Boxcars711 Old Time Radio

Crime Does Not Pay was an anthology radio crime drama series based on MGM's short film series. The films began in 1935 with Crime Does Not Pay: Buried Loot. For the most part, actors who appeared in B-films were featured, but occasionally, one of MGM's major stars would make an appearance. The radio series aired in New York on WMGM (October 10, 1949-October 10, 1951) and then moved to the Mutual network (January 7-December 22, 1952). Actors included Bela Lugosi, Everett Sloane, Ed Begley, John Loder and Lionel Stander.THIS EPISODE:December 5, 1949. Program #9. MGM syndication. "A Piece Of Rope". Commercials added locally. Dukie Defore works for a "service" business that murders people on contract...and Dukie always kills with a rope! The date above is the date of the first broadcast of this program on WMGM, New York from which this syndicated version may have been taken. Cameron Mitchell, Ira Marion (writer), Marx B. Loeb (director), Jon Gart (composer, conductor), Burton B. Turkas (technical advisor). 26:01.

The CBS Radio WorkshopBroadcast from 1936 through to 1947 with just an occasional break. Revived again from January 1956 to September 1957 as CBS Radio Workshop with pretty much the same format. Broadcast from 1936 through to 1947 with just an occasional break. Revived again from January 1956 to September 1957 as CBS Radio Workshop with pretty much the same format. This was drama with a difference. Columbia Workshop was not everybodyâs cup of tea and in terms of audience popularity it was always noted that it was never a strong contender for the title âRadios Top Rated Drama Seriesâ and yet it was always considered to be the drama program that led the way in radio standards. Columbia was the first to mexperiment with what radio drama was all about, introducing new techniques never before used in over the airwaves drama and because it received little encouragement from established writers, actors, etc., it was only by breaking new ground with new ideas and new techniques from writers who were not versed in the old ways that it was going to survive.THIS EPISODE:April 28, 1957. CBS net. "Lightship". Sustaining. A drama about a group of men aboard a lightship in a fog face boredom, madness, and disaster on a reef. Luis Van Rooten, Dan Ocko, Ralph Bell, Santos Ortega, Warren Sweeney (announcer). 25 minutes.

Arch Oboler (December 7, 1909 - March 19, 1987) was a Chicago-born scriptwriter, novelist, producer and director who was active in films, radio and television. boler generated much attention for his radio scripts, and his work in radio remains the outstanding period of his career. Although some noted a tendency for gruesomeness, he received praise as one of broadcasting's top talents, and he is regarded today as one of the innovators of old time radio.Arch Oboler's Plays was a radio drama series written, produced and directed by Arch Oboler. Minus a sponsor, it ran for one year, airing Saturday evenings on NBC from March 25, 1939 to March 23, 1940 and revived five years later on Mutual for a sustaining summer run from April 5, 1945 to October 11, 1945. Leading film actors were heard on this series, including Ingrid Bergman, Gloria Blondell, Eddie Cantor, James Cagney, Ronald Colman, Joan Crawford, Greer Garson, Edmund Gwenn, Van Heflin, Katharine Hepburn, Elsa Lanchester, Peter Lorre, Frank Lovejoy, Raymond Massey, Burgess Meredith, Paul Muni, Alla Nazimova, Edmond O'Brien, Geraldine Page, Gale Sondergaard, Franchot Tone and George Zucco.

Crime Club was a Mutual Network murder and mystery series, a product of the Doubleday Crime Book Club imprints found weekly in bookstores everywhere. The telephone rings"Hello, I hope I haven't kept you waiting. Yes, this is the Crime Club. I'm the Librarian. Murder Rents A Room? Yes, we have that Crime Club story for you.Come right over. (The organist in the shadowed corner of the Crime Club library shivers the ivories) The doorbell tones suddenly"And you are here. Good. Take the easy chair by the window. Comfortable? The book is on this shelf." (The organist hits the scary chord) "Let's look at it under the reading lamp." The Librarian, played by Raymond E. Johnson, begins reading the tale. Veteran Willis Cooper (Lights Out, Quiet Please) did some of the scripts from the Crime Club books.

Broadcast on NBC, Nightbeat ran from 1949 to 1952 and starred Frank Lovejoy as Randy Stone, a tough and streetwise reporter who worked the nightbeat for the Chicago Star looking for human interest stories. He met an assortment of people, most of them with a problem, many of them scared, and sometimes he was able to help them, sometimes he wasnât. It is generally regarded as a âqualityâ show and it stands up extremely well. Frank Lovejoy (1914-1962) isnât remembered today, but he was a powerful and believable actor with a strong delivery, and his portrayal of Randy Stone as tough guy with humanity was perfect. The scripts were excellent, given that they had to pack in a lot in a short time, and there was a good supporting cast, orchestra, and sound effects. Supporting actors included Parley Baer, William Conrad, Jeff Corey, Lawrence Dobkin, Paul Frees, Jack Kruschen, Peter Leeds, Howard McNear, Lurene Tuttle and Martha Wentworth.THIS EPISODE:March 20, 1950. NBC net. Sustaining. Randy Stone meets a man in the park on a very hot day. The body is wearing a heavy overcoat! Mr. Henry Kazarian claims to be dead, and a doctor confirms it! A well written story, good radio! Part of the final public service announcement and the system cue have been deleted. Frank Lovejoy, Larry Marcus (writer, editor), Ben Wright, Betty Lou Gerson, Paul Dubov, Warren Lewis (director), Frank Worth (music), Jeff Corey, Lou Krugman. 28:52.

