Found a radio programme about Chapman!

[HelenaWojtczak]

Actually I found two... will post the other in another thread.

Here's one:

The Secrets of Scotland Yard was a successful crime drama series, initially airing internationally between 1949 and 1951.

http://www.mediafire.com/?ax9bkdy3cb2

Not as full of errors as the other (Orson Welles) one ....


Helena

[HelenaWojtczak]

The other (Orson Welles) one can be found here:


http://archive.org/details/otr_blackmuseum Episode 80.

[Cogidubnus]

"across the throats of the pretty girls of London's East End"...Gawd 'elp us!

Interesting relics from a bygone age though

Thanks Helena

Dave

[HelenaWojtczak]

Cheers, Dave.

The "Secrets of Scotland Yard" episode featuring Chapman was not at all sensationalised and was surprisingly faithful to the true story, unlike the "Black Museum" version, narrated by Orson Welles.

The chief error was that Chapman had an unadulterated Cockney accent, even though the narrator told listeners that he was Polish. Other mistakes include Kłosowski telling Annie Chapman in 1892 that he was taking her surname, and stating that a series of New Jersey murders occurred then ceased when he left there.

It goes badly awry at Chapman’s arrest, when Godly runs into Abberline (Dorset-born, but played, bizarrely, with a Scots accent), who tells him that Chapman was the Ripper. The narrator concludes that ‘it’s plausible’ that Chapman was Jack-the-Ripper, ‘but we shall never know’.

[Cogidubnus]

By the by Helena, the second link actually leads to the theme tune...all the episodes themselves are loaded by clicking on the blue links below...finding the right one's a bit of a beggar!

Dave

[HelenaWojtczak]

Regarding the Orson Welles one...

This was part of a 1951 radio series called The Black Museum. Produced by Harry Alan Towers, written by Ira Marion and narrated by Orson Welles, the series was syndicated throughout the English-speaking world.

Chapman’s story was told in episode 44 (of 51), entitled ‘The Straight Razor’. The series claimed that the stories were ‘from the annals of the criminal investigation department of the London police’, which misled listeners to believe they were hearing a true story; indeed, even the modern-day Wikipedia entry claims that, although the names were changed, the facts are true to history. But this is clearly not the case with ‘The Straight Razor’. The drama bore barely any resemblance to the real story. It comprised sensationalistic nonsense punctuated with comically melodramatic music composed by Sidney Torch.

In this version, Chapman is ‘Larry Wilson’, and is not identified as a Pole, just as an unspecified foreigner whose birth name was ‘Wilmet’. He married dress-shop owner Daisy Alistair, used her money to buy a tavern then killed her in 1894. Next he married Belle Davies, a flower-shop owner whose savings he inherited after he murdered her in 1895. Lastly he wed Mabel Dill and did away with her in 1896 in a pub is called ‘The Statue’. The same elderly doctor treated all three wives and became suspicious only when the third died. Finding all three bodies full of antimony, the police called at all the ‘drugstores and chemists shops’ near to Wilson’s various homes until they tracked down the pharmacist who had sold him the tartar emetic back in 1894, which he bought ‘to cure dandruff’. Every bit of the foregoing is incorrect LOL.

The episode began by focusing on a wooden case of seven cut-throat razors that were (purportedly) held in Scotland Yard’s Black Museum. Later it was revealed that police found them hidden in his house and wondered why he had gone to such pains to hide them.

Based on five pieces of ‘evidence’ the investigating inspector suspected Wilson of being Jack-the-Ripper. They were:

1. the hidden razors;
2. his arrival in London in 1888;
3. the three Ripper-style murders in New Jersey whilst he lived there;
4. his physical description and his voice matched exactly the only witness description of the Ripper;
5. after his arrest for the poisonings there were no more Ripper murders.

The episode concluded that there was ‘more than a reasonable chance’ that he was Jack-the-Ripper and that ‘certainly, that case of razors deserves its place of honour in the Black Museum’. If there were ever any of Chapman’s belongings in the Black Museum, they were hardly likely to have included a set of razors.

So, a load of sensationalistic balderdash, but hilariously entertaining to listen to!

That is at http://archive.org/details/otr_blackmuseum

Scroll down to episode 80.

Helena

[HelenaWojtczak]

By the by Helena, the second link actually leads to the theme tune...all the episodes themselves are loaded by clicking on the blue links below...finding the right one's a bit of a beggar!

Dave

Thanks for pointing that out, but I cannot find a more accurate URL for the episode. Sorry.

[Cogidubnus]

Oh ok...I found it the hard way! (Story of my life)

Dave

[PaulB]

There are quite a few Jack the Ripper and related OTR programmes. I did an article about them in Ripperologist back in 2004

http://www.casebook.org/forum/messages/4925/11750.html

The article itself is here

http://www.casebook.org/dissertations/rip-oldtimeradio.html

[Cogidubnus]

Thanks Paul, I hadn't come across that dissertation before...interesting

Dave

[HelenaWojtczak]

The article itself is here

http://www.casebook.org/dissertation...timeradio.html

Interesting that this article does not mention the series The Secrets of Scotland Yard, narrated by Clive Brook, the link to which I posted in #1.

Helena

[PaulB]

Interesting that this article does not mention the series The Secrets of Scotland Yard, narrated by Clive Brook, the link to which I posted in #1.

Helena

It mentions all the programmes of which I was aware at the time of writing. Others have emerged since then.

[HelenaWojtczak]

It mentions all the programmes of which I was aware at the time of writing. Others have emerged since then.

Sorry, didn't realise you wrote it ;-)

Ah well, perhaps time for a re-write, if you are in the mood?

Well done on the article, by the way!

Helena

[Cogidubnus]

Sorry, didn't realise you wrote it ;-)

Ah well, perhaps time for a re-write, if you are in the mood?

Bit inattentive...then a bit cheeky...you do believe in pushing it don't you Helena?

All the best

Dave

[HelenaWojtczak]

Bit inattentive...then a bit cheeky...you do believe in pushing it don't you Helena?

All the best

Dave

Yeah that sums me up ... add to that always multi-tasking, but without the brain-power to do so; need new specs but too busy to get to the optician; a less than perfect human being, I'm afraid!