Sun, 20 August 2023
It’s back-to-school time on this episode of “Presenting the Transcription Feature.” And we all need to laugh, so here’s two comedy episodes. First, we’ll visit Ivy College, where the mellifluous British actor Ronald Colman and his real-life wife, the equally mellifluous Benita Hume, star as “The Halls of Ivy.” He is the president of one of those small Midwestern colleges that predominated in movies and radio shows of the era. She, his wife, who has given up her career on the stage to be his helpmeet. This episode, while full of laughs, has a lot of heart too. The show’s dialog is informed and witty – as befits Colman’s always-sophisticated persona, and “The Halls of Ivy” even won a Peabody Award in 1950. Then we drop in on high school to see “Our Miss Brooks.” Here, Eve Arden plans a relaxing pre-return-to-work picnic. But those plans soon go awry. This episode starts off a little silly. There’s the sit-com trope of people pretending to be other people, but, as we approach the end, it really pays off hilariously. Plus, you get Gale Gordon and Frank Nelson in one episode. Episodes The Halls of Ivy Our Miss Brooks
Direct download: Presenting_the_Transcription_Feature_191_-_THE_HALLS_OF_IVY__OUR_MISS_BROOKS.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:00am EDT |
Wed, 9 August 2023
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Fri, 4 August 2023
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Wed, 2 August 2023
Episode 44 Jack C. Harris With the conclusion of our reviews of DC Comics' 1977 run of The Mighty Isis comic series, we're proud to present our interview with The Mighty Isis writer Jack C. Harris. Harris talks with us about how he got the assignment to write the book, the abrupt cancellation, and his plans with the series had it moved forward. Plus, we talk Kamandi and Captain Marvel in this all new episode. |
Fri, 28 July 2023
We’ll start off tonight with The One, The Only, Groucho! on “You Bet Your Life.” Tonight, Groucho Marx interviews the usual assortment of unusual high school students, assistant district attorneys, housewives, and are dog trainers that different from piano teachers? Then on Old Time Radio’s premier science fiction anthology program, “X Minus One,” comes an adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s "C-Chute.” It was first published in the October 1951 issue of “Galaxy” magazine. It’s a study in racism, patriotism, and the folly of war. Episodes You Bet Your Life X Minus One
Direct download: Presenting_the_Transcription_Feature_190_-_YOU_BET_YOUR_LIFE__X_MINUS_ONE.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:00am EDT |
Mon, 3 July 2023
For the Fourth of July, we’re going to present two Independence Day-themed episodes of classic old time radio. First drama then comedy. “Family Theater” was a family-friendly anthology show featuring a mix of original stories and adaptations of literary classics, usually starring big names from Hollywood. This week’s program is a dramatization of a particular moment in history -- the writing of The Declaration of Independence. It’s narrated by Loretta Young and stars Robert Stack as Thomas Jefferson. And, if you are a fan of the musical “1776,” note what’s the same in this adaptation and what’s different. Then on “Our Miss Brooks,” our intrepid heroine plans to meet her boyfriend in the countryside for the 4th of July weekend. Episodes Family Theater Our Miss Brooks
Direct download: Presenting_the_Transcription_Feature_189_-_FAMILY_THEATER__OUR_MISS_BROOKS.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:00am EDT |
Sat, 17 June 2023
It’s summer time, and I want to present a couple of summer-themed and summer-adjacent radio shows. We’ll start off with real American politician, writer, and newspaper publisher Will Rogers, Jr playing a fictional Will Rogers, Jr who runs the fictional small-town newspaper, the “Illyria Weekly Gazette.” What else says summer more than a county fair, with lots of people partaking in various competitions? Well, this year, the ladies of Illyria have decided not to participate. Whither the jams, jellies, and pickles? Then, I finally get around to presenting “Lum and Abner.” The show was created by, and stars, Chester Lauck as Lum and Norris Goff as Abner, the owners of the financially disastrous Jot ‘Em Down general store. The show was a 15-minute continuing serial, a comedy soap opera. In both of tonight’s episodes, the boys are planning vacations. Episodes Rogers of the Gazette Lum and Abner July 19, 1945
Direct download: Presenting_the_Transcription_Feature_188_-_ROGERS_OF_THE_GAZETTE__LUM_AND_ABNER.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00pm EDT |
Tue, 30 May 2023
The character of A.J. Raffles was created by E.W. Hornung in 1898. Hornung was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s brother-in-law, and he was inspired to write about a sort of anti-Sherlock Holmes. His Raffles is thief, to be sure, but one who was charming. Raffles an “an amateur cracksman,” who lives the life of a gentleman. But if you don’t actually have an independent income, you have to be able to finance your lifestyle somehow. “Screen Directors’ Playhouse” adapted popular films to radio, often with the movie’s same stars and directors. There had been several silent film adaptations of Hornung’s tales, as well as a 1930 film starring Ronald Colman and a 1939 film starring David Niven. This broadcast adapts the 1939 film and features the equally suave-voiced Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Episode Screen Directors’ Playhouse
Direct download: Presenting_the_Transcription_Feature_187_-_RAFFLES.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:00am EDT |
Sun, 14 May 2023
