LVHM:

Dr. Gregory Hanson speaks about a 1940s radio play featuring Asseba and Sabina, a fictional Pennsylvania-Dutch couple, at 1 p.m. Jan. 11, Lehigh County Historical Society’s Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum, 432 W. Walnut St., Allentown.

“Old-time radio broadcasts of Asseba and Sabina in the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect were tremendously popular in our region,” said Joseph Garrera, Executive Director of the Museum.

From 1944-1954, Lehigh Valley listeners tuned in Sundays to Allentown WSAN radio station to listen to “Asseba un Sabina,” a humorous half-hour radio play about the lives of a fictional Pennsylvania-Dutch farm couple.

The Pennsylvania-Dutch are people who moved from the Palatine region of Germany in the 1600s, 1700s and early 1800s. Many settled in the Lehigh Valley. Their culture had a major influence on the development of the region.

Hanson, a Kutztown University professor, has studied the radio show and translated many of the radio scripts from the original Pennsylvania-Dutch in his book, “The Radio Adventures of Asseba and Sabina.”

His presentation will explore the radio series and include audio and visual material, so that the audience can get a flavor of how the dialect series was produced and performed.

Hanson’s book will be available for purchase, and the author will sign copies.

Information: lehighvalleyheritagemuseum.org; 610-435-1074