AUDIO AND VIDEO

Paul and Jane Hutchens lived in Iowa during the 1940's, and Paul had a radio show called "This Is Life" on Waterloo's KXEL.

One feature on the show was Paul reading the Sugar Creek Gang books. Below, Paul poses next to his office door. There do not seem to be any tapes remaining from those radio shows, but if you click on the picture you can listen to a home recording of Paul and Jane wishing a happy birthday to their grandson Paul.

From the early 1970's through the early 1980's, Moody Broadcasting produced a radio program called "Adventures In Drama." These were dramatized versions of the Sugar Creek Gang books incorporating a full cast, music, and sound effects. The voices were primarily done by actors from the Chicago area who were in their early 20's. Most of the characters went through one or two cast changes over the years. The producer was Mike Kellog, the director was Rex Brenner, and the scripts were written by Phylis Fox. The scripts varied some from the books and introduced additional characters. When the time came that all of the books had been dramatized, some additional original scripts were written. Several shows based on original scripts were sold through Moody cassette ministries, including "The Thief in Town," "Bag Lady of Town Hall," and "The Pearshell Legend." Moody is now offering these for sale as MP3 downloads. You can click on the picture below to go to the Moody Audio web site.

The series was narrated by Miron Canaday who played an old Bill Collins remembering the adventures of his youth. Some of the other voices were Jon Gauger as young Bill, Gisli Bjorgvinsson as young Bill, Randy Paradise as Poetry, Kim Rasmussen as Dragonfly, Flo Schmid as Little Jim and Mrs. Collins, Rex Brenner as Old Man Paddler, Larry Moran as Barry Boyland, and Larry Shackley as Big Jim. Click on the picture of Larry Shackley below to listen to a two minute clip from "The Lost Campers."

"Adventures in Drama" still plays on Moody's flagship station WMBI in Chicago and other Christian radio stations across the country.

The "Adventures In Drama" series even had a theme song, with music by Dave McCallister and lyrics by Phylis Fox. It was played on guitar and sung by Jim Wick, a former station manager for WMBI.

Another series of radio programs called "Adventure Time" was produced by Northwestern College Radio in St. Paul, Minnesota. In this series the Sugar Creek Gang books were read by Paul Ramseyer. He altered his voice to do the dialog between the various characters. "Adventure Time" is also still heard daily on Christian radio stations across the country.

The "Adventure Time" shows have been available for some time on cassette, and have recently been made available on CD. Paul Ramseyer re-recorded several of the books for CD, as the original tapes were lost over the years. You can click on the first picture below to go to the Beloved Books web site. They sell boxed sets of the CDs and cassettes, with 6 books per set. You can click on the second picture below to go to the Crown Magnetics web site. They sell individual CDs and cassettes.


In 2005 a company called Kalon Media in Atlanta, Georgia released a series of five Sugar Creek Gang videos. Some of the videos were based on the books and others were based on original scripts. The gang is a little different here too, with Circus now being a girl and a twin to Dragonfly. Click on the cast photo of the gang below to go to the Kalon Media site.


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