We begin with the “College Quiz Bowl,” as students from Tulane go up against their counterparts from Northwestern. As always, some of the topics are very specific to the day, but we 21st Century residents should still be able to answer quite a lot. Are you up on the names of pop culture family members, Winston Churchill’s writings, and tea in the news? Then, we return to the contemporary (1950s, as opposed to the “old”) west with the adventures of “Bobby Benson and the B Bar B Riders.” This Western centered on a 12-year-old boy who had inherited a Texas cattle ranch, and was packed with rustlers, cattle drives, and all the usual things American kids of the 1950s would have enjoyed. This particular episode features action, mysticism, and a couple of moral lessons. Episodes College Quiz Bowl Bobby Benson and the B-Bar-B Riders
Direct download: Presenting_the_Transcription_Feature_186_-_COLLEGE_QUIZ_BOWL__BOBBY_BENSON.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00pm EDT |
Wed, 26 April 2023
“Forecast” was a radio show specifically designed to try out new shows. Both “Suspense” and “Duffy’s Tavern” got their starts there. Tonight, we present the pilot for a show I would have absolutely loved had it gone to series, but alas it did not. “Leave It To Jeeves,” was inspired by the P.G. Wodehouse tales of young man-about-town Bertie Wooster and his personal gentleman’s gentleman, Jeeves. Starring Edward Everett Horton and Alan Mobray, respectively, this tale doesn’t actually adapt any of the Wodehouse tales, but it does take the structure and pay homage to the sort of situations in which Bertie and Jeeves were always finding themselves: engagements, errands for aunts… Any Wodehouse fan will be at home in this comic, twisty misadventure. Then “X Minus One” adapts Murray Leinster’s science fiction tale of time travel by phone call, “Sam, This Is You.” Episodes Forecast X Minus One
Direct download: Presenting_the_Transcription_Feature_185_-_JEEVES__X_MINUS_ONE.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:00am EDT |
Sat, 8 April 2023
Tonight, we return to Orson Welles’ “The Mercury Theatre on the Air.” In this adaptation of Jules Verne’s “Around the World in 80 Days,” Welles plays British gentleman adventurer Phileas Fogg, who has wagered his personal fortune that he can circumnavigate the globe in just that time. Filled with fantastic music by Bernard Herrmann, top-notch sound effects, and a great supporting cast, Welles does the tale proud. Episode The Mercury Theatre on the Air
Direct download: Presenting_the_Transcription_Feature_184_-_AROUND_THE_WORLD_IN_80_DAYS.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:00am EDT |
Sun, 26 March 2023
Nero Wolfe, the brilliant, but lazy, detective created by Rex Stout, famously almost never left his house. One of the few things that could stir him was his love of orchids. In tonight’s episode of “The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe,” starring Sydney Greenstreet, it is indeed some of those lovely plants that draw him into a murder at a flower shop. Then on “The Jack Benny Program,” Jack and the gang are planning to take the train to New York … if their adventures at the station don’t derail them first. Episodes The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe The Jack Benny Program
Direct download: Presenting_the_Transcription_Feature_183_-_NERO_WOLFE__JACK_BENNY.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:00am EDT |
Sat, 11 March 2023
We start off tonight with an episode of “Suspense” that isn’t all that suspenseful, i.e. spooky. But it’s a lot of fun. “The Lost Special” is based on a non-Sherlock Holmes story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which first appeared in “The Strand Magazine” in August, 1898. Orson Welles narrates. This is an Armed Forces Radio rebroadcast, which means the ads have been taken out. It was played overseas for US troops. Then, our guests on tonight’s episode of the quiz show “Information Please” are science popularizer Bernard Jaffe and … Harpo Marx? Yes. The show revels in the sheer novelty of having Harpo, the one Marx Brother who doesn’t speak, on a panel, and he still manages be witty and delightful. Episodes Suspense Information Please
Direct download: Presenting_the_Transcription_Feature_182_-_SUSPENSE__INFORMATION_PLEASE.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:00am EDT |
Mon, 20 February 2023
We start off tonight with a murder as investigated by those charming amateur sleuths, “Mr. and Mrs. North.” Then we get seasonal with “Fibber McGee and Molly,” as Fibber attempts to celebrate Pancake Day (Shrove Tuesday, aka Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras) by serving his wife a pancake breakfast in bed. Episodes Mr. and Mrs. North
Direct download: Presenting_the_Transcription_Feature_181_-_MR_AND_MRS_NORTH__FIBBER_MCGEE_AND_MOLLY.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:00am EDT |
Fri, 20 January 2023
Episodes Suspense Life With Luigi
Direct download: Presenting_the_Transcription_Feature_180_-_SUSPENSE__LIFE_WITH_LUIGI.mp3
Category:Presenting the Transcription Feature -- posted at: 1:00am EDT |
Sun, 1 January 2023
I like to start off the new year with these adaptations by “The Lux Radio Theater.” Tonight, Leslie Howard reprises his 1934 starring role as the original secret identity hero, “The Scarlet Pimpernel.” Here, Olivia de Havilland plays his wife. A year later, the two would appear as husband and wife again, in “Gone with the Wind,” as Ashley Wilkes and Melanie Hamilton. Radio lends itself well to “The Scarlet Pimpernel,” which began life as a 1903 play, and so, from the start, has always relied heavily on dialog. Episode The Lux Radio Theater
Direct download: Presenting_the_Transcription_Feature_179_-_THE_SCARLET_PIMPERNEL.mp3
Category:Presenting the Transcription Feature -- posted at: 1:00am EDT |