History Radio / LandOfTheLost1943

First broadcast in 1943, ''Land Of The Lost'' was a radio fantasy adventure, starring two children, Isabell and Billy, who one morning while out fishing catch an old boot with a mysterious voice- and a faint red glow- coming from inside. The voice and glow turn out to belong to talking fish Red Lantern, who in gratitude for being freed offers to take them on a trip to his undersea home, the magical [[TitleDrop Land Of The Lost]]. With a bit of magic seaweed (which allows them to breathe underwater), the two children embark on a fantastic adventure to the place where lost objects go [[AnimateInanimateObject (and come to life once they get there)]], sea creatures talk, and all manner of other magic can occasionally be found running around.

The program, created by Isabell Manning Hewson, was broadcast weekly from October 9, 1943 to July 3, 1948 on the Mutual Broadcasting System. It received a book adaptation in 1945 (courtesy of Whittlesey House Publishing); a nine-issue comics run comprising of adaptations of various episodes; and three [[AnimatedAdaptation Animated Adaptations]] as part of the ''WesternAnimation/{{Noveltoons}}'' series- ''Land Of The Lost'' in 1948 (an adaptation of the episode “Knives Of The Square Table”), ''Land Of The Lost Jewels'' in 1950 (an adaptation of the episode “Gulliver Grasshopper”), and finally ''Land Of The Lost Watches'' (which does not appear to be an adaptation of any episode, but rather an original story set in the Land) in 1951.

Sadly, the series is not very well-preserved- only 35-odd episodes (a few of which are duplicates) are known to have survived to the present day, out of an unknown but likely over-100 number of total broadcast episodes.

* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: Some of the names in the series, both places and characters, are like this- “Rushbottom Row” or “Stovepipe Square” for instance. Characters that have them usually mix it with a SpeciesSurname (see below).

