The Black Mass - Definition and Overview

The Black Mass was a radio drama program broadcast on KPFA

Episodes of The Black Mass (Except as noted, these programs can be obtained from the Pacifica Radio Archives.)

• The Flies
• Oh Mirror, Mirror
• Shidah and Kuziba
• Evening Primrose (from the short story by John Collier)
• An Evening's Entertainment
• 2 By Poe - The Predicament and Tell-Tale Heart
• Nightmare
• Bartleby The Scrivener (by Herman Melville)
• A Country Doctor (by Anton Chekhov)
• The Ash Tree (by M. R. James)
• Atrophy
• The Judgement
• Two adaptations of Ambrose Bierce's stories "Oil of Dog" and "Esme"

• The Jolly Corner (by Henry James)
• Diary of a Madman (by Nikolai Gogol)
• Legend of the Island of Falles (by Betty [Sandbrook?, Sambrook?])
• All Hallows (by Walter de la Mare)
• Dream of a Ridiculous Man (by Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
• Death of Halpin Frasier by (Ambrose Bierce)
• Moonlit Road (by Ambrose Bierce)
• Two By Poe - Man in the Crowd and Ms. Found in a Bottle
• Tales by Lord Dunsany

• The Outsider (by H.P. Lovecraft)
• Proof Positive (by Graham Greene) and Witch of the Willows (by Lord Dunsany)
• The Renegade (by Albert Camus)
• The Squaw (by Bram Stoker)
• Rats in the Walls (by H.P. Lovecraft)

A relevant non-Black Mass production (from Pacifica station WBAI):

• Pickman's Model (from a short story by Lovecraft)

The following are not from Archives - mostly listed from airchecks of KPFA or KPFK in the collection of the original contributor of this entry:

Great American Scream - KPFK:

• "The Boarded Window" by Ambrose Bierce
• and "A Haunted House" by Virginia Woolf

"The Feeder" by Earl Linder

"Imp of the Perverse" (by Poe, from KQED, San Francisco [15"])

Actor's Workshop: "Candaules Commissioner"

Official Releases of Black Mass Episodes

Dream of a Ridiculous Man Pacifica Radio Archive #BB5499 36:00 (although this tape has no open, close, or credits; an older copy is listed as 37:40") A cast of 6 is listed on the label, and the show features sound effects and original music by Ian Underwood. Broadcast date is listed as 1/29/67.

The cast list includes Shirley Jones - possibly the film and television actress? The series apparently was produced on an irregular basis over many years, time and budget permitting.

Adaptations of Lovecraft's "The Rats in the Walls" and "The Outsider" were released in the 1970s on LP in a very limited pressing, possibly of 1,000 copies, found on sale at a comic-book convention.

Original contributor Max notes: I am going to try to contact someone who worked on the series with Erik Bauersfeld; if I get anything more on the series, I'll post it here.

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