Escape

Escape was a long-running CBS Radio series hosted by and starring William Conrad. It ran on CBS from 1947 to 1954, broadcasting a wide range of adventure stories, including science fiction and horror. Over 200 half-hour episodes were broadcast, most of which still survive. The episodes below are the genre episodes. Please note that the episode numbers given below are merely the order in which the episodes are thought to have been broadcast — they are not the actual episode numbers.
Episode 1: Dead of Night

​​A ventriloquist has a falling out with his dummy.

​First broadcast: 21 March 1947.
Original Story by Angus MacPhail & John Bains.
​Cast: Berry Kroeger, Art Carney.​
Episode 2: The Diamond As Big As The Ritz
​
​​The richest family in the world go to extreme lengths to protect their privacy.

First broadcast: 21 July 1947.
Original Story by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
​Cast: Peggy Webber, Linda Mason, Jack Kruschen, Danny Merrill, Jack Edwards Jr, Harry Bartell.
Episode 3: The Ring of Thoth
​
​​The secret of a five-thousand-year life span, and a love throughout eternity.

First broadcast: 11 August 1947.
Original Story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
​Cast: Jack Webb, Thomas Freebairn-Smith, Joan Banks.
Episode 4: The Fall of The House of Usher
​
​​Edgar Allen Poe's classic horror tale.
​
​First broadcast: 22 October 1947.
Original Story by Edgar Allen Poe.
​Cast: Sheraton Hall, Paul Frees, Ramsay Hill.
Episode 5: Pollock And The Porrah Man

A man is driven mad by visions of a murdered witchdoctor.

​First broadcast: 29 October 1947.
Original Story by H. G. Wells.
​Cast: Barton Yarborough, Luis Van Rooten, Jack Kruschen, William Conrad, Jeff Corey.
Episode 6: Evening Primrose

A poet decides to escape from the world by secretly living in a department store, only to find a colony of strange people already living there.

​First broadcast: 5 November 1947.
Original Story by John Collier.
​Cast: Elliott Lewis, Pat Lowery, Paul Frees, Lou Krugman, Ruth Perrott, Eleanor Audley, William Conrad.
Episode 7: Casting The Runes

​An academic finds himself cursed after writing a scathing review of an occultist's paper.
​
​First broadcast: 19 November 1947.
Original Story by M. R. James.
​Cast: Ian Wolfe, John McIntire, Eric Snowdon, William Conrad, Jeff Corey.
Episode 8: The Country of The Blind

A mountain guide finds a hidden valley where all the inhabitants are blind and it is he who is considered disabled.

​First broadcast: 26 November 1947.
Original Story by H. G. Wells.
​Cast: Luis Van Rooten, Peggy Webber, Paul Frees, William Conrad, Harry Bartell.
Episode 9: Taboo

A suspected werewolf terrorizes a small, Hungarian village.

​First broadcast: 3 December 1947.
Original Story by Geoffrey Household.
​Cast: Morgan Farley, Sheraton Hall, Paul Frees, Jack Kruschen, Marta Metrovitch, William Conrad.
Episode 10: An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge
​
​A Confederate sympathiser is hung by Union troops, but does he get a reprieve when the rope snaps?

​First broadcast: 10 December 1947.
Original Story by Ambrose Bierce.
​Cast: Luis Van Rooten, William Johnstone, Frank Lovejoy, Gerald Mohr, Jeff Chandler, Sam Edwards, William Conrad, Harry Bartell.
Episode 11: Papa Benjamin

​The leader of a jazz band is plagued by a voodoo curse.

​First broadcast: 21 January 1948.
Original Story by Cornell Woolrich (as William Irish).
​Cast: Luis Van Rooten, Frank Lovejoy, Joan Banks, Jack Edwards, William Conrad, Harry Bartell, Jeff Corey.
Episode 12: Ancient Sorceries

​A tale of witchcraft in a small, Welsh village.

First broadcast: 15 February 1948.
Original Story by Algernon Blackwood.
​Cast: Paul Frees, Ramsay Hill, Anne Morrison, Kaye Brinker, William Conrad, Jeff Corey.
Episode 13: How Love Came To Professor Guildea

A strait-laced professor believes a supernatural entity in his house is falling in love with him.

​First broadcast: 22 February 1948.
Original Story by Robert Hichens.
​Cast: Luis Van Rooten, Paul Frees, Parley Baer, Harry Bartell.
Episode 14: The Grove of Ashtaroth

A lost shrine to a pagan goddess exerts a strange influence on its discoverer.

​First broadcast: 29 February 1948.
Original Story by John Buchan.
​Cast: Paul Frees, Raymond Lawrence, Eric Snowdon, Kaye Brinker, William Conrad.
Episode 15: The Brute

A sailing ship seems intent on killing her crew.

​First broadcast: 11 April 1948.
Original Story by Joseph Conrad.
​Cast: Wilms Herbert, Erik Rolf, Dan O'Herlihy, Parley Baer, Nina Klowden, Jeff Corey.
Episode 16: The Time Machine

Adventure in the year 100,080 in H. G. Wells' classic time travel story.

​First broadcast: 9 May 1948.
Original Story by H. G. Wells.
​Cast: Erik Rolf, Kaye Brinker, Jeff Corey.
Episode 17: She
​
​H. Rider Haggard's classic tale of immortality and 'She who must be obeyed'.

​First broadcast: 11 July 1948.
Original Story by H. Rider Haggard.
​Cast: Ben Wright, Wilms Herbert, Berry Kroeger, Lawrence Dobkin, Kaye Brinker, William Conrad.
Episode 18: S.S. San Pedro

An old sea freighter encounters serious problems following a visit from the mysterious and creepy Dr. Percival.

​First broadcast: 22 August 1948.
Original Story by James Gould Cozzens.
​Cast: Charlotte Lawrence, Jay Novello, John Dehner, Don Diamond, Lawrence Dobkin, William Conrad, Harry Bartell, Jeff Corey.
Episode 19: A Dream of Armageddon
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​A man is tormented by a dream of the future where he is powerless to prevent a terrible world war.

​First broadcast: 5 September 1948.
Original Story by H. G. Wells.
​Cast: Stacy Harris, Betty Lou Gerson, Jack Kruschen, Charlotte Lawrence, Erik Rolf, John Dehner.
Episode 20: The Man Who Could Work Miracles

George Fotheringay discovers he can work miracles, but he soon realises his new-found ability is not the boon he thought it would be.
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​First broadcast: 19 September 1948.
Original Story by H. G. Wells.
​Cast: Ben Wright, Wilms Herbert, John Dehner, Constance Cavendish, Eleanor Audley, William Conrad, Jeff Corey.