Real-life bandleader for “The Jack Benny Show,” Phil Harris, and his wife, Alice Faye, had their own sitcom radio show during the 1940s – 50s.  Accompanied by his pal Frankie Remley (or is that Elliott Lewis?  Listen and all will be explained.), Harris would stumble into problems surpassed only by the team of Flintstone and Rubble.  This time around, it’s the infamous traffic in Los Angeles that will be the guys’ undoing.  Then it’s time to see what you remember from school.  On “College Quiz Bowl” we cover music, witches, and international capitals.

Episodes

The Phil Harris – Alice Faye Show

November 27, 1953

“The Traffic Problem in Los Angeles”

4:56

College Quiz Bowl

November 27, 1954

“Minnesota vs Smith”

34:59

On “The Jack Benny Show,” Jack has a terrible time trying to listen to the 1950 World Series.  When he’s not being interrupted by visitors, his radio keeps jumping between a performance of “Bali Hai” and a boxing match from the 1920s.  Then “X Minus One” adapts Ray Bradbury’s classic short story, “The Veldt.”  How real is too real for the television of the future?

Episodes

The Jack Benny Show

October 8, 1950

“Jack Listens to the World Series and the Dempsey-Tunney Fight”

4:10

X Minus One

August 4, 1955

“The Veldt”

36:14

 On “You Bet Your Life” a horsewoman and a fisherman come in for some good-natured ribbing, but they give as good as they get from the one, the only, Groucho Marx.  And, as usual, a simple question like “How did you meet your spouse?” opens up a world of comedy.  Then on “Dragnet,” there is no honor among thieves.  When a jewel thief is caught, he’s quick to turn on his fellows once he learns that they’ve cheated him.

Episodes

You Bet Your Life

April 9, 1952

The Secret Word is “Sign”

2:34

Dragnet

April 26, 1953

“The Big Scrapbook”

32:26

Radio quiz shows were all the rage during the 1940s and 1950s, from the comedy of “You Bet Your Life” to the erudition of “Information Please.”  Tonight we present an episode of “College Quiz Bowl,” where the best and brightest of two colleges square off.  Here it’s Brown and its affiliated women’s college, Pembroke, vs the University of Minnesota.  For a transcribed program, this show is brimming with spontaneity.  Then, on an early episode of “The Great Gildersleeve,” our hero is dragooned into investigating the City Jail . . . from the point of view of a prisoner.

Episodes

College Quiz Bowl

January 15, 1955

“Brown vs University of Minnesota”

3:42

The Great Gildersleeve

October 5, 1941

“Investigate the City Jail”

33:25

“Vic and Sade” is the driest of domestic comedies.  We present two 15-minute visits to “the small house half-way up on the next block.”  First, the son of the house, young Rush, has plans to single-handedly tear down a brick building – purely for the honor.  Then Rush recruits his father to teach his high school principle, Mr. Chinbunny, the manly art of cigar smoking.  “The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe” are based on the classic characters created by Rex Stout and star the magnificently-voiced (and appropriately-girthed) Sydney Greenstreet as New York’s brilliant, but lazy, private investigator. Wolfe leaves the legwork to his assistant, Archie Goodwin – a man about town who really gets around.

Episodes

Vic and Sade

November 14, 1939

“Tearing Down a Three-Storey Brick Building”

June 2, 1940

“Mr. Chinbunny Wants to Smoke Cigars”

3:30

The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe

April 20, 1951

“The Lost Heir”

23:36

Sports, poetry, music, and military campaigns are all topics for clever questions and clever answers on “Information Please.”  Then we present the first episode of a little-known but hilarious (and surprisingly timeless) radio comedy, “The Magnificent Montague.”  Starring writer and actor Monty Woolley (you may know him as the star of “The Man Who Came to Dinner”), Woolley plays a former Broadway star forced to take a role on a cheesy afternoon radio melodrama.  The character of Edwin Montague is the precursor to Frasier Crane ands Charles Emerson Winchester III -- loveable in his pomposity.

 

Episodes

 

Information Please

April 19,1943

“Guests:  Ford Frick and Grantland Rice”

1:42

 

The Magnificent Montague

November 10, 1950

“A Starring Role in Radio”

34:15

The Weekly Podioplex returns to find war. This week belongs to Caesar and the apes as they dominate the box office, but still have considerable ground to make up in their own franchise. Meanwhile, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Christopher Nolan's take on Dunkirk, and a Girls Trip will challenge the apes for the throne. Can they hold the line?

The home entertainment slate also stars an ape as Kong: Skull Island invades store shelves. Joining the king are a Promise, The 100, The Expanse, and the car-leaping antics of T.J. Hooker. After that, Denise wraps things up in the Quick Flicks with comic book news and a celebration of the Thirteenth Doctor. This and more comprise a new edition of The Weekly Podioplex, brought to you on The Chronic Rift Network.

