For Mother’s Day, Dennis Day sings the ballad “Little Mother of Mine” on “The Jack Benny Show.”  On this episode, the gang is flying back to Los Angeles from New York.  At the time such a voyage was a rare treat.  It took a mere 18 hours; about half as long as a similar trip by train.  Then on “Have Gun Will Travel,” Paladin thinks he’s doing his Chinese friends a favor by exposing a con game as old as the hills.  But there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye of even the sharpest mind in the Old West.

Episodes

The Jack Benny Program

May 12, 1940

“Returns on a TWA Plane”

4:05

Have Gun Will Travel

April 10, 1960

“So True, Mr. Barnum”

34:57

The “Lux Radio Theater” usually adapted films, but this adaptation of “Lost Horizon” is based on the 1933 novel by James Hilton, not the 1937 film starring Ronald Colman and directed by Frank Capra.  And yet, this radio version also stars Ronald Colman.  He had become so identified with the film’s hero, Conway, that it was unthinkable to do a version without him.  If you’ve only seen the film, you’ll be surprised to find that the story is the same but many of the characters are different and / or missing.

Episodes

Lux Radio Theater

September 15, 1941

“Lost Horizon”

3:42

As promised last time, I’m giving you the first episode of the amateur detective drama “The Casebook of Gregory Hood,” a summer replacement series that became a hit in its own right.  Written by science fiction and mystery writer Anthony Boucher and writer Denis Green, it takes full advantage of its post-war San Francisco setting.  Then on the “Jack Benny Program,” Jack has to sneak around in order to avoid being seen by actor Ronald Colman.  Luckily, he has his old-lady costume from a production of “Charley’s Aunt.”  So on go the bonnet and high heels . . 

Episodes

The Casebook of Gregory Hood

June 3, 1946

“The Three Silver Pesos”

4:00

The Jack Benny Program

April 25, 1948

“Charley’s Aunt”

36:22

To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, we present an episode of “The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” set on the Emerald Island.  Today, kissing the Blarney Stone is must-do for tourists.  Back in Queen Victoria’s time, the tradition was less-known and a lot more dangerous - as the Great Detective and the Good Doctor are about to learn.  Then we double-dip into classic Americana with two episodes of “Vic and Sade.”  First Vic is requested to tackle some ballistic golf clubs, and then he receives a top honor in the world of kitchenware.

Episodes

The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

March 18, 1946

“The Adventure of the Blarney Stone”

6:03

Vic and Sade

April, 1941

“40 Lbs of Golf Clubs”

38:02

May 2, 1941

“Vic’s Picture on Quarterly Cover”

47:32

It’s a Presidents’ Day episode of “Presenting the Transcription Feature.”  On “Meet Me at Parky’s,” Greek restaurateur Parkyakarkus celebrates Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday.  He wants to do the Great Rail Splitter proud, but keeps having trouble with his decorating scheme.  Then on “The Great Gildersleeve” Gildy finds himself in a George Washington’s birthday bind.  He’s trying to set a good example for his nephew by not telling any lies, but reality keeps getting in the way.

Episodes

Meet Me at Parky’s

February 9, 1947

“Lincoln’s Birthday Decorations”

5:37

The Great Gildersleeve

February 22, 1942

“Selling the Drugstore”

39:13

On “Dragnet” Friday and Smith find themselves investigating a locked-room mystery with an apparent suicide that just doesn’t add up.  Then Groucho Marx runs contestants through their paces on “You Bet Your Life.”  Parlez-vous français?  Grouch does.  Or does he, when one of the players is a young lady from the French consulate.

Episodes

Dragnet

“The Big Bible”

September 29, 1954 

1:38

You Bet Your Life

“The Secret Word is Door”

March 1, 1950  

31:27

Let’s start the new year off with some New Year’s-themed episodes.  First off, the stars of “Fibber McGee and Molly” are thrilled to be invited to the New Year’s Eve dance at the highfalutin Wistful Vista Country Club.  They’ll be mixing with “society so high your nose will bleed.”  Then jump forward a couple of days to the first episode of “Information Please” from 1939.  The panelists will be quizzed about the previous year’s events, and they’ll have to untangle a very tricky poem.

Episodes

Fibber McGee and Molly

“The New Year’s Dance”

December 30, 1952

1:50

Information Please

“Guests: Cornelia Otis Skinner and Erwin Edgar”

January 3, 1939

30:18

For our second Christmas-themed episode this year, we move from Christmas into New Year’s.  We start off with Eve Arden in “Our Miss Brooks.”  It’s Christmas Eve, and Connie seems destined to spend it alone (if you don’t count her pathetic little Christmas tree), but what would a Christmas comedy be without a little miracle?  Then it’s time to “Meet Me at Parky’s,” where that congenial Greek restaurateur, Parky himself, will spend the end of December looking for tickets to the New Year’s Day Rose Bowl game in Pasadena.  If he can get any, that will be a miracle as well.

Episodes

Our Miss Brooks

"The Magic Christmas Tree"

December 19, 1948

2:34

Meet Me at Parky’s

“Rose Bowl Tickets”

December 7, 1947

34:34

For our first Christmas-themed episode this year, we present the LUX RADIO THEATER adaptation of the Judy Garland classic, “Meet Me in St. Louis.”  This one-hour version drops the character of Agnes, but retains, in the roles they originated in the 1944 film, Judy Garland and Margaret O’Brien as sisters Esther and Tootie Smith, as well as Tom Drake as The Boy Next Door, John Truett.  And you get to hear Garland perform a few songs that have since become standards, “The Boy Next Door,” “The Trolley Song,” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”

Episodes

The Lux Radio Theater

“Meet Me in St. Louis”

December 2, 1946

3:35

For Thanksgiving, we present two Turkey Day-themed comedies.  First up, on “The Jack Benny Show,” Mary reads a poem she wrote just for 1939.  From 1939 to 1941, Thanksgiving was celebrated not on the fourth Thursday of the month, but the third.  Then Jack wonders what’s going on when the turkey he bought lays an egg as big as a cantaloupe.  “The Great Gildersleeve” was always filled with topical laughs.  As Thanksgiving approaches, Gildy hopes to get a coveted “B Ration” gas card, nephew Leroy has to perform in the school Thanksgiving play, and it becomes harder and harder to actually find a turkey.

