Boxcars711 Old Time Radio Pod Offers the best of Old Time Radio, Oldies, Easy Listening and Talk. Broadcasting from the heart of Germantown, on WPNM radio, and over the Shoutcast Network, host Bob Camardella mixes his vast collection of entertainment, with news and events from the ole neighborhood reunion groups of Germantown, Phila., Pa., Where The Oldies Are Still Young
The Adventures Of Maisie - Barber Shop Horse (3-09-50)
Oct 16, 2009
Show notes
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.
I Was A Communist For The FBI - The Dangerous Dollars (07-09-52)
Oct 15, 2009
Show notes
I Was a Communist for the FBI was an American espionage thriller radio series with 78 episodes syndicated by Ziv to more than 600 stations in 1952-54. Made without FBI cooperation, the series was adapted from the book by undercover agent Matt Cvetic, who was portrayed by Dana Andrews.The series was crafted to warn people about the threat of Communist subversion of American society. The tone of the show is very jingoistic and ultra-patriotic. Communists are evil incarnate and the FBI can do no wrong. As a relic of the Joe McCarthy era, this show is a time capsule of American society during the Second Red Scare.THIS EPISODE:I Was A Communist For The FBI. Program #12. ZIV Syndication. "The Dangerous Dollars". Commercials added locally. Cvetic visits the Skyline Rancho, a resort run by the Communists. He finds a mysterious airplane ready to leave the country with money owned by The Party. Dana Andrews, Truman Bradley (announcer). 27:32.
The Story Of Butch Cassidy & Sundance Kid (1979)
Oct 14, 2009
Show notes
Story Of Butch Cassidy & Sundance Kid (1979) - Parker's first brush with the law was a petty affair. Around 1880, he made a long journey to a clothier's shop in another town only to find the shop closed. He entered the shop and removed a pair of jeans, leaving an IOU that he would pay for it upon his next visit. However, the clothier took down the details which Parker had included in the IOU and reported him. After a stubborn resistance to the resultant charges in court, he was acquitted. He continued to do ranch work until 1884 when he briefly moved to Telluride, Colorado, ostensibly to find work but possibly to deliver stolen horses to buyers there. He then returned to ranch work, in Wyoming and in Montana, before returning again to Telluride in 1887, where he then met Matthew Warner, the owner of a race horse. Together the two raced the horse at various events, dividing the profits between them. Through this line of enterprise he soon met, again in Telluride, William and Thomas McCarty, who may have been instrumental in introducing Parker to the ideas and strategies of train and bank robbery. Parker, Warner and Thomas McCarty may have been responsible for the robbery, on November 3, 1887, of a train near Grand Junction, Colorado, where the train's safe-master had assured them that nobody aboard had the safe's combination, and so, gathering together what other spoils they could, they had made off with a modest $150. Western historian Charles Kelly closed the chapter "Is Butch Cassidy Dead?" in his 1938 book, Outlaw Trail, by observing that if Parker "is still alive, as these rumors claim, it seems exceedingly strange that he has not returned to Circleville, Utah, to visit his old father, Maximillian Parker, who died on July 28, 1938, at the age of 94 years". Kelly is thought to have interviewed Parker's father, but no known transcript of such an interview exists.
