Boxcars711 Old Time Radio

Meaningful Stories from Years Past that Continue to Inspire Families Today. Families, then and now, face similar situations and struggles: communication, honesty, gambling, music, alcoholism, sports and many spiritual questions, such as life after death. How we address these struggles makes all the difference in strengthening our family bonds. These compelling half-hour dramas offer inspiring insights into how to build unity within your family. Join us on a visit with the stars of the past for an uplifting, humorous and meaningful look into family life.This show is posted with the expressed written consent of the owner and exclusively granted to Boxcars711 Old Time Radio.

Hollywood Radio Theater (Lux), one of the genuine classic radio anthology series (NBC Blue Network, 1934-1935; CBS 1935-1955), adapted first Broadway stage and then (and especially) films to hour-long live radio presentations and became the standard by which future radio and early television anthologies would be judged. Cecil B. DeMille was the host of the series each Monday evening from June 1, 1936 until January 22, 1945. 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.

ROCKY JORDAN was the title character of one of the better and more exotic radio detective series. In fact, it's one of the best detective series I have ever heard. The series had two separate incarnations. The first, A Man Named Jordan, started as a daily 15 minute show and after about six months changed to a weekly 30 minute show. It took place in Istanbul and the Cafe was described as "a small restaurant in a narrow street off Istanbul's Grand Bazaar, permeated with by the smoke of Oriental tobacco, alive with the babble of many tongues, and packed with intrigue." The second incarnation, Rocky Jordan, was a weekly 30 minute series took place in Cairo - "the gateway to the ancient East where adventure and intrigue unfold against the backdrop of antiquity." Jordan was a hard-boiled owner of the Cafe Tambourine who spent most of his time solving mysteries that he usually became involved in by accident. During the Cairo-based run, he often encountered Captain Sam Sabaaya of the Cairo police. John Dunning in his "On The Air: The Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio" describes Jordan as "a rugged hero who each week was confronted by a crime, a mystery, a beautiful woman or a combination of the three. It was a detective show with a difference: the Oriental background was played to the hilt, giving it a sound like no other." The writers worked hard to give it authenticity - actual places and streets in Cairo were often and accurately mentioned. The music score also added to the exoticness of the series. Moyles, a veteran of radio, was much more believable in the role than Raft.

On July 25, 1946, Jerry began a show business partnership with Dean Martin, an association that would soon skyrocket both to fame. It started when Jerry was performing at the 500 Club in Atlantic City and one of the other entertainers quit suddenly. Lewis, who had worked with Martin at the Glass Hat in New York City, suggested Dean as a replacement. At first they worked separately, but then ad-libbed together, improvising insults and jokes, squirting seltzer water, hurling bunches of celery and exuding general zaniness. In less than eighteen weeks their salaries soared from $250.00 a week to $5,000.00. For ten years Martin and Lewis sandwiched sixteen money making films between nightclub engagements, personal appearances, recording sessions, radio shows, and television bookings. Their last film together was "Hollywood or Bust" (1956). On July 25th of that year the two made their last nightclub appearance together at the Copacabana, exactly ten years to the day since they became a team. THIS EPISODE:The Martin and Lewis Show. March 24, 1949. NBC net. Sustaining. Possibly their first show for NBC. Unedited tape, lots of wild ad libs with Bob. The program aired right before the program with guest William Bendix. The above date might be the recording session, possibly for broadcast April 3, 1949. Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Bob Hope, Flo McMichaels, Michael Roy, The Martingales, Dick Stabile and His Orchestra. 43:59

Murder At Midnight â 1946-1947The Murder at Midnight series was a thirty-minute broadcast featuring tales of the supernatural. The actors included Mercedes McCambridge and Lawson Zerbe and the show was narrated using the spooky, creepy voice of Raymond Morgan and always opened using the same gripping signature; âthe witching hour, when night is darkest, our fears are the strongest, our strength at its lowest ebbâ Midnight! â when graves gape open and death strikes!âCAST: Elspeth Eric, Mercedes McCambridge, Berry Kroeger, Betty Caine, Carl Frank, Barry Hopkins, Lawson Zerbe, Charlotte Holland NARRATORS: Raymond Morgan MUSIC: Charles Paul PRODUCERS/DIRECTORS: Lewis G Cowan, Anton M Leader WRITERS: Robert Newman, Joseph Ruscoll, Max Ehrlich, William Morwood