Episodes 

The Jack Benny Show

“Jack Discovers He Has Purchased an Ostrich for Thanksgiving Dinner”

November 19, 1939

4:29

The Great Gildersleeve

“Thanksgiving Dinner”

November 22, 1942

38:21

With the World Series almost upon us, we thought we’d give you a tale of baseball that culminates at the World Series.  “The Lux Radio Theater” brought listeners abridged versions of popular films of the day.  This time it’s “It Happens Every Spring,” with Ray Miland reprising the role he created in the 1949 film of the same name.  Miland plays a mild-mannered college professor who stumbles up on wood repellent.  When secretly applied to baseballs, it makes him a pitcher that no one can hit.  Play ball!

The Lux Radio Theater

“It Happens Every Spring”

October 3, 1949

4:55

We think of Ray Bradbury as a fantasist or a science fiction writer.  But he was equally adept at crime drama.  One of his first sales was “Killer Come Back to Me” to Detective Tales in July of 1944.  Less than two years later, it was adapted for the radio by the “Molle Mystery Theatre.” This hard-boiled noir tale of killers, dames, and stolen identities takes a number of clever twists and turns.  But does crime ever pay?  Then on “Meet Me At Parky’s,” everyone’s favorite Greek restauranteur decides to help out with a teacher shortage.  He may be known for his malapropisms in English, but if he’s going to teach his native Greek nothing could possibly go wrong, right?

Episodes

Molle Mystery Theatre 

“Killer Come Back to Me”

May 17, 1946

3:23

Meet Me At Parky’s

“Teachers Wanted”

November 10, 1946

35:58

 We start with another thrilling science fiction tale adapted for radio on “X-Minus One”:  “A Logic Named Joe,” based on the short story by Murray Leinster that first appeared in “Astounding Science Fiction” in March of 1946.  Fifty years before the internet, Leinster’s story predicted the use of household computers (“logics”) and the dangers and privacy concerns that would arise once they were networked together.  Then the quips never stop when the one, the only Groucho Marx hosts “You Bet Your Life.”  A train conductor and a longshoreman, then a diamond merchant and a dime-store saleswoman provide fodder for a flood of one-liners and snappy ad-libs from the funniest man on radio.

Episodes

X Minus One

“A Logic Named Joe”

December 28, 1955

4:19

You Bet Your Life

“The Secret Word is Money”

March 22, 1950

32: 38

It’s summer time, so I’m giving you a bunch of summer-themed shows.  First off, Eve Arden returns as everyone’s favorite sardonic English teacher, Our Miss Brooks.  She’s on her summer vacation, but just can’t seem to connect with her would-be paramour, science teacher, Mr. Boyton.  Then two episodes of the slice-of-life dramedy, Vic and Sade.  First, with only six months until Christmas, everyone is trying to sell holiday cards.  Then the family joins in on a simple study of the minutiae of life, discussing everything from sweaters to hail to bacon sandwiches.

Episodes

Our Miss Brooks

“Summer Vacation”

September 4, 1955

2:57

Vic and Sade

“Grandpa Snyder’s Christmas Cards”

June 1, 1939

37:45

“Bacon Sandwiches”

August 14, 1940

47:20

Thanks to Kliph Nesteroff’s brilliant new book, “The Comedians: Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels, and the History of American Comedy” for making me aware of a comedian and an OTR show I had never heard of before. Harry Einstein, who is the father of comedians Albert Brooks and Bob Einstein (a.k.a. Super Dave Osborne) had a successful career in the 1940s and ‘50s working under the persona of Parkyakarkus – “Parky” for short. The conceit was that Parky was a malapropism-prone Greek restaurant owner in Hollywood. Parky appeared on the Eddie Cantor and Al Jolson shows, and then, from June of 1945 to July of 1948, on his own show, “Meet Me At Parky’s.” 

“Jeff Regan, Investigator” was one the many shows that Jack Webb had a hand in. When he left to create “Dragnet,” it went off the air. But it was resurrected a year later starring Frank Graham. Not quite a comedy, but not too hard-boiled either, “Jeff Regan, Investigator” deftly balances the light and dark sides of P.I.s from the Golden Age of Radio. 

Episodes 

Meet Me At Parky’s 

“The New Landlady” 

June 17, 1945 

4:15 

Jeff Regan, Investigator 

“She's Lovely, She's Engaged, She Eats Soybeans”

July 9, 1950 

35:06

The United States was only a couple months into World War Two when tonight’s episode of the classic comedy “The Great Gildersleeve” takes place.  In an effort to raise money for war-time relief, Gildy gets dragged into posing as a (female – what else?) fortune teller.  Despite the standard sit-com set-up, this takes some very funny twists and turns.  Then Orson Welles returns as Harry Lime in “The Lives of Harry Lime.”  Not quite the psychopathic murderer he was in the movie “The Third Man,” where he originated the role, here Welles’ Lime is more a charming, ne’er-do-well con man.  Tonight, has he met his match in a pair of similarly-charming con artists?

Episodes

The Great Gildersleeve

"Fortune Teller"

March 1, 1942

4:33

The Lives of Harry Lime

“The Double Double-Cross”

January 18, 1952

35:15

“Dragnet” returns with a tale ofthe drug trade.  In 1951 marijuana was available for 75 centsa joint.  Detectives Friday and Romero are on the track of thekingpin behind the narcotics racket, “The Big Tomato.”  ThenFriday himself, Jack Webb, guest stars on “The Bob HopeShow.”  After Hope’s timely comedy monologue, he joins Sgt.Joe Friday in a homicide investigation.  Even if the onlystiff Bob’s ever seen stretched out was one on New Year’s Eve, witha nose like his, you bet he can smell a crime a mile away. 

