From the REPS Online Twitter feed comes the news that Yuri Rasovsky, contemporary producer/author of radio drama, has died of esophageal cancer at his Los Angeles home. He was 67. You can find the full obit at The Hollywood Reporter, and visit Yuri’s website.

Yes, I realize it’s odd for me to be posting about a contemporary audio dramatist, but Yuri adapted for radio, directed, and produced one of the precious few contemporary audio dramas I believe is on a par with the very best of classic Old-Time Radio; a 1983 production of “By His Bootstraps,” starring Richard Dryfuss. Dryfuss in this production has that magical “it” that only the finest of the workaday radio actors had…the ability to sound completely and utterly natural while performing using only the voice. The supporting actors in this production do not exemplify this mysterious “it,” IMHO which allows one a contrast to explain what it is I do not like about almost all Modern Audio Drama (summed-up I think as, “Ohmygod I can hear that actor ACTING!”), but since this play is based on the time-travel short story written by Robert Heinlein, Dryfuss doesn’t need to share the microphone with many other than himself. Dryfuss’ performance, coupled with Yuri’s direction and technical skill in layering the performance, creates a tapestry one can easily get lost in.

Yes, this is actually the old curmudgeon praising a program of MAD.

If you can find a copy, I urge you to give it a listen, especially if like me you are an unabashed Heinlein fan. And another “thank you” to Richard Fish for both introducing me to Yuri via email, and providing a copy some years ago when my self-recorded copy went missing.