Tuska cited Ellery Queen, Master Detective (1940) and Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery (1941) as the best of the Bellamy-Lindsay pairings. "The influence of The Thin Man series was apparent in reverse", Tuska noted about Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery. "Ellery and Nikki are unmarried but obviously in love with each other. Probably the biggest mystery... is how Ellery ever gets a book written. Not only is Nikki attractive and perfectly willing to show off her figure", Tuska wrote, "but she also likes to write her own stories on Queen's time, and gets carried away doing her own investigations." In Ellery Queen, Master Detective, "the amorous relationship between Ellery and Nikki Porter was given a dignity, and therefore integrity", Tuska wrote, "that was lacking in the two previous entries in the series", made at Republic Pictures before Bellamy and Lindsay were signed by Columbia.

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.

A happy-go-lucking West Virginia mountain family picks up stakes and moves to a ranch in California's San Fernando Valley. Center of the action, and undisputed star of the show, was Grandpa, a porch-rockin', gol-darnin', consarnin' old geezer with a wheezy voice who liked to meddle in practically everybody's affairs, neighbors and kin alike. His kin were grandson Luke and his new bride, Kate; Luke's teenage sister, Hassie; and Luke's 11-year-old brother, Little Luke (their parents were deceased). Completing the regular cast were Pepino, their loyal farm hand; George MacMichael, their crusty neighbor and Amos' best friend; and Flora, George's spinster sister who had eyes for Amos. Grandpappy Amos was an incorrigible codger who was against anything anyone else was for. He had the regulation Heart of Gold stuck away somewhere, but he was cantankerous as all get out. With his shoulders and arms jumping, Amos walked like a chicken with a limp. He bullied, he blustered, he cajoled, he did everything he could to get his own way. His not being able to read or write got him into many predicaments, for he would never admit to being illiterate to anyone outside the family. In 1962 the series moved to CBS. Luke became a widower and many of the plots began to revolve around Grandpa's attempts to match him up with a new wife.

Escape was radio's leading anthology series of high adventure, airing on CBS from July 7, 1947 to September 25, 1954. Since the program did not have a regular sponsor like Suspense, it was subjected to frequent schedule shifts and lower production budgets, although Richfield Oil signed on as a sponsor for five months in 1950. Despite these problems, Escape enthralled many listeners during its seven-year run. The series' well-remembered opening combined Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain with the introduction, intoned by Paul Frees and William Conrad: âTired of the everyday routine? Ever dream of a life of romantic adventure? Want to get away from it all? We offer you... Escape!â

First show: Mar 26, 1951Last show: Sep 15, 1952The Hollywood husband and wife team of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall set sail for adventure in the Bold Venture radio series in early 1951. There were well over 400 stations that aired the program. Since thiswas syndicated * the starting date varied from station to station but Mar 26, 1951 was the official date of the first show. Humphrey Bogart portrayed Slate Shannon, owner of a rundown Havana hotel, Shannon's Place. The action took place on land as well aboard Slate's boat, The Bold Venture, thus the title of the series. Lauren Bacall was his ward Sailor Duval, a stubborn and flirtatious young woman whose late father had willed her to Slate for her protection. Together the duo found adventure, intrigue, mystery and romance in the sultry settings of tropical Havana and the mysterious islands of the Caribbean.

The Twilight Zone is a television anthology series created (and often written) by its narrator and host Rod Serling. Each episode (156 in the original series) is a self-contained fantasy, science fiction, or horror/terror story, often concluding with an eerie or unexpected twist. Although advertised as science fiction, the show rarely offered scientific explanations for its fantastic happenings and often, if not always, had a moral lesson that pertained to everyday life. The program followed in the tradition of earlier well written radio programs such as The Weird Circle and X Minus One. A popular and critical success, it introduced many Americans to serious science fiction ideas through television and also through a wide variety of Twilight Zone literature. The success of this original series led to the creation of two revival series (a cult hit series that ran for several seasons on CBS and in syndication in the '80s, and a short-lived UPN series that ran early in the new millennium), a feature film, a radio series, a comic book, a magazine and various other spinoffs that would span five decades. Writers for The Twilight Zone included leading genre authorities such as Charles Beaumont, Richard Matheson, Jerry Sohl, George Clayton Johnson, Earl Hamner Jr., Reginald Rose and Ray Bradbury. Many episodes also featured adaptations of classic stories by such writers as Ambrose Bierce, Lewis Padgett, Jerome Bixby and Damon Knight.

