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Quiet Please - Metafiction

Quiet Please - Metafiction: Encyclopedia II - Quiet Please - Metafiction

Though many radio programs used various meta-fictional ploys, Quiet, Please arguably offered some of the most effective and intriguing examples. Scripts often broke down the fourth wall by speaking directly to the listener; in a few such episodes, the listener becomes a sort of character. On "The Other Side of the Stars", (broadcast May 8, 1949), Chappell portrays a man named Esau, who relates--on live radio--the tale of his girlfriend's odd fate after discovering a conquistador's armor while exploring a well in Arizona, but he ...

Quiet Please: Encyclopedia II - Quiet Please - Metafiction

Quiet Please - Metafiction

Though many radio programs used various meta-fictional ploys, Quiet, Please arguably offered some of the most effective and intriguing examples.

Scripts often broke down the fourth wall by speaking directly to the listener; in a few such episodes, the listener becomes a sort of character. On "The Other Side of the Stars", (broadcast May 8, 1949), Chappell portrays a man named Esau, who relates--on live radio--the tale of his girlfriend's odd fate after discovering a conquistador's armor while exploring a well in Arizona, but he is repeatedly interrupted by her brother, who arrived uninvited for the broadcast. In some episodes (such as "The Other Side..." and "The Man Who Knew Everything") the listener becomes a sort of character. Chappell's character in "Inquest" is forced to stand in front of a vast visible radio audience, while being assured that he will be supplied with sound effects as they are necessary to accompany the story he tells.

Unusually for episodic radio drama, several episodes were sequels of earlier broadcasts (though with occasional retcons): The main character from very first episode, "Nothing Behind the Door" (08 June 1947) had an ominous warning for the world in "The Other Side of the Stars"; in "The Man Who Knew Everything" (06 March 1949) the titular character seems to die at the episode's end, only to return in "The Venetian Blind Man" (03 April 1949); and the time travelling soldier from "It's Later Than You Think" (08 February 1948) tries to reclaim his enchanted wristwatch in "Not Responsible After Thirty Years" (14 June 1948)

Several episodes blurred the distiction between performer and fictional character: In a few episodes (such as "Is This Murder"), Ernest Chappell portrays a man named "Ernest". In "Where Do You Get Your Ideas?" Cooper portrays himself, while Chappell portrays a drunken barfly, pestering the writer.