Join us on Friday at a little after 12 noon or 4pm Pacific time / 8pm or midnight in the UK, for another episode in the landmark radio drama series The Black Mass, created by the late Erik Bauersfeld and his colleagues at the Pacifica radio station KPFA in Berkeley, California, over fifty years ago. In 30 chilling tales of mystery, imagination and the human mind, The Black Mass brings you some of literature’s most haunting stories, by masters of the craft — many of whom are best-known in other fields. Our thanks as always to John Whiting, producer of many of these recordings, and of course to Erik Bauersfeld himself.
Note that the episode will not start until the track playing at the top of the hour has finished, so the actual start time of the episode will be a few minutes after the hour.
Man 1: Bernard Mayes
Man 2: Erik Bauersfeld
Adapted and Produced by: Erik Bauersfeld
Two strangers sit at Florian’s Café on the Piazza de San Marco in Venice, Italy. Thomas Mann’s brief tale is about a search in life for something that isn’t a disappointment. It also reveals the origin of Peggy Lee’s popular song: Is That all There Is. Most of the lyrics are taken, word for word, from Mann’s story.
First broadcast on July 1, 1964. Length: 13:54
“Disillusionment” (“Enttäuschung”) was written in 1896.
Length: 24:13
Wikipedia says of Thomas Mann:
Paul Thomas Mann (6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas are noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual. His analysis and critique of the European and German soul used modernized versions of German and Biblical stories, as well as the ideas of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Arthur Schopenhauer.
The Black Mass artwork was created by Terry Lightfoot.
If you like what you hear, why not make a donation? Click the button above, and use a credit card or PayPal account to sign up for a regular subscription or donate just for the current month. Thank you for your support.
*Note: funds will be handled by Brideswell Associates.
For more details on what your donation supports, and how the process works, visit our Friends & Patrons page.
If you're a business, perhaps you could consider sponsorship?