Before the recent "Reality TV" glut, there was "Reality Radio" and Night Watch was there. This show is a straight crime documentary with no music, sound effects, or actors. Police reporter Don Reid rode in a prowl car on the night shift with officers from the Culver City, California police department. While wearing a hidden microphone, he captures the sounds and voices of real life drama. From the worried child to the hardened criminal, their stories come through loud and clear. The names were changed to protect identities, but everything else in this gripping series is real. Text From www.otrfan.com/ THIS EPISODE:Juvenile Burglar. May 3, 1954. CBS net. Sustaining. The first report in the patrol car is a report of a burglary on Burlingame. A burglar is actually captured on-mike inside a gas station. He turns out to be a tearful fifteen year old who begs to be released. Excellent radio! The system cue has been deleted. Ron Perkins (technical advisor), Sterling Tracy (producer), Donn Reed (police recorder), W. N. Hildebrand, Jim Headlock (producer). 23:14.

Jack Benny had been only a minor vaudeville performer, but he became a national figure with The Jack Benny Program, a weekly radio show which ran from 1932 to 1948 on NBC and from 1949 to 1955 on CBS, and was consistently among the most highly rated programs during most of that run. With Canada Dry Ginger Ale as a sponsor, Benny came to radio on The Canada Dry Program, beginning May 2, 1932, on the NBC Blue Network and continuing there for six months until October 26, moving the show to CBS on October 30. With Ted Weems leading the band, Benny stayed on CBS until January 26, 1933. Arriving at NBC on March 17, Benny did The Chevrolet Program until April 1, 1934. He continued with sponsors General Tires, Jell-O and Grape Nuts. Lucky Strike was the radio sponsor from 1944 to the mid-1950s. The show returned to CBS on January 2, 1949, as part of CBS president William S. Paley's notorious "raid" of NBC talent in 1948-49. There it stayed for the remainder of its radio run, which ended on May 22, 1955. CBS aired reruns of old radio episodes from 1956 to 1958 as The Best of Benny.

Mr. President ran on the ABC Radio Network from June of 1947 until September of 1953 and starred Edward Arnold and Betty Lou Gerson. Each week, Arnold would play the part of a different President of the United States in historical dramas based on real events - some familiar, many little-known and largely untold. The unique aspect of the show was that the identity of the President being portrayed would not be revealed until the end of the program - a guessing game that often challenged the most fervent and knowledgeable students of American history.THIS EPISODE:Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 â June 8, 1845) was the 7th President of the United States (1829â1837). He was also military governor of Florida (1821), commander of the American forces at the Battle of New Orleans (1815), and the eponym of the era of Jacksonian democracy. He was a polarizing figure who dominated American politics in the 1820s and 1830s. His political ambition combined with the masses of people shaped the modern Democratic Party.[1] Nicknamed "Old Hickory" because he was renowned for his toughness, Jackson was the first President primarily associated with the frontier, as he based his career in Tennessee.

Michael Shayne was a fictional sleuth created by Brett Halliday (a pen name for author Davis Dresser) who was first initiated into the fraternity for detectives in the 1939 novel "Dividend of Death". Dresser based the character on a âtall and rangyâ brawler who once saved his life during a braw in a Mexican cantina. The Shayne character would go on to appear in 69 novels, plus a long-running mystery magazineâand in 1941, was brought to the silver screen in Paramountâs Michael Shayne, Private Detective, an adaptation of Dividend of Death that starred Lloyd Nolan, and paved the way for six additional B-mysteries to follow. The New Adventures of Michael Shayneâpremiered on July 15, 1948 starring Jeff Chandler.

Inheritance. May 16, 1954. Program #6. NBC net. "Flight To Nowhere". Sustaining. Not auditioned. 4:30 P. M. The program is produced in co-operation with The American Legion. After the drama, the National Vice Commander of The American Legion, North Carolina, Thomas Byrd is the speaker. Albert McCleary (producer, director), John Wald (announcer), Robert Armbruster (composer, conductor), Thomas Byrd, Milt Kahn (writer), Whitfield Connor, John Dehner, Sam Edwards, Joe Cranston, Frank Gerstle, Anne Whitfield, Jack Carroll, Alice Rolf, Howard Culver. 29:51.

YOU ARE THEREAired: November 1939 to May 1940, CBS Blue NetworkA Dramatic Historical RecreationImagine if CBS radio news existed when the Bastille was stormed in 1789, or if radio reporters were stationed in Ford Theater as Lincoln was assassinated, or again at the Battle of Gettysburg? Indeed, such was the premise behind the CBS series, You Are There. Audiences witnessed history through the present-tense accounts of newsmen allegedly witnessing historical events transpiring before their eyes. Don Hollenbeck and John Daley (known for his TV game show panelist appearances) played the lead anchors, while real-life newsman provided the remote commentaries as the dramas unfolded. As show opened, an anchor would describe the present situation with "As it stands nowâ" and segue into commentaries, live remote feeds or analysis as the story unfurled.The show was well received, but perhaps was doomed to eventual failure in part due John Daly's emoting. Bernard DeVoto in Harper Magazine lamented: "We have heard his (Daly) voice vibrate with the real emotion, and our memory of the real simply turns the imagined to ham."

'The man you love to hate!', psychoanalyst-detective and male chauvinist pig, whose detection powers were dazzling, but whose treatment of females, especially his fluttery secretary Miss Frayle, verged on the abominable. Written by author Ernest Dudley, Morelle was overbearing, sarcastic, patronising, contemptuous, cruel and unusually vindictive, Morelle was nevertheless doted upon by millions of listeners to his adventures on the radio in the 1940s and 1950s. The first radio Morelle was played by the acerbic and distinctly toffish Dennis Arundell - a Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge, who later starred in many West End productions. A second series featured the even darker tones of Heron Carvic, later to write best-selling mysteries of his own, featuring the interfering spinster-sleuth Miss Seaton. In the 1950s, the part was played to pompous, thin-lipped perfection by Cecil Parker. The first Miss Frayle was played by author Dudley's wife, Jane Grahame, while a later incarnation was Sheila Sim. Through the 1950s Ernest Dudley wrote for both radio and television. His most popular TV series was 'Judge For Yourself', one of the earliest viewer-participation shows, in which, after a half-hour "trial", viewers were invited by Dudley to send in their verdicts, "Guilty" or "Not guilty". His catch-phrase, spoken to camera at the end, was always "Remember - you are the judge".

