RADIO ACTION THEATER Robert Clem

The complete title of this wildly comic story  based on Tall Tales from the Hunters' Camp  by  South Carolina humorist William Gilmore Simms is  "Bald Head Bill Bauldy and How He Went Through the Flurriday Campaign."  At the nightly "Lying Camp' in a remote corner of the Smoky Mountains, camp cook and bottle washer Bill Bauldy is persuaded to retell his well-known account of how he was inveigled into the U.S. Army when they were chasing the Florida Seminoles.    His uselessness as a soldier leads to his assignment as regimental cook.  During his time off he samples the regiment's  liquor and "long nine cigars" imported from Cuba.   Lying low while his regiment fights a battle, Bauldy is captured first by the Seminoles,  then by an alligator who takes him to an underwater island ruled over by a carnivorous mermaid queen with an army of alligators marching in formation.   Sentenced  to death by his commander for desertion, he is pardoned after he explains what happened  and the unit is glad to  enjoy decently cooked food once again.   Adapted and directed by Robert Clem with a music score performed by Donald Stark,,  Produced by Anne Blythe Meriwether.   Funding from the Southern Humanities Media Fund.    Mixed by Bill Sexton at South Carolina Education Broadcasting.   With George Altman as Bald Head Bill and Ron Hale as the Colonel determined to make his life miserable.
Support the show

A tale of the Progressive era, this two-part drama tells the story of how Woodrow Wilson becomes New Jersey's governor in 1910, embraces a progressive agenda and is soon on his way to the U.S. presidency.   In Part One of the drama,  George B.M. Harvey, editor of Harper 's Weekly and a conservative Democrat with strong ties to Wall Street, sees in Wilson a man who can offset the burgeoning reform movement.  Harvey convinces New Jersey Democratic party boss Jim Smith to back Wilson as a way, finally,  to take back control of the state.  Wilson accepts only on their assurance he will be allowed to make his own decisions in matters of "morals and men."  After a wooden start, Wilson begins to respond to the crowd and meets with Joe Tumulty, a member of the party's insurgent wing.  Wilson wins the election with a strong finish and is sought out by George B.M. Harvey and Boss Jim Smith to offer their congratulations.  Produced by Charles Potter and Robert Clem.  Written and directed by Robert Clem and aired on the Pacifica network in 1992.  Original music score by Donald Stark.   With:
Timothy Jerome as Woodrow WilsonMerwin Goldsmith as Boss SmithJack Gilpin as Joe TumultyEd Steele as George B.M. HarveyRon Marshall as Boss DavisEarl Hammond as Jim NugentMitchell Jason as the NarratorSupport the show

In the aftermath of Wilson's victory in his campaign to become New Jersey's governor in 1910, Boss Jim Smith comes to collect his reward -- Wilson's support for Smith to fill a vacant seat in the U.S. Senate.   But Democratic voters have decided in a non-binding primary that one James L. Martine is their choice for the Senate.   Wilson's refusal to back Smith after Smith had backed him ignites a struggle for power between New Jersey Democratic party bosses and the party's insurgent wing, now backing Wilson.   Wilson launches a public campaign on behalf of a progressive agenda of workmen's compensation and safety, an end to child labor, government regulation of the economy and an end to machine politics.  In the end Jersey City's Boss Davis goes for Wilson, and Boss Smith is defeated.  Woodrow Wilson emerges as a leading contender as president of the United States in 1912.    

Produced by Charles Potter and Robert Clem.  Written and directed by Robert Clem and aired on the Pacifica network in 1992.  Original music score by Donald Stark.   With:
Timothy Jerome as Woodrow WilsonMerwin Goldsmith as Boss SmithJack Gilpin as Joe TumultyEd Steele as George B.M. HarveyRon Marshall as Boss DavisEarl Hammond as Jim NugentMitchell Jason as the NarratorSupport the show

Charles Chesnutt was a pioneering African-American author who wrote a number of novels about middle class and professional blacks but found that white readers wanted only to hear about black characters from the lower strata, who spoke in dialects reminiscent of slavery.  White author Joel Chandler Harris had created in Uncle Remus a kindly black man who looked back fondly on his slavery days.  In The Conjure Woman, his best known work, Chesnutt created the character of Uncle Julius, who was wily enough to be deferential to the well to do  but told told tales  in which there was no trace of nostalgia for the brutalities of slavery.  Produced for public radio in the late 1996, the program features scholars from Yale, Rutgers and North Carolina State about Chesnutt's legacy, and features a dramatization of Chesnutt's conjure story "Dave's Neckliss."  The cast features:Ossie Davis as Uncle JuliusW.T. Martin as the plantation ownerWelker White as the owner's wifeMusic composed and performed by Donald Stark
Produced, adapted and directed by Robert Clem
Support the show

Broadcast worldwide as part of a radio series celebrating William Faulkner's 100th birthday, the short story "Honor" from 1930 shows Faulkner in his Hollywood mode.  He worked as a screenwriter on several films directed by Howard Hawks, including To Have and Have Not, and many of his novels were adapted as films including Douglas Sirk's Tarnished Angels (1957) based on Faulkner's 1935 novel Pylon and starring Rock Hudson and Dorothy Malone.  In the story "Honor" a former World War I pilot becomes a wing-walker in a flying circus and takes a step too far with a dangerous woman.  Recorded in New York City with:
Campbell Scott as Buck MonaghanHope Davis as Nicole RogersMichael O'Keefe as RogersLeo Burmester as WaldripGuy Boyd as the OwnerJ.R. Horne as RinehartMusic composed and performed by Donald Stark
Adapted, produced and directed by Robert Clem
Support the show

Part of a drama series hosted by Stacy Keach, based on short stories by William Faulkner.  Spotted Horses, one of his greatest stories,  introduces the Snopes clan, a humorless, devious bunch who descend on Yoknapatawpha County like locusts, in this case to sell a herd of worthless wild horses to the local residents.  Recorded in New York City, with:
John Glover as Buck HippsBetty Buckley as Mrs. ArmistidLois Smith as Mrs. LittlejohnWill Patton as the NarratorBill Raymond, Lanny Flaherty, David Little, Rusty DeWees, David Costabile, Frank Licato as townsmen.Music composed/performed by Donald StarkProduced, written and directed by Robert Clem

Support the show