Showing results by narrator "Jack Chekijian" in All Categories

This Victorian farcical comedy was Oscar Wilde's final play, published from exile in Paris. Wilde has his characters adopt false identities to escape their social obligations. The witty dialogue throughout this production's dry approach to the material make for entertaining high farce.

Find amusement with the hundreds of classic riddles, jokes, and puzzles in this collection! Gathered from every conceivable source and delivered in a droll fashion, this selection of brain teasers is as sound today as it was 100 years ago.

This famous tale featuring a headless horseman is among the earliest examples of American fiction with enduring popularity, especially during Halloween. It is set in 1790 in the countryside around a Dutch settlement of present-day Tarrytown, New York, in a secluded area called Sleepy Hollow.

This abridgment of Paul Creswick's retelling of the tales of Robin Hood is a journey through forests and fiefdoms in the company of merry outlaws, ladies of court, and stalwart knights. As Robin awaits the return of England's rightful king from war, the Sheriff of Nottingham and his cronies attempt to hunt down the bandit and his men thriving in Sherwood Forest.

This is the classic tale of a knight from King Arthur's Round Table who makes a dangerous deal with a mysterious visitor. The production is based on Jessie L. Weston's 1900 prose edition of a 14th-century poem. 

Contained here is Julius Caesar's account of his activities following the Gallic Wars, in three books that detail his retaliation to a political conspiracy in Rome, leading to conflicts against his own countrymen and rival general Pompey. It is uniquely presented in Caesar's first-person perspective (the original Latin is in the third-person perspective). This production is based on a translation of the work by W.A. McDevitte and W.S. Bohn published in New York in 1869. 

Published just seven weeks after the killing of Jesse James, this volume gives the full particulars of each and every dark and desperate deed in the career of this most noted outlaw of any time or nation! The facts and incidents contained herein were dictated to the author by the bandit's wife and his mother, to ensure that every secret act, every hitherto unknown incident, every crime, and every motive was truthfully disclosed!

A Texas Ranger reflects on his years of service, a career in which he was said to have run down more criminals than any other Ranger. Sullivan tells of numerous scouts and expeditions, of hunting buffalo, of encounters with Native Americans, and of important captures of train robbers and outlaws. Originally published by Von Boeckmann-Jones Co. in Austin in 1909. 

This may rightly be considered one of the first published sources of the King Arthur legend. The translation by Sebastian Evans of this selection of Geoffrey of Monmouth's chronicle of ancient British kings differs in several respects from more popular versions of Arthurian tales published centuries later. Notably absent here are the Round Table of knights, the Holy Grail, Guenevere's affair with Sir Lancelot, and the Lady of the Lake.

The so-called "Bigfoot Bible". Ivan T. Sanderson, cryptozoologist (he coined the term) and paranormal and nature writer, methodically examines the wealth of reported sightings and evidence pertaining to the infamous hairy creatures that have been called names like Sasquatch, Yeti and Oh-Mah. This production focuses on the original work's North American material. Originally published by Chilton Company in Philadelphia in 1961. 

This production of the famous 16th-century political treatise by diplomat and political theorist Niccolo Machiavelli will appeal to those interested in his political philosophy and not in the many historical and regional allusions that the original work contains. The latter have been excised in this abridgement.

Scottish folklorist J.F. Campbell weaves together a tale of dragons from a Celtic perspective. It is an intricate, perhaps symbolical story that was passed by word of mouth though the ages - involving not just dragons, but also mermaids, giants, and fairies. Campbell was also known for his four-volume work Popular Tales of the Western Highlands.

Contained here is Julius Caesar's own account of his military adventures in Gaul at the head of the Roman army, uniquely presented in Caesar's first-person perspective (rather than as a third-person narrative as in the original Latin). Included are seven sections ("books") of the Gallic War, each encompassing one year of Caesar's battles and intrigues; though there is an eighth book, it is generally accepted to have been written by another general, shortly after Caesar's death in 44 BCE.

This is a selection of the myths and legends of Scotland, filled with local color, from Scottish journalist, folklorist, and writer Donald Alexander Mackenzie. These stories offer not only glimpses of ancient times and of old habits of thought and life but also of the country itself at different times of the year.

Literature's famous gentleman, Don Quixote of La Mancha, his trusty squire Sancho Panza, and their adventures and mishaps, are told in this centuries-old classic, which features challenges with windmill monsters, castles masquerading as inns, as well as innkeepers, prostitutes, goat herders, soldiers, priests, escaped convicts, and scorned lovers. Don Quixote must do battle with all of these for the sake of chivalry and knighthood - at least, that is what he believes.

Was Jesse James really shot from behind by friend Robert Ford in 1882? A 100-year-old man comes forward in the late 1940s claiming to be the Missouri outlaw, and he becomes a local sensation. Four affidavits supporting his claim are immediately signed by those who meet him and who knew Jesse James. This is the account of how J. Frank Dalton emerged from obscurity and claimed to be the "outlaw with a heart of gold".

Was Billy the Kid really shot to death by Sheriff Pat Garrett on a July night in 1881? At the midpoint of the last century, an old man comes forth seeking a pardon for crimes committed. He says that he wants to die a free man - and that he is Billy the Kid. The incident leads to this examination of new facts, new interpretations, and new contradictions. It is the story of "Brushy" Bill Roberts, a man who laid claim to a legend. Originally published in 1955 by University of New Mexico Press.

From 1875 to 1881, James B. Gillett served as one of the Texas Rangers, the lawmen of the Old West. Looking back 40 years later, he tells of his numerous clashes with Native American warriors in the West Texas borderlands, of the Mason County War and the Horrell-Higgins feud, and of dangerous missions into Mexico. Originally published in 1921.

Innocent, his own country had called him a murderer. Now murder was his livelihood. John Seldon hired himself out as an assassin, a sharpshooter, to kill a tyrant named Castro in exchange for cash. He did not flinch from his task until the fatal moment, when he found the girl whose love had made him want to live again.

These are the memoirs of the US Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire during World War I, abridged for this production in order to focus on the mass deportations and systematic killings of Turkey's Armenian population. This work is a renowned primary source for this Armenian Genocide, a crime since recognized by 29 countries. Ambassador Morgenthau offers detailed profiles of the Turkish leaders with whom he interacts, finding that they are responsible for a "death warrant to a whole race".