Boxcars711 Old Time Radio

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Boxcars711 Old Time Radio Pod - The Unexpected "2 Episodes (4-25-48 and 5-23-48)" Jul 25, 2007

Show notes

THE UNEXPECTEDWeird stories that have a âtwistâ ending. The listener gets a sudden shock, as this time of program should intend to deliver. Actors included Barry Sullivan, Lurene Tuttle and Virginia Gregg, who played Helen Asher in the Richard Diamond detectve series. Director is Frank Danzig.

Boxcars711 Old Time Radio Pod - Favorite Story "The Time Machine" (5-28-49) Jul 25, 2007

Show notes

The Time Machine from Favorite Story aired on May 28, 1949 hosted by Ronald Coleman. The Time Machine was a book by H. G. Wells, first published in 1895 and later directly adapted into at least two theatrical films of the same name as well as at least one television and countless comic book adaptations. It also indirectly inspired many more works of fiction in all media.

Boxcars711 Old Time Radio Pod - This Is Your FBI "Extortion" (8-03-45) Jul 24, 2007

Show notes

This Is Your FBI was a radio crime drama which aired in the United States on ABC from April 6, 1945 to January 30, 1953. FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover gave it his endorsement, calling it "the finest dramatic program on the air." Producer-director Jerry Devine was given access to FBI files by Hoover, and the resulting dramatizations of FBI cases were narrated by Frank Lovejoy (1945), Dean Carleton (1946-47) and William Woodson (1948-53). Stacy Harris had the lead role of Special Agent Jim Taylor. Others in the cast were William Conrad, Bea Benaderet and Jay C. Flippen.

Boxcars711 Old Time Radio Pod - Bulldog Drummond "Death Rides A Racehorse" (1947) Jul 24, 2007

Show notes

Bulldog Drummond is a British fictional character created by "Sapper", a pseudonym of Herman Cyril McNeile (1888-1937), in imitation of the hard boiled noir-style detectives appearing in contemporary American fiction. The stories followed Captain Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond, D.S.O., M.C., a wealthy former WWI officer of the Loamshire Regiment, who, after the war, spends his new-found leisure time as a private detective. Drummond is a proto-James Bond figure and a crudely debased version of the imperial adventurers depicted by the likes of John Buchan. In terms of the detective genre, the first Bulldog Drummond novel was published after the Sherlock Holmes stories, the Nayland Smith/Fu Manchu novels, and Richard Hannay's first adventure in The Thirty Nine Steps. The character first appeared in the novel Bulldog Drummond (1920), and was adapted into a number of films and radio serials. McNeile wrote in the style of the day which while it contained some jingoism (Drummond and his men had served in WWI so it could be expected), there was no racism. There was a story called "The Black Gang" which uninformed people have claimed was racism but this was merely the colour of the robes worn by Drummond and his men and could just have easily been "The Red Gang". Drummond fought a number of villains from all countries with equal zeal. After McNeile's death in 1938, his friend Gerard Fairlie continued to write stories based on the character.

Boxcars711 Weekend Matinee - The Lux Radio Theatre "Only Angels Have Wings" (5-29-39) Jul 21, 2007

Show notes

The 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.

Boxcars711 Old Time Radio Pod - The Ford Theater "The Green Pastures" (2-01-48) Jul 21, 2007

Show notes

In a small âNegroâ church in the South, Mr. Deshee (Charles H. Moore) sets out to teach his children the Bible. He begins with a pre-Creation fish fry, which is interrupted when the angel Gabriel (Wesley Hill) arrives and announces, âGangway! Gangway for de Lawd God Jehovah!â The Lawd God (Richard B. Harrison) enters, dressed in a Prince Albert coat, black trousers, and congress gaiters. The story then proceeds through the legends of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah, Moses, and other Old Testament figures and continues up to the crucifixion of Jesus. Based on Roark Bradford's stories, the play was praised by Heywood Broun in the Telegram as âmore stirring than anything I have seen in the theatreâ and by Robert Littell in the World as âsimply and briefly one of the finest things that the theatre of our generation has seen . . . it will move you to tears and make you gasp with the simple beauty of the Old Testament pageantry.â Theatre historian William Torbert Leonard has called Gabriel's announcement âone of the greatest entrance cues ever written for the stage.â A revival in 1954 failed to run.

Boxcars711 Old Time Radio Pod - Box 13 "Hot Box" (12-26-48) Jul 21, 2007

Show notes

Box 13 was a syndicated radio series about the escapades of mystery novelist Dan Holiday (Alan Ladd), a former newsman. Created by Mayfair Productions, the series premiered August 22, 1948, on New York's WOR and aired in syndication on the East Coast from August 22, 1948, to August 14. 1949. On the West Coast, Box 13 was heard from March 15, 1948 to March 7, 1949. To seek out new ideas for his fiction, Holiday ran a classified ad in the Star-Times newspaper. "Adventure wanted, will go anywhere, do anything -- Box 13." The stories followed Holiday's adventures when he responded to the letters sent to him by such people as a psycho killer and various victims.

Boxcars711 Old Time Radio Pod - The Story Of Dr. Kildare "King Phillip" (5-18-55) Jul 20, 2007

Show notes

The Story of Dr. Kildare was based on the popular MGM films that were produced in the 1940's, so a radio version in 1949 made perfect sense. The screen actor Lew Ayres played Dr. Kildare in the films, and continued the role in this radio show. The great thespian Lionel Barrymore continued in his role as Kildare's mentor, Dr. Leonard Gillespie. Together the two fight an unending battle against disease and bureaucratic boneheadedness. In a sense, Dr. Kildare is good old fashioned soap opera, but then medical dramas have always been popular, and the good Dr. Kildare is a quiet and devoted medical hero who creates a better world one patient at a time, despite whatever gets in the way. That makes for good radio and a good object lesson for us all - good is usually done a little at a time, and there's always something or someone in the way.

Boxcars711 Old Time Radio Pod - The Campbell Playhouse "The Glass Key" (3-10-39) Jul 20, 2007

Show notes

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.

Boxcars711 Old Time Radio Pod - Wild Bill Hickock "Ghost Town Gold" (7-08-51) Jul 19, 2007

Show notes

FIRST BROADCAST: May 17, 1951LAST BROADCAST: February 12, 1956SPONSORS: KellogCAST: Guy Madison and Andy Devine.ANNOUNCERS: Charlie LyonPRODUCERS/DIRECTORS: Paul PierceThis juvenile western followed the same format as the TV show of the same name that ran throughout the same years. This format certainly was not new as the charismatic hero and comic side-kick was something that had been done before with Hopalong Cassidy and The Cisco Kid, and to some extent with the Lone Ranger. FIRST BROADCAST: May 17, 1951 LAST BROADCAST: February 12, 1956 SPONSORS: Kellog CAST: Guy Madison and Andy Devine. ANNOUNCERS: Charlie Lyon PRODUCERS/DIRECTORS: Paul Pierce.

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