Episodes

Dragnet

“The Big Tomato”

February 25, 1951

4:06

The Bob Hope Show

“Guest: Jack Webb”

February 4, 1953

36:06

“Information Please” was the greatest quiz show in the history of Old Time Radio.  In this episode, there’s a lot of talk about the upcoming 1940 presidential election, plus yet another reference to the Dione quintuplets.  Then, in honor of the start of the baseball season, it’s time for an episode of “X Minus One,” the science fiction anthology program.  The 21st Century Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team find themselves at of the bottom of the standings.  How on earth – make that how on Mars – will they ever make it to the playoffs?

Episodes

Information Please

“Guests: Christopher Morley and James Roosevelt”

August 27, 1940

5:10

X Minus One

“Martian Sam”

April 3, 1957

34:54

“The Romance of the Ranchos” was one of the more unusual series to be broadcast during the Golden Age of Radio. Sponsored by the Title Insurance and Trust Company of Los Angeles, each episode traced the history of a certain district of Southern California from the days of the Ranchos – when everything was still owned by Spain and Mexico in the 1700s – up to then-contemporary times, the 1940s.  Through a series of vivid historical vignettes, listeners would hear how these areas changed and grew to become well-known cities and neighborhoods.  This episode centers on the discovery of the La Brea Tar Pits, that bubbling pool of crude oil where mastodon and saber-toothed tiger bones were found at the start of the 20th Century.  Then Groucho Marx returns in another episode of the greatest comedy radio quiz show of all time, “You Bet Your Life.”  You’re sure to enjoy not only Groucho’s bon mots, but the true story of Bob von Kuznick, whose adventures in the Korean War amaze to this day.

Episodes

Romance of the Ranchos

“Rancho La Brea”

April 19, 1942

5:15

You Bet Your Life

The Secret Word is “Car”

December 16, 1953

34:14

“Bobby Benson and the B-Bar-B Riders” was a kid’s radio show set in “the modern West.”  Bobby was a 12-year-old who had inherited a Texas cattle ranch, the B-Bar-B.  He and his ranch hands struggled against rustlers and other sorts of appropriately western, but mid-20th-Century, hazards.  This episode prominently features a young Don Knotts playing crusty old-timer Windy Wales.  In Windy, you’ll hear the roots of Knotts’ Nervous Man character, who eventually morphed in Deputy Barney Fife on “The Andy Griffith Show.”  Then Bing Crosby hosts the “The Kraft Music Hall,” the radio program that solidified his place in radio history.  Crosby hosted the variety show for a decade, singing standards and popular tunes of the day as well as cracking wise with plenty of guest stars.  This time, he hosts young Donald O’Connor, who’s about to go into the Army.  Bing open with the post-war classic “San Fernando Valley,” then he and O’Connor mix it up with “Small Fry.”

Episodes

Bobby Benson and the B-Bar-B Riders

“The Killer Wales”

December 28, 1949

4:32

The Kraft Music Hall

“Guest Donald O’Connor”

February 24, 1944

34:21

We start off the new year with The Jack Benny Show.  Jack, Mary, and the gang are celebrating the change-over from 1938 to 1939.  They survey the previous year, which included Howard Hughes flying around the world and “Wrong Way” Corrigan, who left New York for California, but ended up flying to Ireland.  Then  before Jack Webb was Sergeant Joe Friday on Dragnet, he was the titular hero of Pat Novak, For Hire.  Pat was a sort of un-detective.  He ran a boat rental place on the San Francisco Bay, but solved crimes and problems to raise extra cash.  Pat’s tough guy, hard-boiled lingo is a far cry from Friday’s “Just the Facts” persona.

Episodes

The Jack Benny Show

“Goodbye 1938, Hello 1939”

January 1, 1939

4:20

Pat Novak, For Hire

“Wendy Morris”

May 5, 1948

34:55

Christmas is over.  Its time for some Old Time Radio post-Christmas reflections and preparation for New Year’s.  We start with Eve Arden starring in Our Miss Brooks.  During Christmas vacation the sardonic English teacher has plans to exchange the dreadful presents she received for something a little more useful.  And so does everyone else.  Then on Dragnet we feature the adventure of a con racket that starts in the middle of December and goes all the way through to a New Year’s Eve party.  You’re a detective sergeant.  You take a cup o’kindness yet for auld lang syne.

Episodes

Our Miss Brooks

“Exchanging Christmas Gifts”

December 31, 1950

3:30

Dragnet

“The Big Betty”

November 23, 1950

34:13

It’s December, so it’s time for some Christmas-themed episodes.  We start off with The Harold Peary Show.  Peary had been a huge success starring in The Great Gildersleeve, but left due to a contract dispute.  This eponymous series was an obvious attempt to copy Gildersleeve.  The show only lasted one season but did result in a couple of great episodes including this Christmas one which features Harold and reformed thief.  Then “The Robin Hood of Modern Crime,” Simon Templar, in the form (well, voice) of Vincent Price returns in another action-packed episode of The Saint. It’s Christmas Eve and Simon has an appointment to play Santa for a bunch of under-privileged tiny tots.  Nothing could possibly go wrong.

Episodes

The Harold Peary Show

“Santa At The Children’s Christmas Party”

From Dec 20, 1950

2:58

The Saint

“Santa Claus Is No Saint”

December 24, 1950

36:51

It’s the beginning of the holiday season on “Presenting the Transcription Feature.”  Thanksgiving is not too early for the Lux Radio Theater adaptation of Miracle on 34th Street, featuring the movie’s original stars: Maureen O’Hara, John Payne, and Edmund Gwenn.  Remember that the show’s inciting incident is the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and the rest of the story plays out over the month of December.  So, as you prepare that turkey and those yams, tune in to some classic old time radio.

Episode

Lux Radio Theater

“Miracle on 34th Street”

5:30

This time on Presenting the Transcription Feature, here’s a double dose of Jack Benny and the young geniuses of The Quiz Kids.  First up on the Jack Benny Program, Jack’s cast matches wits with the visiting Quiz Kids with the usual zany results.  Then, just a week and a half later, Jack makes a guest appearance on The Quiz Kids.  Is he smarter than a 9th grader?

