Showing results by author "Original Radio Broadcasts" in All Categories

Lum and Abner meet Buster V. Davenport of Toledo, Ohio…but, he sure looks a lot like our old friend Grandpappy Spears of Pine Ridge! And, that's just one of the problems facing the proprietors of the Jot 'Em Down Store in this collection. There's a war on! The town's truck line is in trouble, "little" Pearl is leaving town to become a nurse, and the boys' secret recipe for making synthetic rubber is lost. Can the Golden Era Discussion Club study up a way to get things back to normal? Here are 36 serialized episodes from the winter of 1943!

The impeccably dressed Charlie McCarthy was as sarcastic as he was stylish. His country cousin Mortimer Snerd was buck-toothed, bucolic...and just as fondly remembered. But it was the egalitarian and exquisitely entertaining Edgar Bergen who brought them to life. Enjoy this Peabody Award winning team in 16 digitally restored and remastered episodes - many of which have not been available since their original broadcast in 1942! Hear performances by Rita Hayworth, W. C. Fields, Harold Peary, Hedy Lamarr, Don Ameche, Dale Evans, and more....

Agonizing predicaments, stellar sound effects, and high wattage Hollywood star power combine in radio's top thriller. Myrna Loy, Joseph Cotten, Lucille Ball, Robert Taylor, Ronald Colman, and Agnes Moorehead give brilliant performances in blood-chilling stories. Twenty white-knuckled episodes (produced and directed by the legendary William Spier) feature a superior supporting cast, including John Dehner, Howard Duff, Elliott Lewis, William Johnstone, Joseph Kearns, and more. The tension and excitement of this Peabody Award-winning series are well calculated to keep you in...Suspense!

The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show was one of radio’s brightest lights; a hilarious situation comedy featuring a friendly sardonic and sarcastic edge that set it apart from its contemporaries. Featuring Phil Harris, fresh off plying his comedic and musical talents on The Jack Benny Program, and his movie star wife Alice Faye. The show also starred Elliott Lewis as the remarkable Frankie Remley - one of radio’s most unforgettable characters - a humorously irresponsible con-artist with an endless thirst for the good stuff.

In 1946, Life Magazine declared, "Dashiell Hammett's Fat Man is suave, witty, hardboiled and provides better than average radio entertainment." By 1948, The Fat Man was one of the top 10 shows on Friday nights, with more than six million listeners every week. And, starring as Brad Runyon, the "Fat Man" of the title, was J. Scott Smart, a 270-pound actor who sounded every pound the part.

Lum and Abner aspire to open a moving picture theater in Pine Ridge. In order to make their dream a reality, they'll need to find an appropriate building in town, a piano (and someone to play it), plus a projector (and someone to operate it). Will the boys manage to pull this project together? Will they find the money for the startup costs? And will Squire Skimp find a way to horn in on their new business? Come on down to the Jot 'Em Down Store and find out!

Kidnappers, bank robbers, interstate con artists, and the occasional spy—it's all in a day's work for Special Agent Jim Taylor! Drawn from official case files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, here are sixteen intriguing investigations torn from the headlines of 1951. Film star Stacy Harris is heard as Taylor, with narration by William Woodson. Tough guys like William Conrad and Sheldon Leonard and lovely ladies like Betty Lou Gerson and Georgia Ellis round out the cast.

He stood just three feet tall, but his wit was larger than life! Charlie McCarthy was made of wood, but to millions of radio listeners, he was as real as Edgar Bergen - and much, much funnier. Impudent, irreverent, and positively irrepressible, here are 16 rare and classic radio episodes featuring Charlie himself.

Jack Benny's supporting cast - his "gang" - was the heart, soul, and success of his radio program. Mary Livingstone, Don Wilson, Phil Harris, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Dennis Day, Frank Nelson, Mel Blanc, Artie Auerbach, and Ronald and Benita Colman delivered many of the best jokes - and earned biggest laughs - on the show. Many members of this talented ensemble went on to star in programs of their own - always with Jack's support. This collection includes some of the gang's best work - both on and off of Benny's program.

Eve Arden stars as the tart-tongued Constance Brooks, a dedicated English teacher at Madison High School. Before and after the bell rings, Miss Brooks turns her thoughts from language to love. Indulging in her perpetual pursuit of bashful biology teacher Philip Boynton (Jeff Chandler), Connie finds herself making his favorite stew, conspiring to make him sick, and pretending to be his mother! She even considers compromising her principles (and her principal)!

