Peter Haining - Dead of Night

[dem bones]

Peter Haining - [ed.] Dead of Night: Horror Stories from Radio, Television and Films (Stein & Day, 1983: originally William Kimber, 1981)

Photo: Sol Stein: Jacket design: Janice Rossi:

Peter Haining - Preview

E. F. Benson - The Bus-Conductor
Thomas P. Prest - Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber
Ambrose Bierce - The Middle Toe of the Right Foot
Algernon Blackwood - King's Evidence
Robert Louis Stevenson - The Sire de Malétroit's Door
Thomas Burke - The Hands of Mr. Ottermole
Rod Serling - A Thing About Machines
Robert Bloch - The Weird Tailor
Edgar Allan Poe - The Pit and the Pendulum
W. L. George - Perez
Nigel Kneale - The Pond
Kingsley Amis - The Ferryman
John Collier - De Mortuis

Blurb:
Peter Haining is a self-proclaimed literary ghoul, a plunderer of deathless prose, a seeker after strange and horrid tales to satisfy readers‘ unquenchable thirst for the entertaining horror story. In this deliciously spine-chilling volume, he pries open the crypt of dark and sinister tales from films, radio, and television, and brings back to life thirteen rare and classic horror stories from the scratching pens of men who know all about the dead of night and what lurks there. Including E. F. Benson's "The Bus Conductor" Rod Serling's "A Thing About Machines," Kingsley Amis's "The Ferryman,“ and John Colliers "De Mortius," these stories open a rich vein of literature that is sure to please generations of lovers of the macabre.

A pedestrian selection, but Haining's running commentary is fun as ever - "In a nutshell, I could almost say this book is an autobiography of my life and horrid times!" The dedication runs: "For Basil Copper - a dead of night man, too."

Algernon Blackwood - King's Evidence: A much revised radio version of 1921's Confession, first broadcast on the BBC's London Calling, 9th Jan, 1941. Tim Flanagan, a young Canadian soldier battling a bad case of shell-shock induced agoraphobia, gets lost in fog near West Kensington tube station. Panicking, he follows a shadowy figure through a doorway - and chances upon the corpse of a recently murdered young woman.

John Collier - De Mortuis: (The New Yorker, 18 July, 1942). When they walk in on him cementing over a large hole in the cellar floor, Buck and Buck figure Doc Rankin has finally wised up to the fact that Irene, his young trophy wife, is the official village bike ....

W. L. George - Perez: (Georgian Stories, 1922: The Golden Book Magazine, April 1934). Best selling author Mr. Warlingham is persecuted by the phantom of his most famous fictional creation. Perez, bloodthirsty pirate, objects to his treatment in Warlingham's latest novel, and: "... That ending of yours is bunkum.... You've no right to create a character and end him up wrong. Especially you've no right to kill him off to save yourself the trouble of writing a few hundred pages more."

[ditto]

Wouldn't mind reading that.

[helrunar]

"Peter Haining is a self-proclaimed literary ghoul..." What a riot! I wonder if the publisher showed that to Mr H before sending it on to the presses.

That Nigel Kneale short story is rather intriguing.

I think "The Sire de Maletroit's Door" must have been the origin of THE STRANGE DOOR in which Charles Laughton shreds every available bit of scenery while Karloff hangs on for dear life... fun stuff. Early 1950s.

cheers, H.

[dem bones]

"In 1980 the late Peter Haining published a novel Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, which he claimed was a lost prose version of [Frederick] Hazleton's play; it seems to have been his own work, based partly on Hazleton's play, with additions from Fox's 1885 serial. Haining did an enormous amount of good work, bringing Penny Dreadful's before the reading public; now that he can't defend himself, let's leave his faults alone." - Dick Collins, introduction to James Malcolm Rymer, Sweeney Todd The String of Pearls (Wordsworth, 2010).

It's possible Peter wasn't quite done with his Sweeney Todd mischief when it came to compiling Dead of Night.

Thomas P. Prest - Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber: To quote the editor; "Whenever he [Tod Slaughter] appeared in the part it was customary for a souvenir booklet of the story to be sold, this being an abridged version of the original novel by Thomas Prest published in 1846. This novelisation is now extremely rare, and it is with pleasure as well as a feeling of pure nostalgia that I am returning it to print here."

For all I know, this is exactly as Peter claims (although I have my doubts) so will merely comment that there is perhaps too much story to condense into nineteen pages, and Mrs. Lovett in particular is poorly served. Hardly has she been introduced as Sweeney's mistress and partner in crime than the barber has shot her dead, much to the chagrin of "a swarm of disappointed pie-eaters." Similarly, Tobias is sprung from from Jonas Fogg's private madhouse almost as soon as he arrives. Where's the fun in that? Fortunately, the villainous Sweeney is as thoroughly beastly as nature intended, murdering and robbing his every customer. Were it not for those pesky lovers, he'd have gotten away with it, too.

[humgoo]

Jan 5, 2020 21:58:54 GMT dem bones said:

"In 1980 the late Peter Haining published a novel Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, which he claimed was a lost prose version of [Frederick] Hazleton's play; it seems to have been his own work [...] - Dick Collins, introduction to James Malcolm Rymer, Sweeney Todd The String of Pearls (Wordsworth, 2010).

I used to be curious about that Hazleton book. So it's yet another handiwork of Mr. Haining? (You've got to love the man!) Is it any good?

[dem bones]

Jan 6, 2020 17:08:22 GMT humgoo said:

I used to be curious about that Hazleton book. So it's yet another handiwork of Mr. Haining? (You've got to love the man!) Is it any good?

From what I remember of it, it's nowhere near as lively as Rymer's definitive novel, but better than the 'novelisation' featured in this anthology. Will try schedule a rematch. Am currently reading Peter's Maria Marten: The Murder in the Red Barn and, as is the case with much of his 'non-fiction', I strongly suspect that he has taken some outrageous liberties with the 'facts.'

[dem bones]

Jan 5, 2020 20:35:08 GMT helrunar said:

I think "The Sire de Maletroit's Door" must have been the origin of THE STRANGE DOOR in which Charles Laughton shreds every available bit of scenery while Karloff hangs on for dear life... fun stuff. Early 1950s.

cheers, H.

Indeed it is, the editor references it in his introduction to the story.

Robert Louis Stevenson - The Sire de Malétroit’s Door: (Temple Bar, Jan. 1878). Beautiful orphan Blanche has been exchanging billet-doux in church with a handsome army captain. When her guardian uncle, Alain, Sire de Malétroit, learns of this, he is incandescent. "The honour of my house has been compromised." To put things right, having first ordered a mortified Blanche to don full Bridal gear, Alain sets a trap to lure this fancy Dan secret lover to the Château. His dastardly plan goes awry when young gallant Denis, damoiseau de Beaulieu, slips through the open door to evade enemy soldiers. The wrong man! Blanche has not set eyes on the fellow before this moment! Mind you, he is a bit of a dish ...

The Sire, a one-man ugly mug's ball (RLS was clearly bent on Goth-ing his story up to the maximum), doesn't much care if Denis is the author of the girlie love-letters or otherwise. All he wants is for his niece to be married off. He therefore offers the soldier a stark choice. Either he wed Blanche, or he hangs at dawn.