Episodes

The Jack Benny Program 

"Quiz Kids vs. Jell-O Kids"

April 6, 1941

2:05

The Quiz Kids

"Guest: Jack Benny"

April 16, 1941

32:32

​There’s two Halloween episodes for your enjoyment on this installment of “Presenting the Transcription Feature.”  First, the wholesome world of small-town America is shaken by a string of Halloween tricks on The Alrich Family.  Who’s letting the air of car tires?  Who’s ringing doorbells and running?  Could it be that scamp Henry Aldrich?  Before Halloween was all about candy, it was all about tricks.  Then Eve Arden stars as Our Miss Brooks, the comedic and sardonic, but beloved, English teacher making her way in yet another small town.  Nothing seems to go right for her, her students, or her principal, as they plan a Halloween party.

Episodes

The Aldrich Family

“Halloween Prank Backfires”

October 31, 1940

3:35

Our Miss Brooks

“Halloween Party”

October 30, 1949

36:00

This week we present two episodes centering on possibly the most popular radio contest of the 1940s, “The Walking Man.” TWM was a contest to benefit The American Heart Association and took place on the radio show Truth or Consequences.  For eight weeks, along with the usual game show shenanigans, listeners were invited to guess the identity of a prominent figure based solely on a rhymed clue and the sound of his walking.  Spoilers:  It was Jack Benny.  Here is the episode of TOC where a listener correctly guesses Benny.  Check out the haul of prizes that had accumulated over the preceding weeks.  Next listen to the episode of The Jack Benny Program which was broadcast less than 24 hours later.  It had had to be almost entirely rewritten overnight because not even Jack’s wife, let alone his writers, knew in advance that he was The Walking Man.

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Episodes

Truth or Consequences

“The Walking Man is Revealed”

March 6, 1948

6:15

The Jack Benny Program

“Jack Benny is The Walking Man”

March 7, 1948

37:38

This episode of The Jack Benny Program sets the stage for items that will referenced over the next few podcasts.  So pay attention as Jack quizzes bandleader Phil Harris about the dubious lyrics of the latter’s theme song, “That’s What I Like About the South.”  Then we take up crime solving with one of the few solo female private eyes of radio’s Golden Age, Candy Matson.  Based in San Francisco, she may look like a pinup and have the most sultry voice in radio, but she’s smart, tough, and fast-talking.

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Episodes

The Jack Benny Program

“A Town Called Do Wa Diddy”

February 29, 1948

6:12

Candy Matson

“The Devil In The Deep Freeze”

September 30, 1949

41:16

This August 6th marks the 104th birthday of actress, comedian, and entertainment mogul Lucille Ball.  Before there was the television classic I Love Lucy, there was its radio incarnation, My Favorite Husband.  Though her radio husband Richard Denning works in a bank, not as band leader, you can’t help but see the roots of Lucy in Ball’s character Liz and all the zany situations she stumbles into.  But Ball was more than just a comic actress.  Like so many performers during the Golden Age of radio, she worked in drama as well.  This week she and real-life husband Desi Arnaz appear inSuspense, "radio's outstanding theater of thrills," which ran for twenty years.  Here they play strangers engaged in a potentially deadly game of cat-and-mouse.  But who is the criminal and who is the victim?

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Episodes

My Favorite Husband

“Liz Sells Dresses”

May 28, 1950

4:24

Suspense

“The Red-Headed Woman”

November 17, 1949

36:14

The Screen Guild Theater, which presented Hollywood films in greatly-abridged versions but often with the original stars, did a fantastic job with The Philadelphia Story.  Their adaptation of the comedy classic about a high society wedding interrupted by the presence of the bride’s ex-husband and pair of tabloid reporters features all three of the film’s stars: Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant,  and Jimmy Stewart.  Then that dashing “Robin Hood of Modern Crime,” Simon Templar, makes an appearance on The Saint.  Vincent Price stars as the sophisticated, suave (yet quick with his fists) righter of wrongs.

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Episodes

The Screen Guild Theater

“The Philadelphia Story”

March 17, 1947

4:56

The Saint

“The Corpse Said Ouch”

August 6, 1950

32:05

For the Fourth of July, we present two unabashedly patriotic episodes from the Golden Age of Radio.  First, the show that captured the immigrant experience with warm-hearted comedy, Life With Luigi.  This time Luigi and his night school class are to march in an Independence Day parade.  Trouble arises when Luigi decides to add firecrackers to the parade.  Then CBS’s You Are There, the program that takes listeners to important moments in history, takes us to – where else – Philadelphia in July of 1776 for the debate over the Declaration of Independence.

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Episodes

Life With Luigi

“The Fourth of July Parade”

July 3, 1949

4:16

You Are There

“Philadelphia, July 4, 1776”

March 21, 1948

37:05

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Dashiell Hammett’s Nick and Nora Charles, the supposedly-retired PI and his socialite wife, heroes of his mystery novel The Thin Man, appeared on film, television, and, of course, radio.  The New Adventures of The Thin Man was a radio incarnation that emphasized the duo’s trademark witty repartee and underplayed the criminal violence.  This episode is about a missing dog, but still manages to work in boxing and gambling.  Then Old Time Radio’s premier science fiction anthology series, X Minus One, adapts a classic tale by Robert Heinlein, “The Roads Must Roll.” In a future where the highways became so crowded that we gave up cars in exchange for high-speed conveyor belt roads as our preferred mode of transport, one man stands alone against radicals seeking to take down the system.

