Tales of Sin and Salvation, Still Going Strong

By JOHN D. THOMAS

Published: September 5, 1999

JUST when the rapt, trembling audience thinks Bill Irwin's real-life tale of woe can't get any bleaker, it does. A drunk and a womanizer who was molested by an uncle as a child, Mr. Irwin loses an eye to cancer and then, in a freak laboratory accident, the tip of a scalpel breaks off and slices into his good eye. Eventually, he goes completely blind.

But by the end of this grim story, Mr. Irwin will rise from the depths after accepting Christ as his personal Saviour and the audience will leave the studio inspired and uplifted. It happens that way every Saturday afternoon at the Pacific Garden Mission here, where for the last half century ''Unshackled!'' -- the country's longest-running radio drama -- has been recorded live for the faithful and the curious.

Broadcast in English, Romanian, Polish, Spanish and Arabic on some 1,200 radio stations in more than 140 countries, as well as on the Internet (www.unshackled.org), ''Unshackled!'' begins its 50th season this month. The half-hour show dramatizes testimonies sent in by people whose lives have been changed after finding Christ. The series, a slice of Americana complete with moaning organ and on-the-spot sound effects, began in 1950 with the saga of Billy Sunday, the hard-drinking star of the Chicago White Stockings. Sunday became a nationally known evangelist after an encounter with a gospel choir outside the mission led to his being ''born again.'' That initial broadcast struck a chord with listeners, and ''Unshackled!'' was off on its record-setting run. Mr. Irwin's tale marked the show's 2,551st episode; it will be broadcast in November.

While ''Unshackled!'' can be politically incorrect by some standards (shows have addressed touchy topics like homosexuality and Jews converting to Christianity), it's also wonderfully acted and solidly produced. First-time listeners might mistake it for a grim segment of ''A Prairie Home Companion.'' The dialogue tends to be fairly direct. For example, when Mr. Irwin's wife, visiting him in a hospital room after his surgery, asks if he needs more morphine, he answers, ''Make it a double, straight up.''

Of course, to a certain degree, ''Unshackled!'' is preaching to the converted, literally: most listeners are longtime fans and presumably Christians. But the show does get letters every week from new listeners, some of whom have found the show by accident. ''Truckers will stumble across the show while they're driving and be drawn in by the drama,'' says Bob O'Donnell, the show's announcer and director, whose confident voice sounds like a cross between Walter Cronkite and Paul Harvey. ''Older people in nursing homes will hear the organ and be reminded of their childhood days listening to old-time radio.''

Some might think all the listeners must be elderly, since organized religion's place in American life has diminished so much since ''Unshackled!'' went on the air in 1950. Mr. O'Donnell, 75, acknowledges the so-called death of religion, but he believes that because the show is nondenominational, it may work in its favor. ''Maybe we're reaching a lot more seekers because of it,'' he says. ''People are still looking for hope, and we show them that hope in the death and resurrection of Christ.''

Mr. O'Donnell acted on ''Unshackled!'' from 1958 to 1990. Shortly after joining the cast, his own conversion story was dramatized on the air. ''It was 1952, and I was living in Syracuse working in radio and television,'' says Mr. O'Donnell. ''I was a drunk, and at that time I was under a doctor's care for alcoholism, and I had beaten up my wife a couple of times. I went to hear a young evangelist strictly out of skepticism. And it was Billy Graham.'' Afterward Mr. O'Donnell prayed for forgiveness and his life changed. He went on to have a successful career in radio and film production. When he first began acting on ''Unshackled!'' he says, most of the testimonies concerned liquor or drugs. Today, he says, ''there are so many more problems that befall a human being that make great, compelling stories.''

''Wife abuse, child abuse, just about every ill that flesh is heir to, we'll tackle,'' he continues. ''We look for compelling stories that really ring true to the gospel.''

The person responsible for choosing the stories that are dramatized on ''Unshackled!'' is Flossie McNeill, 50, the show's story coordinator. She looks for stories with dramatic punch, emotional stories that are perhaps a bit out of the ordinary. One recent episode was about a Vietnam veteran.

''This man expressed what it was like coming back to America and being spit on,'' she remembers. ''That's dramatic. And we included some of his fighting episodes. As a point man, he stood in water and allowed leeches to bite him for six and eight hours without moving or making a sound because the whole camp depended on him for protection. That's dramatic.''

When the man came back to America, he was consumed with survivor guilt and began to drink. ''He had to find a way to unleash the hurt inside him,'' Ms. McNeill says, ''and he was finally able to cope after accepting Christ.''

In the same way that Ms. McNeill looks for stories that can pull the audience into someone's religious conversion, Mr. O'Donnell says he has to have actors who can convey the story in a believable fashion. That means that sometimes he has to put talent in front of faith.

''I learned a long time ago when I was producing and directing Christian films that I would rather have a good actor doing a role that makes the message of the Gospel believable and moving than I would a Christian who wants to be an actor,'' Mr. O'Donnell says. ''A lot of the people I use don't necessarily agree theologically with everything we stand for, but they're good performers. And that's most important.''

Larry Moran has acted on ''Unshackled!'' for 20 years, and while he is a believer he readily admits that the show would not work with an amateur all-Christian cast. ''You have to go real easy on the schmaltz,'' he says. ''The temptation on something like this is to overplay it, to make it very dramatic like they used to do. But today people hear something like 40,000 commercials every year, and they are not going to buy a con job.

''There's such a responsibility trying to accurately portray a person's life,'' Mr. Moran continues. ''There is always a critical turning point on 'Unshackled!' when the person goes from living a negative life into a life-changing experience, and you want to make sure you get that across, because many people who listen pull over to the side of the road and cry because the show affects them so deeply. So much of today's drama is about violence and sex and crudeness, but there is so little leading people in a positive way.''

At the end of Bill Irwin's tale, the audience at the Pacific Garden Mission rises to its feet and applauds the cast and crew. One of the most enthusiastic audience members is Lieut. Col. William H. Schaffer, a 95-year-old Air Force chaplain. Colonel Schaffer has been listening to ''Unshackled!'' since its premiere, and this is his third visit to see the show taped.

''I've been a chaplain since 1951,'' says Colonel Schaffer. ''For 70 years I've dealt with people involved in the kinds of experiences that are handled on 'Unshackled!' so I know how real it is. It's not a put-on; it's real. The show encourages me to carry on.''