Dan Garrett, rookie policeman, is secretly the Blue Beetle, friend of the unfortunate and crusader for the law. He is loved by everyone (including the chief's daughter) and suspected of being the Blue Beetle by none. He hides behind a strange mask and wears a blue costume that is as flexible as silk but as strong as steel.

General Electric Theater featured a mix of romance, comedy, adventure, tragedy, fantasy and variety music. Occupying the Sunday evening spot on CBS following the Toast of the Town/Ed Sullivan Show from 1 February 1953 to 27 May 1962, the General Electric Theater presented top Hollywood and Broadway stars in dramatic roles calculated to deliver company voice advertising to the largest possible audience. Despite a long technical and practical experience with television production, GE's previous attempts to establish a Sunday evening company program had fared poorly. In the fall of 1948 GE entered commercial television for the first time with the Dennis James Carnival, a variety show dropped after one performance. A quiz program entitled Riddle Me This substituted for twelve weeks and was also dropped. In April 1949 GE returned to Sunday evenings with the musical-variety Fred Waring Show Produced by the Young & Rubicam advertising agency under the sponsorship of GE's Appliance, Electronics and Lamp Divisions, the program occasionally included company voice messages. In November 1951 GE transferred television production to the Batten, Barton, Durstine and Osborn (BBDO) advertising agency, under whose direction the General Electric Theater debuted 1 February 1953 as an "all-company project" sponsored by GE's Department of Public Relations Services.

The Day Th Earth Stood Still (1979) *Exact Date Is UnknownThe Day the Earth Stood Still tells the story of a humanoid alien who comes to Earth to warn its leaders not to take their conflicts into space, or they will face lethal consequences. One of the ten best Sci-Fi of all time. This radio version is from Hollywood Radio Theater. Stars Michael Rennie as Klaatu Patricia Neal as Helen Benson William.

Philo Vance was the detective creation of S. S. Van Dine first published in the mid 1920's. Vance, in the original books, is an intellectual so highly refined he's seems he might be ghostwritten by P. G. Wodehouse. Take this quote from the Benson Murder Case, 1924, as Vance pontificates in his inimitable way "That's your fundamental error, don't y' know Every crime is witnessed by outsiders, just as is every work of art. The fact that no one sees the criminal, or the artist, actu'lly at work, is wholly incons'quential." Thankfully, the radio series uses only the name, and makes Philo a pretty normal, though very intelligent and extremely courteous gumshoe. Jose Ferrer played him in 1945. From '48-50, the fine radio actor Jackson Beck makes Vance as good as he gets. George Petrie plays Vance's constantly impressed public servant, District Attorney Markham. Joan Alexander is Ellen Deering, Vance's secretary and right-hand woman.

Ronald Colman and his wife Benita Hume starred in the Halls of Ivy, a very well-written, superbly acted radio program that was full of warmth and wit. The show aired from 1950 to 1952 on NBC and is not often mentioned when old-time radio programs are the topic of conversation, but it is one of my favorites. The combination of Mr. & Mrs. Colman's acting and Don Quinn's writing made for an enjoyable half-hour's worth of entertainment. The show was created by Don Quinn who for many, many years put words in the mouths of Fibber McGee and Molly. Quinn wrote jokes that made you think. On the McGee program there was a fast and furious onslaught of crazy puns, mangled cliches, and double-meanings. Sometimes all at once -- when delivered by the superb timing of the talented Jim Jordan as Fibber.

MURDER IS MY BUSINESS *Exact Date Is UnknownThe shows are classic chills from the old school, with creepy organ, overwrought women and over the top men. Perhaps not the highest of melodrama, but obsessively workmanlike. After all, they might have known they were a skeleton staff toiling relentlessly without a ghost of a chance of fame. Thanks to transcription, these unknowns are still with us. John Dunning, succinctly states in "On the Air, The Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio," "There were no credits, so casts and production crews are unknown."

