This March, The Colonial Radio Theatre on the Air will start recording Victor Appleton's TOM SWIFT and his MOTOR CYCLE. Originally published in 1910 (when motor cycles were a new invention and a big deal), this drama had boys across the country on the edge of their seats, turning the pages to find out what happens next! It's an adventure story full of secret plans, spies, and daring escapes - all centered around a youngster "mechanical genius" named Tom Swift.
My Dad (now 87) was a fan of these books, and even has a first edition. I read the first in the series (there are 25 by the original author), and immediately saw great potential for a radio play. I talked with Chris Snyder to see how difficult it would be to create 1910 in sound, and after taking inventory, it appears we have everything we need.
It seems the books were written by many ghost writers, in fact, I think Victor Appleton never actually existed - it was just a name invented to keep the books as a common thread by a single author. I may be wrong on this, but I am pretty sure that's what I read.
It doesn't matter though, because all I am interested in is bringing these wonderful stories alive in sound - and that's just what we're going to do. Are they dated? Yes - but they are still exciting. Adventure never dates itself.
TOM SWIFT and his MOTOR CYCLE IS the first in what we hope will be a long running series. It will be release it as a multi-CD set under it's original title, and it will also be edited for our radio series under the title THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SWIFT, and will debut this summer.
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