Boxcars711 Old Time Radio

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Boxcars711 Old Time Radio Pod - The Zero Hour "Desperate Witness" (12-14-73) Show 5 of 5 Oct 29, 2007

Show notes

Zero Hour - Desperate Witness (Aired December 14, 1973) Show 5 of A 5 Part SeriesThe Zero Hour was a 1973-74 radio broadcast hosted by Rod Serling. The Zero Hour featured well known actors and actresses.

Boxcars711 Sunday Matinee Two - Inner Sanctum "The Man from Yesterday" (12-21-41) Oct 29, 2007

Show notes

Inner_Sanctum 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. Great actors, a spooky organ and chilling sound effects presented by a creepy, rib-tickling host, was a strange brew indeed. Inner Sanctum did it in spades! To this day the show remains a wonderful "guilty" pleasure of many old time radio fans, who listened back then when these shows first fired the imaginations of all but the most jaded.

Boxcars711 Sunday Matinee - NBC University Theater "Manhattan Transfer" (1-08-50) Oct 28, 2007

Show notes

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.

Boxcars711 Saturday Matinee Three - Your's Truly Johnny Dollar "The Who's Who Matter" (2-04-61) Oct 28, 2007

Show notes

Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar was a radio drama about a freelance insurance investigator that aired from February 11, 1949 to September 30, 1962 on CBS. There were 811 episodes in the 12-year run, and over 720 still exist today. Charles Russell was the first to star as Johnny Dollar, the smart and tough detective who tossed silver dollar tips to bellhops. With the first three actors to play Johnny Dollar there was little to distinguish it from other detective series at the time (Richard Diamond, Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade).While always a friend of the police,Johnny wasn't necessarily a stickler for the strictest interpretation of the law. He was willing to let some things slide to satisfy his own sense of justice, as long as the interests of his employer were protected.

Boxcars711 Saturday Matinee Two - The Life Of Riley - "Riley Plans To Build" (1-16-44) Oct 27, 2007

Show notes

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." "Living the life of Riley" suggests an ideal life of prosperity and contentment, possibly living on someone else's money, time or work. Rather than a negative freeloading or golddigging aspect, it instead implies that someone is kept or advantaged. The expression was popular in the 1880s, a time when James Whitcomb Riley's poems depicted the comforts of a prosperous home life [1], but it could have an Irish origin: After the Riley clan consolidated its hold on County Cavan, they minted their own money, accepted as legal tender even in England. These coins, called âO'Reillysâ and âReilly's,â became synonymous with a monied person, and a gentleman freely spending was âliving on his Reillys.â Thus, the radio-TV title has an ironic edge.

Boxcars711 Old Time Radio Pod - The Zero Hour "Desperate Witness" (12-13-73) Show 4 of 5 Oct 27, 2007

Show notes

Zero Hour - Desperate Witness (Aired December 13, 1973) Show 4 of A 5 Part SeriesThe Zero Hour was a 1973-74 radio broadcast hosted by Rod Serling. The Zero Hour featured well known actors and actresses.

Boxcars711 Saturday Matinee One - The Screen Guild Theater "Philadelphia Story" (3-17-47) Oct 27, 2007

Show notes

The Screen Guild Theater boasted some of the greatest all-star casts ever assembled for radio. Nearly every major film star lined up to perform in Screen Guild's half-hour movie adaptations because they knew it was for a good cause: All talent fees went to the Motion Picture Country House for aging and indigent film actors.EPISODE: Cary Grant Katharine HepburnJames Stewart The Philadelphia Story has become such a classic that even the musical remake High Society doesn't try to copy it, it just presents a softer musical alternative. But I'd kind of liked to have seen Hepburn do this with her original cast as well. Oscars were in the future for Van Heflin and Shirley Booth and Joseph Cotten the following year made his debut in the biggest film of all.

Boxcars711 Old Time Radio Pod - The Zero Hour "Desperate Witness" (12-12-73) Show 3 of 5 Oct 27, 2007

Show notes

Zero Hour - Desperate Witness (Aired December 12, 1973) Show 3 of A 5 Part SeriesThe Zero Hour was a 1973-74 radio broadcast hosted by Rod Serling. The Zero Hour featured well known actors and actresses.

Boxcars711 Old Time Radio Pod - The Alan Young Show "Gold Fish" (3-20-45) Oct 26, 2007

Show notes

By age 13, Young had become a radio performer, and by age 17, he was writing and performing in his own radio show for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The show was broadcast in the U.S. and led to an invitation to New York in 1944, as a summer replacement for Eddie Cantor, which resulted in Young getting his own radio show, orininally broadcast from New York and later from Hollywood. While initially gaining success on his "Alan Young Radio Show," Young's popularity waned as he lost control over his show's scripts and radio was being replaced by television. When his radio show was cancelled in 1947, Young decided to put together a comedy act and tour the U.S. theater circuit, playing such houses as the Chicago Theatre, the Fox in Detroit, and the Strand on Broadway.

Boxcars711 Old Time Radio Pod - The Damon Runyon Theater "A Piece Of Pie" (1949) Oct 26, 2007

Show notes

John Brown as " Broadway " takes the listener with him to the inside world of some the Big Apple's toughest, but yet charming offenders. Solid radio professionals played the regular characters on the show with the strange sounding names. There was Harry the Horse, Dave the Dude (William Conrad, Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke), and Sorrowful Jones (Gerald Mohr, Philip Marlowe). Anne Whitfield played Little Miss Marker. Occasional parts were taken by well-known actors like Frank Lovejoy (Nightbeat), Jeff Chandler (Mr. Boynton on Our Miss Brooks), Hans Conried and Parley Baer (Chester on Gunsmoke).

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