Opening in 1875, the Crime Museum at Scotland Yard is the oldest museum in the world purely for recording crime. The name Black Museum was coined in 1877 by a reporter from The Observer, a London newspaper, although the museum is still referred to as the Crime Museum. The idea of a crime museum was conceived by Inspector Neame who had already collected together a number of items, with the intention of giving police officers practical instruction on how to detect and prevent burglary. It is this museum that inspired the Black Musuem radio series.THIS EPISODE *Exact Air Date Unknown - Rebroadcast 9/18/741952 - Syndicated, WRVR-FM, New York aircheck. "The Door Key". Sponsored by: Hemlock Farms. A key is found beside a dead body. The actual date is unknown. Syndicated rebroadcast date: September 18, 1974. Harry Alan Towers (producer), Orson Welles (narrator), Ira Marion (writer), Sidney Torch (composer, conductor). 28:18

Gang Busters was an American dramatic radio program heralded as "the only national program that brings you authentic police case histories." It premiered as G-Men, sponsored by Chevrolet, on July 20, 1935. After the title was changed to Gang Busters January 15, 1936, the show had a 21-year run through November 20, 1957. Beginning with a barrage of loud sound effects â guns firing and tires squealing â this intrusive introduction led to the popular catch phrase "came on like Gang Busters."The series dramatized FBI cases, which producer-director Phillips H. Lord arranged in close association with Bureau director J. Edgar Hoover. Hoover insisted that only closed cases would be used. The initial series was on NBC Radio from July 20 - October 12, 1935. It then aired on CBS from January 15, 1936 to June 15, 1940, sponsored by Colgate-Palmolive and Cue magazine. From October 11, 1940 to December 25, 1948, it was heard on the Blue Network, with various sponsors that included Sloan's Liniment, Waterman pens and Tide. Returning to CBS on January 8, 1949, it ran until June 25, 1955, sponsored by Grape-Nuts and Wrigley's chewing gum. The final series was on the Mutual Broadcasting System from October 5, 1955 to November 27, 1957. It was once narrated by Norman Schwarzkopf, Sr., former head of the New Jersey State Police. The radio series was adapted for DC Comics, Big Little Books and a 1942 movie serial. The 1952 Gang Busters TV series was reedited into two feature films, Gang Busters (1954) and Guns Don't Argue (1957).

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 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.

Thus with the pounding of the gavel, the fate of men and women have been decided by the judge. This is the story of our legal rights, the battle to preserve and protect them, and how easily they can be lost. The program shows us just how fragile liberty and justice can be. These stories of everyday events are still interesting, even after 50 years. Stories of criminal liability, legal wills, buying on installment, and leasing an apartment. Each story is well written, and the acting, though dated and a bit hokey by todayâs standards, still manages to achieve the desired effect. Not much information is available for this series, it was apparently broadcast on a limited basis, and originated on WMAQ Chicago, an NBC station. It was comprised of thirteen episodes, twelve of which are currently available, and was heard from January 30, 1954 through April 24, 1954.

Amos 'n' Andy, still written entirely by the two stars, was the top-rated program of all in 1930, with a 54.4 rating and 30 million listeners (compare that to the Super Bowl's 44.2 rating in 2004). By this time, the wily, coniving Kingfish was becoming a major personality, eventually supplanting sensible Amos as star of the show (Freeman Gosden gave voice to both characters while Charles Correll played Andrew H. Brown).

One of the most popular radio shows in history debuted in August 1930 when "The Shadow" went on the air. "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!" The opening lines of the "Detective Story" program captivated listeners and are instantly recognizable even today. Originally the narrator of the series of macabre tales, the eerie voice known as The Shadow became so popular to listeners that "Detective Story" was soon renamed "The Shadow," and the narrator became the star of the old-time mystery radio series, which ran until 1954. A figure never seen, only heard, the Shadow was an invincible crime fighter. He possessed many gifts which enabled him to overcome any enemy. Besides his tremendous strength, he could defy gravity, speak any language, unravel any code, and become invisible with his famous ability to "cloud men's minds."

"Are you willing to undertake a dangerous mission for the United States, knowing in advance you may never return alive?" 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.

Theater Five was ABC's attempt to revive radio drama during the early 1960s. The series name was derived from its time slot, 5:00 PM. Running Monday through Friday, it was an anthology of short stories, each about 20 minutes long. News programs and commercials filled out the full 30 minutes. There was a good bit of science fiction and some of the plots seem to have been taken from the daily newspaper. Fred Foy, of The Lone Ranger fame, was an ABC staff announcer in the early 60s, who, among other duties, did Theater Five.

Academy Award Theater began its full 39 week season with a high note -- with Bette Davis in her Oscar winning role in Jezebel. By looking at the list of actors who appeared during the series, you can see that this series ranked up there with the Lux Radio Theater in its range of movies chosen to be dramatized as well as the actors involved. Gene Hersholt, veteran radio and movie star, spoke as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences during the first show welcoming the E.R. Squibb Co., giant pharmaceutical company as sponsor. These 30 minute programs consisted of dramnatizations of movies whose pictures, players, techniques, and skills won or were nominated for the coveted golden Oscars.

