RADIO ACTION THEATER

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 convinc...

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 pow...

• 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 kno...

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 starri...

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 Hipps
• Betty Buckley as Mrs. Armistid
• Lois Smith as Mrs. Littl...

Part of a dramatic series based on short stories by William Faulkner.   Mountain Victory, a dark tale written in 1932 at Faulkner's peak, tells of a Confederate officer and his former slave traveling home to Mississippi after the war's end who find their way blocked by embittered Unionists in the mountains of Tennessee.   With:

• David Strathairn as Maj. Weddell
• Jeffery Wright as Jubal
• William Fichtner as Vatch
• Jeff DeMunn ...

Hernando de Soto had  helped conquer the Incas of Peru and in 1539 was sent by the Spanish crown to subjugate the native tribes of what is now the American Southeast, where he would look for treasures like those found in Central and South America.  Eli Wallach is host and a cast of Hispanic and Native American actors play the roles of the Spaniards and the Cherokees, Choctaws and other American tribes who at first welcomed de Soto,...

After landing in Tampa Bay in 1539, Hernando de Soto finds that the natives have gone into hiding in the swamps.  He burns their villages, then moves inland and northward, seeking gold.  The Spaniards with some difficulty find their way through the swamps but are soon desperately short of food. Having reports of gold in a province called Cale, the Spaniards find the villages of the province abandoned and the reports of gold false. ...

Some of De Soto's lieutenants urge that a colony be established in the fertile country of Cofitachequi, near the Atlantic Ocean. But finding no gold in Cofitachequi   only copper, mica and pearls, De Soto ignores the advice of his lieutenants and orders an immediate departure. When the princess of Cofitachequi refuses to give them bearers, complaining of pillaging and rape by De Soto's soldiers, the princess is taken host...

De Soto meets the Indian chief Tascaluza and after entertaining the chief for dinner, holds him hostage. Tascaluza agrees to provide the Spaniards with supplies, bearers and women in the town of Mabila, some leagues away.  Hidden in Mabila are five thousand warriors, ready to attack. Soto barely escapes from the town and a giant battle ensues.  A mutiny arises among the men but De Soto, obsessed by his search for gold, heads the ex...

After crossing a vast river in the land of the Mississippians, De Soto wearies of his search for gold and asks the Indians to point the way to the sea. When De Soto dies of a fever, the ragged survivors with some dissension decide to continue the fruitless search for gold.  After another year under harsh conditions, they agree to seek an outlet to the sea.  They embark on the Great River in makeshift brigantines but are soon entrap...