It’s been a long time since we checked in with that loveable con man Harry Lime, in the person of Orson Welles.  Not quite the psychopathic murderer he was in the movie “The Third Man,” where he originated the role, radio’s Harry was more of a ne'er-do-well criminal.  In this episode, of “The Lives of Harry Lime,” Harry is on the Orient Express, hoping to work a counterfeit scam when someone tries to scam him.  Then, on “The Bob Hope Show,” Bob is broadcasting from the campus of USC just before a game against UCLA.  Now that the war is over, he’s leaving behind the military-themed jokes, and this episode is just packed with delightful college cliches and slang.

Episodes

The Lives of Harry Lime
February 22, 1952
“It’s In The Bag”
1:54

The Bob Hope Show
November 27, 1945
“Guests:  Peggy Ryan and Red Skelton”
31:18

We start off tonight with another episode of that great quiz show, “Information Please.”  Are you up on babies and their guardians, military insignia, and devils in literature?  Then, since it’s almost time for Easter, here’s the Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble of OTR: Phil Harris and Elliot Lewis.  “The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show” starred actual married couple, Phil Harris, who was the band leader on “The Jack Benny Program,” and popular film star Alice Faye.  Tonight, Phil and his band’s guitarist, Elliot, attempt to use a drugstore chemistry set to color Easter eggs.  What could possibly go wrong?

Episodes

Information Please
March 13, 1944
“Guest:  Quentin Reynolds”
2:11

The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show
April 5, 1953
"Coloring Easter Eggs Phil's Way”
32:46

We start off tonight with an episode of “The Bob Hope Show.”  It’s December of 1945, and the war is over.  Hope had spent much of it broadcasting from military bases, but now he is back at the NBC studios in Hollywood.  His guest, Jimmy Durante, promises to take Bob to a swanky party, but is Bob ready for Society, and vice-versa?  Then, time for that excellent quiz show, “Information Please.”  It’s an Armed Forces recording, which means the original was transcribed and then all the ads were taken out.  Are you up on literary in-laws, animal gestation periods, and places to climb?

Episodes

The Bob Hope Show
December 4, 1945
“Guest:  Jimmy Durante”
3:48

Information Please
April 24, 1944
“Guests:  Deems Taylor and Irene Dunne”
35:02

For our New Year’s treat, here’s “The Lux Radio Theater” adaptation of the classic 1947 film “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.”  The film is an unconventional romance of sorts starring Rex Harrison and Gene Tierney as the title characters.  She’s a vibrant young widow, and he’s the ghost of a rollicking sea captain.  The captain isn’t French, so I’m not sure why they cast Charles Boyer in the role, except that he does have sonorous voice.  Madeleine Carroll takes on Tierney’s role.

Episode

The Lux Radio Theater
December 1, 1947
“The Ghost and Mrs. Muir”
2:30

More Christmas here on “Presenting the Transcription Feature.”  “Author’s Playhouse” was an anthology radio drama that ran from 1941 to 1945 on various networks.  It featured adaptations of popular short stories by authors like James Thurber, W.W. Jacobs, and, in this case, O. Henry.  The story you are about to hear first appeared in his 1907 collection “Heart of the West,” a collection of western tales.  Here, the setting is a mining town during the gold rush, and I love the incredibly ornate way the miners speak.  Reminds me of “Guys and Dolls.”  Then we finish off with “The Jack Benny Special Christmas Show,” a 40-minute-long special that Jack did in the mid-1950s.  It’s got all the usual holiday high jinks plus some special guest stars.

Episodes

Author’s Playhouse
December 21, 1941
“Christmas By Injunction”
2:04

“The Jack Benny Special Christmas Show”
December 2, 1956
32:03

Welcome to December on “Presenting the Transcription Feature.”  That means Christmas-themed episodes all month.  We’ll start off with George Burns and Gracie Allen in the eponymous “The Burns and Allen Show.”  Christmas is fast approaching, and George has no idea what to get his wife.  Then “The Great Gildersleeve” himself is in a very good mood as he goes holiday shopping and plans a party for friends and family.

Episodes

The Burns and Allen Show
December 18, 1947
“Gracie’s Last Minute Christmas Gift”
2:32

The Great Gildersleeve
December 24, 1944
“Twas the Night Before Christmas”  
34:05

“The Couple Next Door” was one of the many 15-minutes-a day, five-days a week programs that used to fill the airwaves.  It was, like “Vic and Sade” a show about “nothing.”  It lacks the absurdism of “Vic and Sade,” and that may have made it easier for its audience to relate to.  The show was the creation of one woman, Peg Lynch, who wrote and co-starred in every episode.  Tonight, we present two representative episodes depicting late 1950s suburban American life.  Then, who better to spend Thanksgiving with than the hard-boiled cast of “The Adventures of Sam Spade, Detective”?  Someone is trying to kill a man -- a man named Tom Turkey.

