THE HITCHHIKER Lucille Fletcher The Hitchhiker Radio Play

THE HITCHHIKER Lucille Fletcher

The Hitchhiker � Radio Play

The Hitchhiker � Radio Plays have NO VISUALS: All information must be conveyed by dialogue, sound effects, and narration (explanation)

The Hitchhiker � Radio Play– � Radio Plays have NO VISUALS: All information must be conveyed by dialogue, sound effects, and narration (explanation) � Story is set in the late 1930’s in New York City and during a cross country drive.

The Hitchhiker � � � � Suspense is created through: sound effects chilling music dialogue (especially through character expressing his thoughts/talking to himself) setting unfamiliar to the character isolation of character plot twists

New York City 1930 s

Mom & Pop Store

1930 s American Southwest

Lucille Fletcher � Lived from 1911 -2000

Lucille Fletcher � Lived from 1911 -2000 � Woman writer – unusual for the time

Lucille Fletcher � Lived from 1911 -2000 � Woman writer – unusual for the time � Started career as a “gopher” for CBS, running errands and typing others’ scripts

Lucille Fletcher � Lived from 1911 -2000 � Woman writer – unusual for the time � Started career as a “gopher” for CBS, running errands and typing others scripts � Wrote more than 20 plays; also wrote novels and short stories

Lucille Fletcher � “The Hitchhiker” and “Sorry Wrong Number” were presented on the Orson Welles Show. � Orson Welles was quoted as saying that these two plays were the BEST plays ever written for radio performance.

Late 30’s/Early 40’s Radio

Late 30’s Radio as Focal Point in Family Living Room

Radio led to a new mass audience forming that was more inclusive, more rural, more domestic, whatever you think of its taste more broadly American. Radio was the first truly mass medium, linking great cities and remote hamlets in the same instantaneous event.

“Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt adopted radio as as aa communication tool when the medium was so so new no no one was certain what place itit would find in in American culture. Radio was an an unknown force, and itit came right into people’s homes and spoke to to them intimately. It. It seemed to to have the potential for both good and evil…they brought home aa constant, free stream of of entertainment…Some critics of of the radio fad worried that ifif families stayed home with (the radio) itit would erode civic involvement and compete with traditional social gatherings. ““ The Internet of of the 1930’s

In the 1930’s, this is your only “newsfeed. ” It is your source of comedies, dramas, soap operas, kids’ shows, news programs, weather reports, political speeches, and sometimes…even your “fake news. ”

30’s/40’s Car

Car and House Ownership by Decade AVERAGE PRICE OF A NEW CAR: 1930: $600 2019: $35, 742

30’s/40’s Telephone

30’s/40’s Phone Operator

250, 000 women were employed in the 1930’s as telephone operators in the United States.