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Casey Crime Photographer - The Box Of Death (04-17-47) Feb 07, 2009

Show notes

The adventures of Casey Crime Photographer for The Morning Express, were told in this series, which moved to television after a highly successful run on radio in the 1940's. Casey hung out at the Blue Note Café, 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 Casey's girlfriend. During the summer of 1951 he acquired a partner in cub reporter Jack Lipman, who wrote copy to go with Casey's pictures. This live series was set in and broadcast from, New York City.

THIS EPISODE:

April 17, 1947. CBS network. "Box Of Death". Sponsored by: Anchor Hocking Glass. A crook with a lucky penny delivers a woman's husband to her, dead in a box. Staats Cotsworth, John Gibson, Tony Marvin (announcer), Archie Bleyer (music), George Harmon Coxe (creator), Alonzo Deen Cole (writer). 1/2 hour.

Arch Obolers Plays - Night (06-07-45) Feb 07, 2009

Show notes

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.

THIS EPISODE:

June 7, 1945. Mutual network. "Night". Sustaining. An excellent, beautiful radio montage in the central theme of "night." Arch Oboler, Barney James, Bruce Elliott (narrator), David Raxon and His Orchestra, Dorothy Scott, Edmond MacDonald, Everett Allen, Frank Martin (announcer), Gloria Blondell, Griff Barnett (Swan Soap commercial), Joseph Granby, Roseanne Murray, Theodore Von Eltz, Therese Lyon. 1/2 hour.

Amos & Andy - Sunday Monday Or Always (02-25-44) Feb 06, 2009

Show notes

Amos 'n' Andy was a situation comedy popular in the United States from the 1920s through the 1950s. The show began as one of the first radio comedy serials, written and voiced by Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll and originating from station WMAQ in Chicago, Illinois. After the series was first broadcast in 1928, it grew in popularity and became a huge influence on the radio serials that followed. Amos 'n' Andy creators Gosden and Correll were white actors familiar with minstrel traditions. They met in Durham, North Carolina in 1920, and by the fall of 1925, they were performing nightly song-and-patter routines on the Chicago Tribune's station WGN. Since the Tribune syndicated Sidney Smith's popular comic strip The Gumps, which had successfully introduced the concept of daily continuity, WGN executive Ben McCanna thought the notion of a serialized drama could also work on radio. He suggested to Gosden and Correll that they adapt The Gumps to radio. They instead proposed a series about "a couple of colored characters" and borrowed certain elements of The Gumps.

THIS EPISODE:

February 25, 1944. NBC network origination, AFRS rebroadcast. Replacing "The Great Gildersleeve." Andy is convinced that he's written the hit tune, "Sunday, Monday, Or Always." He and The Kingfish go into the song writing business! Guests are Kay Kyser, Harry Babbitt. Also Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen (the real composers of the tune). Freeman Gosden, Charles Correll, Harlow Wilcox (announcer), Kay Kyser, Harry Babbitt, Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen, Kay Kyser and His Orchestra (music fill), Georgia Carroll (vocal). 29:42.

Damon Runyon Theater - Pick The Winner (03-20-49) Feb 06, 2009

Show notes

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.

THIS EPISODE:

1948. Program #12. Mayfair syndication. "Pick The Winner". Commercials added locally. Hot Horse Herbie, Cutie Andrews and Broadway travel to Florida to play the horses. They run into "The Professor," which is a horse of another color! Damon Runyon (author), John Brown, Richard Sanville (director), Russell Hughes (writer), Vern Carstensen (production supervisor). 27:05.

Academy Award Theater - Blood On The Sun (10-16-46) Feb 05, 2009

Show notes

Academy Award Theater Stars and movies with Oscars were the idea - in most cases, the movie stars recreated their academy award roles for the show, or in other cases, fine actors played the parts and gave it a different character. Both ways make for great radio drama and first class Hollywood motion picture star entertainment. The Lux Radio Theater had been doing this kind of radio show in the grandest manner for many years, but sponsor Squibb had the hubris and deep pockets to take on the competition by doing Academy Award Theater right after the Second World War. The year 1946 was pre-television, and so movies were still the major American visual art form, with radio the other popular network entertainment. In this final pre-TV time, Academy Award Theater was thought of as a premier radio production, a wow show, much like CinemaScope was to be in the 1950's when Hollywood felt the box office blow of early TV.

