Showing results by author "Radio Shows of the Past!" in All Categories

This early series (circa 1934) combines elements of the soap opera with those of the situation comedy. The episodes are fifteen minutes long and serialized as well as having a domestic focus, tending to place the show in the soap opera genre. But the treatment of plot and character is light-hearted and humorous, similar to what is found in the myriad of sitcoms that sprang up during radio's golden age.Papa Bloom (Jake) has reached retirement age, and with some astute help from Mama (Becky), sells his kneepants factory at a nice profit. Together with their "brood" -- daughters Yetta and Sarah ...

The Stan Freberg Show was a weekly radio comedy show that ran on the CBS Radio Network for fifteen episodes in 1957 from July 14 through October 20. The show, starring comedian Stan Freberg and featuring the vocal talents of Daws Butler, June Foray and Peter Leeds, Peggy Taylor as the resident singer, and the musical direction of Billy May. The show aired in the 7:30 p.m. (ET) time slot following repeats of The Jack Benny Program ("The Best Of Benny") on Sundays. The show was produced by Pete Barnum.Despite its short run, the show contained some running gags and stock jokes,...

This is the fascinating story of Dantro, The Planet Man, troubleshooter for the League of Planets organization, the law enforcement body for peace and justice in the celestial world -- whose headquarters and center of operations are situated on the capital of all planets, Planteria Rex. From Mercury to Pluto, where ever danger threatens the universe, you will find Dantro the Planet Man fighting for fair play. The Planet Man was a juvenile science ficton series of the 1950's transcribed and syndicated by Palladium Radio Productions.

Dr. James Kildare is a fictional American medical doctor, originally created in the 1930s by the author Frederick Schiller Faust under the pen name Max Brand. Shortly after the character's first appearance in a magazine story, Paramount Pictures used the story and character as the basis for the 1937 film Internes Can't Take Money, starring Joel McCrea as Jimmie Kildare. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) subsequently acquired the rights and featured Kildare as the primary character in a series of American theatrical films in the late 1930s and early 1940s.Several of these films were ...

The Hall of Fantasy featured stories with supernatural themes. Radio historian John Dunning wrote in his reference work Tune in Yesterday: "The difference between this program and its competitors was that here, man was usually the loser. The supernatural was offered as something respectable, awesome, sometimes devastating and always frightening."An early version of the show was developed by Richard Thorne and Carl Greyson and broadcast on KALL in Salt Lake City, Utah. In 1949, Thorne revived the program on WGN in Chicago, enhancing the program's appeal with "unusually excellent ...

Casey, Crime Photographer, known by a variety of titles on radio (aka Crime Photographer, Flashgun Casey, Casey, Press Photographer) was a media franchise from the 1930s to the 1960s. The character was the creation of novelist George Harmon Coxe. Casey was featured in the pulp magazine, Black Mask, novels, comic books, radio, film, television and legitimate theatre.Jack "Flashgun" Casey, was a crime photographer for the newspaper The Morning Express. With the help of reporter Ann Williams, he solved crimes and recounted his stories to Ethelbert the bartender (portrayed by John Gibson) ...

Magic Island was a science-fantasy radio serial syndicated in the late 1930s and 1940s. The series had 130 15-minute episodes, and all episodes have survived.The storyline followed wealthy Patricia Gregory as she ended her 14-year search in the South Pacific for her long lost daughter Joan. When Joan was one year old, the Gregory yacht was shipwrecked near the 30th parallel south. Lashed to a lifeboat, Joan was presumed lost by all but Patricia. In the opening episode, she receives a tip about a white girl living on a mysterious island populated by scientifically advanced people in the ...

Written and directed by Robert Arthur and David Kogan, the radio series was sponsored by Adam Hats. It began on the Mutual Broadcasting System, December 5, 1943, continuing in many different time slots until September 16, 1952. The lonely sound of a distant locomotive heralded the arrival of the sinister narrator (portrayed by Maurice Tarplin), who introduced himself each week in the following manner:This is the Mysterious Traveler, inviting you to join me on another journey into the strange and terrifying.I hope you will enjoy the trip, that it will thrill you a little and chill you ...

Fu Manchu (Harold Huber) was a diabolical criminal mastermind. British official Nayland Smith (Hanley Stafford), assisted by Dr. Petrie (Gale Gordon), set out to stop Fu Manchu at any cost. In Radio Crime Fighters (2002), Jim Cox wrote:The plots of Rohmer's insidious figure and Smith and Petrie's attempts to thwart the archenemy formed a repetitive theme in the storyline.A stunningly exotic Karamaneh became the slave girl of the evil doctor; an objective of the combatants was to secure her release. The series, though brief, is memorable, and focused on one of the most effective villains to...

The Adventures of Harry Lime is one of the most successful series created by prolific British radio producer Harry Alan Towers and his company Towers of London. Towers and Graham Greene, author of The Third Man, had the same literary agent, and Towers learned that Greene had not sold the rights to the character of Harry Lime to Alexander Korda when he sold Korda The Third Man. Towers quickly bought the rights to the character and in 1951 he put a syndicated radio series into production. Orson Welles reprised the role of Harry Lime in a series of adventures that preceded the story told ...

