Afloat with Henry Morgan, Volume 2

Afloat with Henry Morgan, Volume 2 - 6 hours [Download] #RA213D

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Afloat with Henry Morgan
Volume 2

"Pulse Pounding Pirate Adventure!"

If you're looking for a good pulpy audio serial, the recipe is simple. Equal parts High Seas intrigue, colorful, exciting characters, and pulse pounding tales of pirates and buccaneers. Mix these together with the skills of a man who many consider a penultimate voice actor and a production genius behind the scenes. The result is a 52 episode Australian series in 1947 that can now be heard again in fifteen minute punches of action and adventure in Afloat with Henry Morgan, Volume 2!

Afloat with Henry Morgan followed the adventures of the title character, a real life privateer for the Queen of England employed and licensed to fight the Spanish Armada. His mission, starting around 1655, quite simply was to fight Spanish fleets, scuttle and sink their crafts, and take whatever booty there might be on the ships he managed to attack as payment for his dedication to the English crown. For obvious reasons, Morgan is often portrayed as more pirate than English seaman.

The magical part, though, according to many, of this classic program was the man behind it. Well-known Australian radio personality George Edwards produced Afloat with Henry Morgan. Born Harold Parks, Edwards found his way to theater early in life, both as a comic partner with his brother and as an accomplished mimic. As a young man, Edwards had a speech impediment, a stammer, which would stymie most people dreaming of a career using their voice. Amazingly, however, this difficulty vanished whenever Edwards performed.

Expanding his horizons in as many directions as possible, Edwards garnered many skills, including acrobatic dancing, and toured Australia, New Zealand, the United States of America and, during World War I, South Africa with vaudeville and in other stage shows. Finding little success in this, Edwards moved into short films beginning in 1927 through 1931 and even worked with his brother, Lew, as a theatrical agent.

In 1931, Edwards made the move into radio and at this point changed his name to George Edwards. An opportunity to produce a radio play in 1932 ended up being Edwards' big break. Encouraged by his partner, a witty talented actress by the name of Nell Stirling, Edwards took on almost all responsibility for The Ghost Train, including doing four of the roles himself and securing a writer for the show. Both Stirling and Maurice Francis, the writer Edwards recruited, remained with Edwards for the rest of his career, adding much to his successes. The Ghost Train brought Edwards to the attention of fans and by May, 1933, he had formed The George Edward Players, the group that would become world famous for their serials, both dramatic and comedic.

Known for many Australian serials, such as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Corsican Brothers, and Son of Porthos, Edwards lent not only his production skills to Afloat, but shared his amazing vocal talents as well. Known as "The Man with a Thousand Voices," Edwards parlayed his ability to sound like a young child, any male he wanted to, nearly any nationality necessary, and even older women into a legendary career as a radio actor. The skill to do sometimes twelve different voices in a single episode definitely fit the needs of Afloat with Henry Morgan, with it being a lower budget affair.

Even though the purse strings were tightly drawn, this program stands out as one of the best serial adventures of the radio era. This is due primarily to the intense pacing of the stories themselves as well as the historical component, the high quality production values despite financial barriers, and the talented voice acting of Edwards and the rest of the cast.

The final 24 episodes of this cliffhanger non-stop serial are presented in Afloat with Henry Morgan, Volume 2! Restored to the finest sparkling quality possible, this collection brings you 6 hours of history, mystery, hard men, courageous women, and sea battles galore! Thrill as Morgan becomes involved in the theft of an Aztec artifact, plots are hatched and betrayed, raids are planned and double crossed, and a plethora of characters, many voiced by George Edwards, all come together to take you Afloat with Henry Morgan in this second volume of this classic show brought to you by Radio Archives!

Radio Archives wishes to express its sincere appreciation to Ian Grieve, Australian radio historian, for providing the illustrations seen here, for his assistance in preparing these liner notes, and for helping to make the release of "The Adventures of Marco Polo" possible.

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