Podcast Summary: “The Devil and Mr. O” – Mr. Freak

Podcast: Harold’s Old Time Radio
Episode Air Date: September 19, 2025
Main Story Originally Aired: October 15, 1971 (Episode 05)
Host/Announcer: Mr. O (Arch Oboler)
Key Characters: Mr. Freak (Paul), Unnamed Young Woman

Episode Overview

This episode features Mr. Freak, a haunting psychological drama from the series “The Devil and Mr. O,” dramatizing the inner life of a man marked by physical deformity and isolation. Through poetic narration, the story explores loneliness, the search for acceptance and love, and the blurring boundary between inner worth and outward appearance. Rooted in the classic tradition of old-time radio horror and the supernormal, it delivers a powerful meditation on beauty, ugliness, and redemption.

Key Discussion Points & Dramatic Beats

1. Introduction: The Nature of Beauty and Ugliness

• Host Mr. O (Arch Oboler) challenges listeners to reflect on subjective views of ugliness and beauty, with examples ranging from a newborn baby to a mushroom cloud (01:36).
  • Quote (Mr. O):
    “What is ugly? What is beauty? Think about it as you listen to Mr. Freak.” (01:36)

2. Mr. Freak’s Despair and Psychological Torment

• The story begins with Mr. Freak alone, contemplating suicide as he ruminates over his lifelong suffering due to his grotesque appearance (04:10–05:39).

  • He describes the physical coldness of the gun as he weighs ending his pain.

  • Quote (Mr. Freak):
    “Gun in my hand … Cold is death, but life is colder. Rhythm to that. Poet dies with final rhythm. Poet dies. Who never wrote a poem.” (04:10)

  • Recurring refrain: “Ugliest man in the world.”

3. Childhood Trauma & Maternal Protection

• Flashbacks to childhood reveal how his mother protected him by isolating him from other children, only for him to face ridicule when sent to school for the first time (05:39–08:34).

  • The full horror of his reflection is described after his mother’s death, when he first sees his face in a mirror.

  • Quote (Mr. Freak):
    “What did I see? What is my face? … My eyes. Oh, my eyes. Mother of God, my eyes.” (08:34)

4. Exploitation in the Sideshow

• As an adult, Mr. Freak becomes a carnival “sideshow” curiosity, embracing his public identity as the “ugliest man in the world.” He describes his ability to mentally escape during the gawking and laughter (10:00–12:54).
  • He meets a woman from another carnival act, who feigns interest for money, leading to further humiliation and heartbreak.

5. Exploration of Love and Worth

• A brief meta-dialogue on the meaning of love is inserted (15:09–16:13), contrasting childlike simplicity (“Caring about people”) with adult despair.
  • Quote (Paul):
    “When a person knows somebody cares about him, they just feel great… That’s the same thing as love.” (15:28–15:39)

6. Escape, Loneliness, and Longing

• Mr. Freak moves to the countryside, hiding in a life of hard labor to escape people’s judgment (16:23–18:10).

• He is repeatedly observed by a young woman on horseback who cheerfully waves at him as she passes by, sparking a dangerous hope—that perhaps, if she were blind, she could love him for who he is.

  • Quote (Mr. Freak): “If she couldn’t see my face. Yes, if she were blind. I read a book like that somewhere. … If she couldn’t see. Only know me as I am. My voice, my thoughts, my dreams…” (18:10–21:31)

7. Fateful Accident and Unexpected Connection

• The young woman is blinded in a roadside accident, and Mr. Freak helps her. She can no longer see his appearance, allowing their friendship to grow on emotional and intellectual grounds (21:31–23:52).

  • They discuss books, emotions, and build a deep bond. The woman asks Mr. Freak to read from “Cyrano de Bergerac.”

