Boxcars711 Old Time Radio

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The Aldrich Family "Henry Sends Candy To Two Girls" (1-12-45) - Boxcars711 Old Time Radio Pod Jun 03, 2008

Show notes

The Aldrich Family, a popular radio teenage situation comedy (1939-1953), is remembered first and foremost for its unforgettable introduction: awkward teen Henry's mother calling, "Hen-reeeeeeeeeeeee! Hen-ree Al-drich!" A top-ten ratings hit within two years of its birth (in 1941, the showm carried a 33.4 Crossley rating, landing it solidly alongside Jack Benny and Bob Hope), the show is considered a prototype for teen-oriented situation comedies to follow on radio and television and is a favourite if dated find for old-time radio collectors today. The Aldrich Family as a separate radio show was born as a summer replacement for Jack Benny in NBC's Sunday night lineup, July 2, 1939, and it stayed there until October 1, 1939, when it moved to Tuesday nights at 8 p.m., sponsored by General Foods's popular gelatin dessert Jell-O---which also sponsored Jack Benny at the time. The Aldriches ran in that slot from October 10, 1939 until May 28, 1940, moving to Thursdays, from July 4, 1940 until July 20, 1944. After a brief hiatus, the show moved to CBS, running on Fridays from September 1, 1944 until August 30, 1946 with sponsors Grape Nuts and Jell-O,.before moving back to NBC from September 05, 1946 to June 28, 1951 on Thursdays and, then, its final run of September 21, 1952 to April 19, 1953 on Sundays.

Screen Directors Playhouse "Caged" (8-02-51) - Boxcars711 Old Time Radio Pod Jun 02, 2008

Show notes

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. 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. THIS EPISODE:Caged aired August 2, 1951 starring Eleanor Parker as Marie Allen and Hope Emerson as Evelyn Harper. Caged tells the story of a teenage newlywed, who is sent to prison for being an accessory to a robbery. Her experiences while incarcerated, along with the killing of her husband, change her from a very frightened young girl into a hardened convict. This is one of the finest productions ever done for radio from Screen Director's Playhouse. The Academny Award performances by Parker and Emerson are nothing less than spectacular.

Lux Radio Theater "The Return Of Pete Grimm" (02-13-39) - Boxcars711 Old Time Radio Pod Jun 02, 2008

Show notes

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.THIS EPISODE:In life a selfish, mean-spirited old man, Peter Grimm returns from the grave to right the wrongs he committed while on Earth. The spectral Grimm pays a visit to his nasty nephew Frederick (John Roche), the husband of Grimm's ward Catherine (Janet Gaynor), who had been forced into the marriage. Literally entering Frederick's conscience, Grimm transforms his covetous, philandering nephew into a "good guy." After several similar episodes, both comic and dramatic, Return of Peter Grimm comes to a tear-stained finale as the tubercular young William (Mickey McBan) joins his grandfather Grimm in the hereafter.

Beyond Midnight "Don't Joke In The Morgue" (1968) - Boxcars711 Old Time Radio Pod Jun 01, 2008

Show notes

Beyond Midnight - A replacement series for SF 68, this South African horror anthology was far more successful than its predecessor, running from 1968 through 1969. Its success may have been due in part to producer Michael McCabe - who also produced SF 68 - honing his talents to a higher degree. Little else is known about it, including the number of shows produced. As far as I can discover, there were at least 43 episodes, all in half-hour format.

First Nighter Program "Chinese Gong" (3-29-44) - Boxcars711 Old Time Radio Pod Jun 01, 2008

Show notes

The First Nighter Program. January 29, 1948. CBS net. "A Writer In The Family". Sponsored by: Campana cosmetics, DDD Prescription. Highway Eighty Seven is coming right through the living room in a romantic/comedy of mistaken identity and "Shorty West," a writer of western adventures. James Arthur Rotie (writer), Frank Worth and His Orchestra, Olan Soule, Barbara Luddy, Paul Frees, Hugh Studebaker, Arthur Q. Bryan, Mary Lansing, Larry Keating (announcer). 29:39THIS EPISODE:March 29, 1944. Mutual network. "The Chinese Gong". Sponsored by: Campana's cosmetics. Barbara Luddy, Olan Soule, Arch Oboler (author). 1/2 hour.

