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B307530 Golden Windmill Radio Drama Contest 1971 : Six Stereophonic Plays For Radio / 1971-11-13

Spurred on by the success of the GOLDEN WINDMILL CONTESTS for radio productions (stories, documentaries and radio plays) in both Africa and Latin America, Radio Nederland decided in 1970 to stage a similar contest in the United States of America. In co-operation with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in Washington D.C., American authors were invited to submit a radio drama. The only conditions, attached to the contest, involved the duration of the play and the number of actors in the cast.
In view of the declining (or allegedly declining) interest in Radio Drama the response was not expected to be vast, and it was gratifying therefore to find that 80 entries were received, some of which were of a very high standard indeed.

The entries were judged by a jury which included:

  • Al Hulsen                                Director of Radio Activities, Corporation for Public Broadcasting
  • J. W. Acda                               Deputy Director-General, Radio Nederland
  • Hans Jonges                         Deputy Director of Programs, Radio Nederland
  • W. G. van Maanen                 Author and Radio Producer, Radio Nederland
  • Jo van de Walle                     Director Transcription Service, Radio Nederland

An exhaustive appraisal by the panel of judges produced three prize-winning entries. Three more plays received honorable mention and they too were declared suitable for performance on radio.

Hans Jonges produced five of the plays which were realised in stereo by an American cast in the studios of WHA, University of Wisconsin Extension, Madison, U.S.A., which also accommodates the National Center for Audio Experimentation. The sixth play “ERASMUS IN THE UNDERWORLD” was realised in London with a British cast. It was produced by Bernard Fortuin and prepared for broadcasting in the studios of Radio Nederland in Hilversum, the Netherlands.

B307530.A1 Golden Windmill Contest 1971 : 01: (First Prize) Post Mortem, a radio play by Benjamin Bradford / 1971-11-13  | 00:28:54

First prize-winner in the Golden Windmill Radio Drama Contest, a competition in the USA, organized by Radio Nederland and the Cooperation for Public Broadcasting.
Walter Marsh - the doctor
John Stocker - the young man
Don Robinson - the morgue attendant
Technical operation: Marv Nonn
The play was produced by Hans Jonges at WHA, University of Wisconsin Extension.

A young man, who has taken part in a demonstration calling for more love in the world, is shot dead. I n the play the pathologist, who performs the post-mortem, engages in a dialogue with the young man. The ensuing discussion reveals all contrasts separating two generations, but the process evolves with such a profound understanding of human relations, that the word LOVE - for which the young man went out to demonstrate - does not seem to have been bandied about in vain.

B307530.B1 Golden Windmill Contest 1971 : 02: (Second Prize) The Way out West, a play for radio by Laverne Kehr / 1971-11-13 | 00:25:35

Second prize winner in the Golden Windmill Contest 1970-71.

Cast:
Walter Marsh - Al
Richard Brown - Old Wilson
Ed Burrows - Banker
Ken Ohst - car dealer
Helen Tuten - teenage girl
William McKee - restaurant owner
Patricia King - Liberal A
Jay Fitts - Liberal B
Karl Schmidt - Skidmore / Gage
Larry Opprecht - Davidson
Bob Hartenburger - Burkee

Technical operation: Marv Nonn

This is the story of a dark-coloured man who intrudes into a conservative society and of the tensions arising therefrom. What the townspeople resent most of all is the intruder’s flashy way of dressing, for which punishment is meted out to him. He takes revenge by smashing a number of windows of premises owned, ironically, by people who had no part in punishing the man. All in all a minor, but nonetheless incisive feat of dramatic writing, wrapped up, in what one might call, a comedy of errors.

B307530.C1 Golden Windmill Contest 1971 : 03 (Third Prize)  The damned thing, a play for radio by Martin Halpern / 1971-11-13 | 00:22:57

The THING - well wrapped-up - is delivered to a married couple. Nobody knows what it is and nobody ever will … but the man and the woman unwrap the parcel at once and try to put it together as best they can. They are a little uneasy when they find that an essential part is missing, but they decide to put the contraption together without the missing part. Fortunately for them they never had an inkling about the consequences of their decision… .

Cast: Penelope Read (the woman) Walter Marsh (the man) Ed Burrows (the designer) / Technical operation: Don Voegeli / Producer: Hans Jonges

 

B307530.D1 Golden Windmill Contest 1971 : 04 (Honorable Mention) So many surprises, a radioplay by Georgia Deal /  1971-11-13 | 00:27:33
A simple theme, sublimely treated. In a Home for the Aged, three women are waiting for the end to come. Nothing ever happens and the slightest incident is blown up to assume a major and often shocking importance. A work of deeply moving, tragic intensity.

Cast: Agatha Church (Mrs. Kimball) Eleonor Grant (Miss Martin) Jay Fitts (Mrs. Gunthrie) Carol Cowan (Mrs. Simpson) / Technical operation: Don Voegeli  / Producer: Hans Jonges

 

B307530.E1 Golden Windmill Contest 1971 : 05 (Honorable Mention) Visiting Hours, a radio play by E.G. Burrows / 1971-11-13 | 00:23:52

This play, which testifies to brilliant penmanship, is set against an American-Dutch background in which the conflict between three generations of settlers is worked out with consummate artistry.

Cast: David Hirvela (Jacob Herkema) Agatha Church (grandmother) Jay Fitts (mother) Rob Hankins (Andrew Daanker) Linda Clauder (nurse)
/ Technical operation: Don Voegeli / Producer: Hans Jonges

B307530.F1 Golden Windmill Contest 1971 : 06 (Honorable Mention) Erasmus in the underworld, a radio play by Paul. V. Hale / 1971-11-13 | 00:28:00

 

Desiderius Erasmus, together with some of his contemporaries, Sir Thomas More, Martin Luther, Pope Julius the Second and the maidservant Margaret, are waiting in the Underworld. We make their acquaintance as they are being received by Minos, formerly King of Crete, one of the j.tdges of the Underworld. With him they discuss the problems of their day and age, which tJrn out to be the same problems as those facing us today.

Cast: Denis McCarthy (Minos) Noel Johnson (Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam) Felix Felton (Sir Thomas More) John Westbrook (Martin Luther) Margaret Wolfit (Margaret, housekeeper for Erasmus) Hugh Manning (Julius teh Second, the famous Renaissance Pope) / Technical operation: Radio Nederland / producer Bernard Fortuin

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