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
December 29, 1950
“The Case of The Bashful Body”
1:42

The Jack Benny Program
February 21, 1954 
“Jack At the Train Station” aka “Train Trip to New York”
31:58

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
September 30, 1943
“The Lost Special”
2:04

 Information Please
October 25, 1938 
“Guests: Bernard Jaffe and Harpo Marx”
33:18

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
September 1, 1953
“No Vacation From Murder”
1:35

Fibber McGee and Molly 
Pancake Day
February 26, 1952
27:54

This late January marks both the birth and death of actor J. Carrol Naish, who was born on January 21, 1896 and died just shortly after his 77^th birthday on January 24, 1973.  Naish received two Oscar nominations for his supporting roles in the films “Sahara” (1943) and “A Medal for Benny” (1945), the latter of which also earned him a Golden Globe.  But he also had an extensive radio career.  Most prominently, he was the star of “Life With Luigi,” which cast him as a naïve Italian immigrant, Luigi Basco.  For all its stereotypes, and – because it was a comedy, its exaggerations – the series reflected the affection immigrants held for their new nation and home.  “Life With Luigi” is ultimately about making a new life in a land of infinite possibilities, and the desire to truly integrate one’s self into the best of American culture.  Tonight, we present two very different performances by Nash.  The first is someone the polar opposite of the sweet Luigi.  In this episode of “Suspense,” Naish plays a conniving, murderous husband.  Will crime pay?  Then on “Life With Luigi,” our hero’s quest to become a citizen is thwarted by his countryman, Pasquale (played by Fred Flintstone himself, Alan Reed).

Episodes

Suspense
August 1, 1946
“Commuter’s Ticket”  
2:44

Life With Luigi
January 10, 1950
“Luigi’s First Citizenship Papers"
32:41

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
December 12, 1938
“The Scarlet Pimpernel”
2:40