From Stephen King to the Queen of England, Harry Potter has changed our lives. For proof, simply read one of the horror-meister’s latest Dark Tower books, The Wolves of Calla in which—in an alternate reality—killer androids blow things up with Harry Potter-brand grenades!!!
Even the word “muggle” has been transformed. Search wikipedia and you’ll find a whole history of muggle usages (going back as far as 1854, with Alice in Wonderland’s creator Lewis Carroll). Of course, according to several online sources, we all know now that muggles are actually non-magical people that never get invited into Harry Potter’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
But there is one guy that gets overlooked. Frank M. Robinson … the writer/actor who played a small role in Sean Penn’s Milk movie. Yes, that Frank M. Robinson.
Well, on January 16, 1957, legendary radio show X Minus One aired a play based on Frank’s story The Girls from Earth. It was just another old fashioned Martian romance … except for two startling words:
Muggle Juice.
It’s the beverage of choice on Mars. Creative, inventive, almost magical.
The biggest downside for fans of Muggle Juice?
Realizing that we non-magicals are still—and will forever be—trapped by Rowling’s definitive definition of the word muggle.
So … resistance is futile. Long live the legacy.
***
For the text version of the Robinson’s Muggle story, click here.
For the actual radio broadcast, click here.