 Episodes

The Couple Next Door

January 27, 1958
“Is The Couple Married”

October 3, 1960
“Living Room Wired For Stereo”
4:10

 

The Adventures of Sam Spade, Detective
November 24, 1950
“The Terrified Turkey Caper”
33:35

It’s Halloween, and what says spooky goings-on more than … Jack Benny.  Tonight, we have two episodes of very different shows, but both starring Jack Benny. We start off with “The Jack Benny Program.”  Everyone is invited to Jack’s house for a Halloween party.  There’s crazy costumes, disappointing food and drink, and lots of jokes about the bygone days of vaudeville.  Then Jack takes a dramatic turn playing a mild-mannered piano tuner who stumbles into the worlds of theft and murder on “Suspense.”

Episodes

The Jack Benny Program
November 3, 1940
“Jack’s Halloween Party”
3:21

Suspense
April 5, 1951
“Murder in G Flat”
33:18

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
March 19, 1952
“The Oldest Living Graduate”
2:35

Our Miss Brooks
September 11, 1949
“The School Board” aka “Head of the Board”
28:23

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
February 22, 1950
“The Secret Word is ‘Table’”
2:20

X Minus One
February 8, 1956
"C-Chute”
32:42

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 4^th of July weekend.

Episodes

Family Theater
July 1, 1953
“The Longest Hour”
2:42

Our Miss Brooks
July 3, 1949
“July 4^th Trip to Eagle Springs” aka “Conklin’s Blood Pressure”
26:03

 

 

 

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
October 22, 1953
“Eula Horner and the County Fair”
2:27

Lum and Abner
September 8, 1942
“Back to Nature” aka “Vacation”
34:10

July 19, 1945
“Store Closed for Vacation”
46:17

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
September 14, 1951 
“Raffles”
3:30

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 21^st 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
October 24, 1953
“Tulane vs Northwestern”
2:25

Bobby Benson and the B-Bar-B Riders
November 17, 1951
“The Lost Tribe”
35:46

“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
August 12, 1940
“Leave It To Jeeves”
2:49

X Minus One
October 31, 1956 
“Sam, This Is You”
34:18

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
October 23, 1938
"Around the World in 80 Days”
3:28

 

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

Here’s two more Christmas episodes to round out this December.  We’ll start off with a drama, then some comedy.  “This Is Your FBI” ran on ABC radio from April of 1945 to January of 1953.  It dramatized real cases from the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  No less than the head of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, praised the show, calling it “the finest dramatic program on the air.”  Then for comedy, who else but the crew from “The Jack Benny Program.”  This episode is from December 1937.  The show had been on the air for five years, and this is the first of what would become a regular holiday feature, Jack going Christmas shopping.  It doesn’t feature Jack being indecisive over a gift, which I always thought they overused, but it does have the usual stable of crazy fellow shoppers and employees, including Frank Nelson as the floorwalker.

Episodes

This Is Your FBI
December 24, 1948
“The Return of St. Nick”
2:18

Jack Benny
December 12, 1937
“Christmas Shopping”
33:41

All December it’s Christmas episodes on “PTTF.”  We’ll start off tonight with a mystery and then a comedy. These Christmas episodes are from the same year, and, as it happens, only one day apart.  First up, we hear from that sultry-voiced PI, “Candy Matson.”  Then we’ll see what Eve Arden as “Our Miss Brooks” has planned for Christmas. 

Episodes

Candy Matson
December 19, 1949
“Jack Frost”
2:40

Our Miss Brooks
December 18, 1949
“A Letter to Santa”
32:27

As we approach Thanksgiving, we’re going to start off with a Turkey Day-themed crime drama and then then a comedy.  “Jeff Regan, Investigator” starred Jack Webb as a private investigator working for the International Detective Bureau.  The show just barely pre-dates “Dragnet,” and Webb’s Regan is even drier in delivery than Joe Friday, and more sarcastically verbose.  In tonight’s episode, he’s dispatched to retrieve a turkey from a mysterious estate, and finds murder and mayhem.  Then “My Friend Irma” was one of those radio comedies that spawned a whole franchise.  The series centers on the comic mis-adventures of two single girls sharing an apartment in the big city.  Each episode is narrated by the bright, reliable Jane Stacy.  It’s never long before her friend and roommate, the pretty, but scatterbrained, Irma Peterson, gets everyone into some sort of wacky situation.  This time, it’s planning a Thanksgiving dinner.

Episodes

Jeff Regan, Investigator
November 20, 1948
“The Pilgrim’s Progress”
2:38

My Friend Irma
November 15, 1948
“Thanksgiving Turkey” aka “Thanksgiving is Approaching”
33:54

It’s a Karloff-fest tonight as we prepare to celebrate Halloween.  We start off with an episode of “Information Please” that originally aired on Christmas Eve, but features Boris Karloff as one of the guests.  Are you up on literary skulls, crossers of the English Channel, and poems that feature murder?  Then Boris drops by “Duffy’s Tavern” in an effort to scare off a potential buyer.