Perry Mason is the longest running lawyer show in American television history. Its original run lasted nine years and its success in both syndication and made-for-television movies confirm its impressive stamina. Mason's fans include lawyers and judges who were influenced by this series to enter their profession. The Mason character was created by mystery writer Erle Stanley Gardner and delivered his first brief in the novel The Case of the Velvet Claws (1933). From 1934 to 1937 Warners produced six films featuring Mason. A radio series also based on Mason ran every weekday afternoon on CBS radio from 1944 to 1955 as a detective/soap opera. When the CBS television series was developed as an evening drama, the radio series was changed from Perry Mason to The Edge of Night and the cast renamed so as not to compete against the television series.

General Electric Theater featured a mix of romance, comedy, adventure, tragedy, fantasy and variety music. Occupying the Sunday evening spot on CBS following the Toast of the Town/Ed Sullivan Show from 1 February 1953 to 27 May 1962, the General Electric Theater presented top Hollywood and Broadway stars in dramatic roles calculated to deliver company voice advertising to the largest possible audience. Despite a long technical and practical experience with television production, GE's previous attempts to establish a Sunday evening company program had fared poorly. In the fall of 1948 GE entered commercial television for the first time with the Dennis James Carnival, a variety show dropped after one performance. A quiz program entitled Riddle Me This substituted for twelve weeks and was also dropped. In April 1949 GE returned to Sunday evenings with the musical-variety Fred Waring Show Produced by the Young & Rubicam advertising agency under the sponsorship of GE's Appliance, Electronics and Lamp Divisions, the program occasionally included company voice messages. In November 1951 GE transferred television production to the Batten, Barton, Durstine and Osborn (BBDO) advertising agency, under whose direction the General Electric Theater debuted 1 February 1953 as an "all-company project" sponsored by GE's Department of Public Relations Services.

The adventures of Casey, crack photographer for The Morning Express, were told in this series, which moved to television after a highly successful run on radio in the 1940âs. Casey hung out at the Blue Note CafÃ, where the music was provided by the Tony Mottola Trio, and was friendly with Ethelbert, the bartender, to whom he recounted his various exploits. Richard Carlyle and John Gibson portrayed the roles when the series premiered in April, 1951, but by June they were replaced by Darren McGavin and Cliff Hall. Ann Williams, a reporter on The Morning Express, was Caseyâs girlfriend. During the summer of 1951 he acquired a partner in cub reporter Jack Lipman, who wrote copy to go with Caseyâs pictures. This live series was set in and broadcast from, New York City.

The Brownstone Theater. February 21, 1945. Mutual net. "The Lion and The Mouse". Sustaining. 9:30 P. M. (EWT) The first show of the series. The story of a powerful man and a more powerful woman. The program originates from The Longacre Theatre. Gertrude Warner, Jackson Beck, Jock MacGregor (producer, director), Clayton Hamilton (host), Charles Klein (author), Peggy L. Mayer (adaptor), Sylvan Levin (music director). 28:44.

The show first broadcast its fantastic thirty-minute crime mystery series in May 1942 and did not finish until September 1948. There were more than 450 shows of murder and intrigue in all. Although it ran for 6 years it was broadcast for only one year on a national network. The show opened to the sound of footsteps and an eerie whistle, which went on throughout the introductory music. The Whistler always began the show with the opening lines; I am the Whistler, and I know many things, for I walk by night. I know many strange tales, many secrets hidden in the hearts of men and women who have stepped into the shadows. Yes, I know the nameless terrors of which they dare not speak??

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 1950's saw both the twilight of the Golden Age of Radio and the birth of the science fiction radio series. Science fiction was not new to radio before 1950, but it was either targeted to juvenile audiences or were shows in a broader series, for example, ESCAPE's "The Time Machine". On March 15, 1950, the first show of Mutual's 2000 PLUS aired, becoming the very first true science fiction series in the US. DIMENSION X followed shortly on April 8, 1950 over NBC stations. TALES OF TOMORROW was the third dedicated science fiction series, over the stations of the American Broadcasting Corporation, following DIMENSION X by almost 2 years. The host of the show was Raymond Edward Johnson, of INNER SANCTUM fame. Mr. Johnson handled TALES OF TOMORROW openings in a similar fashion to INNER SANCTUM openings, but with a "science fiction" flavor, instead of a "macabre" sense.The shows of this series were quite good, borrowing ideas from stories in "Galaxy" magazine. Some of the story titles may seem familiar, like "The Stars Are The Styx", "The Girls From Earth" or "The Old Die Rich". These titles would appear later in CBS's X MINUS ONE. "Watch Bird" would later be done in South Africa, in a series entitled SF68. But radio was on the decline. TALES OF TOMORROW lasted only until April of that year, airing only 15 shows.