Episodes

The New Adventures of the Thin Man

“The Adventure of the Passionate Palooka”

July 6, 1948

3:03

X Minus One

“The Roads Must Roll”

January 4, 1956

34:42

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We take two trips to England for this installment of Presenting the Transcription Feature.  First, history comes alive in an episode of CBS Is There (later known as You Are There).  This June marks the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta, one of founding documents of the rule of law.  CBS’ newsmen and sound effects crews work overtime to show us what it would have been like had they (and we listeners) been there for a news broadcast from the fields of Runnymede as King John faced off with 25 of his barons in their effort to limit his powers. Then it's time to meet the lazy civil servants who make up The Men From the Ministry.  This 1960s BBC comedy pokes fun at bureaucracy, office politics, and avoiding work.

Episodes

CBS Is There

“The Signing of the Magna Carta”

January 18, 1948

4:23

The Screen Guild Theater

“The War With the Isle of Wight”

November 27, 1962

34:41

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Bob Hope starred in every form of Twentieth Century entertainment – from vaudeville to radio to movies to television.  In this episode of The Bob Hope Show (for Pepsodent) we get a visit from baseball great Dizzy Dean and a performance of the kooky novelty tune “Alexander is a Swoose.”  Then the Screen Guild Theater presents an adaptation of Ramona – the 1936 film, which was based on the famed pageant, which is, in turn, based on the 1884 novel by Helen Hunt Jackson.  One of the founding myths of Old California, it tells the romantic but ultimately tragic tale of a half-Native American girl who gives up life on the rancho to marry a fellow Indian.

Episodes

The Pepsodent Show Staring Bob Hope

“Guest:  Dizzy Dean”

March 11, 1941

5:03

The Screen Guild Theater

“Ramona”

April 30, 1945

38:35

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In honor of May and Mother’s Day, we start off with an episode of The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show. Phil began his radio career as the bandleader on The Jack Benny Show, but his personality could not be contained.  His show with his wife, actress Alice Faye, was just as big a hit.  In this episode, Phil goes searching for a Mother’s Day gift for Alice.  His quest to do this on the cheap lands him and his pal Frankie Remley in the usual pots of hot water.  Then Dr. Watson returns to fill us in on The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.  Starring Nigel Bruce and Basil Rathbone, this adventure involves Boer War spies and carrier pigeons.

Episodes

The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show

“Mother’s Day Present”

May 8, 1949

4:43

The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

“The Telltale Pigeon Feathers”

January 21, 1946

36:21

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It’s April, and that’s the start of the baseball season, so here’s two baseball episodes. We’re starting off with The Abbot and Costello Show and their classic “Who’s On First.” This episode is much more than just that classic routine. There’s jokes about contemporary baseball players Bob Feller and Enos Slaughter, and singer Marilyn Maxwell introduces the hit song “Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans.” Then we visit the 1870s Old West of Dodge City, Kansas for an episode of Gunsmoke. A visiting baseball team is in town and that means gambling. Can William Conrad as Marshall Matt Dillon route out the bad guys. More importantantly, which set of the not-yet-codified rules of the game will the teams use: the one that lets you walk on eight balls or nine?

Episodes

The Abbott and Costello Show

“Who’s On First”

April 17, 1947

5:20

Gunsmoke

“Ball Nine, Take Your Base”

August 2, 1959

37:14

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We present a classic one-hour radio drama this time -   one of Orson Welles’ Mercury Theater on the Air adaptations.  Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo first appeared in 1844 and was an immediate success.  Welles portrays Edmond Dantès, a young man unjustly imprisoned for many years who uses an immense fortune to wreck revenge against his enemies.  This broadcast begins with a news bulletin about the Czechoslovakian Crisis of 1938, which ultimately drew England into World War II.

Episodes

The Mercury Theater on the Air

“The Count of Monte Cristo”

August 29, 1938

5:16

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And the fight for dominance at the box office continues as Insurgent takes the top spot.  But could the April offerings present a clear and steady winner?  Michael Falkner has a preview for next month's movie releases on a new Weekly Podioplex.

Comment on the episode or write weeklypodioplex@gmail.com.

Weekly Podioplex Notes for March 24, 2015

Introduction

Opening Clip: Home

Box Office Report

Top Ten

#1 – The Divergent Series: Insurgent
#2 – Cinderella [-1]

#3 – Run All Night [-1]
#4 – The Gunman
#5 – Kingsman: The Secret Service [-2]
#6 – Do You Believe?

#7 – The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel [-1]

#8 – Focus [-4]


#9 – Chappie [-4]

#10 – The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water [-3]

(New Release) [Change]

Tops From the Past

2010 – How to Train Your Dragon

2005 – Guess Who

1995 – Outbreak

1985 – Friday the 13th: A New Beginning

1975 – Tommy

Box Office Premieres for the week of March 27th, 2015

The box office premieres for January 23rd range from cuddly and comedic to thrilling drama

Wide

Home – [PG]

Get Hard – [R]

Limited

While We’re Young – [R]

Serena – [R]

The Salt of the Earth – [PG-13]

The Riot Club – [R]

White God – [R]

Man from Reno – [NR]

Cupcakes – [NR]

Home Entertainment for the week of March 24th, 2015

New Releases on DVD and Blu-Ray

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – [PG-13]

Into the Woods – [PG]

Unbroken – [PG-13]

TV on DVD and Blu-Ray

Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXXII (1988-1999)

The Donna Reed Show: Season Two (1959)

Mr. Bean: The Whole Bean (1990-1995)

Blu-Rays From the Past

The Beyond (1981) – [X]

The Thin Blue Line (1988) – [NR]

Podcast Promos

Talking Apes TV

Every episode of TALKING APES TV will delve into one episode of the PLANET OF THE APES TV Series, with plenty of quotes, audio and social commentary pulled from each show.

Quick Flicks

• April 2015 in Cinema

Links

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Shop for Batman (1966) on DVD and Blu-Ray, and Batman: The Movie on DVD and Blu-Ray

Michael’s blog at Creative Criticality

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We celebrate March by honoring the Girl Scouts and the Irish.  First up on The Burns and Allen Show, George Burns experiences more than the usual amount of befuddlement when wife Gracie Allen signs up to be a Girl Scout troop leader.  This March marks the 103rd anniversary of the founding of the Girl Scouts by Juliette Gordon Lowe.  Then on Quiz Kids, there’s a lot of blarney thrown around in preparation of St. Patrick’s Day as the young prodigies field questions about Irish history and other famous guys named Patrick.

