Feet of Clay (radio)

“Feet of Clay” is a program from the American radio anthology series "Radio Tales". The anthology series adapted classic works of American and world literature for the radio. The series was a recipient of numerous awards, including four Gracie Allen Awards from the Foundation of American Women in Radio and Television (in 2004, [ [http://www.awrt.org/press-releases/2004/Press_Release_%20Announce_Winners.pdf "AWRT Press Release"] AWRT.org. Accessed March 21, 2008] 2003, [ [http://www.npr.org/about/press/030402.gracie.html "NPR Productions Win Gracie Allen Awards"] NPR.org. Accessed March 21, 2008] 2001, [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20011126020253/www.awrt.org/awards/2000GracieWinners.html "2001 Gracie Allen Award Winners"] AWRT.org, as indexed by the Internet Archive at Archive.org. Accessed March 21, 2008] and 1998 [Hear Here: "Tales by American Masters". AudioFile Magazine, pg. 8, Feb/March 1999, Vol. 7, No. 5.] ) a New York Festivals WorldMedal, [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20050207122048/http://www.newyorkfestivals.com/res/pdf/2004RPwinners.pdf "2004 Winners, Radio Programming and Promotion, New York Festivals"] NewYorkFestivals.com, as indexed by the Internet Archive at Archive.org. Accessed March 21, 2008] and a Golden Reel Merit Award. [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20010802161539/www.nfcb.org/2001reelsinfo.html "NFCB Announces 2001 Golden Reel Award Winners"] NFCB.org, as indexed by the Internet Archive at Archive.org. Accessed March 21, 2008] The “Feet of Clay" program from the Radio Tales series was an adaptation of the classic short story of the same name by Kate McPhelim Cleary.

Broadcast history

The Radio Tales production of “Feet of Clay” was first broadcast via NPR on December 11, 2001. [National Public Radio: "NPR Quarterly Edition Fall 2001". NPR Marketing, Vol. VII, No. IV] The program encompassed one half-hour installment that was distributed to NPR member stations as part of the NPR Playhouse cultural series. Since November 28th, 2002, the entire Radio Tales series has aired in reruns on the Sonic Theater channel (163) of the XM Satellite Radio service. [ [http://www.xmradio.com/onxm/features/sonictheater.xmc "Sonic Theater"] XMRadio.com. Accessed May 22, 2008.] The “Feet of Clay” program debuted on XM Satellite Radio on September 27, 2003.

Production information

The program was produced and script edited by series producer Winnie Waldron, who also served as the on-air host. [ [http://www.winifredphillips.com/wp_bio.html "Winifred Phillips Official Site: Biography"] Winifredphillips.com. Accessed May 19, 2008.] Composer Winifred Phillips created over twenty-eight minutes of music for the program, and also performed as the featured actress. [ [http://www.mninter.net/~jstearns/nprPH.html#top "NPR Playhouse - January - March, 2001"] MNinter.net. Accessed March 21, 2008.] “Feet of Clay” was part of the fifth year of Radio Tales on NPR Playhouse. [National Public Radio: "NPR Quarterly Edition Fall 2001". NPR Marketing, Vol. VII, No. IV]

Media

The Radio Tales production of “Feet of Clay” has been available in numerous formats and venues, including burn-on-demand CDs manufactured and distributed by MP3.com [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20031129193548/artists.mp3s.com/artists/33/npr_radio_tales.html "MP3.com: Radio Tales"] MP3.com, as indexed by the Internet Archive at Archive.org. Accessed July 15, 2008.] and Ampcast.com. [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20060212003627/http://www.ampcast.com/music/25229/artist.php "Ampcast.com: Radio Tales"] Ampcast.com, as indexed by the Internet Archive at Archive.org. Accessed July 15, 2008.] Beginning in 2005, programs from the series, including “Feet of Clay”, have been available for download via the Audioville.co.uk web site. [ [http://www.audioville.co.uk/store/view.php?Id=557&ProductCategoryId=59 "audioVille | Stor>>Fiction | Radio Tales | Download Audio Books, Podcasts and more in MP3. Comedy, Fiction, sport, news, science, drama."] Audioville.co.uk. Accessed October 6, 2008.]