The Clock, Imported from Austrailia, was a dramatic thirty-minute suspense and mystery series. It was written by Lawrence Klee and was first broadcast in November 1946. The story always began the same; âSunrise and sunset, promise and fulfilment, birth and death â the whole drama of life is written in the sands of timeâ. This is a great series where the main theme seems to be Retribution. Stories as told by Father Time.First Broadcast November 3rd 1946 Last Broadcast May 23rd 1948

Orson Welles hosted and narrated the shows. Mr. Welles opened each show slightly differently but followed a standard format. For example, the show, "The Bathtub", open as follows:"This is Orson Welles speaking from London." (Big Ben starts chiming in the background). "The Black Museum, repository of death... Here, in this grim stone structure on the Thames which houses Scotland Yard, is a warehouse of homocide, where everyday objects, a piece of wire, a chemist's flask, a silver shilling, all are touched by murder." (dramatic music) Following the opening, Mr. Welles would introduce the museum's item or items of evidence that was central to the case, leading into the dramatization. He also provided narration during the show and ended each show with his characteristic closing from the days of his Mercury Theater of the Air, remaining "obediently yours".

ENCORE THEATER was a 1946 Summer replacement series, sponsored by Schenley Labs, Inc. All shows had a medical theme, some concerned medical research, some covered personal stories of people in the medical field but all based on true stories. Schenley Labs, Inc. was the sponsor for the series. The shows aired Tuesday evenings from 9:30 to 10:00 PM over CBS affiliated stations. Members of the cast were typically well-known radio or screen actors, such as Lurene Tuttle, Eric Snowden, Gerald Mohr, Ronald Colman, Robert Young or Lionel Barrymore. Producer for series was Bill Lawrence, who also directed the series. The announcer was Frank Graham. Music was by Leith Stevens. Scripts were written and adapted by Jean Holloway, Lloyd C. Douglas, Sidney Kingsley and Milton Geiger. Twelve of the thirteen scripts were adapted by Jean Holloway. The 1946 Summer series ended with the August 27th show, replaced by "Cresta Blanca Hollywood Players" (possibly known as "The Hollywood Players Company". There was a second ENCORE THEATER Summer series in 1949, however there is little information on it. It aired on Sundays. Eight shows are known to be in circulation. Known air dates are April 17, April 24, May 8 and June 5.

Today's Show:"The Antidote" (7-13-35) and "Its Finally Over" (10-12-35)FIRST BROADCAST: April 1935 LAST BROADCAST: February 1936 CAST: Gale Gordon, Maurice Franklin, Bruno Wick, James Meighan PRODUCER: Himan Brown This science-fiction adventure originally began as a comic strip. Flash Gordon had saved the world by firing a rocket at the planet Mongo which was on a collision course with earth. He had crashlanded on Mongo which was a planet packed with villains and baddies featuring lots of ray-guns and rockets.

The first two seasons of General Electric Theater established the half-hour anthology format of adaptations of popular plays, short stories, novels, magazine fiction and motion pictures. "The Eye of the Beholder," for example, a Hitchcock-like telefilm thriller starring Richard Conte and Martha Vickers, dramatized an artist's relationship with his model from differing, sometimes disturbing psychological perspectives. The addition of Ronald Reagan as program host commencing the third season 26 September 1954 reflected GE's decision to pursue a campaign of continuous, consistent company voice advertising. The Reagan role of program host and occasional guest star brought needed continuity to disparate anthology offerings. The casting of Don Herbert of TV's Watch Mr. Wizard fame in the role of "General Electric Progress Reporter" established a clear-cut company identity for commercials. "Outstanding entertainment" became the watchword of GE's public and employee relations specialists. Reagan, in the employ of BBDO, helped merchandise the concept within the company itself. The first of many promotional tours orchestrated by BBDO and the GE Department of Public Relations Services sent Reagan to twelve GE plant cities in November 1954 to promote the program idea, further his identity as spokesman, and become familiar with company people and products.

This hit radio series with Marie Wilson ran on CBS Radio from April 11, 1947 to August 23, 1954. The TV version, seen on CBS from January 8, 1952 until June 25, 1954, was the first series telecast from the CBS Television City facility in Hollywood. The movie My Friend Irma (1949) starred Marie Wilson and Diana Lynn but is mainly remembered today for introducing Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis to moviegoers, resulting in even more screen time for Martin and Lewis in the sequel, My Friend Irma Goes West (1950).THIS EPISODE:March 8, 1948. CBS net. Sponsored by: Swan Soap ($100,000 fur contest), Spry. "Jane's New Boyfriend". Not auditioned. Irma and Jane have had fights with Al and Richard. Plans are made for an intimate dinner for four. Professor Kropotkin is matched up with Mrs. O'Reilly. Marie Wilson, Cathy Lewis, John Brown, Cy Howard (creator, producer, director, writer), Parke Levy, Hans Conried, Frank Bingman (announcer), Leif Erickson, Gloria Gordon. 30:04

NBC University Theater is an unusual series that focused on reenacting novels by great authors for college classes. Many accredited American universities such as Washington State College, University of Louisville, and University of Tulsa, used this dramatic series as a supplement to correspondent college courses. The series' creators made study guides to accompany the courses. Students studying great literature by Steinbeck, Faulkner, Hemingway, Huxley, and many others listened to these shows every week. It was an ambitious series that remained popular despite its academic and non-commercial appeal. The shows are high quality and will please many fans of great literature.THIS EPISODE:At Heaven's Gate is the story of Sue Murdock, daughter of the powerful and wealthy Bogan Murdock. Sue struggles to escape her father's control in a southern American city before the Great Depression. She takes up with Jerry (Bull's Eye) Calhoun, a college football star who graduates to work in a bank controlled by her father. She leaves Jerry when he defends Sue's grandfather's honor. Sue takes her own apartment in a seedy part of town and starts associating with Slim Sarrett, a writer and intellectual. Her relationship with Slim falls apart after he is visited by an old lover. Sue falls into the care of a labor organizer named Sweetwater. Sarrett returns, but Sue will not have him.