  • Quote (Woman):
    “I know you now better than I could if my eyes were open, and twice as wise as they ever could have been.” (23:54)

8. Literary Parallels to Cyrano de Bergerac

• The pair read together from “Cyrano de Bergerac”—a tale with profound resonance for Mr. Freak. Both Cyrano and Mr. Freak are men whose outward appearance conceals inner worth, and both fear that love will not survive revelation of the truth (25:33–28:17).
  • Quote (Mr. Freak, as Cyrano):
    “Poor he was ugly. … But see, I finish as I was begun.” (27:10–27:31)

9. The Crisis: Approaching Truth and Self-Rejection

• News arrives that the woman may regain her sight, which terrifies Mr. Freak. He resolves she should never see his real face, and contemplates suicide again (28:17–29:25).
  • Quote (Mr. Freak):
    “Never will I, so long as I am master. Let beauty so divine meet such disaster.” (28:39)

10. Redemption: Love Overcomes Ugliness

• The woman returns, seeking him out after regaining her sight. She has known of his deformity, and confesses her love is undiminished by physical appearance (29:25–30:34).

  • Quote (Woman):
    “I want to know you in the light. Your ugliness, yes, Paul, I’ve known. First when you cried with Cyrano…” (29:49–29:59)

  • Quote (Woman):
    “A thing will part, as my blindness was a part of me. I love you.” (30:02–30:13)

  • Quote (Mr. Freak): “In fairy tales long since the princess said that. And the ugly prince lost all his plainness in that sudden sun.” (30:34–30:56)

Notable Quotes by Timestamp

• "What is ugly? What is beauty?"
  —Narrator (Mr. O), (01:36)

• “Gun in my hand … Cold is death, but life is colder.”
  —Mr. Freak, (04:10)

• “Ugliest man in the world. That’s why you kept me away from children, Mother.”
  —Mr. Freak, (06:22)

• “If she couldn’t see my face. Yes, if she were blind. I read a book like that somewhere.”
  —Mr. Freak, (18:10–21:31)

• “When a person knows somebody cares about him, they just feel great… That’s the same thing as love.”
  —Paul (child), (15:28–15:39)

• “I know you now better than I could if my eyes were open.”
  —Woman, (23:54)

• “A thing will part, as my blindness was a part of me. I love you.”
  —Woman, (30:02–30:13)

• “In fairy tales long since the princess said that. And the ugly prince lost all his plainness in that sudden sun.”
  —Mr. Freak, (30:34–30:56)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:36 — Host’s introduction, meditation on beauty and ugliness
• 04:10 — Mr. Freak’s suicide contemplation begins
• 05:39–08:34 — Childhood memories, first encounter with his own reflection
• 10:00–12:54 — Sideshow life, exploitation, and first contact with a woman
• 16:23–18:10 — Escape to rural life, longing for the unattainable
• 21:31–23:52 — The woman’s accident and start of their friendship
• 25:33–28:17 — Dramatic reading from Cyrano de Bergerac
• 28:39–29:25 — Mr. Freak’s crisis, contemplation of death
• 29:25–30:34 — Love redeemed: the woman’s acceptance
• 30:34–31:18 — Poetic conclusion

Overall Tone & Atmosphere

The episode is brooding, atmospheric, and intensely personal, immersing listeners in Mr. Freak’s tortured psyche through poetic prose and stark dramatic monologue. The old-time radio style accentuates a sense of haunting isolation, paradoxically offset by moments of redemptive hope and profound human connection. The language is literary, bordering on the existential.

Memorable Moments

• The chilling accuracy with which Mr. Freak describes the cold physicality of suicide versus the “coldness” of life. (04:10)
• His first experience seeing his own face after his mother’s death—raw and deeply affecting. (08:34)
• The meta-reflection between child and narrator on the universal need for caring and love. (15:10–16:13)
• The joy Mr. Freak feels in intellectual and emotional intimacy with the blind woman, culminating in the shared reading of “Cyrano de Bergerac.” (25:33–28:17)
• The final acceptance of love, regardless of appearance—the resolution every fairy tale promises, delivered with sincerity and grace. (30:02–30:34)

Conclusion

Mr. Freak is not merely a supernatural tale but a meditation on the pain of difference and the transformative power of unconditional love. It asks listeners to reconsider the value we place on appearance, and ends with the hopeful message that true connection is found in spirit and understanding, not in looks. Arch Oboler’s “The Devil and Mr. O” here channels the era’s best radio storytelling—moody, literary, and ultimately compassionate.