Episodes

Information Please
December 24, 1945
“Guests:  John Mason Brown and Boris Karloff”
2:00

Duffy’s Tavern
October 5, 1951
“Duffy Wants to Sell the Tavern”
32:17

We start off tonight with an episode of “Broadway Is My Beat.”  If you think the sophisticated avenues of Time Square to Columbus Circle are free from murder and crime, you’re dead wrong.    It’s “the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world."  “Broadway Is My Beat” ran from February of 1949 to August of 1954 on CBS.  For most of that run, it starred Larry Thor as New York City detective Danny Clover, whose assigned “beat” was the theater district.  Not that that made his job any easier.  Then we drop in on “The Great Gildersleeve.”  Tonight, Gildy stumbles upon the upcoming wedding of a young lady and Marine about to ship out.  They just want a nice, quiet, simple wedding.  Of course, that soon balloons into … well, you can guess.  This is actually a very sweet story with some really good laughs.  And we get to hear Lillian Randolph as Birdie sing.  That’s always a treat.

Episodes

Broadway Is My Beat
February 17, 1950
“Dion Hartley”
3:44

The Great Gildersleeve
May 27, 1953
“Witness at the Wedding”
33:33

Sixty years ago today, September 30, 1962, is the date generally accepted as the end of the Golden Age of Radio.  On the same night, the final episodes of “Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar” and “Suspense” were broadcast.  “Johnny Dollar” after 13 years and “Suspense” after 20 years.  I couldn’t let that pass without observing it by presenting those two final episodes.  Don’t worry, those shows will appear again on this show.

Episodes
Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar
September 30, 1962
“The Tip-Off Matter”
2:40

Suspense
September 30, 1962
“Devilstone”
26:52

We start off tonight by trying to match wits with that amateur detective who’s also a mystery writer, the eponymous star of “The Adventures of Ellery Queen.”  This episode is another twisty one of multiple murders that requires you to really pay attention.  Then on “The College Quiz Bowl,” the best brains of Washington and Lee University go up against The University of Pittsburgh.  Although the material is from 70 years ago, this episode is packed with lots of questions that even we 21^st century listeners should be able to answer and have fun with.  Are you up on types of nuts, adjectives from literature, and the finer points of women’s clothing?

Episodes

The Adventures of Ellery Queen
November 7, 1945
“The Message in Red”
1:41

The College Quiz Bowl
March 21, 1954
“Washington & Lee University vs The University of Pittsburgh”
32:17

Let’s begin tonight with another thrilling story of the masked rider of justice, “The Lone Ranger.”  We always think of the Lone Ranger as a hero, but to the people of the Old West, he was “The Masked Man,” a character a little more morally ambiguous.  Tonight, he and Tonto go up against bureaucracy and marauding outlaws hiding in the hills.  Then on “The Jack Benny Program,” it’s the first show of the new season.  Everyone has been off, and they haven’t seen each other all summer.  Jack has just arrived home from three weeks’ vacation in Hawaii and is anxious to get together with his friends.

Episodes
The Lone Ranger
April 22, 1938
“Murder of Pony Express Rider”
1:47

The Jack Benny Program
September 13, 1953
“Back From Vacation in Hawaii”
32:47

“Information Please” famously gave away copies of the “Encyclopaedia Britannica” to people who sent in questions that stumped the show’s panel. The “Britannica”’s offices were in Chicago. In the summer of 1943, as part of a War Bond drive, the show left New York and broadcast from some “western” cities, starting in Chicago, where, in this episode, the editor of the “Britannica”, Walter Yust, was a panelist.  In consequence, there’s some Chicago-themed questions, in addition to famous forms of egress and people who had their names changed.  Note that Mr. Yust’s name is frequently misspelled as Youst.  I hope having both spellings in this text will aid future internet searches.  Then on “Gunsmoke,” Matt Dillon encounters a solid mystery with a clever solution involving cattle.

Episodes
Information Please
June 28, 1943
“Guest: Walter Yust at the Chicago Civic Opera House”
2:46

Gunsmoke
May 30, 1953
“Fall Semester”
32:09

Tonight, we present two examinations of the world of newspapers and investigative reporting, first comedy, then something a little more dramatic.  The newspaper comic strip “Blondie” was created by Chic Young and started running in 1930.  It is still running, as I record this, almost 92 years later.  It features the domestic mis-adventures of the eponymous Blondie, and her husband Dagwood, Bumstead.  And, in this case, their children, son Alexander and daughter Cookie.  The success of the comic strip launched a series of 28 “Blondie” movies, produced from 1938 to 1950, all starring Penny Singleton as Blondie and Arthur Lake as Dagwood.  The weekly radio series, also starring Singleton and Lake, ran concurrently on various networks and for various sponsors from 1939 to 1950.  This is a typical episode, with Dagwood accidentally getting involved in embarrassing shenanigans.  And I particularly enjoy some of the sound effects. Then real-life politician, writer, and newspaper publisher Will Rogers, Jr. plays a heightened version of himself on “Rogers of the Gazette.”  This episode also features young reporters hunting for scandal, and finding just a bit of crime and peril.