The Adventures of Frank Race was an American radio adventure serial syndicated by Bruce Eells Productions. The 30-minute program's first East Coast broadcast was 1949, and the show ran 43 episodes. Because it was syndicated, it aired on different stations on different days. For instance, in New York City, the first episode ran on WINS on April 9, 1949. It "began running in some markets May 1, 1949. The series was broadcast on the West Coast from 1951–52.Each episode opened with a one-minute organ theme and then the following from announcer Art Gilmore:The war changed many things; ...

You Bet Your Life is an American comedy quiz series that has aired on both radio and television. The original version was hosted by Groucho Marx of the Marx Brothers, with announcer and assistant George Fenneman. The show debuted on ABC Radio on October 27, 1947, moved to CBS Radio debuting October 5, 1949, and went to NBC-TV and NBC Radio on October 4, 1950.Because of its simple format, it was possible to broadcast the show on both radio and television but not simultaneously. Many of the laughs on the television show were evoked by Groucho's facial reactions and other visual ...

Following a trend begun by the radio series Dragnet, The Lineup strove to portray realism in a police drama. The title indicated the show's focus, as each story began and ended with a lineup of suspects in a police station in San Francisco. Sergeant Matt Grebb, who was heard giving instructions to participants in each lineup, was "quick-tempered and often bored", while his boss, Lieutenant Ben Guthrie, was "soft-spoken and calm."The program portrayed most activities of the police as part of the job with "few heroics". Episodes were "fast, furious, and realistic." Each episode began with ...

The stories followed the 30th-century adventures of Commander-in-Chief Buzz Corry (Ed Kemmer) of the United Planets Space Patrol and his young sidekick Cadet Happy (Lyn Osborn), as they faced interplanetary villains with diabolical schemes. The show was targeted to children, but attracted a sizable adult audience. Many episodes featured commercial tie-in merchandise, like toys and mail-order premiums, that were advertised during commercial breaks. Many of the ads for corporate sponsor Ralston Purina's Chex cereals used the show's space opera motif in their pitches. A unique feature of...

21st Precinct (aka Twenty-First Precinct and Twenty First Precinct) was a police drama broadcast on CBS radio from July 7, 1953, to July 26, 1956. It was initially a summer replacement for My Friend Irma. The program was produced in cooperation with the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association of the City of New York and presented "adaptations from true criminal records in New York...from the policeman's point of view."Historically, the 21st Pecinct had been located near Gramercy Park in Manhattan but in 1929 the department reorganized the precinct numbering, and the 21st designation was ...

Created, written, and directed by former law student Ed Byron, the series was inspired by the early years of New York governor Thomas E. Dewey. Dewey's public war against racketeering led to his election as governor. Phillips H. Lord, creator of Gang Busters, helped to develop the concept and coined the title. Byron lent an air of accuracy and immediacy to his scripts through close study of crime statistics, a library of criminology texts, following the newspapers and even visiting rough bars to gain tips, background and color from crooks and police.Produced throughout its run in New York...

With Lon Clark in the title role, the series commenced 11 April 1943, on Mutual, continuing in many different timeslots for well over a decade. Between October 1944 and April 1945, it was heard as a 30-minute program on Sunday afternoons at 3 pm, sponsored by Acme Paints and Lin-X, with a 15-minute serial airing four or five times a week in 1944 from April to September. In April 1945, the Sunday series moved to 6pm, continuing in that timeslot until June 1946, and it was also heard in 1946 on Tuesday from March to August.Sponsored by Cudahy Packing and Old Dutch Cleanser and later Acme ...

The Shadow is a fictional character created by American magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B. Gibson. Originally created to be a mysterious radio show narrator, and developed into a distinct literary character in 1931 by Gibson, The Shadow has been adapted into other forms of media, including American comic books, comic strips, serials, video games, and at least five feature films. The radio drama included episodes voiced by Orson Welles.The Shadow debuted on July 31, 1930, as the mysterious narrator of the radio program Detective Story Hour, which was ...

The opening theme of "I'll Take Manhattan" introduced Detective Danny Clover, 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."Danny Clover narrated the tales of the Great White Way to the accompaniment of music by Wilbur Hatch and Alexander Courage, and the recreation of Manhattan's aural tapestry required the talents of three sound effects technicians (David Light, Ralph Cummings, Ross Murray).Bill Anders was the show's announcer, as was Joe Walters.The supporting cast ...

The Casebook of Gregory Hood was a radio detective program in the United States. It existed in several versions - with different stars on different networks in different years. Hood was an importer in San Francisco who dealt in rare items. John Dunning summarized the show's premise as follows: "With his sidekick Sanderson ('Sandy') Taylor, Hood traveled the world seeking artifacts for his import house. Each item found by Hood had an intriguing history and was inevitably linked to some present-day mystery."The character of Hood was based on real-life importer Richard Gump, who lived in San...