NYPD detective Danny Clover, poignantly portrayed by Larry Thor, patrols The Great White Way. With each block he bears witness to regret and redemption, to desperation and debauchery, to wealth and want. Each leaves its mark on this poetic policeman. At Clover’s side, and covering his back, are Sgt. Tartaglia (Charles Calvert) and Sgt. Muggavan (Jack Kruschen). The unhappy endings of hard luck stories drive Danny to search for justice - pounding the pavement to track down an eye witness, find that one scrap of evidence, or just to walk until it all makes sense.

One of the definitive detectives of American crime fiction comes to radio - with a matchless mind, a relentless eye for detail, and just a bit of an attitude. That's Philo Vance - S.S. Van Dine's famous amateur criminologist of the 1920s and 1930s, ready for radio in the 1940s. Jackson Beck stars as Vance, with Joan Alexander as secretary Ellen Deering, and George Petrie as District Attorney Markham in 16 mind-challenging mysteries!

Mask in place, cloak flowing, gas gun at the ready - radio's pulpiest crime-fighter prowls the streets of a corrupt American city as The Green Hornet! Hop aboard the sleek, supercharged vehicle known as The Black Beauty with wealthy young publisher Britt Reid and his faithful valet Kato for 20 thrilling tales of urban crime! Jack McCarthy stars as Britt Reid, the mysterious vigilante, skulking in the night - raining sudden vengeance down on unwitting evildoers before vanishing back into the mists of his secret identity.

In one corner: Connie Brooks (Eve Arden), the teacher who elevated education to a plateau never before realized from a transmitter! In the other corner: Osgood Conklin (Gale Gordon), the pompous principal of Madison High School who is the undisputed champion of the slow burn! On hand for the main event is a charismatic cast of characters, including squeaky-voiced student Walter Denton (Richard Crenna). As both the romantic interest of Conklin's daughter, and as one of Miss Brooks' leading co-conspirators, he was viewed with a jaundiced eye by the omnipresent principal.

Racketeers and robbers, crap-shooters and kidnappers, hit men and hard cases - watch out! Joe Friday's on the job, and he isn't here to fool around! Join Jack Webb for 20 gritty true-life tales of urban crime from the files of the Los Angeles Police Department. Ben Alexander, Martin Milner, Jack Kruschen, Virginia Gregg, June Whitley, Stacy Harris, and more co-star as the city's cops, concerned citizens, and cold criminals.

Next stop: Summerfield! Join Fibber McGee's battling next-door neighbor as he sets out on a brand new life in this collection of early episodes of The Great Gildersleeve! Gildy's new family fast becomes the most important part of his life - and this bombastic bachelor quickly develops a strong sense of heart.

Doctors and nurses exchanging tense, meaningful dialogue! A gurney rumbles down a corridor, surgical instruments clatter, and a rubber glove snaps at the end of a life-saving operation! Here is medical drama at its best - tense, taut, and intensely human! Lew Ayres stars as Dr. James Kildare, an intern at the start of his medical career, who takes on the hectic routine of a major metropolitan hospital. Lionel Barrymore co-stars as his gruff-but-kindly mentor Dr. Leonard Gillespie.

Fred Allen specialized in literate wordplay, lacerating satire, and a squinty-eyed critique of the passing scene. His style was entirely his own: the slate-pencil whine of his voice, the ludicrously-named supporting characters, and the small-town-cum-big-city rattle of his dialogue. Join him in a promenade through parody, along with co-stars Portland Hoffa, Alan Reed, Kenny Delmar, Minerva Pious, John Brown, Charlie Cantor, and Parker Fennelly. Even Fred’s guest stars jump into the jest!

The greatest stars of screen and stage, the greatest writers of print and radio—all combine to keep you in…suspense! Here are twenty nerve-stretching exercises in crime, mystery, and the uncanny featuring Robert Montgomery, Gregory Peck, Lana Turner, William Powell, Ronald Reagan, Joseph Cotton, and more. Fates and fortunes may be threatened by a jealous spouse, an unscrupulous authority figure…or the truth. Find out what rash decisions are made in the desperation of the moment in riveting radio plays produced and directed by Anton M. Leader, William Spier, and Norman Macdonnell.

Once she has your rapt attention, she begins to tell you - with a gleeful cackle - her tales of ghosts, devils, and curses. The narratives she weaves convey countless examples of how jealousy, revenge, greed and ambition can result in circumstances as frightening as any caused by supernatural beings.