Episodes

Blondie
November 3, 1948
“Blondie and The Tattletale” aka “Alexander’s Scandal Sheet”
2:50

Rogers of the Gazette
December 30, 1953
“Investigative Reporters”
29:04

“The Adventures of Father Brown” was broadcast on the Mutual Network during June and July of 1945, so only a few episodes were ever produced.  It starred Karl Swenson as the titular priest and part-time detective. The show was based on the Father Brown mysteries, written by G.K. Chesterton starting in 1910 and continuing until 1936, some 50 short stories.  Chesterton was a British, Catholic writer and part-time lay theologian.  He loved mysteries, and he used his character of Father Brown to show that a man of faith could also be a man of logic.  After matching wits with the good padre, put your feet up and laugh with Groucho on “You Bet Your Life.”  Tonight, his guests include has a UPS delivery man and a former silent film actress, not to mention a neon sign manufacturer and an amateur handwriting analysist.

Episodes

The Adventures of Father Brown
“The Three Tools of Death”
July 22, 1945
3:05

You Bet Your Life
“The Secret Word is ‘Chair’”
May 26, 1954
32:48

We start off tonight with another episode of “Gunsmoke.”  Here, a mysterious couple shoot four other strangers in town, sending Marshall Dillon and Chester after them all around the West.   Then, on “The Kraft Music Hall,” Bing Crosby is joined by actor Keenan Wynn for lots of World War II-era laughs and songs.

Episodes

Gunsmoke
March 21, 1953
“Pussy Cats"
1:34

The Kraft Music Hall
July 13, 1944
Guest:  Keenan Wynn
31:39

“My Man Godfrey” is a classic screwball comedy from 1936.  Filmed and set during the Great Depression, it stars William Powell as Godfrey, a “forgotten man”:  one of the millions of unemployed and down-and-out at the time.  Carol Lombard co-stars as the daughter of wealthy family who soon employ Godfrey as their butler.  Both Powell and Lombard reprised their roles for this episode of “The Lux Radio Theater.”

The Lux Radio Theater
May 9, 1938
“My Man Godfrey”
2:48

We begin this evening with “The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe.”  This is a particularly clever and twisty plot involving a high-stakes card game.  Then on “The Jack Benny Program,” Jack is a little concerned that his contract for next season hasn’t been renewed yet.  Is he going to be replaced by his competition?

Episodes

The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe
January 12, 1951
“The Killer Cards”
1:38

The Jack Benny Program
April 11, 1954
“Jack Hasn’t Received His New Contract”
31:36

Tonight, we start off with a couple episodes of “The Goldbergs.”  Not the TV series set in the 1980s, but the long-running radio series from the 1930s and 40s.  The show tells the story of the daily life of the Goldbergs, a Jewish family living in New York and, later, Connecticut. The program was created by and starred Gertrude Berg.  When the program moved to television in the 1950s, she was the first recipient of the Emmy Award for “Lead Comedy Actress.”  “The Goldbergs” was a daily, 15-minute dramedy.  The family was explicitly Jewish and explicitly trying to assimilate -- a true media rarity at the time.  Like the best of the Golden Age of Radio, the episodes produced during World War II are a real window into home front America.  “The Goldbergs” in particular concentrated on themes of everyone working together.  How good a writer was Gertrude Berg? Listen to Molly’s speech to another mother at the end of the first episode.  In 2013, that episode was added to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry for works that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States."  Then on “Information Please,” are you up on famous chapter titles, political defeats, and the origins of idiomatic phrases?  Get ready to stump the experts.

Episodes

The Goldbergs
July 9, 1942
Episode 1297 aka “Sammy Goes Into the Army”

The Goldbergs
Circa 1942
Episode 1338
4:26

Information Please
June 21, 1943
“Guests: Dr. C. Mildred Thompson and Christopher Morley”
30:58

We start off tonight with everyone’s favorite medical drama, “The Story of Dr. Kildare.”  Here Drs. Kildare and Gillespie help an aging Western movie star with psychological difficulties.  Then we drop by 79 Wistful Vista for a visit with “Fibber McGee and Molly.”  Tonight, Fibber is very busy with big business as he takes huge orders for the mysterious AJB Company.

Episodes

The Story of Dr. Kildare
February 23, 1951
“Buck Houston, Cowboy Star”
1:39

Fibber McGee and Molly
January 4, 1944
“AJB Company Western Branch Representative” aka “Representative for AJB Company”
29:05

We start off with a tale well-calculated to keep you in … “Suspense.”  In this twisty episode, tough guy actor Edward G. Robinson stars as both himself and as a humble little nothing of a man who has big ideas.  Robinson made his mark playing gangsters in movies like “Little Caesar” and “Key Largo,” not to mention the corrupt overseer Dathan in “The Ten Commandments.”  This episode is so clever and audacious.  Until the very end, the listener wonders what they are going to do with this.  How are they going to pull it off?  It’s a classic.  Then we return to “The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show.”  Usually, it’s Phil who gets caught up in the ridiculous shenanigans.  This time it’s Alice, and she has some fantastic lines.  This episode directly follows the previous week’s wherein the character of Frankie Remley was forced to change his name to the actor’s actual name of Eliot Lewis.