* AgelessBirthdayEpisode: Red Lantern gets one in “The Hall Of Lost Lamps”.
* AnimateInanimateObject: Lost objects that reach the titular Land come to life, with some also increasing in size to be more comparable to humans- in the broadcast’s surviving episodes, everything from clocks (“The Dock Of Lost Clocks”) to playing cards (“The Big Game Preserve”) to fans (“The Fan-Tom Of Fan-Tasy Hall”), to hats (“Ten-Gallon Pete”) to bottles (“The Bottle Brigade”) has been seen walking around down in the Land. A few [[MissingEpisode Missing Episodes]] are also known to include such things as pens (broadcast lost, but seen in an issue of the comics), weapons and armor (ditto), gloves (a radio episode of name unknown) and cooking implements (“Stovepipe Square”).
** The magic seaweed curtain that protects the entrance to the Land Of The Lost is also one of these- heck, it even ''sings'' in one episode. (With that episode being titled, appropriately enough, “The Magic Curtain”)
* BandLand: Harmony Hollow, home of the lost musical instruments. Isabell & Billy visit it in “The Marriage Of The Fife & Drum”.
* BedsheetGhost: The Fan-Tom of Fan-Tasy Hall was described as looking like one. [[spoiler: It’s really Count Sandalwood underneath that sheet.]]
* DancePartyEnding: [[OlderThanTheyThink Yes, in a series made in the 1940s.]] “The Fan-Tom Of Fan-Tasy Hall” ends with a celebratory [[{{Pun}} fandango]].
* DanceSensation: “The Slipcover Stomp”, which the lost chairs in Rushbottom Row (seen in the episode of the same name) like to get down to.
* FindOutNextTime: Most episodes end with a little teaser about the plot of whatever episode is airing next week. Notably, these teasers often mention [[MissingEpisode episodes that have otherwise not survived to the present day]] (or at least of which no surviving copy has yet been found), such as a journey to “Stovepipe Square” (home of lost cooking implements) and a nebulous ChristmasEpisode.
* FishingForSole: The series’ inciting incident is Isabell and Billy catching a boot that Red Lantern, the guiding light of the Land Of The Lost, is trapped in. How exactly he got stuck in it is never explained.
* FlintstoneTheming: A lot of things in the Land Of The Lost are water- and sea-themed puns- there’s “Shellaphone Booths”, “Taxi Crabs”, for instance. The homes of different kinds of lost objects also may or may not have their own separate theming.
* FunnyAnimal: The non-object inhabitants of the titular Land are various anthropomorphic fish and other sea creatures. Occasionally, other underwater kingdoms with similar citizens (oh, excuse me, [[InsistentTerminology “sea-tizens”]]) will be mentioned.
* GhostlyChill: Parodied in “The Fan-Tom Of Fan-Tasy Hall”, where the apparition accompanied by a cold gust of air… is a spectral ''hand fan''.
* HoldYourHippogriffs: Red Lantern and the other fish-folk will use sea-themed phrases and expressions, and if it’s a “visit a place where lost [type of object] goes” episode you’re guaranteed to hear at least three object-themed idioms as well.
* HurricaneOfPuns: Pretty much every single episode was like this, with the various “let’s explore the land of lost [type of object]” episodes being perhaps the worst offenders.
* {{Invisibility}}: King Find-All, the monarch of the titular Land, is invisible. A serum that temporarily renders the drinker invisible also appears in “The Disappearing Desert” and returns in “The Undersea Pirates”.
* LivingToys: They make their home in Toyland, with the Toyland Marines occasionally showing up in other episodes as well. Notable ones include toy soldier Sergeant Pines (actually ''captain'' of the Toyland Marines- “Sergeant” is just part of his name) and Henrietta the doll (who used to belong to Isabell before being lost).
* LoveTriangle: The “A and B love each other, but C is also in love with A and thus hates B” version is done twice, in “The Fan-Tom Of Fan-Tasy Hall” and “The Marriage Of The Fife And Drum”. [[spoiler: Both times, “C” (the fittingly titled Count Sandalwood in “Fan” and the ''un''fittingly initialed Basil Bassoon in “Fife & Drum”) ends up resorting to dirty trickery to try to get “B” out of the way.]] “The Port Of Sports” also has a much more complicated one that actually involves ''four'' characters.
* MeaningfulName: If a name in the series isn’t [[PunnyName punny]], [[RhymingNames rhyming]], or [[ADogNamedDog self-indicative]], it’s usually one of these- take booming drum Peter [=DeBoom=] from “The Marriage Of The Fife And Drum” for instance.
* MusicalEpisode: “Marriage Of The Fife And Drum” is an interesting example- although every episode has two or three songs in it (see SongParody below), “Fife & Drum” contains a ''vastly'' larger volume of musical numbers, and is set in the the Land Of The Lost’s resident BandLand.
* MysteriousMiddleInitial: We never find out what the “T” in Aloicious T. Accordion’s name stands for, although [[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 the answer is probably “the”]].
* NarratingTheObvious: EnforcedTrope, as this is a ''radio'' series- we have no way to know what’s happening if the characters don’t describe it for us. Still doesn’t explain why the comic book adaptation does it, though.
* NotSoForgottenBirthday: The “Hall Of Lost Lamps” episode involves Red Lantern having one of these, with the surprise party taking place in the titular Hall.
* PopularityPolynomial: Spoofed in “Ten-Gallon Pete”, where the entrance to the Hattery (home of all the lost hats) is right next to the Mill Of Fashion- apparently, as the mill wheel keeps turning round, the same old styles keep becoming popular again.
* PunnyName: Fitting with the series’ general HurricaneOfPuns nature, a good amount of characters has these. Probably the most groan-worthy one has to be what The Clipper calls himself: [[spoiler: “JULIUS SCISSORS!”]].
* RhymingNames: Ralph Royster Oyster has a variant where it’s the ''middle'' name that rhymes with the last. There’s also Lucy [=DeLacy=] from “The Magic Curtain”.
** Some of the location names in the titular Land also rhyme- take “The Port Of Sports” (where lost sporting equipment goes) or “The Dock Of Lost Clocks” for instance.
* RunningGag: Well, more like a running ''pun'', and contained to a single episode, but “Marriage Of The Fife and Drum” gets pretty much as much mileage out of the fact that “fife” rhymes with “wife” as it is linguistically possible to get.
* ScoobyDooHoax: [[spoiler: The titular Fan-Tom in “The Fan-Tom Of Fan-Tasy Hall” turns out to be one, orchestrated by Count Sandalwood in an attempt to prevent Chantilly from becoming romantically involved with Lord Ivory.]]
* SongParody: All of the songs in this broadcast, with the exception of the often-omitted TitleThemeTune, are parodies, with notable examples being the Bottle Brigade’s marching music (AKA “Pop Goes The Weasel”) as well as the “Spoon Song” (“Who wants coffee, who wants tea, EI-EI-O”) from “Knives Of The Square Table”.
* SpeciesSurname: Pretty common in the Land, both among sea life- Ralph Royster Oyster, Zeke Sponge- and lost objects -Aramintha Arrow, Mr. Bumbershoot, Aloicious T. Accordion. Notably, the lost objects seem more likely to have their first name [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal alliterate]] with their last.
* SuddenlySuitableSuitor: [[spoiler: Spoofed in “Rushbottom Row”, where “common kitchen chair” Sherry that Malcom Mahogany was in love with (much to the consternation of his aristocratic mother) turns out to have been made by a fine craftsman after all.]]

* TitleThemeTune: The series’ later years saw its once-instrumental opening theme being given lyrics as a likely result of ExecutiveMeddling:
--> [[TitleDrop Land Of The Lost]]
--> A kingdom fair as a dream
--> It lies under the sea
--> Mysteriously
--> Shining with ripples that glimmer and gleam
* WaterIsAir: This series is a ''major'' offender here- despite being at the bottom of the sea, the titular Land is basically treated like, well, land, especially where the lost objects are concerned- pens can write without their ink just dissipating in the water, musical instruments can play just fine, clocks that should be rusted to a stop by the saltwater can keep on ticking, and playing cards and stock certificates can exist without getting soggy. The three worst examples are perhaps the fans of Fan-Tasy Hall, who explicitly blow ''air''; Umbrella Land, where it ''rains'', and the gas lamps and candles in the Hall Of Lost Lamps, who can still ''burn''.
* VillainSong: Occasionally the VillainOfTheWeek will get one. Notable examples are Two-Faced Tom’s in “The Dock Of Lost Clocks”, and the Skeleton Key’s in “The Lockup Of Lost Keys”.

--> Land Of The Lost
-->A kingdom fair as a dream