The CBS Radio Mystery Theater (or CBSRMT) was an ambitious and sustained attempt to revive the great drama of old-time radio in the 1970s. Created by Himan Brown (who had by then become a radio legend due to his work on Inner Sanctum Mysteries and other shows dating back to the 1930s), and aired on affiliate stations across the CBS Radio network, the series began its long run on January 6, 1974. The final episode ran on December 31, 1982. The show was broadcast nightly and ran for one hour, including commercials. Typically, a week consisted of three to four new episodes, with the remainder of the week filled out with reruns.THIS EPISODE:November 5, 1976. Program #547. CBS net. "The Secret Chamber". Sponsored by: True Value Hardware, Buick, Certainteed Insulation. Master Lock Burglar Alarms. E. G. Marshall (host), H. G. Wells (author), Arnold Moss (adaptor), Kristoffer Tabori, Earl Hammond, Court Benson, Catherine Byers. 52 minutes.

Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles (1950)The Martian Chronicles is a 1950 science fiction novel by Ray Bradbury that chronicles the colonization of Mars by humans fleeing from a troubled Earth, and the conflict between aboriginal Martians and the new colonists. The book lies somewhere between a short story collection and an episodic novel, containing Bradbury stories originally published in the late 1940s in science fiction magazines. For publication, the stories were loosely woven together with a series of short, interstitial vignettes.THIS EPISODE:The Off Season (1950)Visions of atomic apocalypse were published in some numbers in the years immediately following the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Even though in 1948 the Soviet Union was far from posing any serious nuclear threat, Bradbury's story reflects the fears o f many that humanity had entered an era of unprecedented danger. In which earlier story did Sam Parkhill play a role? Is his behavior here consistent with that in the earlier story? Explain. How does this story compare with t he traditional battle-with-aliens-for-survival story? The description of the death of Earth is even more fantastic than the collapse of an entire city from the impact of a single bullet earlier in the story. Why do you think Bradbury uses such exaggerated language? What would a real nuclear war probably look like from Mars?

Aliens in the Mind started life as an outline for Doctor Who. Although not commissioned for the show Robert Holmes was asked to develop the idea for Radio 4 however work commitments meant that the scripts were ultimately written by Rene Bascilico based on Holmes' original idea. Unlike the Doctor Who 'talking books' and stable-mate 'The Quatermass Memoirs' which are also due for release on July 3rd this is a full blown sci-fi radio drama starring kings of horror Vincent Price and Peter Cushing. Investing the death of a friend Curtis Lark (Price) and John Cornelius (Cushing) discover the presence of a new race of humans on a remote Scottish island. The key to the mystery seems to be a local young girl who Lark and Cornelius resolve to take to London for tests where they discover she may not be the only mutant to have left the island...Split over six episodes and running almost three hours the plot moves a cracking pace - it seemed like no time at all had passed between inserting the first CD and reaching the end of episode two. Relying heavily on the talents of Price and Cushing this is a gripping and atmospheric drama which owes more than a passing nod to the US TV series The Invaders and, despite being almost 30 years old, feels reasonably modern in style and content. Highlighting the original weekly broadcast format each episode starts with a recap of the events of the previous installment and a reprise. Rather sensibly chapter points have been arranged in such a way that these form a self contained track making them easy to skip if listening to more than one episode at a time. The initial three titles in the range seem to have been chosen to appeal to Doctor Who fans and this title in particular should appeal to those who already listen to the many Big Finish ranges.

Cloak and Dagger first aired over the NBC network on May 7, 1950. It had a short run through the Summer on Sundays, changing to Fridays after its Summer run. The last show aired Oct. 22, 1950. This is the story of the WWII special governmental agency, the OSS, or Office of Strategic Services. Its mission was to develop and maintain spy networks throughout Europe and into Asia, while giving aid to underground partisan groups and developing espionage activities for Allied forces overseas.The show is based on the book of the same name by Lt. Col. Corey Ford and Major Alastair MacBain (who were associated with the OSS from its early days.) The dramas are not Hollywood-style, in that they sometimes end with plans foiled or leading characters dead.THIS EPISODE: August 27, 1950. NBC net. "The Black Radio". Sustaining. 4:00 P. M. An O. S. S. operative parachutes behind the enemy lines to rendezvous with "Lucille" and set up a "black radio." When the Gestapo closes in, the plan is saved by a "Hedy Lamarr." The announcer mispronounces the "three chimes" slogan during the system cue! Raymond Edward Johnson, Jon Gart (music director), Sherman Marks (director, supervisor), Larry Haines, Lily Darvas, Berry Kroeger, Arnold Moss, Stefan Schnabel, Bob Wile, Jerry Jarrett, Winifred Wolfe (writer), Jack Gordon (writer), Chet Hill (sound effect), Dick Gillespie (sound effects), Art Cooper (sound effects), Corey Ford (creator), Alistair MacBain (creator), Louis G. Cowan (producer), Alfred Hollander (producer). 29:30.