Episodes

Suspense
October 17, 1946
“The Man Who Thought He Was Edward G. Robinson”
3:16

The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show
October 12 1952
“The Stolen U.S. Mail”
32:50

The school bell is ringing, so let’s check in with a handful of very bright youngsters on “The Quiz Kids.”  I hope you know your baseball scoring rules, animals associated with each of the 48 (!) states, and that favorite topic of 8^th graders everywhere: opera.  Then on “The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show,” the couple returns from vacation to find that Phil’s pal Frankie Remley has turned the Harris’ house into a hotel – and that’s not all he’s changed. 

 

Episodes

The Quiz Kids
August 15 1948
“If Dewey Is Elected, What Will He Wear Into the White House?”
2:06

The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show
October 5, 1952
“Hotel Harris” aka “Remley is Elliot”
33:25

“Mr. and Mrs. North” featured a married couple of sleuths.  They began their career in short stories written by Richard Lockridge in the 1930s, but soon progressed to novels, a movie, a Broadway play, an Edgar-Award-wining radio show, and eventually television in the 1950s.  They have affection for each other, and Mrs. North plays just as much a part in the stories as does her husband.  Then, with the success of the “The Jack Benny Program,” it was only natural there be spin-offs.  Singer Dennis Day got his own show in 1946.  “A Day in the Life of Dennis Day” features the Irish tenor not as Benny’s employee, but rather a drug store employee in a fictional small town.  But he’s still rather naïve, and you can bet he still sings.

Episodes

Mr. and Mrs. North

January 4, 1951

“Die Hard”  

1:57

 

A Day in the Life of Dennis Day

December 17, 1947

“Dennis Helps Mrs. Anderson Become President of the Ladies Club”

28:29

UK Airing: January 18, 1968

US Airing: September 7, 1968

The Prisoner appears to have returned to London and is sent on a mission to find Professor Schnipps' rocket that is set to destroy London. But he must contend with a lovely female assassin first.

Comment on this podcast by writing us at thechronicrift@gmail.com or by leaving your thoughts right here on the page.

On an all-new edition of The Weekly Podioplex, Logan sliced into the box office and eliminated the competition, using his cinematic swan song to make his mark on the record books. This week, the Wolverine goes toe to toe with a giant ape as Kong: Skull Island takes audiences on a forbidden journey. Which mutant will win?

 

In home entertainment, Disney takes us to the islands as Moana makes her debut alongside Jackie, Scamander, and the Passengers. The Americans sneak into the TV list, and two classics make their way onto high-definition. After that, Denise wraps things up with a new slate of news in the Quick Flicks, putting the finishing touches on this first March edition of the Weekly Podioplex, brought to you on The Chronic Rift Network.

 

 

Weekly Podioplex Notes for March 7th, 2017

 

Introduction

Opening Clip: Kong: Skull Island

 

Box Office Report

 

Top Ten

#1 – Logan – [New Release]
#2 – Get Out – [-1]
#3 – The Shack – [New Release]
#4 – The LEGO Batman Movie – [-2]
#5 – John Wick: Chapter Two – [-2]
#6 – Before I Fall – [New Release]

#7 – Hidden Figures – [Even]
#8 – The Great Wall – [-4]
#9 – Fifty Shades Darker – [-4]
#10 – La La Land – [-2]

 

Tops From the Past

2012 – The Lorax
2007 – 300
1997 – Private Parts
1987 – Lethal Weapon
1977 – Rocky
 

Box Office Premieres for the week of March 10th, 2017

Wide

Kong: Skull Island – [PG-13]

 

Limited

Raw – [R]
Badrinath Ki Dulhania – [NR]
The Ottoman Lieutenant – [R]

Personal Shopper – [R]

The Sense of an Ending – [PG-13]

My Scientology Movie – [NR]

The Other Half – [NR]
The Dark Below – [UR]
Uncertain – [NR]
Suntan – [UR]

 

Home Entertainment for the week of March 7th, 2017

New Releases on DVD and Blu-Ray

 

Moana – [PG]

Jackie – [R]

Incarnate – [PG-13]

 

New Releases on Digital Video

 

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – [PG-13]

Passengers – [PG-13]

 

TV on DVD and Blu-Ray

 

The Americans: Season Four (2016)
Saving Hope: Season Four (2016)

Blu-Rays From the Past

 

Compulsion (1959) – [NR]

Fahrenheit 451 (1966) – [NR]

 

 

Podcast Promos

 

The Melting Potcast

The Melting Potcast: A Little of Everything, from Everyone, Everywhere. It's also your source for really bad food and writing puns. Our crew gives you never-before heard fiction in a variety show setting, featuring different types of segments. This is a melting pot, after all!