THIS EPISODE:

October 16, 1946. CBS network. "Blood On The Sun". Sponsored by: Squibb. A crusading newspaper editor in pre-war Japan uncovers the "Tanaka Plan" of world conquest. John Garfield, Jeff Chandler. 1/2 hour.

Broadway My Beat - Harry Carson Case (03-07-53) Feb 05, 2009

Show notes

Broadway Is My Beat A radio crime drama, ran on CBS from February 27, 1949 to August 1, 1954. With music by Robert Stringer, the show originated from New York during its first three months on the air, with Anthony Ross portraying Times Square Detective Danny Clover. John Dietz directed for producer Lester Gottlieb. Beginning with the July 7, 1949 episode, the series was broadcast from Hollywood with producer Elliott Lewis directing a new cast in scripts by Morton Fine and David Friedkin. The opening theme of "I'll Take Manhattan" introduced Detective Danny Clover (now played by Larry Thor), a hardened New York City cop who worked homicide "from Times Square to Columbus Circle -- the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world."

THIS EPISODE:

March 7, 1953. CBS network origination, AFRTS rebroadcast. Harry Carson is an old man who won't talk, and a dead body who can't! See cat. #52621 for a network version of this broadcast. Elliott Lewis (producer, director), Alexander Courage (composer, conductor), Larry Thor, Charles Calvert, Jack Kruschen, Morton Fine (writer), David Friedkin (writer), Herb Butterfield, Whitfield Connor, Jerry Hausner, James McCallion, Lurene Tuttle, Eddie Fields, Bill Anders (announcer). 28:30.

Your's Truly Johnny Dollar - Murder Aint Minor (08-07-49) Feb 04, 2009

Show notes

Your's Truly Johnny Dollar - For over twelve years, from 1949 through 1962 (including a one year hiatus in 1954-1955), this series recounted the cases "the man with the action-packed expense account, America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator, Johnny Dollar". Johnny was an accomplished 'padder' of his expense account. The name of the show derives from the fact that he closed each show by totaling his expense account, and signing it "End of report... Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar". Terry Salomonson in his authoritative "A Radio Broadcast Log of the Drama Program Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar", notes that the original working title was "Yours Truly, Lloyd London". Salomonson writes "Lloyd London was scratched out of the body of (the Dick Powell) audition script and Johnny Dollar was written in. Thus the show was re-titled on this script and the main character was renamed. Why this was done was unclear – possibly to prevent a legal run-in with Lloyd's of London Insurance Company." Although based in Hartford, Connecticut, the insurance capital of the world, freelancer Johnny Dollar managed to get around quite a bit – his adventures taking him all over the world. There were some unusual devices used in the show that help set it apart from other shows. There was no partner, assistant, or secretary for Johnny. The character closest to a continuing role was that of Pat McCracken of the Universal Adjustment Bureau, who assigned Johnny many of his cases. Another atypical aspect gave the show additional credibility – frequently, characters on the show would mention that they had heard about Johnny's cases on the radio. Johnny often used his time when filling out his expense accounts to give the audience background information or to express his thoughts about the current case.

THIS EPISODE:

August 7, 1949. CBS network. "The Investigation Of Bonnie Goodwin," or "Murder Ain't Minor". Sustaining. Johnny takes a case on behalf of "King Hart," (not an insurance company!) to try to find his missing girl. Paul Dubov, Martha Wentworth, Lou Krugman, Charles Russell, Georgia Ellis, Jeanne Bates, Lawrence Dobkin, Roy Rowan (announcer), Leith Stevens (composer, conductor), Gordon T. Hughes (director), Paul Dudley (writer), Gil Doud (witer). 29:36.

