Arabian Nights Two (radio)

“Arabian Nights: Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” 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 “Arabian Nights: Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" program from the Radio Tales series was an adaptation of the story from "The Book of One Thousand and One Nights ("Arabian Nights")".

Broadcast history

The Radio Tales production of “Arabian Nights: Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” was first broadcast via XM Satellite Radio on September 15, 2003 as part of the Sonic Theater channel (163) lineup of the XM Satellite Radio service. [ [http://www.xmradio.com/onxm/features/sonictheater.xmc "Sonic Theater"] XMRadio.com. Accessed May 22, 2008.]

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 fifty-six 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.]

Media

The Radio Tales production of “Arabian Nights: Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” 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 the "Arabian Nights: Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” program, have been available for download via the Audioville.co.uk web site. [ [http://www.audioville.co.uk/store/view.php?Id=552&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 8, 2008.]

Opening narration

Plot summary

Ali Baba is a poor woodcutter of Persia. One day, when he is cutting wood in the forest, he hears hooves approaching, and climbs a tree to hide. From here he observes forty thieves ride to a large rock at the bottom of a hill. Their leader says, “Open Sesame” and a doorway opens in the rock, revealing a vast storehouse of treasure. The thieves unload bags of wealth into the cave, which closes up after them as they depart. Waiting until they are gone, Ali Baba climbs down from the tree and repeats the magic words. The cave entrance swings open. He fills up bags with gold from the cave and loads his donkeys with them, driving them home with their heavy burden. Now Ali Baba is a wealthy man.

His brother Kasim hears of Ali Baba’s new wealth, and demands the secret of the cave, which Ali Baba tells him. Kasim drives ten mules to the cave, cries “Open Sesame!”, and the cave opens for him. He goes in with ten empty sacks, fills them up and then turns to leave, but the cave entrance has closed in the meantime, sealing him inside, and he suddenly can not remember the magic words. Later, the forty thieves find Kasim’s mules loitering outside, discover Kasim himself within the cave, and kill him at once. Afterward, their leader notices that some of the treasure is missing, and deduces that Kasim must have had an accomplice. He sends spies into the city to find the unknown thief, and they both find Ali Baba’s house and mark it with chalk to remember it. Ali Baba’s servant girl, Marjanah, notices the marks each time and duplicates the same mark on all the other houses on the street, to confound the robbers.

At last, the chief goes and finds the house himself, and fixes it in his memory. Then, posing as an oil-dealer, he manages to charm an invitation to dinner from Ali Baba. He smuggles his fellow thieves into Ali Baba’s courtyard by stuffing each one into a large oil jar, meaning to alert them when night has fallen so that they can kill everyone in the house. Marjanah discovers this ruse. She boils a large cauldron of oil, and pours it into each of the jars, killing the thieves one by one until they are all dispatched. When the chief sees his men are dead, he flees Ali Baba’s house.

Some time later, Ali Baba invites a local merchant to dinner. Marjanah recognizes this merchant, although he has a long white beard as a diguise that fools Ali Baba. After dinner, Marjanah comes out, dressed as a dancer, and performs a wonderful dance for them… at the end of which she stabs the white-bearded merchant to death. Taking off the merchant’s beard, she reveals him to be the robber chief in disguise.

Ali Baba proposes marriage to Marjanah, and she accepts. They spend the treasure of the forty thieves wisely for the remainder of their days.

References

External links

* [http://www.audioville.co.uk/store/view.php?Id=552&ProductCategoryId=59 Arabian Nights: Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves Streaming Audio Samples Audioville]
* [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.xmradio.com/onxm/channelpage.xmc?ch=163 XM Satellite Radio – Information on the Sonic Theater Channel]