 

 

Quick Flicks

 

Van Helsing re-write
Hellboy 3 will never happen
Castle Rock gets a ten-episode order on Hulu
Jurassic World 2 plot revealed?
LEGO Batman Movie director helming Nightwing film
Robin Hood: Origins

 

 

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

On an all-new edition of The Weekly Podioplex, November debuts with a repeat winner as Boo! A Madea Halloween fends off a tepid performance by Inferno. Robert Langdon's disappointing debut will likely result in a rapid decline as Marvel returns to the stage with Doctor Strange. Following on the doctor's heels are an animated comedy about Trolls and a war drama called Hacksaw Ridge.

 

In home entertainment, we boldy go with Star Trek Beyond, Bad Moms, and the Return of the Caped Crusaders. It's a Sausage Party on digital, and a smorgasbord of home entertainment including Librarirans, IT professionals, and time travelers. Wrap things up with Denise and the Quick Flicks, and you have a shiny new installment of The Weekly Podioplex, brought to you on The Chronic Rift Network.

 

 

Weekly Podioplex Notes for November 1st, 2016

 

Introduction

Opening Clip: Doctor Strange

 

 

Box Office Report

 

Top Ten

#1 – Boo! A Madea Halloween – [Second Week]
#2 – Inferno – [New Release]
#3 – Jack Reacher: Never Go Back – [-1]
#4 – The Accountant – [Even]
#5 – Ouija: Origin of Evil – [-2]
#6 – The Girl on the Train – [-1]

#7 – Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children – [-1]
#8 – Keeping Up With the Joneses – [-1]
#9 – Storks – [Even]
#10 – Ae Dil Hai Mushkil – [Limited Release]

 

Tops From the Past

2011 – Puss in Boots
2006 – Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
1996 – Romeo + Juliet
1986 – Crocodile Dundee
1976 – Burnt Offerings

 

Box Office Premieres for the week of November 4th, 2016

Wide

Doctor Strange – [PG-13]

Trolls – [PG]

Hacksaw Ridge – [R]

 

Limited

Loving – [PG-13]
The Eagle Huntress – [G]
Peter and the Farm – [UR]

 

Home Entertainment for the week of November 1st, 2016

New Releases on DVD and Blu-Ray 

 

Star Trek Beyond – [PG-13]

The Night Before – [R]

Bad Moms – [R]

Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders – [PG]

 

New Releases on Digital Video

 

Sausage Party – [R]

 

TV on DVD and Blu-Ray 

 

Hell on Wheels: Season Five, Part Two (2016)
Hell on Wheels: The Complete Series (2011-2016)
The Librarians: Season One (2015)
The IT Crowd: The Complete Series (2006-2013)
Outlander: Season Two (2015)

Blu-Rays From the Past 

 

Neighbors (1981) – [R]

 

 

Podcast Promos

 

The Batcave Podcast 

The Batcave Podcast is an Internet show that takes a look at each and every episode of the 60s Batman television series. Host John S. Drew celebrates the great and looks to see where the show went wrong as it slid into oblivion in its third and final season with a different guest host each week. In the end, John is attempting to justify his love for this series, not to the listener, but to himself. Join him on this long, strange trip.

 

 

Quick Flicks

 

Captain America without Steve Rogers
Sherlock Holmes 3 heads to the writers room
Sherlock returns to BBC America next year
Wes Anderson's next stop-motion film
Doctor Who: Timeclash table-top game
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them screenplay to hit hardcover

 

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

 On an all-new edition of The Weekly Podioplex, Jason Bourne took down the Enterprise as Matt Damon ends his nine year hiatus from the role with a bang. Kirk and crew held off the Bad Moms and the nerve-wracking stunts of Nerve, but this week's good guys may have a tough time against next week's bad guys as the Suicide Squad explodes into theaters. 

 

On the home entertainment front, a handful of big name comedies join The Killing Joke on disc, and The Huntsman brings the Winter's War to digital. TV on DVD is spy drama with Blindspot and The Blacklist, and the sinking of the most famous unsinkable ship comes forward on Blu-Ray. This and more on a new edition of The Weekly Podioplex, only on The Chronic Rift Network.

 

 

Weekly Podioplex Notes for August 2, 2016

 

Introduction

Opening Clip: Suicide Squad

 

Box Office Report

 

Top Ten

#1 – Jason Bourne – [New Release]
#2 – Star Trek Beyond – [-1]
#3 – Bad Moms – [New Release]
#4 – The Secret Life of Pets – [-2]
#5 – Ice Age: Collision Course – [-1]
#6 – Lights Out – [-3]

#7 – Ghostbusters – [-2]
#8 – Nerve – [New Release]
#9 – Finding Dory – [-4]
#10 – The Legend of Tarzan – [-3]

 

Tops From the Past

2011 – Rise of the Planet of the Apes
2006 – Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
1996 – A Time to Kill
1986 – Aliens
1976 – The Omen

 