The Beulah Show - The Building Permit (03-23-53) and Cutting Onions (10-09-53)
Oct 12, 2009
Show notes
The Beulah Show is an American situation-comedy series that ran in radio on CBS from 1945 to 1954, and in television on ABC from 1950 to 1953. It is notable for being the first sitcom to star an African American. Originally portrayed by Caucasian actor Marlin Hurt, Beulah Brown first appeared in 1939 when Hurt introduced and played the character on the Hometown Incorporated radio series and in 1940 on NBC radio's Show Boat series. In 1943, Beulah moved over to That's Life and then became a supporting character on the popular Fibber McGee and Molly radio series in late 1944. In 1945, Beulah was spun off into her own radio show, The Marlin Hurt and Beulah Show, with Hurt still in the role. Beulah was employed as a housekeeper and cook for the Henderson family: father Harry, mother Alice and son Donnie. After Hurt died of a heart attack in 1946, he was replaced by another white actor, Bob Corley, and the series was retitled The Beulah Show. When black actress Hattie McDaniel took over the role on November 24, 1947, she earned $1000 a week for the first season, doubled the ratings of the original series and pleased the NAACP which was elated to see a historic first: a black woman as the star of a network radio program. McDaniel continued in the role until she became ill in 1952 and was replaced by Lillian Randolph, who was in turn replaced for the 1953-54 radio season by her sister, Amanda Randolph.TODAY'S SHOW: "The Building Permit" (03-23-53) and "Cutting Onions" (10-09-53)
Jeff Regan Investigator - The Man n The Door (08-28-48)
Oct 11, 2009
Show notes
Jeff Regan, Investigator was one of the three detective shows Jack Webb did before Dragnet (see also Pat Novak For Hire and Johnny Modero: Pier 23). It debuted on CBS in July 1948. Webb played JEFF REGAN, a tough private eye working in a Los Angeles investigation firm run by Anthony J. Lyon. Regan introduced himself on each show "I get ten a day and expenses...they call me the Lyon's Eye." The show was fairly well-plotted, Webb's voice was great, and the supporting cast were skillful. Regan handled rough assignments from Lion, with whom he was not always on good terms. He was tough, tenacious, and had a dry sense of humor. The voice of his boss, Anthony Lion, was Wilms Herbert. The show ended in December 1948 but was resurrected in October 1949 with a new cast; Frank Graham played Regan (later Paul Dubrov was the lead) and Frank Nelson portrayed Lion. This version ran on CBS, sometimes as a West Coast regional, until August 1950. Both versions were 30 minutes, but the day and time slot changed several times. A total of 29 episodes from this series are in trading currency.THIS EPISODE:August 28, 1948. CBS network. "The Man In The Door". Sustaining. A murdered architect is seen alive and well! Jeff looks into a complicated story of murder and embezzlement. Jack Webb, Wilms Herbert, Lou Krugman, Lurene Tuttle, Betty Lou Gerson, Dave Henderson, William Conrad, E. Jack Neuman (writer), Sterling Tracy (producer), Bob Stevenson (announcer), Richard Aurandt (music). 29:36.
The Adventures Of Horatio Hornblower - The Guerilla Action (10-03-52)
Oct 10, 2009
Show notes
The Adventures Of Horatio Hornblower - Broadcast 1952; Transcribed in England for the BBC; aired in U.S. on CBS, then again on ABC in 1954 and Mutual in 1957. Starring Michael Redgrave as Horatio Hornblower. a captain in the British Royal Navy during the Napoleonic era. The radio series was based on twelve Horatio Hornblower novels written by C.S. Forester. These novels were, and still are, well liked due to their realistic tone and historical accuracy in telling the tales of Naval life in the late 1700s through the mid 1800s. C.S. Forester was well known for his novels about military and naval life, including such fine titles as The African Queen, The Gun, The Barbary Pirates, and The General.
Crime Classics - The Torment Of Henrietta Robinson (09-07-53)
Oct 08, 2009
Show notes
Crime Classics was a U. S. radio docudrama which aired over CBS from June 15, 1953 to June 30, 1954. Created, produced, and directed by radio actor/director Elliott Lewis, the program was basically a historical true crime series, examining crimes, and especially murders, from the past. It grew out of Lewis's personal interest in famous murder cases, and took a documentary-like approach to the subject, carefully recreating the facts, personages, and feel of the time period. Comparatively little dramatic license was taken with the facts and events, but the tragedy was leavened with humor, expressed largely through the narration.THIS EPISODE:September 7, 1953. CBS network. "The Torment Of Henrietta Robinson and Why She Killed". Sustaining. A lady of Troy New York in 1845, and her doll Cecily. Very insane and very homicidal. The last show of "the summer series." Ben Wright, Bernard Herrmann (composer, conductor), Betty Harford, Bob Lemond (announcer), David Friedkin (writer), Elliott Lewis (producer, director), Joseph Kearns, Lamont Johnson, Lou Merrill (host), Morton Fine (writer), Paula Winslowe, Sam Edwards, Sammie Hill. 29:54.
