“The Hitchhiker”
Lucille Fletcher
As a young adult Lucille wanted to become a novelist. After she took her
first job as a script typist and began reading scripts with other writers,
she decided she wanted to write plays as well. She was successful at
both. Fletcher penned more than twenty radio plays, including the well
know Sorry, Wrong Number and The Hitchhiker. In addition she wrote
several novels. Her works were suspenseful, full of mystery and often
terrifying.
Lucille was a writer at heart. She spent a few days
writing a story about a man who drove across the
United States and was shadowed by the same
hitchhiker everywhere. The story was shown to
actor, Orson Welles, who showed it to the
production staff for the series Suspense! The
episode, "The Hitchhiker", aired on September 2,
1942.
Orson Welles was Ron Adams who drove from
Manhattan to Los Angeles on business. It was
repeated several times on Suspense! and other
series. The story changed her status at CBS from
clerk-typist to scriptwriter.
She wrote many other scripts, including another
for Suspense!, "Sorry, Wrong Number", which
also became a hit motion picture, for which she
also wrote the script. "The Hitchhiker" was also
revised as an episode of TV's The Twilight Zone,
featuring Leonard Strong (1908-80) in the role of
the hitchhiker and Inger Stevens (1934-70) in the
Orson Welles part as Nan Adams.
She spent the rest of her
life writing nine mystery
novels at her homes in
suburban Philadelphia.
Lucille died in Langhorne,
Pennsylvania, on August
31, 2000, of a stroke at her
home. She was 88 years
old.
On October 30, 1938, he
directed the Mercury
Theatre on the Air in a
dramatization of “War of
the Worlds,” based on the
H. G. Wells novel.
ORSON
WELLES
Welles set the events in
contemporary locations
(the landing spot for the
Martian invasion, Grover’s
Mill, New Jersey, was
chosen at random with a
New Jersey road map) and
dramatized it in the style of
a musical program
interrupted by news
bulletins, complete with
eye-witness accounts.
Radio Plays
Though television was invented in the 1920’s, most
American households did not have television sets till the
late 1950’s. Before then families gathered around the
radio to listen to their favorite radio plays. These plays
took the form of dramas, mysteries, or comedies. Actors
on the radio station read their lines into a microphone
with dramatic flair. Background music help set the mood.
Sound effects were an important part of radio
plays. They were often produced in the radio studio.
Sheet metal shaken up and down, replaced rolling
thunder. A wooden match, broken close to a microphone,
sounded like a baseball bat striking a ball. Coconut halves
clapped against wood imitated the sound of horses’
hooves.
HOW TO READ A RADIO PLAY
*STAGE DIRECTIONS
These are written instructions that are not read
aloud, but are written to help the
actor know how to read his/her lines.
*SOUND EFFECTS
The sound of screeching tires, shattering glass, or
other noises help the listener
to “see” what is happening in the play. These
sounds suggest the action that is
taking place.
HOW TO READ A RADIO PLAY
*DIALOGUE
These are the words spoken by the actors.
*DIALOGUE AND STAGE DIRECTIONS
Since listeners can’t see the actors, radio
playwrights, (the person who writes the drama),
give information about the characters through the
dialogue and stage directions.
WHAT MAKES A SUSPENSE STORY ?
Thriller is a broad genre of literature, film, and
television programming that uses suspense,
tension and excitement as the main elements.
Thrillers heavily stimulate the viewer's moods
giving them a high level of anticipation, ultraheightened expectation, uncertainty, surprise,
anxiety and/or terror. Thrillers and suspense
novels tend to be adrenaline-rushing and fastpaced.
WHAT MAKES A
SUSPENSE STORY?
Literary devices such as
foreshadowing, red herrings, plot
twists and cliffhangers are used
extensively.
A thriller is a villain-driven plot,
whereby he or she presents
obstacles that the protagonist
must overcome.
WHAT MAKES A SUSPENSE STORY?
*The protagonist(s) faces death, either their own or somebody else's.
*The force(s) of antagonism must initially be cleverer and/or stronger than
the protagonist's.
*The main storyline for the protagonist is either a quest or a character who
cannot be put down.
*The main plotline focuses on a mystery that must be solved.
*The film's narrative construction is dominated by the protagonist's point
of view.
*All action and characters must be credibly realistic/natural in their
representation on screen.
*The two major themes that underpin the thriller genre are the desire for
justice and the morality of individuals.
*One small, but significant, aspect of a thriller is the presence of innocence
in what is seen as an essentially corrupt world.
*The protagonist(s) and antagonist(s) may battle, themselves and each
other, not just on a physical level, but on a mental one as well.
*Either by accident or their own curiousness, characters are dragged into a
dangerous conflict or situation that they are not prepared to resolve.
Background
Route 66In the 1940’s Route 66 was the primary highway connecting the Midwest
with the West Coast. Route 66 opened in 1926 and was finally rendered
obsolete in 1985 when a new interstate bypassed the last section in use.
Featured in songs, ads, novels, and other elements of popular culture, Route
66 is now considered an important part of the country’s history.
Auto Camps
Along Route 66 and other major highways came a phenomenon know as
auto camps. These were originally sections of land alongside highways that
were roped off for the use of travelers. People carried their own tents and
gear in their cars. Later, toilets, showers and eventually cabins, were added
to these locations
“Crossing the Brooklyn Bridge that morning in the rain, I
saw a man leaning against the cables.”
Each day, over
100,000 cars cross
the Pulaski
Skyway, a span of
bridges that feed
in and out of the
Holland Tunnel
connecting
Manhattan and
New Jersey.
Traffic-choked,
with hair-raising
curves, slopes and
exits, the Skyway
is loved by few,
but needed by
many.
“I drive a 1940 Ford V-8, license number
6V-7989.
I was born in Brooklyn. All this I know. I
know that I am at this moment perfectly
sane.”
Vocabulary
Lark – a source of or quest for amusement or
adventure
Junction- an intersection of roads especially
where one terminates
Nondescript-belonging or appearing to
belong to no particular class or kind : not
easily described; lacking distinctive
interesting qualities
Vocabulary
Sinister- singularly evil or productive of evil
Assurance- pledge, guarantee
Monotony- sameness of tone or sound
Literacy Devices
Foreshadowing is a way of indicating or hinting at what
will come later. Foreshadowing can be subtle, like storm
clouds on the horizon suggesting that danger is coming.
Example from The Hitchhiker:
Adam’s mother warns him against falling asleep, speeding
and the hitchhikers.
Drama Elements
Dialogue, or the words spoken by the actors.
Stage direction, which include instructions to the
actors about how the dialogue should be spoken
and instructions to the crew about sound effects.
CHARACTERS
Protagonist
Antagonist
Ronald Adams
Phantom Hitchhiker (Voice)
Minor Characters
•Adams’s Mother
•Hitchhiker Girl
•Orson Welles
•Operator
•Mechanic
•Long-distance Operator
•Henry, a sleepy man
•Albuquerque Operator
•Woman’s Voice (Henry’s wife)
•New York Operator
•Mrs. Whitney
GET READY TO READ
IS SEEING BELIEVING?
HAVE YOU EVER SEEN SOMETHING YOU COULDN’T EXPLAIN?
Was that a man in the alley or was that only a shadow? What
was that bright shape that streaked across the sky?
Ronald Adams is driving across the country on Route 66.
He is desperate to prove that what he is seeing can be explained!
Get ready to read the suspense drama. The Hitchhiker!
CLIMAX
WHEN RONALD DECIDES TO CALL HOME
“HALL-OOO….HALL-OOOO….”
-”Hitchhiker”