Weekly Podioplex Notes for July 18th, 2017

Introduction

Opening Clip: Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

Box Office Report

Top Ten

#1 – War for the Planet of the Apes – [New Release]
#2 – Spider-Man: Homecoming – [-1]
#3 – Despicable Me 3 – [-1]
#4 – Baby Driver – [-1]
#5 – The Big Sick – [+3]
#6 – Wonder Woman – [-2]

#7 – Wish Upon – [New Release]
#8 – Cars 3 – [-2]
#9 – Transformers: The Last Knight – [-4]
#10 – The House – [-3]

Tops From the Past

2012 – The Dark Knight Rises
2007 – I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry
1997 – Men in Black
1987 – RoboCop
1977 – The Island of Dr. Moreau
 

Box Office Premieres for the week of July 21st, 2017

Wide

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets – [PG-13]

Dunkirk – [PG-13]

Girls Trip – [R]

Limited

Landline – [R]
The Midwife – [UR]

Home Entertainment for the week of July 18th, 2017

New Releases on DVD and Blu-Ray

Kong: Skull Island – [PG-13]

The Promise – [PG-13]

New Releases on Digital Video

The Circle – [PG-13]

With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story (2010) – [UR]

TV on DVD and Blu-Ray

The 100: Season Four (2017)

The Expanse: Season Two (2017)

T.J. Hooker: Complete Series (1982-1986)

Blu-Rays From the Past 

State Fair (1962) – [NR]

Podcast Promos

British Invaders

The British Invaders podcast features a lively two-person exchange about different television series, tele-films and mini-series. These discussions serve as both an introduction and an entertaining conversation, catering to both those who have seen and those who have yet to see these British science fiction and fantasy shows. Each show is presented in two parts, with new episodes appearing every two weeks. British Invaders covers everything from story-lines to production details to spinoff material. Past topics have included Doctor Who, Sapphire and Steel, Red Dwarf, Day of the Triffids, Jekyll, Robin of Sherwood, and many more.

Quick Flicks

Martin Landau and George Romero
Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor
Wonder Woman’s strong box office performance
Ben Affleck’s script is out for Batman
The Joker is cured?

Links

Visit the Chronic Rift site
Send us an e-mail
Tweet on Twitter:  The Chronic Rift, The Weekly Podioplex, Denise, and Michael
Listen on Stitcher Radio

Leave a review on iTunes:  The Chronic Rift

Shop the Rift’s Best Bets or search our Amazon Store. 

Michael’s blog at Creative Criticality

Denise’s blog at Accessories Not Included

Greek restaurateurs have their say on this episode of “Presenting the Transcription Feature.”  We start off with a fictional one, the loveable Parky of “Meet Me at Parky’s.”  A famous food critic is coming to his restaurant, and Parky is desperate for a good write-up.  So desperate that he looks for help from con-man Orville Sharpe, the only person of Parky’s acquaintance with more of a talent for malapropisms than he.  Then, on “You Bet Your Life,” Groucho Marx welcomes an actual Greek restaurateur.   Other contestants include a Las Vegas masseur and a real-life “Rosie the Riveter.”

Episodes

Meet Me at Parky’s

March 3, 1946

“Visit from a Gourmet”

2:19

You Bet Your Life

April 21, 1954

“The Secret Word is People”

32:33

For Father’s Day, we start off with “The Great Gildersleeve.”  He’s only an uncle, but he’s been like a father to his niece and nephew, so they decide to get him a great, big, stuffed club chair.  They aren’t the only ones.  This episode is a classically-structured farce with people and chairs coming and going to beat the band.  Then on the science fiction anthology program “X Minus One,” a couple of lab rats find themselves caught up in government bureaucracy.  

Episodes

The Great Gildersleeve

June 21, 1942

“Father’s Day Chair”

2:09

X Minus One

November 21, 1956

“Chain of Command” 

32:00

The March of Dimes gets mentioned on both our quiz show and our comedy in this installment.  On “Information Please,” the guest is General Hugh Johnson, head of President Roosevelt’s National Recovery Administration, who also worked hard to raise money to fight polio.  Then, on “The Danny Kaye Show,” the versatile comedian / actor / singer plays an exaggerated version of himself.  As he tries to get to Washington for a March of Dimes fund-raiser, he finds plenty of opportunities to use his patented fake-foreign accents and scat-patter as well as sing a sweet song or two.

Episodes

Information Please

January 24, 1939

“Guest:  General Hugh Johnson”

3:29

The Danny Kaye Show

January 27, 1945

“Flying to Washington for March of Dimes” 

36:30