Case Dismissed - Installment Buying (02-27-54)
Oct 07, 2009
Show notes
Case Dismissed - 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 today's 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. THIS EPISODE:February 27, 1954. NBC network, WMAQ, Chicago origination. Sustaining. Not auditioned. The program is produced in co-operation with the Chicago Bar Association. The legal problems of installment buying. Herbert Littow (director), John C. Fitzgerald (host, Dean of the Law School, Loyola University), Betty Ross (producer), Tom Evans (sound), Harold Witteberry (engineer), Robert Carmen (writer), Lee Bennett (announcer), Sondra Gair, Jack Bivens, Harry Elders, Stanley Gordon, Arthur Peterson, Charles Flynn. 28:31.
Father Knows Best - Superstitous Folk (05-25-50)
Oct 06, 2009
Show notes
Father Knows Best, a family comedy of the 1950s, is perhaps more important for what it has come to represent than for what it actually was. In essence, the series was one of a slew of middle-class family sitcoms in which moms were moms, kids were kids, and fathers knew best. Today, many critics view it, at best, as high camp fun, and, at worst, as part of what critic David Marc once labeled the "Aryan melodramas" of the 1950s and 1960s. The brainchild of series star Robert Young, who played insurance salesman Jim Anderson, and producer Eugene B. Rodney, Father Knows Best first debuted as a radio sitcom in 1949. In the audio version the title of the show ended with a question mark, suggesting that father's role as family leader and arbiter was dubious. The partner's production company, Rodney-Young Enterprises, transplanted the series to television in 1954--without the questioning marker--where it ran until 1963, appearing at various times on each of the three networks. Young and Rodney, friends since 1935, based the series on experiences each had with wives and children; thus, to them, the show represented "reality." Indeed, careful viewing of each of the series' 203 episodes reveals that the title was actually more figurative than literal. Despite the lack of an actual question mark, father didn't always know best. Jim Anderson could not only lose his temper, but occasionally be wrong. Although wife Margaret Anderson, played by Jane Wyatt, was stuck in the drudgery of domestic servitude, she was nobody's fool, often besting her husband and son, Bud (played by Billy Gray). Daughter Betty Anderson (Elinor Donahue)--known affectionately to her father as Princess--could also take the male Andersons to task, as could the precocious Kathy (Lauren Chapin), the baby of the family.
Damon Runyon Theater - Princess O'Hara (02-20-49)
Oct 05, 2009
Show notes
Damon Runyon Theater - Broadcast from January to December 1949, "The Damon Runyon Theatre" dramatized 52 of Runyon's short stories for radio. Damon Runyon (October 4, 1884 – December 10, 1946) was a newspaperman and writer. He was best known for his short stories celebrating the world of Broadway in New York City that grew out of the Prohibition era. He spun tales of gamblers, petty thieves, actors and gangsters; few of whom go by "square" names, preferring instead to be known as "Nathan Detroit", "Big Jule", "Harry the Horse", "Good Time Charlie", "Dave the Dude", and so on. These stories were written in a very distinctive vernacular style: a mixture of formal speech and colorful slang, almost always in present tense, and always devoid of contractions.THIS EPISODE:1948. Program #8. Mayfair syndication. "Princess O'Hara". Commercials added locally. Broadway and his pals "borrow" a champion race horse to pull a hansom cab in order to help a doll in distress. The story was previously used in an audition recording. Damon Runyon (author), John Brown, Richard Sanville (director), Russell Hughes (adaptor), Vern Carstensen (production supervisor). 26:35.
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