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.

There were four series under the HALL OF FANTASY banner, all produced by Richard Thorne. The first HALL OF FANTASY originated from radio station KALL in Salt Lake City, Utah. Richard Thorne and Carl Greyson were announcers for the station and produced the rather barebones shows, possibly late in 1946 and into 1947. The series consisted of 26 shows. Broadcast dates for the shows are not known. The shows were written or adapted by Robert Olson and directed by Mr. Thorne. Most were classic murder mysteries with traditional endings; the evil-doer got his just rewards. The series was sponsored by the Granite Furniture Company, although existing shows are missing the commercials, apparently because they were inserted live.

On January 31, 1936, the Green Hornet radio program aired on WXYZ in Detroit, Michigan. Al Hodge played the part of the Green Hornet from 1936 through January of 1943. The program was created by George W. Trendle, the same man associated with the creation of the Lone Ranger radio show. The premise of the Green Hornet was that of a modern day Lone Ranger. The main character was Britt Reid, a newspaper publisher of the Daily Sentinel by day and the Green Hornet by night. Britt Reid was the great-nephew of the Lone Ranger. Britt Reid's war against crime was an extension of his family history. The Green Hornet fought crime with his high-powered car, the Black Beauty. He also utilized a gun that fired knockout gas instead of bullets. His fists also came in handy on a regular basis. He was assisted by his Filipino valet, Kato. Kato would drive the Black Beauty, keep watch out for the police or the bad guys and sometimes lend a helping fist to the fighting. The Green Hornet pretended to be a villain while really battling the forces of crime in the big city. This would make for some interesting plot twists as the Green Hornet would be actively avoiding detection by the police while at the same time attempting to destroy criminal activity in the city. Many times the Green Hornet would lead the police to believe that the Green Hornet had been the mastermind of the case at hand. The police would receive an anonymous tip of where they could pick up the now subdued crooks with the Green Hornet just barely making his escape from the scene. The Green Hornet would be alerted to criminal activity through his job as editor of the Daily Sentinel. The crime stories would lead Britt Reid to transform into the Green Hornet to battle crime at night.

THE LUX RADIO THEATER was first heard on NBC October 14, 1934 as a Sunday afternoon show. On July 19, 1935, it moved to CBS and into it's long running Monday night time slot. All shows were one hour long. Less than a year after it's arrival on the air, the series' ratings began to drop. Danny Danker, an executive working for the advertising agency handling the Lux account, was given the responsibility to improve the show. What the show needed was extravaganza, and what the show got was Cecil B. DeMille. With DeMille as host, THE LUX RADIO THEATER brought in big name stars and brought the show back up to the top of the charts. DeMille became an institution on the show, conveying an almost frantic "the show must go on" attitude. Mr. DeMille left after the Jan. 22, 1945 show. The role of show host changed a number of times through the remainder of the show's history. William Keightley was the last host, remaining for the show's last curtain call on June 7, 1955. The CBS series ran through the Summer initially. It was off for the Summer every season after the first season. In 1953, CBS offered the Lux Summer Theater, a series of 14 hour-long shows, that aired in the same time slot as the regular Lux series. Both times that Lux was heard on NBC was for a single season.

This show was based on the life of real treasury dept. gangbuster Eliot Ness, who had in fact played an important part in stopping the power of the notorious Al Capone in 1931 Chicago. The Ness autobiography served as the basis of a two-part semidocumentary dramatization of the Capone affair, presented on a 1959 Desilu Playhouse. It was a huge hit that turned into a regular series the next fall. It followed Ness and his small band of incorruptible agents (called the "Untouchables" by a Chicago newspaper) as they battled the worst people in organized crime. (Ness had in real life disbanded the Untouchables after cracking the Capone case, and had nothing to do with most of the cases dramatized on TV.) The Untouchables went after hoods like Bugs Moran, in whose garage the St. Valentine's Day Massacre took place.