Calling All Cars "Murder At Southgate" (5-02-34) - Boxcars711 Old Time Radio Pod May 31, 2008

Show notes

Calling All Cars was one of radioâs earliest cop shows, dramatizing true crime stories and introduced by officers from the Los Angeles and other police departments. The narrator of the program was speech professor Charles Frederick Lindsley, and the only other regular voice heard on the program week after week belonged to that of Sergeant Jesse Rosenquist of the L.A.P.D., whose name and voice were so unusually distinctive that he was retained for the showâs entire run. None of the actors on the show ever received on-air credit, but among the talent OTR fans can hear the likes of Elvia Allman, Jackson Beck, Charles Bickford, John Gibson, Richard LeGrand and Hanley Stafford, just to name a few.THIS EPISODE:May 2, 1934. Program #23. CBS Pacific network (Don Lee net). "Murder At Southgate". Sponsored by: Rio Grande Oil. A disturbance has taken place on San Gabriel Avenue in Southgate. A dramatization of the first murder ever to take place in Southgate. The system cue has been deleted. Not auditioned. Ann Sawyer, Martha Wentworth, True Boardman, Charlie Lung (triples), Caranina Burt (?), Hanley Stafford, Sam Pierce, Richard LeGrand, Robert Frazer, Wade Ling (?). 28:11.

My Friend Irma "Dinner Party For Jane's Boss" (4-11-47) - Boxcars711 Old Time Radio Pod May 31, 2008

Show notes

My Friend Irma, created by writer-director-producer Cy Howard, was a top-rated, long-run radio situation comedy, so popular in the late 1940s that its success escalated to films and television, while Howard scored with another radio comedy hit, Life with Luigi. Dependable and level-headed Jane Stacy (Cathy Lewis) narrated the misadventures of her innocent and bewildered roommate, Irma Peterson (Marie Wilson), a dim-bulb stenographer. Wilson portrayed the character on radio, in two films and a TV series. The successful 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).

David Harding Counterspy "Vicious Visitor" (9-29-49) - Boxcars711 Old Time Radio Pod May 30, 2008

Show notes

Counterspy was an espionage drama radio series that aired on ABC and Mutual from May 18, 1942 to November 29, 1957. David Harding (Don MacLaughlin) was the chief of the United States Counterspies, a unit engaged during World War II in counterespionage against Japan's Black Dragon and Germany's Gestapo. With spies still lurking in the post-war years, the adventures continued apace well after World War II ended.THIS EPISODE:September 29, 1949. ABC network. "The Case Of The Vicious Vistor". Sponsored by: Pepsi Cola. Not auditioned. A prison guard is beaten in the dark, a man and his wife are both murdered. The system cue has been deleted. Don MacLaughlin, Mandel Kramer, Phillips H. Lord (producer), William Sweets (director), Edward Adamson (writer), Jesse Crawford (organ). 28:55.

Academy Award Theater "Ruggles Of Red Gap" (6-08-46) - Boxcars711 Old Time Radio Pod May 30, 2008

Show notes

Academy Award Theater - The list of films and actors on Academy Award Theater is very impressive. Bette Davis begins the series in Jezebel, with Ginger Rogers following in Kitty Foyle, and then Paul Muni in The Life of Louis Pasteur. The Informer had to have Victor Mclaglen, and the Maltese Falcon, Humphrey Bogart, Sidney Greenstreet (this movie was his first major motion picutre role) plus Mary Astor for the hat trick. Suspicion starred Cary Grant with Ann Todd doing the Joan Fontaine role, Ronald Coleman in Lost Horizon, and Joan Fontaine and John Lund were in Portrait of Jenny. How Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Pinocchio were done is something to hear!THIS EPISODE:June 8, 1946. CBS network. "Ruggles Of Red Gap". Sponsored by: Squibb Drugs. The famous story of the English valet in the wild American West. Charles Laughton, Charles Ruggles. 1/2 hour.

The Chase "Murder For Profit" (3-29-53) - Boxcars711 Old Time Radio Pod May 29, 2008

Show notes

The Chase is an exciting Old Time Radio series in which every episode contains, well, a chase. Tales, highly melodramatic and often improbable, of people on the run. The concept of "hunter and hunted" was built into the signatures. with the lone bugle of a fox hunt, the braying of dogs, the sounds of a man running, a gunshot, and the slowing footsteps and eventual fall of the victim. It may be an adventure story, a crime story, or even science fiction, but there will always be a suspense filled chase.THIS EPISODE:March 29, 1953. NBC network. Sustaining. The curator of a museum of murderers tells the story of a British chap who marries ladies of wealth for his own mercenary purposes. Doris Smith, Fred Collins (announcer), Fred Weihe (director, transcriber), Ivor Francis, John Stanley, Cathleen Cordell, Lawrence Klee (creator, writer), Leona Powers, Ted Osborne, William Podmore. 29:52.

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