Escape

Dramatic adventure anthology (1947 - 1954)

Tired of the everyday grind?
Ever dream of a life of … romantic adventure?
Want to get away from it all?
We offer you … ESCAPE!

The famous opening to the show, often worded to suit the events of the moment or season, warns the intrepid radio listener of adventure that is anything but... everyday. Like its sister show on the radio, Suspense, it is considered one of the top shows ever done on radio. Escape takes you on a ride into a world where danger comes in many forms, and you are on the edge of life and death, and perhaps you are being pushed! When Escape says romantic, we're not talking kissing, perhaps those kisses might be from teeming piranha! Escape is more Devil's Island than Fantasy Island. And it is wonderful adventure radio for the whole family, especially Dad.

The best radio actors appeared on the show week in and week out. Some of the greats associated with the show include William Conrad (Gunsmoke), John Dehner (Have Gun Will Travel), Jack Webb (Dragnet), Elliott Lewis (Voyage of the Scarlet Queen, Broadway is My Beat), Georgia Ellis (Gunsmoke),Frank Lovejoy (Nightbeat), Hans Conreid, Jennette Nolan, Jay Novello, Jack Edwards, Joan Banks, Parley Baer (Gunsmoke), Paul Frees and Peter Leeds. And that's only a few of the dozens of radio actors who were a part of the greatest high adventure series on radio.

Producer-directors of the show included William N. Robson (Suspense) and Norman McDonald (Gunsmoke), both masters of the craft of radio realism and action adventure, laced with thrills and chills.

Escape's writers (including Ray Bradbury), music and sound effects all wove magic into these half-hour episodes, many of which were based on great writer's tales, such as The Man Who Would be King, Country of the Blind, Diamond as Big as the Ritz, Typhoon, Beau Geste, The Fall of the House of Usher, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, and The Time Machine. Some were adapted from high adventure stories written in the 1930s and '40s. Many were written expressly for Escape.

All the popular Escape shows are in this fine collection, including "Three Skeleton Key", "Evening Primrose", "The Most Dangerous Game", "A Shipment of Mute Fate", "The Man Who Stole the Bible", "Earth Abides", and "The Loup Garou"...but each and every show is a fine radio drama. This is as nearly perfect as it gets, except, perhaps, that once you get in over your head, you might not... ESCAPE!

Please note many episodes in this collection are both the West Coast and East Coast broadcast versions (denoted as "WC" and "EC").  The shows are intentionally included in the collection; recordings are the same script with slightly different performances.

Fans of Escape, may also enjoy the concise collection Best of Escape which contains some of listeners' favorite episodes.

For more adult-oriented adventure, see also: Out of the Deep, High Adventure, and Moon Over Africa.