Box Office Premieres for the week of August 5th, 2016

Wide  

Suicide Squad – [PG-13]

Nine Lives – [PG]

 

Limited

Little Men – [PG]
Five Nights in Maine – [NR]

Front Cover – [NR]

 

Home Entertainment for the week of August 2nd, 2016

New Releases on DVD and Blu-Ray 

 

Meet the Blacks – [R]

Confirmation – [NR]

Batman: The Killing Joke – [R]

Keanu – [R]

Mother’s Day – [PG-13]

Red Sonja: Queen of Plagues – [NR]

 

New Releases on Digital Video

 

Chosen – [R]

The Huntsman: Winter’s War – [PG-13]

 

TV on DVD and Blu-Ray 

 

Blindspot: Season One (2015)
The Blacklist: Season Three (2015)

Blu-Rays From the Past 

 

The Titanic (1996) – [NR]

 

Podcast Promos

 

 

Remake This Movie RIGHT!

“Remake This Movie RIGHT!” is a bi-weekly podcast where we take a classic film that is actively being remade by Hollywood studio execs, and craft our own version of how a modern retelling should go. Does the story need updating? Should characters or motives be tweaked? Do we need more muppets? We take all factors into account, concoct our film, and then offer a Final Pitch to you in movie trailer form. By the end of each episode, we will Remake This Movie RIGHT!

 

 

Quick Flicks

 

None

 

Links

 

Visit the Chronic Rift site
Leave voicemail toll-free: (844) 674-3453
Send e-mail
Tweet on Twitter:  The Chronic Rift and The Weekly Podioplex
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

On an all-new no foolin' edition of The Weekly Podioplex, the bunny took a backseat as Batman and Superman battled their way through several records for a stellar weekend. The big question is whether or not those titans can keep the box office throne against brutal critical reviews and a lackluster new release slate. This, some winter films for your home theater, and a return to the Satellite of Love fill out the rest of this week's edition of The Weekly Podioplex, brought to you on the Chronic Rift Network.

 

 

Weekly Podioplex Notes for March 29, 2016

 

Introduction

Opening Clip: God's Not Dead 2

 

Box Office Report

 

Top Ten

#1 – Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
#2 – Zootopia [-1]
#3 – My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2
#4 – Miracles from Heaven [-1]
#5 – The Divergent Series: Allegiant [-3]
#6 – 10 Cloverfield Lane [-2]

#7 – Deadpool [-2]
#8 – London Has Fallen [-2]
#9 – Hello, My Name is Doris [+5]
#10 – Risen [+1]

 

(New Release) [Change]

 

 

Tops From the Past

2011 – Hop
2006 – Ice Age: The Meltdown
1996 – The Birdcage
1986 – Police Academy 3: Back in Training
1976 – Taxi Driver

 

Box Office Premieres for the week of April 1st, 2016

Wide

God’s Not Dead 2 – [PG]

Meet the Blacks – [R]

 

Limited

Everybody Wants Some!! – [R]
Miles Ahead – [R]

The Dark Horse – [R]

Kill Your Friends – [NR]
Natural Born Pranksters – [R]
Standing Tall – [R]
The Girl in the Photographs – [R]

Home Entertainment for the week of March 29th, 2016

New Releases on DVD and Blu-Ray 

 

The Hateful Eight – [R]

Concussion – [PG-13]

Point Break – [PG-13]

Forsaken – [R]

Exposed – [R]

 

TV on DVD and Blu-Ray 

 

Mystery Science Theater 3000: XXXV (1988-1999)

Archer: Season Six (2015)

Humans: Season One (2015)

 

Blu-Rays From the Past 

 

The Hidden Fortress (1958) [Criterion Collection] – [NR]

 

Podcast Promos

 

My Star wars Story

Anomaly?

 

Site: http://rosiesummers.podbean.com

Promos: http://rosiesummers.podbean.com/mf/web/cnuyd7/KnightBusAdvert2.mp3 (90 sec) http://rosiesummers.podbean.com/2013/07/03/aboard-the-knight-bus-advert/

SFD

 

Pop Mockers

Pop Mockers is a clean pop culture comedy podcast from the Breakroom Studios Podcast Network that makes fun of all things pop culture and social media. Chris Cowan, Chris Quandt, and Nate Henderson provide witty and hilarious commentary as they get together each week to discuss all the things that are wrong with modern society..