The Adventures Of Sam Spade - The Missing Newshawk Caper (7-18-48) Jan 06, 2009

Show notes

The Adventures of Sam Spade was a radio series based loosely on the private detective character Sam Spade, created by writer Dashiell Hammett for The Maltese Falcon. The show ran for 13 episodes on ABC in 1946, for 157 episodes on CBS in 1946-1949, and finally for 51 episodes on NBC in 1949-1951. The series starred Howard Duff (and later, Steve Dunne) as Sam Spade and Lurene Tuttle as his secretary Effie, and took a considerably more tongue-in-cheek approach to the character than the novel or movie. In 1947, scriptwriters Jason James and Bob Tallman received an Edgar Award for Best Radio Drama from the Mystery Writers of America. Before the series, Sam Spade had been played in radio adaptations of The Maltese Falcon by both Edward G. Robinson (in a 1943 Lux Radio Theater production) and by Bogart himself (in a 1946 Academy Award Theater production), both on CBS.

THIS EPISODE: July 18, 1948. CBS network. "The Missing Newshawk Caper". Sponsored by: Wildroot Cream Oil. Spade is hired to find a reporter named Ray McCully. Spade finds him all right, stabbed to death! Howard Duff, Lurene Tuttle, Dashiell Hammett (creator), William Conrad, Sara Berner, Bea Benaderet (possibly), Alan Reed, Gil Doud (writer, director), Robert Tallman (writer), Lud Gluskin (music), Dick Joy (announcer). 29:40.

The Abbott & Costello Show - Christmas Program (12-24-47) Jan 06, 2009

Show notes

The Abbott and Costello Show- 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?"---whose rapid-fire word play and comprehension confusion set the preponderant framework for most of their best-known routines---the team are also the only comedians known to have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Abbott and Costello Show mixed comedy with musical interludes (usually, by singers such as Connie Haines, Marilyn Maxwell, the Delta Rhythm Boys, Skinnay Ennis, and the Les Baxter Singers). Regulars and semi-regulars on the show included Artie Auerbrook, Elvia Allman, Iris Adrian, Mel Blanc, Wally Brown, Sharon Douglas, Verna Felton, Sidney Fields, Frank Nelson, Martha Wentworth, and Benay Venuta. Ken Niles was the show's longtime announcer, doubling as an exasperated foil to Abbott & Costello's mishaps (and often fuming in character as Costello insulted his on-air wife routinely); he was succeeded by Michael Roy, with annoncing chores also handled over the years by Frank Bingman and Jim Doyle.

THIS EPISODE:

December 25, 1943. Red network, KFI, Los Angeles aircheck. Sponsored by: Camels. Abbott and Costello plan to kill Ingrid, Costello's pet turkey, for Thanksgiving. Guest Jane Wyman joins in a routine, "What is the wind?" Connie Haines sings, "Shoo, Shoo Baby." Mel Blanc appears as Bugs Bunny. Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Freddie Rich and His Orchestra, Ken Niles (announcer), Jane Wyman, Connie Haines, Mel Blanc (triples), Don Prindle (writer), Leo Solomon (writer), Alan Woods (writer), Martin Gosch (director), Billy Gray, Elvia Allman, John Brown. 29:45.

CBS Radio Mystery Theater - Speak Of The Devil (01-25-74) Oct 28, 2008

Show notes

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. There were a total of 1399 original episodes broadcast. The total number of broadcasts, including reruns, was 2969. The late E.G. Marshall hosted the program every year but the final one, when actress Tammy Grimes took over. Each episode began with the ominous sound of a creaking door, slowly opening to invite listeners in for the evening's adventure. At the end of each show, the door would swing shut, with Marshall signing off, "Until next time, pleasant...dreams?"

THIS EPISODE: January 25, 1974. Program #20. CBS net. "Speak Of The Devil". Sponsored by: Kellogg's, Budweiser. E. G. Marshall (host), Ian Martin (writer, performer), Jada Rowland, Bryna Raeburn, Nick Pryor. 52 minutes.

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