The Screen Director's Playhouse. From 01/09/49 to 09/28/51 this series was greatly enjoyed by the radio listening audience. It opened as NBC Theater and was also known as The Screen Directorâs Guild and The Screen Directorâs Assignment. But most people remember it simply as Screen Directorâs Playhouse. THIS EPISODE:WATERLOO BRIDGE is perhaps best described as one of a number of films "with an English accent" that played to American sympathies for England in the years when England largely stood alone against Nazi Germany. The story itself has a wartime setting: Beautiful ballerina Myra (Vivien Leigh) meets and falls passionately in love with officer Roy Cronin (Robert Taylor), only to be parted from him when he is called to duty during World War I. Alone and increasingly destitute, she learns that he has been killed in action--and so, broken hearted and unconcerned for herself, she drifts into prostitution, plying the world's oldest profession along Waterloo Bridge. Although Robert Taylor is a bit miscast, Leigh carries the film with a truly remarkable performance. In the opening portion of the scene, she is at the height of her youthful beauty, and cinematographer Joseph Ruttenberg makes the most of it; later, when experience has hardened her, she turns the graceful charm of her earlier scenes upside down to create the bitter, brassy tart that Myra has become. The cast also features an exceptional performance by Lucile Watson as Lady Margaret and notable turns by Maria Ouspenskaya, C. Aubrey Smith, and a host of others. Although less well known than such tragic romances as Garbo's CAMILLE, WATERLOO BRIDGE is easily the equal of such and considerably better than most. The romantic aura is powerful, the production values are meticulous, the direction, photography, and script are first rate. And at the center of it all we have perhaps the single most beautiful actress of her era, Vivien Leigh, in one of her finest performances. You'll need a box of tissues for this one; don't miss it. Text From: Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

The Great Gildersleeve 1941-1958 In 1941 Throckmorton P Gildersleeve spun off into his own radio program, becoming the first radio character to do so. He had originally appeared on Fibber McGee and Molly in 1937 and left to become the Water Commissioner of Summerfield and to raise his niece and nephew. The series had the same appeal as todays soaps because each episode was connected. Gildersleeves romances were often at the centre of it all. The best of the romances is the one with Leila Ransom.

Curtain Time, like First Nighter, presented romantic drama in a theater setting complete with the announcer shouting, âTickets please, thank youâ. The shows announcer was Harry Halcomb who was later known best for his appearances on the 60 minutes television show. Great scripts and superb acting, Curtain Time is truly an Old Time Radio Classic. Mutual Network, local KNX show sustained, heard Fridays 7:30 - 8:00 pm

The first portrayal of Phillip Marlowe on the radio was by Dick Powell, when he played Raymond Chandler's detective on the Lux Radio Theater on June 11, 1945. This was a radio adaptation of the 1944 movie, from RKO, in which Mr. Powell played the lead. Two years later, Van Heflin starred as Marlowe in a summer replacement series for the Bob Hope Show on NBC. This series ran for 13 shows. On September 26, 1948, Gerald Mohr became the third radio Marlowe, this time on CBS. It remained a CBS show through its last show in 1951.

Frank Merriwell, the much-loved fictional hero of Street and Smith's Tip Top Weekly, was first introduced to readers on April 18, 1896. Merriwell was the creation of writer Burt L. Standish (real name: Gilbert Patten), and embodied a new type of dime novel hero, one who relied as much upon mental as physical prowess. The Yale-educated Merriwell possessed "a body like Tarzan's and a head like Einstein's," wrote one admiring writer, and thus represented "the perfect union of brain and brawn." First broadcast over NBC from 03/26/34 to 06/22/34 and again, on NBC, from 10/05/46 until 06/04/49. A 1946 Movie was also made.

First show: Mar 3, 1980 Original shows: 103 Last show: Dec 10, 1980 Number of programs aired including new and repeats: 210 Hosts: Lorne Greene, Andy Griffith, Vincent Price, Cicely Tyson, Leonard Nimoy In December 1979 the Mutual Broadcasting System acquired the Sears Radio Theater renaming it, the MUTUAL Radio Theater. It retained the same format as before with the same theme for different nights of the week. Lorne Greene remained host for Monday's Western night, Andy Griffith handled Tuesday's Comedy, Vincent Price still was host for Mystery on Wednesdays, Cicely Tyson did Love on Thurs- day, while Leonard Nimoy was now the Friday night Adventure host. As before the series aired week nights, Monday through Friday. The Mutual Radio Theater debuted Mar 3, 1980 and was to run for 13 weeks on almost 300 stations. The shows were then to be repeated over the summer and fall. It proved to be fairly successful and another 8 weeks of original programs were added; this was followed by another 8 weeks of repeats. The series was broadcast in stereo, making it the only commercial radio network drama program in the nation to use this technology at the time. Great writers were employed for this series including Arch Oboler and Norman Corwin. Good choices were made when it came to cast members. Old familiar voices and names included Janet Waldo, John Dehner, Vic Perrin, Mary Jane Croft, Hans Conried, Marvin Miller, Parley Baer, Elliot Lewis, Jeff Corey, Virginia Gregg, Lesley Woods, Robert Rockwell and Lurene Tuttle. Then from movies and TV - Eve Arden, Keith Andes, Harriet Nelson, Aan Young, Tom Bosley and Marian Ross, Lloyd Bochner, Rick Jason, Frank Campanella, Toni Tennille, Arthur Hill, Dan O'Herlihy, Jesse White and Frank Nelson. A curious note: Many collectors and vendors list a total of 104 broadcasts. Apparently what was done by them was to count a repeat of "The Ship", first broadcast on March 7, 1980 as another show when it was aired again during the first 13 week cycle (May 23, 1980). Please note - - The previous edition of this log indicated some difficulty in establishing show titles for the weeks begining July 7, 1980 and July 14, 1980. The mystery has been solved with the able assistance of Mr. Bryan Wright. Thank you, Bryan! Mr. Rick Woodward and Mr. Shawn A. Wells offered additional audio copies which were gratefully accepted. Thank you, gentlemen!