 

Quick Flicks

 

None

Links

 

Visit the Chronic Rift site
Leave voicemail toll-free: (844) 674-3453
Send e-mail
Tweet on Twitter:  The Chronic Rift and The Weekly Podioplex
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

Weekly Podioplex Notes for

March 8, 2016

 

Introduction

Opening Clip: 10 Cloverfield Lane

 

Box Office Report

 

Top Ten

#1 – Zootopia
#2 – London Has Fallen
#3 – Deadpool [-2]
#4 – Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
#5 – Gods of Egypt [-3]
#6 – Risen [-2]

#7 – Kung Fu Panda 3 [-4]
#8 – The Revenant [+2]
#9 – Eddie the Eagle [-4]
#10 – The Witch [-3]

 

(New Release) [Change]

 

Tops From the Past

2011 – Battle: Los Angeles
2006 – Failure to Launch
1996 – The Birdcage
1986 – Pretty in Pink
1976 – To the Devil a Daughter

 

Box Office Premieres for the weeks of March 11th and March 18th, 2016

Wide

March 11th 

10 Cloverfield Lane – [PG-13]

The Perfect Match – [R]

The Brothers Grimsby – [R]

The Young Messiah – [PG-13]

 

March 18th 

The Divergent Series: Allegiant – [PG-13]

Miracles from Heaven – [PG]

 

Limited

March 8th 

Creative Control – [R]
Eye in the Sky – [R]

Hello, My Name is Doris – [R]
Lolo – [NR]

Marguerite – [R]
River of Grass – [NR]

Backgammon – [NR]

March 15th 

The Bounce Back – [PG-13]

Midnight Special – [PG-13]

The Bronze – [R]

The Program – [R]

The Little Prince – [PG]

Krishna – [R]

My Golden Days – [R]

 

Home Entertainment for the weeks of March 8th and March 15th, 2016

New Releases on DVD and Blu-Ray 

 

March 8th

The Peanuts Movie – [G]

Victor Frankenstein – [PG-13]

Macbeth – [R]

 

March 15th 

The Big Short – [R]

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip – [PG]

Brooklyn – [PG-13]

Sisters – [R]

 

TV on DVD and Blu-Ray 

 

March 8th

Manhattan: Season Two (2015)

 

March 15th 

Game of Thrones: Season Five (2015)

 

Blu-Rays From the Past 

 

March 8th 

Howard the Duck (1986) – [PG]

 

March 15th 

The Manchurian Candidate (1962) – [Approved]

 

Podcast Promos

 

The Batcave Podcast

The Batcave Podcast is an Internet show that takes a look at each and every episode of the 60s Batman television series. Host John S. Drew celebrates the great and looks to see where the show went wrong as it slid into oblivion in its third and final season with a different guest host each week. In the end, John is attempting to justify his love for this series, not to the listener, but to himself. Join him on this long, strange trip. 

 

The Anomaly Podcast

Welcome to Anomaly Geek Girl Podcasts and Blog.  Articles and episodes feature topics such as: Sci Fi and Fantasy books, games, movies & television shows, costuming & cosplay, conventions, theatre & general geek culture. There’s a little something here for the geek in everyone.

 

Quick Flicks

 

None

Links

 

Visit the Chronic Rift site
Leave voicemail toll-free: (844) 674-3453
Send e-mail
Tweet on Twitter:  The Chronic Rift and The Weekly Podioplex
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

Weekly Podioplex Notes for November 17, 2015

 

Introduction

Opening Clip: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2

 

Box Office Report

Top Ten

#1 – Spectre [Second Week]
#2 – The Peanuts Movie [Even]
#3 – Love the Coopers
#4 – The Martian [-1]
#5 – The 33
#6 – Goosebumps [-2]

#7 – Bridge of Spies [-2]
#8 – Prem Ratan Dhan Payo
#9 – Hotel Transylvania 2 [-3]
#10 – The Last Witch Hunter [-2]

 

(New Release) [Change]

 

 

Tops From the Past

2010 – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1
2005 – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
1995 – GoldenEye
1985 – Once Bitten
1975 – Dog Day Afternoon

Box Office Premieres for the week of November 20th, 2015

Wide

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 – [PG-13]

The Night Before – [R]

Secret in Their Eyes – [PG-13]

 

Limited

Legend – [R]

Carol – [R]

#Horror – [NR]

Mediterranea – [NR]

 

Home Entertainment for the week of November 17th, 2015

New Releases on DVD and Blu-Ray 

 

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Extended Edition – [R]

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. – [PG-13]

 

 

TV on DVD and Blu-Ray 

 

McHale’s Navy: The Complete Series (1962-1966)

Cristela: Season One (2014)

 

Blu-Rays From the Past 

 

In Cold Blood (1967) – [R]

 

 

Podcast Promos

 

Techno Retro Dads

TechnoRetro Dads share the fandom and fun of their youth with their families as they build a bridge from the past to the future through the time spent with their kids in the present. Join JediShua and shazbazzar as they reminisce about the past while exploring the future of some of their favorite science fiction and fantasy properties of their youth. Listen in to discussions about the movies, music, games, and comics of the 70s and 80s as they share the days of their youth with their own kids in a positive, family-friendly atmosphere. If you’re a TechnoRetro Dad, the child of one, or just fondly remember the sci-fi/fantasy properties of the 70s and 80s, then this podcast is for you!

 

Quick Flicks

 

None

Links

 

Visit the Chronic Rift site
Leave voicemail toll-free: (844) 674-3453
Send e-mail
Tweet on Twitter:  The Chronic Rift and The Weekly Podioplex
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