Episodes

The Burns and Allen Show

“Gracie, the Girl Scout Leader”

March 10, 1949

3:27

Quiz Kids

“St. Patrick’s Day Diamond”

March 11, 1951

30:15

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We lead off with Dragnet.  Jack Webb and Barton Yarborough star as Sergeants Joe Friday and Ben Romero, definitely two of L.A.’s finest.  This time they’re investigating a gang of con artists who prey on the relatives of the recently deceased.  Truly, there is no honor among thieves.  Then it’s a return to the gentle domestic comedy of Fibber McGee and Molly.  Fibber gets a lot more than he bargained for as he grows impatient for the latest issue of his favorite magazine to be delivered to 79 Wistful Vista.  The show had recently switched from a weekly program to daily, and we present this two-part tale back to back.

Episodes

Dragnet

“The Big .38”

October 5, 1950

1:48

Fibber McGee and Molly

“40,000 Copies of Partly True”

“Unloading 40,000 Magazines”

April 22 & 23, 1954

34:46

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Philo Vance was the star of a number of murder mystery novels and movies that were popular during the 1920s and ‘30s.  Like so many other investigators, he made the leap to radio and TV.  In this episode of The Adventures of Philo Vance, a newspaper reporter on her way to interview Vance about his career is mysteriously killed on in the back of taxi.  Whodunit and how will be up to Vance to figure out.  Then it’s another typical life in the week of Italian immigrant Luigi Basco on Life With Luigi.  Luigi may have a little trouble with English, but his affection and appreciation for his new home in America are unassailable.  This warm-hearted comedy about post-World War II émigrés is the perfect antidote for anyone feeling there’s nothing special about the United States.

Episodes

The Adventures of Philo Vance

“The Bulletin Murder Case”

October 5, 1948

3:24

Life With Luigi

“The Abraham Lincoln Letter”

February 7, 1950

32:50

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We return to good old Madison High for more of Eve Arden as Our Miss Brooks.  This time, the sardonic English teacher gets caught up in a protest over the school’s dress code.  Girls in slacks and guys in dresses!  What is the world coming to?  It’s a farce of the highest order.  Then return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear as, for the first time, we present The Lone Ranger.  Thrill as the Lone Ranger and Tonto help a young man and his widowed mother recover a small fortune left to them.  The secret to the location is in a very special saddle.

Episodes

Our Miss Brooks

“Dress Code Protest”

April 24, 1949

4:24

The Lone Ranger

“The Saddle”

June 5 1946

35:48

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We start off the new year with a different sort of quiz show:  Quiz Kids.  Here, the sort of tricky questions sent in by listeners that we’re familiar with from Information Please are answered by kids.  Mostly teens, but some quite young, and all with high IQs.  Then we move on to the ultimate in domestic sit-coms, Vic and Sade.  Set in a typical small town, we visit the family residing in “the small house half way up on the next block.” The comedy is very dry, focusing on the minutiae of everyday life.  In the first of these two 15-minute episodes, Vic and Sade, and their teen-aged son Rush, take part in a wartime scrap drive.  Then, as Vic and Sade wait for some friends to come over for cards and ice cream, Vic tries to decide if he should purchase an honorary title from his lodge.

Episodes

Quiz Kids

“A Mousetrap, a Buttonhook, and the Statue of Liberty”

November 7, 1948

2:27

Vic and Sade

“The Scrap Drive”

36:05

“Honorary Titles for Sale”

46:15

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For our second set of Christmas-themed episodes this month, we start off with The Jack Benny Program.  Jack does one of his traditional holiday-shopping episodes.  As always, he tries to go cheap, and he bumps into a lot of the show’s regulars doing their shopping as well. Then, on Have Gun – Will Travel, Christmas Eve finds Paladin interceding between an Indian chief and a White rancher who insists that the chief’s son is actually his boy, stolen many years ago.

Episodes

The Jack Benny Program

“Last Minute Christmas Shopping”

December 21, 1947

2:34

Have Gun - Will Travel

“The Hanging Cross”

December 21, 1958

32:36

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This December I’m going to run all Christmas-themed shows.  We begin with another episode of Fibber McGee and Molly.  This episode is nearly 70 years old, but we see that some things never change.  Fibber and Molly have to go to the post office to mail off some Christmas presents, and the lines were just as long and annoying then as they still are today.  Then Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson recounts another of The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.  It’s Christmas Eve and the good Doctor has agreed to dress up as Santa Claus (uh, Father Christmas) for a children’s party.  Will Holmes get to spend a quiet evening at home?  Not on your Fezziwig . . .

Episodes

Fibber McGee and Molly

“Mailing Christmas Packages”

December 10, 1940

3:44

The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

“The Night Before Christmas”

December 24, 1945

35:10

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For Thanksgiving, it’s two comedy episodes (because there just aren’t any good OTR dramas about Thanksgiving except dramatizations of The First Thanksgiving).  First off, meet Eve Arden in Our Miss Brooks, where she plays a refreshingly sardonic high school English teacher who’s not above occasionally offering a zinger at the expense of her students.  As Thanksgiving approaches, more and more people invite themselves to her place for dinner – where there’s nary a turkey to be found.  Then Jack Benny attends that great Los Angeles event, the annual pre-Thanksgiving football game between UCLA and USC.  Jack, Mary, and Dennis drive out to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Dennis gets lost, and Jack bumps into Frank Fontaine, doing his character of Mr. Silvoney, the inspiration for Pete Puma from the Looney Tunes cartoons.