EDGAR ALLAN POE'S "FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER"The NBC Short Stories were very high quality productions. Authors ranger from Shelley to Bradbury to Edgar Allen Poe. In this episode, The Fall Of The House Of Usher, as like many of Poe's stories, does not use the typical, first person point of view where the protagonist tells a personal account of a crime that he or she has committed. Instead, the narrator is a character of whom we know very little, who acts like a participant/observer. It is easy for the reader to become "the friend" in Poe's story as both the narrator and the reader invite "madness" as they are drawn into the underworld of the mind where fantasy becomes reality. Twice near the end of the story, Roderick calls the narrator "Madman!" However, the narrator escapes, to watch both the tenants and the house of Usher disappear into the tarn, an underworld which is their true home.

The Secrets of Scotland Yard was a successful crime drama series, initially airing internationally between 1949 and 1951. Selected episodes finally came to a US radio network for a brief run much later in 1957 over the Mutual Broadcasting System. The series boasted well over 100 episodes, one of which, "The Bone From A Voice Box", apparently served as the prototype for another well remembered Towers Of London dramatic series, The Black Museum. In both series, well known actors were employed as host / narrator, Orson Welles in The Black Museum and Clive Brook here. In fact, the shows were so similar that some of the same actual Scotland Yard cases were dramatized for both series (with totally different scripts, and casts).

The Life of Riley, with William Bendix in the title role, was a popular radio situation comedy series of the 1940s that was adapted into a 1949 feature film and continued as a long-running television series during the 1950s. The show began as a proposed Groucho Marx radio series, The Flotsam Family, but the sponsor balked at what would have been essentially a straight head-of-household role for the comedian. Then producer Irving Brecher saw Bendix as taxicab company owner Tim McGuerin in the movie The McGuerins from Brooklyn (1942). The Flotsam Family was reworked with Bendix cast as blundering Chester A. Riley, riveter at a California aircraft plant, and his frequent exclamation of indignation---"What a revoltin' development this is!"---became one of the most famous catch phrases of the 1940s. The radio series also benefited from the immense popularity of a supporting character, Digby "Digger" O'Dell (John Brown), "the friendly undertaker."Beginning October 4, 1949, the show was adapted for television for the DuMont Television Network, but Bendix's film contracts prevented him from appearing in the role. Instead, Jackie Gleason starred along with Rosemary DeCamp as wife Peg, Gloria Winters as daughter Barbara (Babs), Lanny Rees as son Chester Jr. (Junior), and Sid Tomack as Gillis, Riley's manipulative best buddy and next-door neighbor. John Brown returned as the morbid counseling undertaker Digby (Digger) O'Dell ("Well, I guess I'll be... shoveling off"; "Business is a little dead tonight"). Television's first Life of Riley won television's first Emmy (for "Best Film Made For and Shown on Television"). However, it came to an end on March 28, 1950 because of low ratings and because Gleason left the show, thinking he could find a better showcase for his unique abilities. Groucho Marx received a credit for "story."

Bob Hope first appeared on television in 1932 during a test transmission from an experimental CBS studio in New York. His career in broadcasting spanned sixty-four years and included a long association with NBC. Hope made his network radio debut in 1937 on NBC. His first regular series for NBC Radio was the Woodbury Soap Hour. A year later The Pepsodent Radio Show Starring Bob Hope began, and would run through 1953. Hope did many specials for the NBC television network in the following decades and these were often sponsored by Chrysler and Hope served as a spokesman for the firm for many years. Hope's Christmas specials were popular favorites and often featured a performance of "Silver Bells" (from his 1951 film The Lemon Drop Kid) done as a duet with an often much younger female guest star (such as Olivia Newton-John or Brooke Shields). His final television special was in 1996 with Tony Danza helping Hope present a retrospective about presidents of the United States. He also made a guest appearance on the NBC show "The Golden Girls" in the late 1980s.

Dadâs Army was a British sitcom about the Home Guard in the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. The British Home Guard consisted of local volunteers otherwise ineligible for military service, usually owing to age, and as such the series starred several veterans of British film, television and stage, including Arthur Lowe (1915â82), John Le Mesurier (1912â83), Arnold Ridley (also a veteran playwright; 1896â1984) and John Laurie (1897â1980). Relative youngsters in the regular cast were Ian Lavender (b.1946), Clive Dunn (b.1920), who was made-up to play the elderly Jones, and James Beck (1929â1973), the latter dying suddenly part way through the programmeâs long run despite being one of the youngest cast members. Popular at the time and still repeated, it was voted into fourth place in a 2004 BBC poll for Britainâs Best Sitcom. Previously, in a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes. drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000, voted for by industry professionals, it was placed thirteenth.

The Saint â 1945-1951 There were at least 24 episodes broadcast of this series. It was a fascinating detective adventure series based on the books by Leslie Charteris. Edgar Barrier first played Simon Templar, aka The Saint, a debonair private detective in January 1945. He was then played by Brian Aherne in June 1945 and later Vincent Price from July 1947 up until May 1951. The Saint was said to have been like a modern day Robin Hood. He didnât care for justice and always helped victims hindered by the lawâs restrictions.

"The Horseless Carriage" (2-24-47)"Affair Of The Ancient Egyptian Curse" (3-10-47)Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who first appeared in publication in 1887. He is the creation of Scottish born author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A brilliant London-based detective, Holmes is famous for his intellectual prowess, and is renowned for his skillful use of deductive reasoning (somewhat mistakenly - see inductive reasoning) and astute observation to solve difficult cases. He is arguably the most famous fictional detective ever created, and is one of the best known and most universally recognisable literary characters in any genre. Conan Doyle wrote four novels and fifty-six short stories that featured Holmes. All but four stories were narrated by Holmes' friend and biographer, Dr. John H. Watson, two having been narrated by Holmes himself, and two others written in the third person. The first two stories, short novels, appeared in Beeton's Christmas Annual for 1887 and Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in 1890. The character grew tremendously in popularity with the beginning of the first series of short stories in The Strand Magazine in 1891; further series of short stories and two serialized novels appeared almost right up to Conan Doyle's death in 1930. The stories cover a period from around 1878 up to 1903, with a final case in 1914.

