Lugosi Casts Spell Over Chandu The Magician (1932)
Past radio becomes so much vapor as those who tuned in go a same way. Have oral history projects gathered memory of what listening was like? A name like Chandu escapes recognition today, as does The Shadow or Mandrake, or … what other heroes of departed youth? Pulps, serials, few surviving broadcasts, can reclaim them, but these are bare remnant of weekly (some daily) crackling over air that’s said to have thrilled more satisfactorily than TV that took radio’s place. I’d not have known or cared for Chandu but for Bela Lugosi opposing the character in one feature, then becoming him in a follow-up chapter-play. Serials being as antique a format as radio, we'd not have access to Return Of Chandu until PD video began spitting it out, while Chandu The Magician, buried among Fox-fare, seemed as likely to turn up as London After Midnight. Meanwhile, it was old men of decreasing number who’d recall Chandu as recurring figure, us having to take their word, plus evidence of wireless schedules, that the character once had a vital role in shaping of youth. I played a couple Chandu radio episodes online, same storyline (coincidence? There were over 50 episodes) that inspired Fox’s Movie adapt, but OTR still is not ingrained habit here, though I’d be well served for more time spent in that Theatre Of The Imagination.
| Hey Look --- Notorious Precode Auction Scene Is Highlighted In This 1932 Ad |
Speaking of imagination, I’ve read of listeners doing mind-picture of events as they occurred on radio, self-generating people and places on wings of voice/fx heard. Sort of like silent movies to which we had to give fuller attention. So did radio and pre-speech films breed a generation of writers better able to express themselves creatively? Lots of pop culture still extant was given birth by artists raised on radio. The Chandu episode I heard needed work and concentration to fully enjoy. Maybe the real reason I don’t hear more OTR is life spent at idiot-proof intake of amusement. I’ve wondered how much is left of the old movie enthusiasm --- shouldn’t we ask too how many still revere radio? There are conclaves yet that meet, recreate old broadcasts, and talk undoubtedly of Chandu. For others of us, there is Kino’s Blu-Ray release of the 1932 Fox pic, which has plenty to engage even if you care less re the title Magician.
