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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'The momentous and epoch-making of the past–the surly defeat of King John signing the Magna Charta–the thankful prayers at the relief of Lucknow–Britain's solemn declaration of war upon Germany–are these messages lost for ever in the dim mists of time? Julian Strange, Professor of Advanced Physics, refuses to believe this. He spent the last years of his life perfecting a scientific masterpiece that could reach out into the past and reproduce any sound. And one night, when his machine was perfected, he called his friend, Roger Easterwood, to his house at the top of the cliffs and there began what promised to be the most fantastic of all tests–an experiment in acoustics. As they sat in the darkness listening to the humming of the machine, voices of the dead came to their ears–and abruptly the experiment took a dramatic turn that was to alter both their lives. Professor Strange discovered that there are secrets no man might know–and what occurred in the silent room forms the basis for one of the strangest and most interesting radio dramas ever presented.'
Source:
'Crime with 200,000 Witnesses', Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, 25 February 1937, p.10.
Notes
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Note on naming and re-broadcast:
It is possible that An Experiment in Acoustics (first broadcast in 1936) and The Crime with 200,000 Witnesses (first broadcast in 1937) are the same radio play, broadcast under different titles. At present, the only argument in favour of their being the same work is a single advertisement in the Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate that describes An Experiment in Acoustics as a 'crime with 200,000 witnesses' (see 'Crime with 200,000 Witnesses', Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, 25 February 1937, p.10).
However, a later article in the same newspaper describes The Crime with 200,000 Witnesses as a drama based around an 'audacious theft', which does not seem to match the synopsis of An Experiment in Acoustics (see 'The Crime with 200,000 Witnesses', Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, 6 May 1937, p.16).
In the absence of more definitive information, AustLit treats the two works as discrete and any overlap in the terminology as coincidental (or perhaps inspirational).
Production Details
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First broadcast on 5DN (Adelaide) on Sunday 28 June 1936, as part of a series of Max Afford radio plays (most of which were repeats).
Repeated on 3 March 1937, still under the title An Experiment in Acoustics, but with at least on banner advertisement labelled 'Crime of 200,000 Witnesses' (see note).
Characters: Professor Julian Strange (A Professor of Advanced Physics), Berenice Strange (His Wife), Albert Parkinson (His Assistant), Dolly Edwards (Mrs. Strange's Maid), and Roger Easterwood (A Friend of Professor Strange) (see 'Crime with 200,000 Witnesses', Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, 25 February 1937, p.10).
Re-broadcast on 19 July 1939.