Calling All Cars. January 10, 1934. Program #7. CBS Pacific net (Don Lee net). "The Caliente Money Car Holdup". Sponsored by: Rio Grande Oil (free copy of "Calling All Car News"). "The robbers in this case were stupid. All criminals are stupid." The system cue has been deleted. Not auditioned. Charles Frederick Lindsley (narrator). 30:25.

Hercule Poirot is a fictional Belgian detective created by Agatha Christie. Along with Miss Marple, Poirot is one of Christie's most famous and long-lived characters: he appeared in 39 novels and 50 short stories. Poirot has been portrayed on screen, for films and TV, by various actors including Albert Finney, Peter Ustinov, Ian Holm, Tony Randall, Alfred Molina and, most recently, and famously, David Suchet. His character was based on two other fictional detectives of the time: Marie Belloc Lowndes' Hercule Popeau and Frank Howel Evans' Monsieur Poiret, a retired French police officer living in London. A more obvious influence on the early Poirot stories is that of Arthur Conan Doyle. In An Autobiography Christie admits that "I was still writing in the Sherlock Holmes tradition â eccentric detective, stooge assistant, with a Lestrade-type Scotland Yard detective, Inspector Japp."Poirot also bears a striking resemblance to A. E. W. Mason's fictional detective â Inspector Hanaud of the French surete-who, first appearing in the 1910 novel "At the Villa Rose," predates the writing of the first Poirot novel by six years.

Crime Classics was a U. S. radio docudrama which aired over CBS from June 15, 1953 to June 30, 1954. Created, produced, and directed by radio actor/director Elliott Lewis, the program was basically a historical true crime series, examining crimes, and especially murders, from the past. It grew out of Lewis's personal interest in famous murder cases, and took a documentary-like approach to the subject, carefully recreating the facts, personages, and feel of the time period. Comparatively little dramatic license was taken with the facts and events, but the tragedy was leavened with humor, expressed largely through the narration.

On July 31, 1930 a sinister voice came over the radio into American Homes. The voice of the Shadow appeared for the first time. In the beginning the Shadow was not a crime fighter. He was a mysterious narrator of mystery tales taken from the pages of Street & Smith's Detective Story Magazine. The publisher Street & Smith began to use radio as an advertising medium to promote their fiction publications. The Shadow was a perfectly creepy teller of tales promoting Street & Smith. This format continued until 1935 when creative differences between Street & Smith and NBC called a halt to the Shadow on the air. On September 26, 1937, the Shadow reappeared on radio with the voice of Orson Welles playing the part. The Shadow was now a full-fledged character on radio, not just narrating and introducing stories. The Shadow had an identity as Lamont Cranston, a wealthy man about town. He was accompanied by Margo Lane, originally played by Agnes Moorehead. Margo Lane was the only person who knew that Lamont Cranston and the Shadow were one and the same. No other agents assisted the Shadow, as did in the Walter Gibson fictional accounts. This radio Shadow had hypnotic power to make himself invisible to those around him and he possessed mental telepathy to read minds. Orson Welles played the Shadow from 1937 through March 1938. The Shadow became the highest rated radio show on the air at that time.

Maisie, the first in 1939, was from the book "Dark Dame" by the writer Wilson Collison,who did decades of scripting for the silver screen along with Broadway plays and magazine fiction. From the first, MGM wanted Ann Sothern to play Maisie. She began in Hollywood as an extra in 1927. "Maisie and I were just together - I just understood her," Sothern, born Harriette Arlene Lake, said after several of the films made her a star. Throughout the 1930s and '40s, Ann Sothern and Lucille Ball, like many performers in Hollywood, had not one but two careers - one in motion pictures and one on radio. MGM Studios had created the series of ten motion pictures based on a brash blonde with a heart "of spun gold." Maisie, the first in 1939, was from the book "Dark Dame" by the writer Wilson Collison, who did decades of scripting for the silver screen along with Broadway plays and magazine fiction.

The Philip Morris Playhouse was originally called "Johnny Presents" and named after the Philip Morris trademark, a bellhop by the name of Johnny Roventini. Johnny was discovered when an ad man for Philip Morris, spotted him in a popular New York Hotel. The thought occured that the new show could lead off with Johnny walking through the lobby yelling "Last Call For Philip Morris". The idea was an instant success and the tabacco company paid him $20000.00 a year for his participation. Guest stars included some of Hollywood's tops, Marlene Dietrich, Vincent Price and Howard Duff to name a few.THIS EPISODE:May 13, 1949. CBS net. "Four Hours To Kill". Sponsored by: Philip Morris, Revelation Pipe Tobacco. After killing his brother, a man has only four hours to find and kill the woman who heard the crime over the telephone. The script was also used on "Suspense" on January 12, 1950 (see cat. #16382 and #72438). Howard Duff, William Spier (producer, editor, director), Cathy Lewis, John Holbrook (announcer), Harold Swanton (writer), Lud Gluskin (music director), Art Ballinger (announcer). 29:14.

Lux Radio Theater strove to feature as many of the original stars of the original stage and film productions as possible, usually paying them $5,000 an appearance to do the show. It was when sponsor Lever Brothers (who made Lux soap and detergent) moved the show from New York to Hollywood in 1936 that it eased back from adapting stage shows and toward adaptations of films. The first Lux film adaptation was The Legionnaire and the Lady, with Marlene Dietrich and Clark Gable, based on the film Morocco. That was followed by a Lux adaptation of The Thin Man, featuring the movie's stars, Myrna Loy and William Powell.

