In Leiningen Versus the Ants, William Conrad isn’t only providing narration but also pulling double duty as the titular hero of the tale. The radio play is based on the classic Carl Stephenson short story of the same name. The story original appeared in Esquire magazine in 1938.

So let’s turn out the lights and set off into the Brazilian jungle as we give a listen to Leiningen Versus the Ants, starring William Conrad, on Escape as it aired January 14th, 1948.

Download the show to take on the go right here.

On a quick side note, most visitors to TGG probably don’t know I ran an old time radio website quite a few years back and I have tens of thousands of radio shows in my collection. Each of the programs I’ll share during the Spooktacular have had their audio personally cleaned up by me to remove many of the pops, crackles, and hisses so common with old time radio recordings. These aren’t pristine by any means but keep in mind the original broadcasts you’ll be hearing are anywhere from fifty to eighty years old…

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Jeff McAleer

Founder/Editor-in-chief of The Gaming Gang website and host of The Gaming Gang Dispatch and other TGG media, Jeff tackles any and all sorts of games but has a special fondness for strategy, conflict sims, and roleplaying games. Plus, he's certainly never at a loss for an opinion...