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. Many of the Hollywood elite were heard recreating their screen roles over the radio. John Wayne in his rare radio appearances, Cary Grant, Edward G. Robinson, Lucille Ball, Claire Trevor, Tallulah Bankhead and many others were on the air week after week during these broadcasts. Many of Hollywoodâs directors were also heard in the recreation of their movies. The President of the Screen Directorâs Guild appeared on 02/13/49, and Violinist Isaac Stern supplied the music for the 04/19/51 broadcast.

LAST BROADCAST: July 1st 1953 SPONSORS: Ford Motors, General Mills CAST: Brian Donlevy, Herb Butterfield, GeGe Pearson, Ken Peters, Betty Lou Gerson, Dan OâHerlihy ANNOUNCERS: John Storm PRODUCERS/DIRECTORS: Don Sharpe WRITERS: Bob Ryf ORCHESTRA: Steve Ashley Dangerous Assignment â 1950-1954 This thirty-minute spy adventure featured Steve Mitchell, and investigator of crimes in exotic locations. 60 episodes. The opening was the same every week âYeah, danger is my assignment. I get sent to a lot of places I canât even pronounce. They all spell the same thing though, trouble.â He would be summoned to his bossâs office where he would be given his assignment; he would then fly halfway across the globe to save the day!

Lights Out was an American old-time radio program featuring "tales of the supernatural and the supernormal." It was immensely popular, and was one of the first horror programs, predating Suspense and Inner Sanctum. In its heydey, Lights Out rivalled the popularity of those shows. Lights Out ran through several series and networks, from January 1, 1934 to August 6, 1947. The principal sponsor was Ironized Yeast. Most episodes were broadcast at midnight. Lights Out then made the transition to television in 1949, where it was broadcast until 1952. Created in Chicago by writer Wyllis Cooper in 1934.

The Casebook of Gregory Hood, starring Gale Gordon in the title role, took over where Sherlock Holmes had left off. Sponsored by Petri wine, it used the same "weekly visit" format and the same team of Anthony Boucher and Dennis Green that had written The New Adventured of Sherlock Holmes. Gregory Hood was modelled after true-life San Francisco importer Richard Gump, and many of the stories revolve around a mystery surrounding some particular imported treasure. Hood's sidekick Sanderson "Sandy" Taylor was played by Bill Johnstone. The show aired from June, 1946 through August, 1950. There were an additional couple of shows aired in October 1951. Hood and Sanderson were played in later episodes by Elliott Lewis and Howard McNear, respectively.

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.

Abbott and Costello William (Bud) Abbott and Lou Costello (born Louis Francis Cristillo) were an American comedy duo whose work in radio, film and television made them one of the most popular teams in the history of comedy. Thanks to the endurance of their most popular and influential routine, "Who's on First?" â whose rapid-fire word play and comprehension confusion set the preponderant framework for most of their best-known routines â the team is, as a result, featured in the Baseball Hall of Fame. (Contrary to popular belief, however, the duo was not inducted into the Hall). Bud Abbott was born in Asbury Park, NJ, October 2, 1895 and died April 24, 1974 in Woodland Hills, California. Lou Costello was born in Paterson, NJ, March 6, 1906 and died March 3, 1959 in East Los Angeles, California.

The Damon Runyon Theater was a 52 show series that was syndicated across the USA beginning in early 1949. Damon Runyon was a gifted sports writer in New York City as well as being a great journalist and great short story writer. His stories were humorous ones, written in the "dem" and "dose" vernacular of the city's loveable and not so loveable characters of Broadway, the prize ring and the underworld. His most famous collection of short stories, Guys and Dolls, was on Broadway and later made into a movie. Many of his stories were filmed including Sorrowful Jones, A Pocketful of Miracles, Lady for a Day, Blue Plate Special, The Lemon Drop Kid (twice) and Little Miss Marker (four times). In addition to this The Damon Runyon Theater was syndicated for television in the mid 1950s.

Frank Lovejoy stars as Randy Stone, a toughened, street-wise Chicago Star reporter working the Nightbeat in the early 1950's. Sometimes the capers are cops and robbers. Or just normal people in trouble. Sometimes they deserve it. Sometimes fate twists their arm. Sometimes they're just too scared or confused to know the difference. Lovejoy is a seasoned pro of radio and film with an honest, gripping delivery. Solid supporting casts, good writing and direction.