"Charles Walsh" (7-09-49) and "Counterfeiting Ring" (10-15-49)Dick Powell was known as a song and dance man until his rebirth as a movie tough guy in Murder My Sweet, where he played Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe. He then appeared in a string of crime and detective flicks, and eventually parlayed it into a successful radio show. Powell played RICHARD DIAMOND, "radio's singing gumshoe", an ex-OSS man turned New York City private detective who was tough when he needed to be, but tried to have a little fun while on the job. He often closed the show with a song to his uptown girlfriend, Helen. The show was a hit, the first of many for writer/director Blake Edwards, who went on to create Peter Gunn and the Pink Panther movies. And when that upstart new medium television beckoned, deciding at this point he was too busy (or a bit long in the tooth) to star, Powell became a producer, formed Four Star Productions, and unleashed Richard Diamond, Private Detective on the world, with newcomer David Meyer (who changed his name to Janssen, at Powell's suggestion) as Diamond (pictured). He remained in New York, but the former OSS operative became the former cop. He remained in New York for two seasons, but the third season began with Diamond moving to Los Angles where he gets a girlfriend, Karen (Barbara Bain), a spiffy car with a phone in it, and an answering service, run by Sam (played by Mary Tyler Moore's legs). And what LA gumshoe needs is an eccentric fading movie star as a client. In this case, former film queen Laura Renault (Hillary Brooke) filled the bill.

The Campbell Playhouse was a sponsored continuation of the Mercury Theater on the Air, a direct result of the instant publicity from the War of the Worlds panic. The switch occurred on December 9, 1938. In spite of using the same creative staff, the show had a different flavor under sponsorship, partially attributed to a guest star policy in place, which relegated the rest of the Mercury Players to supporting cast for Orson Welles and the Hollywood guest of the week. There was a growing schism between Welles, still reaping the rewards of his Halloween night notoriety, and his collaborator John Houseman, still in the producer's chair but feeling more like an employee than a partner. The writer, as during the unsponsored run, was Howard Koch.

The Golden Age of Radio was ending, not with a whimper, but with a robust bang. Many of the best network and syndicated shows began in the 1950s, even though public interest and advertising dollars were switching to television, FORT LARAMIE was certainly one of the finest radio series, and were it not for GUNSMOKE, it could be termed the best adult Western program ever aired. FORT LARAMIE is a close relative of GUNSMOKE since it had the same producer-director, same writers, same sound effects men, and many of the same actors. GUNSMOKE had been running for almost four years when Norman Macdonnell brought FORT LARAMIE to CBS. The latter had the same gritty realism, attention to detail, and integrity that audiences admired in GUNSMOKE.

The CBS Radio Workshop was an experimental dramatic radio anthology series that aired on CBS from January 27, 1956, until September 22, 1957. Subtitled âradioâs distinguished series to manâs imagination,â it was a revival of the earlier Columbia Workshop, broadcast by CBS from 1936 to 1947, and it used some of the same writers and directors employed on the earlier series. The premiere broadcast was a two-part adaptation of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, introduced and narrated by Huxley. It took a unique approach to sound effects, as described in a review that week in Time (February 6, 1956): It took three radio sound men, a control-room engineer and five hours of hard work to create the sound that was heard for less than 30 seconds on the air. The sound consisted of a ticking metronome, tom-tom beats, bubbling water, air hose, cow moo, boing! (two types), oscillator, dripping water (two types) and three kinds of wine glasses clicking against each other. Judiciously blended and recorded on tape, the effect was still not quite right. Then the tape was played backward with a little echo added. That did it. The sound depicted the manufacturing of babies in the radio version of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Music for the series was composed by Jerry Goldsmith, Amerigo Moreno, Ray Noble and Leith Stevens. Other writers adapted to the series included Robert A. Heinlein, Sinclair Lewis, H. L. Mencken, Edgar Allan Poe, Frederik Pohl, James Thurber and Thomas Wolfe.

A host of prominent actors from radio and screen performed on the series, including Agnes Moorehead, Joan Hackett, Mercedes McCambridge, Morey Amsterdam, Roy Thinnes, Keir Dullea, Fred Gwynne, Richard Crenna, Kim Hunter, Larry Haines, Morgan Fairchild, John Lithgow, and even a very young Sarah Jessica Parker. Actors were paid union scale at around $73.92 per show. Writers earned a flat rate of $350.00 per show. The production took place with assembly-line precision. Brown would meet with actors at 9:00 AM for the first reading of the script. He would then assign roles and recording would begin. By noon the recording of the actors was complete and Brown handed everyone their checks. Post-production would take place in the afternoon. In 1975, CBSRMT won the prestigious Peabody Award, and in 1990 it was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame. In 1998, the still-active Brown attempted a brief revival of the series, rebroadcasting selected old episodes with his own introductions replacing Marshall's.

The Whistler was one of radio's most popular mystery dramas, with a 13-year run from May 16, 1942 until September 22, 1955. If it now seems to have been influenced explicitly by The Shadow, The Whistler was no less popular or credible with its listeners, the writing was first class for its genre, and it added a slightly macabre element of humor that sometimes went missing in The Shadow's longer-lived crime stories. Writer-producer J. Donald Wilson established the tone of the show during its first two years, and he was followed in 1944 by producer-director George Allen. Other directors included Sterling Tracy and Sherman Marks with final scripts by Joel Malone and Harold Swanton. A total of 692 episodes were produced, yet despite the series' fame, over 200 episodes are lost today. In 1946, a local Chicago version of The Whistler with local actors aired Sundays on WBBM, sponsored by Meister Brau beer.

The Avenger is an Old Time Radio show aired by the South African Broadcasting System in the 1940s. It featured a biochemist crime-fighter by the name of Jim Brandon. Mr. Brandon had two inventions which assisted him in the fight against crime. Mr. Brandon was able to pick up telpathic thought flashes and had a diffusion capsule which allowed him to become invisible.SYNDICATED by : Charles Michelson. WRITTER: Walter Gibson STARS: James Monks, Dick Janiver as the invisible Jim Brandon WITH: James LaCurto.