8 episodes
Dingus Mike Cooter
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- Fiction
"Dingus" is a six-part radio drama produced by CBS and recorded at the height of the 1943 flu pandemic that swept through Hollywood. Denied of a marquee cast and blighted by a curious obsession with the object that drives its narrative, this innovative and formally-reflexive oddity disappeared almost completely without trace.
In 2010 artist Mike Cooter set out to find and rehabilitate this elusive artefact, initiating a 12-year journey that now culminates in the re-emergence of "Dingus," his first major work for radio.
Ostensibly a detective drama, taking its name from an American colloquialism for an object without name or of indistinct identity (from the German ‘ding’ / ‘thing’), "Dingus" emerges across six episodes and a supplementary documentary as a rumination on objecthood itself: how we claim to understand some-thing, and the effects that it might have. At once both utilising and unpicking the narrative conceit of the MacGuffin, "Dingus" can be heard to reverse the logic of an object that serves to drive a narrative, functioning instead as an armature for the mysterious artefact at its heart: the MacGuffin as sculpture.
"Dingus" was commissioned by Resonance FM.
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Episode 1 - The House of Glass
A mysterious object goes missing in Peru, leaving in its place "a halo around a ghost." A story is told down by the Los Angeles docks. "Who are the guys chasing this whatsit, and what’s it to you?" A bullet cuts through the night. Dingus takes a case.
Starring Mitchell Mullen as John Dingus, David Menkin as Jensen Elmsdood and Joseph Balderrama as Peterson. Narrators: John Christian Bateman, Alexandra Metaxa. Composer: Jobina Tinnemans. Written, directed and produced by Mike Cooter. Editor and assistant producer: Jim Whelton. Commissioned by Resonance FM. Supported by Jerwood Arts, The Elephant Trust and The Henry Moore Foundation. -
Episode 2 - The Shell of Desire
With little more than the shape around a problem to work with, Dingus seeks out the kind of ‘friends’ a gumshoe has. ‘In trouble again or just trying to find it?’ Boxes and shells. A trip to the ballpark yields a lead, the night a fever of matter.
Starring Mitchell Mullen as John Dingus, Colin Stinton as Lieutenant Johanssen and David Menkin as O’Rourke. Narrators: Alexandra Metaxa and John Christian Bateman. Composer: Jobina Tinnemans. Written, directed and produced by Mike Cooter. Editor and assistant producer: Jim Whelton.
Commissioned by Resonance FM. Supported by Jerwood Arts, The Elephant Trust and The Henry Moore Foundation. -
Episode 3 - The Half-Seen Shadow
Dingus heads to the County Library to do some sleuthing the old-fashioned way. The situation in Peru becomes more clear. “Experience told him that meeting mysterious women in secluded mob-owned bars of their own choosing was always a sour idea...” Dingus looks death in the face, and from its pocket takes a clue.
Starring Mitchell Mullen as John Dingus, Christy Meyer as Veronica Marden, Colin Stinton as Lieutenant Johanssen, Cory Peterson as Finnegan. Narrators: Alexandra Metaxa and John Christian Bateman. Composer: Jobina Tinnemans.
Written, directed and produced by Mike Cooter. Editor and assistant producer: Jim Whelton.
Commissioned by Resonance FM. Supported by Jerwood Arts, The Elephant Trust and The Henry Moore Foundation. -
Episode 4 - The Hall of Mirrors
The mystery thickens in the acrid oilfields of south Los Angeles. Danger runs hot and close. The streetcar tears and binds. “You don’t ask too many questions for a detective... am I going too fast?” Sculpture and nitrates, Dingus and the museum. (Note: this episode features documentary elements. Full credits and contributors are listed on the show website.)
Starring Mitchell Mullen as John Dingus, David Menkin as O’Rourke and narrated by Alexandra Metaxa and John Christian Bateman. Composer: Jobina Tinnemans. Written, directed and produced by Mike Cooter. Editor and assistant producer: Jim Whelton.
Commissioned by Resonance FM. Supported by Jerwood Arts, The Elephant Trust and The Henry Moore Foundation. -
Episode 5 - The Breaking Shell
Dingus works what he has to hand. “I wondered if a guy could be a detective without leaving his apartment, if the whole job really got going once you took yourself apart from everything else…” Eggs and making. Relationships are redefined, danger breaks loose.
Starring Mitchell Mullen as John Dingus, David Menkin as O’Rourke and narrated by Alexandra Metaxa and John Christian Bateman. Composer: Jobina Tinnemans. Written, directed and produced by Mike Cooter. Editor and assistant producer: Jim Whelton.
Commissioned by Resonance FM. Supported by Jerwood Arts, The Elephant Trust and The Henry Moore Foundation.
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Episode 6 - The Hollow Die
The thrilling conclusion of Dingus. A voice breaks into the open. Fruit trucks shake the lonely road to the desert, bones bleaching in the sun. “For a building full of dead things they made it hard to keep quiet.” Dingus finds himself in the museum. A solution lies in the palm of a hand.
Starring Mitchell Mullen, Alexandra Metaxa, Colin Stinton, Christy Meyer, Cory Peterson and John Christian Bateman. Composer: Jobina Tinnemans. Written, directed and produced by Mike Cooter. Editor and assistant producer: Jim Whelton.
Commissioned by Resonance FM. Supported by Jerwood Arts, The Elephant Trust and The Henry Moore Foundation.