Episodes

Our Miss Brooks

“Thanksgiving Weekend”

November 27, 1949

3:41

The Jack Benny Program

“Jack Tries to Buy Tickets to the USC – UCLA Game”

November 26, 1950

36:13

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Episodes

The Great Gildersleeve

“The Pot Roast”

November 7, 1943

3:54

The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe

“Stamped for Murder”

October 20, 1950

32:12

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Episodes

The Great Gildersleeve

“The Halloween Party”

October 31, 1943

3:53

The Adventures of Ellery Queen

“The Adventure of the World Series Crime”

October 8, 1942

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Episodes

CBS Radio Workshop

“You Could Look It Up”

July 7 1957

3:27

Dragnet

“The Big Meet”

October 26, 1950

29:03

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Episodes

Burns and Allen “George and Jack Go to College” November 29, 1945 6:24

The Amazing Nero Wolfe

“The Shakespeare Folio”

December 15, 1946

39:53

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Episodes

The Whistler

"Seven Steps to Murder"

February 3, 1947

3:20

Information Please
April 4, 1941 34:08

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Episodes

You Bet Your Life

“Name”

December 14, 1955

6:32

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Episodes

The Abbot and Costello Show

“Income Tax Troubles”
March 6, 1947
5:40

Have Gun Will Travel
“Bounty Hunter"
August 21 1960
36:35

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Episodes

You Bet Your Life

"Secret Word: Ink"

November 9, 1949

4:25

Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar
"The Price of Fame Matter"
February 2, 1958
34:55

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Episodes

The Jack Benny Program

February 1, 1948

4:43

Dragnet

"The Big Bomb"

July 13, 1950

34:55

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Episodes

The Great Gildersleeve

“Jolly Boys Election”

October 3, 1951

5:27

Have Gun Will Travel

“Fair Fugitive”

November 22, 1959

38:40

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This time on Presenting the Transcription Feature, Kevin Lauderdale starts off in the middle of World War II. The classic sit-com Fibber McGee and Molly paints a portrait of life on the Home Front when its stars decide to go to the movies. Between rationing and price controls, just getting inside the theater proves quite the challenge. Then we return to the world of quiz shows with another episode of Information Please, with guests newspaper columnist Franklin P. Adams; sportswriter John Kieran; and pianist, comedian, actor, and raconteur Oscar Levant.

Episodes

“Fibber McGee and Molly” September 28, 1943 5:28

“Information Please” April 11, 1941 36:51

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Episodes

"The Plantagent  Matter" March 5-9, 1956  3:13

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This time on Presenting the Transcription Feature, Kevin Lauderdale tickles your funny bone and your little grey cells. The cast of The Jack Benny Program take part in the annual Easter Parade stroll down Los Angeles' Wilshire Blvd. On quiz show Information Please, the guests are sportswriter John Kieran, newspaper columnist Franklin P. Adams, lexicographer Wilfred Funk, and mystery novelist Rex Stout.

Episodes

03:49 The Jack Benny Program, "Easter Parade" April 17, 1949

33:08 Information Please, August 29, 1939

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This time on Presenting the Transcription Feature, KevinLauderdale brings you all crime, all the time.  The cast of The Jack Benny Program put on a melodramatic mystery, "Murder at Romanoff's."  This episode features the famous "Drear Pooson" flub which resulted in on of the longest laughs in the show's history.  Then we get down to just the facts with Dragnet.  "The 16 Jewel Thefts" mean a lot of unglamorous legwork for Joe Friday during a hot summer.

 

 

 

Episodes

07:03 The Jack Benny Program, "Murder at Romanoff's / Drear Pooson," January 8, 1950

39:20 Dragnet, "The 16 Jewel Thefts," August 18, 1949

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Kevin Lauderdale takes over the hosting duties for Presenting the Transcription Feature. Twice a month he’ll bring you the best of Old Time Radio comedy, drama, and quiz shows. This time out, it’s a double-shot of the BBC with two British programs. The Men from the Ministry has fun with incompetent British civil servants, and in The Lives of Harry Lime, Orson Welles reprises his role as the criminal mastermind from the classic film thriller The Third Man.

Episodes

05:49 The Men from the Ministry, "The Big Rocket," November 6, 1962

37:42 The Lives of Harry Lime, "The Bohemian Star," September 7, 1951

Please comment on this episodes here or write john@chronicrift.com or call 888-866-9010.

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It's been some time since the last episode of Presenting the Transciption Feature and sadly this episode brings John's stint as host to an end.  But fear not, the show is not over.  Listen in as John tells you who is taking over the show and what it will be like.  In order to prepare for the change in hosts, John presents the final part of the last Adventures of Superman and the final episodes of The Avengers serials he ran before his long break.  Thanks to all for listening and stay tuned.

Please comment on this episodes here or write john@chronicrift.com or call 888-866-9010.

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Guest host Kevin Lauderdale (It Has Come to My Attention, Mighty Movie's Temple of Bad) brings to your attention an assortment of old time radio Christmas comedy, commercials, and songs. 

Episode Extracts, December 21, 2013

Please comment on this episodes here or write john@chronicrift.com or call 888-866-9010.

Dragnet returns to Presenting the Transcription Feature as Jack Webb once again patrols the streets of Los Angeles in a quest for law and order.  This week, Joe Friday looks into the beating of a woman who has recently joined "The Big Church".  In addition, there are episodes of The Adventures of Superman and The Avengers.

Please comment on this episodes here or write john@chronicrift.com or call 888-866-9010.

November 2, 2013
0:29 - Whispers Radio Promo
4:34 - The Adventures of Superman - "Pillar of Fire at Graves End", part 2 - August 7, 1940
17:59 - Dragnet - "Daddy's Girl" - November 2, 1950
49:39 - The Avengers - "The Morning After", part 2

The War of the Worlds is an episode of the American radio drama anthology series The Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was performed as a Halloween episode of the series on October 30, 1938, and aired over the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network. Directed and narrated by actor and future filmmaker Orson Welles, the episode was an adaptation of H. G. Wells's novel The War of the Worlds(1898).

The first two thirds of the 62-minute broadcast were presented as a series of simulated news bulletins, which suggested to many listeners that an actual alien invasion by Martians was currently in progress. Compounding the issue was the fact that the Mercury Theatre on the Air was a sustaining show (it ran without commercial breaks), adding to the program's realism. Although there were sensationalist accounts in the press about a supposed panic in response to the broadcast, the precise extent of listener response has been debated.

