Can Falk prevent the murder of beloved songwriter E. Y. “Yip” Harburg? Why would a fan want to kill him? Will everyone come out of it with their childhood memories intact? Listen to find out!

The Assassination of Yip Harburg by the Coward Fan Mail, episode 115 of This Gun in My Hand, was written, edited and a sung-a on the tongue-a by Rob Northrup. This episode and all others are available on Youtube with automatically-generated closed captions of dialog. Visit http://ThisGuninMyHand.blogspot.com for credits, show notes, archives, and to buy my books, such as Little Heist in the Big Woods and Other Revisionist Atrocities. What physical object represents my heart and brain and courage and love of home? This Gun in My Hand!

Show Notes:
1. Watch excerpts from the 1936 Merrie Melodies cartoon “I Love to Singa” starring Owl Jolson.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y6CNuffBi0

2. Orson Welles produced a successful version of Macbeth with an all-Black cast in 1936.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voodoo_Macbeth

3. Judy Garland led a revised cast in Lux Radio Theater’s one-hour radio adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, broadcast December 25, 1950.
https://www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com/drama/lux/lux-radio-theater-50-12-25-726-the-wizard-of-oz

4. Wikipedia has an entry on Political interpretations of The Wizard of Oz. Wild stuff. I cribbed some of their ideas.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_interpretations_of_The_Wonderful_Wizard_of_Oz

Credits:
The opening music clip was from The Sun Sets at Dawn (1950), and the closing music was from Killer Bait (1949), both films in the public domain. Most of the music and sound effects used in the episode are modified or incomplete versions of the originals.

Music Title: Theme to Kolchak: Night Stalker
Composed by Gil Mellé
Whistled by Rob
Fair use excerpt, I hope.

Sound Effect Title: S15-03 Good general walla with some dishes; cheer.wav
License: Public Domain
https://freesound.org/people/craigsmith/sounds/675070/

Sound Effect Title: G28-27-Crowd Fast Walla Applause.wav
License: Public Domain
https://freesound.org/people/craigsmith/sounds/438387/

Sound Effect Title: R02-06-Medium Crowd Applause.wav
License: Public Domain
https://freesound.org/people/craigsmith/sounds/480682/

Sound Effect Title: Gun Fire
By GoodSoundForYou
License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
http://soundbible.com/1998-Gun-Fire.html

Sound Effect Title: Real Colt 45 M1911 (shot)
By Carmelomike
License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
https://freesound.org/people/Carmelomike/sounds/255216/

Sound Effect Title: House Front Door Inside 3.wav
License: Public domain
https://freesound.org/people/saturdaysoundguy/sounds/388027/#

Sound Effect Title: R28-44-Women Screaming and Rapid Talking.wav
License: Public Domain
https://freesound.org/people/craigsmith/sounds/479894/

Sound Effect Title: Footsteps Dress Shoes Wood Floor.wav
License: Public Domain
https://freesound.org/people/allrealsound/sounds/161756/

Sound Effect Title: S41-25 Car backfires; reverberant.wav
License: Public Domain
https://freesound.org/people/craigsmith/sounds/675723/

Sound Effect Title: footsteps cellar.wav
License: Public Domain
https://freesound.org/people/gecop/sounds/545030/

Sound Effect Title: Taurus G2c Dry Trigger Pull
License: Public Domain
https://freesound.org/people/NoonerBear/sounds/589848/

The image accompanying this episode is a modified detail of the back cover of the public domain comic book Dell Junior Treasury, Number 5 (July 1956), painted by Mel Crawford.