In 1937, Americans began a Sunday night ritual that lasted three decades. They tuned in to the Bergen and McCarthy show. It was the top program on radio and Hollywood's top movie stars lined up to make cameos. They included Mae West, whose flirtations with McCarthy got her banned from NBC for 15 years, and Marilyn Monroe, who once became "engaged" to marry McCarthy -- a stunt that ended when the dummy couldn't submit to a blood test. The arrival of television produced a new set of star ventriloquists, including Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney, and Senor Wences and Pedro, the famous head-in-the-box who's favorite phrase was "S'awright!" But none was as enduring as Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop, who debuted in 1957 on the Captain Kangaroo Show. Lewis went on to star in several children's TV shows in a career that spanned five decades, until her death in 1998. Asbury says she was more than just the best female ventriloquist -- she may have been the best ventriloquist ever because of "boundless talent and energy" and her ability to change with the times.

Inner Sanctum Mysteries was a popular old-time radio program that aired from January 7, 1941 to October 5, 1952. Created by Himan Brown, the anthology series featured stories of mystery, terror and suspense. The tongue-in-cheek introductions were in sharp contrast to shows like Suspense and The Whistler. A total of 526 episodes are known to have been produced. The early 1940s programs opened with Raymond Edward Johnson introducing himself as, "Your host, Raymond," in a mocking sardonic voice. A spooky melodramatic organ score punctuated Raymond's many morbid jokes and playful puns. Raymond's closing was an elongated "Pleasant dreeeammsss?!" His tongue-in-cheek style and ghoulish relish of his own tales became the standard for many such horror narrators to follow, from fellow radio hosts like Ernest Chappell (on Cooper's later series, Quiet, Please) and Maurice Tarplin (on The Mysterious Traveler) to EC Comics' Crypt-Keeper in various incarnations of Tales from the Crypt. In interviews, EC publisher Bill Gaines stated that he based EC's three horror hosts not on Raymond but on Old Nancy, host of radio's earlier The Witch's Tale (1931-38).When Johnson left the series in 1946, he was replaced by Paul McGrath, who did not keep the "Raymond" name and was known only as "your host" or "Mr. Host." Beginning in 1945, Lipton Tea sponsored the series, pairing first Raymond and then McGrath with cheery commercial spokeswoman Mary Bennett, whose blithesome pitches for Lipton tea contrasted sharply with the macabre themes of the stories, and who primly chided the host for his trademark dark humor and creepy manner.

Blackie was a tough, wisecracking private detective working in New York, billed as "enemy to those who make him an enemy, friend to those who have no friend." His speciality was making fools of the police, a simple task with Inspector Farraday heading the official investigations. "An enemy to those who call him an enemy, a friend to those who have no friends." Boston Blackie is a reformed jewel thief who is never far from trouble. Inspector Farraday of the homicide squad tries to pin Blackie for the crime in every episode. To save his own skin, with the help of his girlfriend Mary and sidekick Shorty, Blackie ends up solving the case.

Lux Radio Theater, one of the genuine classic radio anthology series (NBC Blue Network (1934-1935); CBS (1935-1954); NBC (1954-1955)) adapted first Broadway stage works, and then (especially) films to hour-long live radio presentations. It quickly became the most popular dramatic anthology series on radio, running more than twenty years. The program always began with an announcer proclaiming, "Ladies and gentlemen, Lux presents Hollywood!" Cecil B. DeMille was the host of the series each Monday evening from June 1, 1936, until January 22, 1945. On one occasion, however, he was replaced by Leslie Howard. 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 City 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.Many of the greatest names in film appeared in the series, most in the roles they made famous on the screen, including Abbott and Costello, Lauren Bacall, Lucille Ball, Ingrid Bergman, Humphrey Bogart, Charles Boyer, Claudette Colbert, Gary Cooper, Joseph Cotton, Bing Crosby, Dan Duryea, Ava Gardner, Cary Grant, Bob Hope, Vivien Leigh, Agnes Moorehead, Vincent Price, Donna Reed, Frank Sinatra, Ann Sothern, Barbara Stanwyck, James Stewart, Gene Tierney, John Wayne, Jane Wyman, Orson Welles and Loretta Young. Among the men, Don Ameche -- eventually a radio star in The Bickersons -- appeared most often, with 18 Lux appearances, just ahead of Fred MacMurray's 17. Among the women, the honor went to Barbara Stanwyck with 15 Lux appearances, including her re-creation of her hit film Sorry, Wrong Number -- itself born of an earlier radio production, on CBS legend Suspense). Loretta Young's 14 appearances were the second most among the women.