Lovecraftian imitations towards a unique style of his own. One of the first distinctly "Blochian" stories was "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper" (Weird Tales, July 1943). The story was Bloch's take on the Jack the Ripper legend, and was filled out with more genuine factual details of the case than many other fictional treatments. It cast the Ripper as an eternal being who must make human sacrifices to extend his immortality. It was adapted for both radio (in Stay Tuned for Terror) and television (as an episode of Thriller in 1961 adapted by Barré Lyndon). Bloch followed up this story with a number of others in a similar vein dealing with half-historic, half-legendary figures such as the Man in the Iron Mask ("Iron Mask", 1944), the Marquis de Sade ("The Skull of the Marquis de Sade", 1945) and Lizzie Borden ("Lizzie Borden Took an Axe ...", 1946). In 1944, Laird Cregar performed Bloch's tale "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper" over a coast-to-coast radio network. Towards the end of World War Two, in 1945, Bloch was asked to write 39 15-minute episodes of his own radio horror show called Stay Tuned for Terror. Many of the programs were adaptations of his own pulp stories. (All episodes were broadcast, but recordings were thought to be lost. However, in 2020, two episodes, "The Bogeyman Will Get You" and "Lizzie Borden Took an Axe" were re-discovered amongst the archives of an old-time radio enthusiast. These episodes have now been posted on YouTube and Internet Archive).. The same year he published "The Skull of the Marquis de Sade" (Weird Tales, Sempteber issue). August Derleth's Arkham House, Lovecraft's publisher, published Bloch's first collection of short stories, The Opener of the Way, in an edition of 2,000 copies, with jacket art by Ronald Clyne. At the same time, his best-known early tale, "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper", received considerable attention through dramatization on radio and reprinting in anthologies. This story, as noted below, involving a Ripper who has found literal immortality through his crimes, has been widely imitated (or plagiarized); Bloch himself would return to the theme (see below). Stories published in 1946 include "Enoch" (September issue of Weird Tales) and Lizzie Borden Took an Axe (Weird Tales, November). Bloch's first novel was published in hardcover – the thriller The Scarf (The Dial Press 1947; the Fawcett Gold medal paperback of 1966 features a revised text). It