Opening narration

Plot summary

Margaret Dare has lost all hope, which only compounds the horror she experiences living in the silence and isolation of a farmhouse on the Kansas prairie, surrounded on all sides by vast fields of corn. Without the slightest hint of optimism to sustain her, she discovers that the utter silence of the prairie has become a method of torture, ceaselessly and insidiously testing her will to endure. However, at length, her hearing becomes attuned to the voices of the corn… and that is far worse. Knowing that she has brought all this on herself, Margaret lets her mind fall backward through the years, remembering the days immediately following her marriage day.

After Barret Landroth marries Margaret and takes her from her sophisticated metropolitan life to live with him and his mother in Kansas, he worries that she might be too accustomed to high society, with its lavish parties and elaborate theaters, to fit in as a farmer’s wife. But at first Margaret seems to adjust quite well to her new environment, much to Barret’s relief. Not that Barret’s mother ever welcomes Margaret or shows her the slightest warmth or sympathy.

When winter settles in, and the brutal work of feeding the men husking the corn comes to an end, Margaret has more free time to fully experience her mother-in-law’s constant insults and derision. Margaret is able to endure all of this without complaining… except when the old woman demands that Margaret go to the shed and hold a pan beneath the dripping carcasses of freshly killed hogs, to collect the blood for making blood sausage. When Margaret utters a horrified refusal, the old woman reports this to Margaret’s husband, who immediately sides with his mother. That marks the end of any warmth that had before existed between husband and wife.

When Margaret gives birth to a daughter, Barret is not there, for his mother refuses to send for him and interrupt his work in the fields. Later, Margaret rejects Barret’s idea of naming their daughter after his mother, and as a result, Barret ceases to take any interest in the child and begins to insult his wife just as his mother does. All the while, Margaret’s spirit is worn away by the constant work, and the hollow companionship of other farmer’s wives. Prematurely old and shockingly bitter, these local women delight only in tormenting their children and spreading malicious gossip about each other. Fearing that her spirit will soon be broken, Margaret begs her husband to let her go home to her family for a while, but he answers by telling her that his mother has not left the farm in twenty years. That night, Barret’s mother dies.

During the year that follows, Barret becomes intolerably cruel, treating Margaret like a slave. The silence of the long days begins to feel like a crushing weight, and she begins to involuntarily speak nonsense aloud to herself. Finally, the corn outside the windows becomes a fearful presence, surrounding and imprisoning her.

One night, after a day of brutal work cooking for the farmhands, Margaret lies awake listening to the voices of the corn, roaring louder and louder outside the windows, until she is convinced that the corn is coming for her. She screams, and when her frightened husband asks what is wrong, she tells him frantically that the corn is speaking, and that it is saying, ‘Forever, ever, ever!’ Suddenly, Margaret’s eyes go blank, her lips curl into an empty and disconcerting smile, and she begins to mumble about her unfinished chores, and how she must go and complete them. Barret holds her by the arms, terrified.

Soon afterward, Margaret’s family is summoned, and they come for her and for her daughter, and take them away from the farmhouse and the corn. The locals look on all this with stern contempt for Margaret’s weakness. What a shame that such a good man as Barret Landroth should have to put up with such a nuisance. There certainly had been nothing that could have caused Margaret to lose her mind, so insanity must run in Margaret’s family.

References

External Links

* [http://www.audioville.co.uk/store/view.php?Id=557&ProductCategoryId=59 Feet of Clay Streaming Audio Sample on Audioville.co.uk]

* [http://www.radiotales.com/ The Official Radio Tales® Web Site]
* [http://www.audioville.co.uk/store/view_productcategory.php?Id=59 Radio Tales Streaming Audio Samples on AudioVille]
* [http://www.http://www.xmradio.com/onxm/channelpage.xmc?ch=163 XM Satellite Radio – Information on the Sonic Theater Channel]