I lacked the time to talk to anyone at the U.S. Copyright Office (there in that very same building) myself, but later tried to access their database over the Internet using Telnet. No luck, at least then, so I gave up and forgot about it. That is, until last week, when I tried to access the COHM database again, and to my delight, managed to get in. And what a treasure trove I found! At the bottom of the page, you can see a HTML version of the print-out I eventually created.

Through hearsay, I've learned the following. Carlton E. Morse used to attend many of the OTR conventions of the 1970s and early 1980s. He astonished to learn, after all these years, that his shows were still popular in the minds and memory of many fans. Concerned about the circulation of unauthorized tapes, as well as a small handful of scripts, he decided to protect his works. Many of his works were submitted to the U.S. copyright office and registered Dec 31st, 1991. The "date of publication" was arbitrarily set at December 31st, 1986, despite having been written a good 50 years prior to this date (why, I don't know).

Below is a listing of all of the Morse holdings at the U.S. copyright Office, mostly "I Love A Mystery" scripts, but also scripts for "Adventures by Morse" and "I Love Adventure." Unfortunately, I see no copies of Morse's earlier NBC Mystery Serial shows, other than "Dead Men Prowl" and "City of the Dead", meaning that scripts for Morse's other stories, such as "The Case of the Cross-Eyed Parrot", and stories from his other early radio series "Split Second Tales", "Chinatown Squad" are unavailable from the Washington D.C. US Copyright Office.

This listing of Morse written and copyrighted materials at the U.S. Copyright Office is in short form only, showing the accession number, the name of the show, and the person who registered the copyright (in this case, Mr. Richard A. Ferguson, the lawyer and trustee to the Morse Family Trust). There is a longer form available for viewing, using the Telnet-able COHM system. I may eventually decide to post it here, too.

I understand that if one visited the U.S. Copyright Office, you would be able to view such materials on site, but would not be able to make reproductions for your own use. That would require written permission from the trustee for the Morse Family Trust (Mr. Ferguson), and I know personally that pervious attempts to contact them for such permission has been unsuccessful. I seem to recall that there is a "Fair Use" clause in the US Copyright law, but (being Canadian), I have no idea if the officials at the U.S. Copyright Office would listen to such a petition.

However, these "lost" ILAM stories ARE there to read, and you can guess what I'll be doing in my spare time, during my next trip to the US capital!

::Brian::

P.S. You can access the COHM file yourself, as long as you have a computer with Telnet capacity. Simply go the the main page of the U.S. Library of Congress, hit the US. Copyright Office link, and follow the instructions from there!

ITEMS 1-56 FILE: COHM (ASCENDING ORDER)

1. PA-548-184: The Deadly sin of Sir Richard Coyle. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
2. PA-548-185: The Million dollar curse. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
3. PA-582-593: The fear that crept like a cat. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee Morse Family Trust
4. PA-582-594: Blood on the border. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee Morse Family Trust
5. PA-582-595: The girl on Shipwreck Island. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee Morse Family Trust
6. PA-582-628: The cobra king strikes back. : thriller. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
7. PA-582-629: The snake with the diamond eyes : thirteen episode half-hour adventure serial / by Carlton E. Morse , 1901-. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
8. PA-582-630: The battle of the century. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
9. PA-582-631: I love adventure : episodes 1-13. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
10. PA-582-632: You'll be dead in a week. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
11. PA-582-633: You can't pin a murder on Nevada. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
12. PA-582-634: The bride of the werewolf. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
13. PA-582-635: The twenty traitors of Timbuktu. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
14. PA-582-636: Dead men prowl. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
15. PA-582-637: Murder is the word for it. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
16. PA-582-638: The city of the dead. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
17. PA-582-639: The graves of Whamperjaw, Texas. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
18. PA-582-640: Murder Hollywood style. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
19. PA-582-641: The girl in the gilded cage. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
20. PA-582-642: Find Elsa Holberg, dead or alive. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
21. PA-582-643: The tropics don't call it murder. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
22. PA-582-644: The case of the terrified comedian. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
23. PA-582-645: Secret passage to death. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
24. PA-582-646: Murder on February Island. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
25. PA-582-647: The man who hated to shave. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
26. PA-582-648: The case of the Roxy mob. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
27. PA-582-649: The case of the transplanted castle. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
28. PA-582-650: The blue phantom murders. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
29. PA-582-651: The case of the Nevada man killer. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
30. PA-582-652: The decapitation of Jefferson Monk. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
31. PA-582-653: Murder in Turquoise Pass. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
32. PA-582-654: Incident concerning death. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
33. PA-582-655: Portrait of a murderess. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
34. PA-582-656: The hermit of San Felipe, Atabapo. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
35. PA-582-657: The monster in the mansion. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
36. PA-582-658: The killer of the Circle M. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
37. PA-582-659: Flight to death. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
38. PA-582-660: I am the destroyer of women. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
39. PA-582-661: The African jungle mystery. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
40. PA-582-662: The thing wouldn't die. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
41. PA-582-663: The pirate loot of the island of skulls. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
42. PA-582-664: Eight kinds of murder. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
43. PA-582-665: The widow with the amputation. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
44. PA-582-666: Blood on the cat. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
45. PA-582-667: Temple of vampires. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
46. PA-582-668: Terror of frozen-corpse lodge. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
47. PA-582-669: Whose body got buried? CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
48. PA-582-670: Brooks kidnapping. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
49. PA-582-671: Bury your dead, Arizona. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
50. PA-582-672: Escapade of the desert hag. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
51. PA-582-673: A coffin for the lady. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
52. PA-582-674: The turn of the wheel. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
53. PA-582-675: Trouble at sea. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
54. PA-582-676: The corpse in compartment C, car 76. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
55. PA-582-677: Stairway to the sun. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee, Morse Family Trust
56. PA-582-788: My beloved is a vampire / by Carlton E. Morse , 1901-. CLNA: Richard A. Ferguson, trustee Morse Family Trust