Moon Over Morocco
 | |
| Genre | Comedy-drama |
|---|---|
| Running time | 12 minutes per episode (10 hours in all) |
| Country |
 United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| Starring |
Robert Lorick Robert Lesser Dave Adams |
| Announcer | Dave Herman |
| Writer(s) | Thomas Lopez |
| Director(s) | Thomas Lopez |
| Recording studio |
United States Morocco |
| Air dates | since 1974 |
| No. of episodes | 50 |
| Website | http://www.zbs.org/ |
Moon Over Morocco is a 1974 radio drama, the second in ZBS's Jack Flanders series. Originally broadcast as fifty twelve-minute episodes, the serial was written and directed by Meatball Fulton.
Synopsis
Jack Flanders arrives in Tangier on a search for sites that lie along "ley lines", undercurrents of mystical energy described in ancient texts. He meets Kasbah Kelly, an expatriate bar owner, and Kelly's assistant Mojo Sam and befriends one of the bar's customers, Sunny Skies. He also visits the Comtese Zazeenia, an expatriate holdover from Morocco's French colonial days and an old enemy of Kelly's.
Strange events begin to occur: Jack is pursued by owls, his hotel room crumbles away as the hotel disintegrates around him and a mysterious woman named Layla Oolupi warns him to leave Morocco immediately. Refusing to heed her warning, Jack instead travels to a music festival in Marrakech with Kelly and Sunny. Caught up in a traditional dance, Jack begins to disappear into an invisible world straight out of Moroccan legend. This first night, Kelly tackles him and prevents his disappearance, but the next night, Jack succeeds in completing the transition into the land of legend. Kelly's intervention causes Jack to (seemingly) split into two rival figures in this alternate world, a usurper Emperor (Hassan Bizel) and an upstart claimant to the throne, known as the Son of El Kabah.
Kelly, Mojo and Sunny search for Jack in our world, while the two Jacks confront one another after the "Son of el Kabah" completes a long journey through the Sahara desert, accompanied by Little Flossic (revisiting the "Little Frieda" role of The Fourth Tower of Inverness).
The ambient soundtrack was recorded on location, in Morocco. The traditional Moroccan music included in the festival scenes was originally recorded by well-known expatriate Paul Bowles.
Originally made available on cassette, the series is now available from ZBS on CD[1] or as a podcast.
Credits
Cast
- Jack Flanders / King Hassan Bizel / El Kabah - Robert Lorick
- Kasbah Kelly / The Gate Keeper - Robert Lesser
- Mojo Sam, the Yoodoo Man - Dave Adams
- Little Flossic - P.J. Orte (Billed as Spooner Duffy)
- Sunny Skies / Fatma Tajhem - Lee Berg
- Layla Oolupi - Chitra Neogy
- Queen Azora - Jane Traum
- Narrator / Grand Wazir - Dave Herman
- Storyteller Mustafa - Taurean Blacque
- Comtese Zazeenia - Valerie Mamches
- Abu - Meatball Fulton
- Taxi Driver - Mad Max
- Marmaduke - Michael Roach
- Others: Gail Turner, Bill Moskowitz, Richard Shanks, Charlotte Mason & Mark Stone
Crew
- Mojo's Piano - The Incomparable George Schutz
- Incidental Music - Randy Cohen, Dennis Colin
- Additional Music - Tim Clark
- Producer / Director - Tom Lopez
- Story & Script - Meatball Fulton
- Engineer - Bobby Bielecki
- Front Illustration - David Byrd
- Back Illustration - Alan Okamoto
- Moroccan environments recorded by M. Fulton
- Moroccan Music recorded by Paul Bowles
Production was made possible by Robert Durand. CD pressing made possible by John Romkey.