Charnel Bells

Keen-eared listeners will note that Van Guarrault refers to the show as "The Black Catacomb", not just his studio. This may have been recorded before Guarrault had settled on a name for the show, or it may imply that he had other shows on the drawing board. It is something of a forbidden fruit, too, to hear a segment from his "Illustrations" translation. In 1951 Hoover's FBI raided the Golden Goblin Press offices on the pretext of "printing literature detrimental to the moral sanctity of America". Nearly the entire print run of Guarrault's "Illustrations" was confiscated and destroyed, along with the works of Justin Geoffrey, Fletcher Grey and Hassan bin Zaiid. Ah, the McCarthy years...

The 1949 "Sketch Reel" continues to surprise with odd pieces that may have been Mr. Guarrault's early demos and tests for what would ultimately become Charnel Bells. This one is interesting in that it hints at a possible literary review or book spotlight show. There probably wasn't much of a market for a show about how H. P. Lovecraft wrote a weird dark riff on "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", but then Van Guarrault never seemed much concerned with whether John Q. Public got what he was trying to do. As for the literary comparison, it's worth a listen for those who appreciate both works. For fans of both weird fiction and dusty radio, it's probably just as well that Guarrault took his show in a more narrative direction.

I will admit I was very surprised to hear this swaggering military adventure playing from my speaker the first time. Guarrault might have been trying to figure out something that would actually see play on more conventional radio, but what an odd one-off to find on his 1949 "Sketch Reel". It is impossible not to imagine The Expatriate as another serial hero in the mould of Doc Savage, Buck Rogers, The Phantom and so many more. Still, it seems Guarrault just couldn't help himself from bootlegging some light supernatural semi-horror into the piece in the form of jet black killer robots with "glowing red eyes and machine gun arms" designed to look like human skeletons and erupt from the grave soil of Nazi Berlin. What can you say, the man knew what he liked.

Found on what must have been a test reel, this strange little story has all the telltale elements of a Van Guarrault original. Perhaps it was an exercise, a dark story of supernatural murder with an undeniably absurd premise. In any event, this bizarre fable was never developed into anything more, and sits as the first of several odd one-offs on a reel marked "VG Sketches '49-'50".

This listing can only have been either a demo ad read, or more sadly, wishful thinking on Mr. Guarrault's part. BRS never gained the footing to compete with the network titans of the era, and didn't actually carry any of the programs named in the ad. Though most of the named performers were noted talents of the day, the shows were almost certainly fictitious. Also of note, the tape reel containing this ad read doesn't name the reader, though his voice bears a blushing resemblance to Roofton Edwards of "Gallant Fischer, Cryptocartographer" fame.

Another example of the kind of weird dark poetic prose of Lovecraft's post-Dunsany phase, this was recorded (according to the date pencilled on the tape reel) on Halloween, 1949. Desmond Lawrence's ashy, desolate voice is in fine form on this brief recording, and it is to be lamented that Studio Black Catacomb had so much going against it; else his might be another name well-known to listeners of today.

This piece is a real enigma; it seems likely that this was a satirical piece that Mr. Van Guarrault, the producer of Charnel Bells, recorded sometime in late 1950 or early '51 in frustration at the rise of jingoism and censorship of American radio. As the fear of Communism pervaded all aspects of life in 1950's America, any sort of non-conformity was at risk of being treated as a crime. This may have been the intent behind Guarrault declaring himself a Satanist. Or -and this must not be discounted- the man may have simply been a Satanist! Either way, this one almost certainly never made it out of Studio Black Catacomb's walls. It would surely have meant a swift end to the whole business.

This interesting episode offers three pieces of verse written by Banquo Walker, read by the poet, along with Charnel Bells creator, host and producer, Van Guarrault, and the gravel-voiced Briton, Roman Clifford, who achieved some small renown during the London Blitz as the voice of several public service announcements warning citizens not to approach unexploded German munitions. His menacing, heavy intonations became one of the most-imitated voices of that awful time. Banquo Walker sadly, left very little imprint outside of the long-forgotten reels of Charnel Bells. In another time and place, who knows; maybe his name would adorn collections of weird and dark poetry. Alas, we can at least hear some small portion of his strange work still, and in his own voice, no less.

An excellent example of the weird atmospheric fiction abroad in the pulps of the '20's and '30's, Lovecraft's "The Festival" is that rarest of joys: truly literate and artistic horror fiction. An appropriate (if somewhat morbid) piece to air at Yuletide, Charnel Bells' production of it was never aired for being "unholy pagan poison". Incidentally, the purported reader here, "Desmond Lawrence", seems surely to have been a stage name for the English-born Percy Phipps, who is known to have been a friend of Van Guarrault. Mr. Phipps was a sales clerk at a musical instrument shop along the same block as Guarrault's Studio Black Catacomb.

This ad read seems to be Van Guarrault, host of the Charnel Bells radio show and producer at Studio Black Catacomb, doing his best to sound like a snappy salesman instead of himself. As the likelihood of Charnel Bells making it past the censors to the air dwindled, Guarrault took on more and more of a role, reading ads, writing scripts and even masquerading as other people. This ad read, for instance, is credited to a "Marshall Innsreef", though no record of so unlikely a name can be found.

This is the controversial ad copy that first stirred up trouble for the Charnel Bells radio show. Recorded in February of 1949, it features the voice talent of Ramsey Abdurrahman, but it's the last line that sparked concern among certain censors. Along with the problematic use of the words "intoxicating herbs" early in the copy, the implication that smoking a cigarette might consummate a sinister pact with a god or gods other than the Abrahamic was just more than the censors would let slide, and so a less inflammatory version was recorded soon after.

Thought to have been recorded in spring or summer of 1949. The voice is believed to be Charnel Bells host Van Guarrault, though it's near impossible now to say for certain.

Thought to have been recorded in September or October of 1949, this piece features the work of Banquo Walker, a poet and editor of the then-emerging Greenwich Village Bohemian scene. Of further interest is an odd historical footnote in the journal of a Lt. Chivalry A. Faraday, who served as aide-de-camp to Gen. Montgomery during the Valley Forge campaign. He mentions a scout's report of spying a curious village while on ranging patrol. "A vilage of no Christian church nor crosse, but of shrines and brazers, withal to yield up prais to unown hethen worshippe."

Viola Curtis claimed to have channelled the spirit of a Norseman named Kjeld Olbertsen, who was apparently living in exile somewhere in Ireland some time between the 5th and 9th centuries. Of particular note is the transcript reading by Per Gunnolfsen, who was slain in a bank robbery in Madison, Wisconsin in June of 1954.

The famous medium Viola Curtis, "The Oracle of Otherwhere", had hundreds of her seances recorded live between 1933 and her untimely death in 1952. Transcripts of these recordings appeared in magazines, medical journals and, of course, collected for publication as the Calling Out to the Dark book series in the 'Fifties. Here, Van Guarrault reads the seance Miss Curtis conducted with unknown writer Vincent Brown for the Charnel Bells Radio Show. It was recorded in May or June, 1949 and slated for airing in autumn of that same year. 

A demo ad read, likely read by Loy P. Thompson, a company rep for Squamous Foetor. Recorded in 1950.

An unaired advertisement recorded in 1949.

An unaired advertisement recorded in 1949.