In the days following the adaptation, however, there was widespread outrage and panic by certain listeners, who had believed the events described in the program were real. The program's news-bulletin format was described as cruelly deceptive by some newspapers and public figures, leading to an outcry against the perpetrators of the broadcast. Despite these complaints—or perhaps in part because of them—the episode secured Welles' fame as a dramatist.

To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the broadcast of this program, John shares the original broadcast as well as tells you about the BBC production of Independence Day UK, a tie-in audio drama to the blockbuster movie done in the style of The War of the World.  Check out Kevin Lauderdale's more detailed look at the original production on his It Has Come to My Attention.

Please comment on this episodes here or write john@chronicrift.com or call 888-866-9010.

October means that we dip in once again to the CBS Radio Mystery Theater.  This year, we look at the final year of EG Marshall's turn as host of the long running anthology series. Plus, we conclude the current stories for Superman and The Avengers and premiere new stories.

Please comment on this episodes here or write john@chronicrift.com or call 888-866-9010.

October 26, 2013
0:29 - The Weekly Podioplex Promo
4:35 - The Adventures of Superman - "Pillar of Fire at Graves End", part 1 - August 5, 1940
16:25 - CBS Radio Mystery Theater - "Daddy's Girl" - October 26, 1981
1:01:32 - The Avengers - "The Morning After", part 1

October means that we dip in once again to the CBS Radio Mystery Theater.  This year, we look at the final year of EG Marshall's turn as host of the long running anthology series. Plus, we conclude the current stories for Superman and The Avengers and premiere new stories.

Please comment on this episodes here or write john@chronicrift.com or call 888-866-9010.

October 19, 2013
0:29 - Teenage Wasteland Podcast Promo
4:30 - The Adventures of Superman - "Lighthouse Point Smugglers", part 6 - August 3, 1940
15:40 - CBS Radio Mystery Theater - "The Equalizer" - October 19, 1981
58:25 - The Avengers - "From Venus with Love", part 6

October means that we dip in once again to the CBS Radio Mystery Theater.  This year, we look at the final year of EG Marshall's turn as host of the long running anthology series. Plus, we conclude the current stories for Superman and The Avengers and premiere new stories.

Please comment on this episodes here or write john@chronicrift.com or call 888-866-9010.

October 12, 2013
0:29 - Twisted Geeks Podcast Promo
4:35 - The Adventures of Superman - "Lighthouse Point Smugglers", part 5 - July 31, 1940
15:35 - CBS Radio Mystery Theater - "The 500 Carats" - October 12, 1981
59:55 - The Avengers - "From Venus with Love", part 5

October means that we dip in once again to the CBS Radio Mystery Theater.  This year, we look at the final year of EG Marshall's turn as host of the long running anthology series. Plus, we conclude the current stories for Superman and The Avengers and premiere new stories.

Please comment on this episodes here or write john@chronicrift.com or call 888-866-9010.

October 4, 2013
0:29 - The Regis Jack Experience Netcast Promo
3:46 - The Adventures of Superman - "Lighthouse Point Smugglers", part 4 - July 29, 1940
16:45 - CBS Radio Mystery Theater - "The Solid Gold Zarf" - October 4, 1981
1:01:34 - The Avengers - "From Venus with Love", part 4

It had a great lead actor, an interesting take on the Western genre, and was produced when Westerns were king on television.  So why did Frontier Gentleman only last a little less than a year?  It's the featured presentation this month and that and more will be discussed. Plus, we continue the current stories for Superman and The Avengers.

Please comment on this episodes here or write john@chronicrift.com or call 888-866-9010.

September 14, 2013
0:29 - The Revcast Roundtable Promo
3:50 - The Adventures of Superman - "Lighthouse Point Smugglers", part 4 - July 27, 1940
15:55 - Frontier Gentleman - "A Horse for Kendall" - September 14, 1958
41:03 - The Avengers - "From Venus with Love", part 4

It had a great lead actor, an interesting take on the Western genre, and was produced when Westerns were king on television.  So why didFrontier Gentleman only last a little less than a year?  It's the featured presentation this month and that and more will be discussed. Plus, we continue the current stories for Superman andThe Avengers.

Please comment on this episodes here or write john@chronicrift.com or call 888-866-9010.

September 7, 2013
0:29 - The Retroist Podcast Promo
3:36 - The Adventures of Superman - "Lighthouse Point Smugglers", part 3 - July 25, 1940
18:10 - Frontier Gentleman - "The Last of Belle Siddons" - September 7, 1958
43:00 - The Avengers - "From Venus with Love", part 3

We're playing catchup as we never completed the episodes for August.  Stay tuned for the rest of the week as we have two more to go there before hitting our September episodes starting on Saturday.

August 31, 2013
0:29 - PSA for iTunes reviews
3:48 - The Adventures of Superman - "Lighthouse Point Smugglers", part 1 - July 23, 1940
15:33 - Theater Five - "The Scream" - August 31, 1964
36:25 - The Avengers - "From Venus with Love", part 1

We're playing catchup as we never completed the episodes for August.  Stay tuned for the rest of the week as we have two more to go there before hitting our September episodes starting on Saturday.

August 24, 2013
0:29 - The Righteous Dude Dudecast Promo
3:47 - The Adventures of Superman - "Happyland Amusement Park", part 6 - July 18, 1940
15:07 - Theater Five - "Caller at Midnight" - August 24, 1964
35:07 - The Avengers - "Too Many Oles", part 6

We're playing catchup as we never completed the episodes for August.  Stay tuned for the rest of the week as we have two more to go there before hitting our September episodes starting on Saturday.

August 10, 2013
0:29 - Epic Podcast Promo
5:01 - The Adventures of Superman - "Happyland Amusement Park", part 5 - July 16, 1940
16:08 - Theater Five - "The Fun Party" - August 17, 1964
37:44 - The Avengers - "Too Many Oles", part 5