October 28, 2009
A few months back, we heard the first show in the series “Mercer Mcleod, The Man with the Story”, syndicated by NBC in the 1940s. In the show, talented actor Mercer Mcleod plays all the roles, except the females, which are played by the mysteriously billed “Rita”. All the shows have a supernatural theme, so that makes Halloween a good time to give another program in the series a spin.
Program 2 in the series is “Music Box from Hades”, concerning a man who finds a music box that can kill.
The show was transferred from vinyl NBC Orthacoustic Syndicated Program Series transcription, matrix ND5-MM-11445-5.
If you ever run into any transcriptions for this series, let me know - I really enjoy it and would like to add more to my collection beyond the single disc I have.
Here’s another lost/uncirculated episode in the Ziv syndicated drama series, “Your Movietown Radio Theatre”, dated by Goldin to circa 1947-48.
Program 19 is something of a mystery play, “Goodbye My Love” and stars Lurene Tuttle. Her character tells the story of her husband, an up and coming novelist, who receives a strange telegram from another writer, inviting him to collaborate on a new book. As usual, the opening announcements and commercials aren’t included, since these would be read by your local announcer.
The show was transferred from original ZIV vinyl transcription set, matrix numbers UR 174878 and UR 174879 AU1. The disc suffered water damage, obscuring the label, so there’s no photo and I’ve run the file through click reduction software to improve the sound of this rather scratched disc set.
updated 10.29.2009 - corrected spelling of “Lurene Tuttle”
October 23, 2009
The “Historical Dictionary of Amercian radio soap operas” by Jim Cox notes that “Five Star Matinee” was broadcast from December 31, 1956 through December 1958 and was placed on NBC’s daytime schedule after the magazine-style program “Weekday” went off the air. It was a drama anthology designed to appeal to daytime listeners, primarily women. According to a 2006 newsletter from the Old Time Radio Researcher’s Group, only around twenty episodes of the series survive, something not uncommon with late era old time radio broadcasts that were often recorded on tape that was reused or discarded. So, here on the blog, I’m offering up the only show I have in the series.
Program 43, as broadcast on the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service and dated September 19, 1958 in the disc matrix, is a drama called “The Man is Always Right” by Sophie Kerr.
The show was transferred from an original AFRTS vinyl microgroove transcription.
October 8, 2009
I’ve posted a number of drama anthologies to the blog in recent weeks. This type of show seemed to be ubiquitous in 1940s radio and this one isn’t as well known as some of the others. Lets listen to “Your Movietown Radio Theatre”, syndicated by Ziv, and dating from around 1947, according to Goldin.
Program 13 is “The London Legend” with Jane Wyatt, possibly a previously lost/uncirculated program in the series. The story concerns a love triangle involving a real diva, actress Victoria London, her secretary, and a small-town newspaper man. You’ll notice there’s no opening announcement to identify the show - just music. Your local announcer would provide the opening, along with a commercial from one of your fine local merchants.
You younger listeners prying your eyes away from the television to listen to some classic old time radio might recognize Jane Wyatt for her roles on “Father Knows Best” and as Spock’s human mother on “Star Trek”.
The show was transferred from original ZIV vinyl transcription set, matrix numbers UR 174870 AU1 and UR 174871 AU1. This one doesn’t have a scan since there are no labels left on the discs - the set suffered water damage. The discs were also pretty heavily scratched, so the file has been click-reduced before converting to mp3 format.
I have several more shows from the series that I’ll post on occasion.
October 2, 2009
“Casey, Crime Photographer” was a radio series that ran throughout the forties and into the early 1950s on CBS with a variety of titles and sponsors. Based on a character appearing in “Black Mask” magazine, the show was heard as “Flashgun Casey”, “Casey, Press Photographer” and “Crime Photographer”. The surviving run of the series is spotty and it’s not as well remembered as some other genre shows of otr, but they can be fun little mysteries as Casey and his girl reporter sidekick snub their nose at the police and solve mysteries.
“The Upholsterer”, program 4 in the series as heard on the Armed Forces Radio network, was originally broadcast November 17, 1949 on CBS as “Casey, Crime Photographer”. In this episode, we get the standard “murder in a locked room” mystery that stumps the cops, but is a breeze for Casey and his eagle eyes and pushy personality to sort out.
The show was transferred from original AFRS vinyl transcription, matrix numbers D-63384 and D-63385.
Listener Joseph Webb loaned me the disc to dub for the blog and provided a bit of trivia on the show. There were two broadcasts of “The Upholsterer” in the series. Both shows are only circulating in their AFRS versions and you can tell them apart by the closing announcement. The episode broadcast November 17, 1949 ends with “This is the United States Armed Forces Radio Service” right after the last line of dialog. On the repeat broadcast of November 16, 1950, the ending AFRS announcement includes the words “starring Staats Cotsworth as Casey, came to you through the facilities of the United States Armed Forces Radio Service.”
Let’s drop in again on “Favorite Story”, an anthology of dramas hosted by Ronald Coleman and syndicated by Ziv in the late 1940s and early 50s. This time we hear something a little more high-brow.
Musician Alfred Wallenstein’s favorite story, “A Doll’s House” by Henrik Ibsen, is program 62 in the series. The cast includes John Beal, Janet Waldo, and William Conrad.
The show was transferred from original red vinyl Ziv transcription set. I think the show may be an uncirculated episode of the series among collectors.
September 18, 2009
Don’t have time for a full, hour-long drama? Well, try “Guest Star”, a quarter-hour public Treasury Department service program promoting US Savings Bonds. This long-running series usually featured musical performances, but many consisted of comedy or drama, such as program 272 in the series, distributed for broadcast June 8, 1952.
Harry Sosnik and the Savings Bond Orchestra start things off with a peppy arrangement “Dizzy Fingers”. Then we hear the main feature, radio favorite and “Night Beat” star Frank Lovejoy in a short drama about a soldier in Korea called “Nothing Happens Here”.
The show was transferred from an original Allied Record vinyl transcription.
Thanks again to Michael Utz for his donation of the disc to my collection.
Filed under:
drama — randsesotericotr @ 10:11 pm
I don’t have that many hour-long dramas in my collection, but I’ve been lucky enough to obtain a few episodes of NBC’s prestigious “Best Plays” program broadcast in the early 1950s and featuring adaptations of works from the New York stage.
This week, we hear program 4 in the series as broadcast on the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service, and originally heard May 8, 1953 on NBC, Burgess Meredith and Anthony Quinn in a well done adaptation of John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men”.
The show was transferred from an original vinyl AFRTS transcription set.
September 13, 2009
Once in a while when going through old transcriptions, you find a little gem - something that surprises you and has an interesting backstory.
We pay another visit to Ronald Coleman hosting the late 1940s syndicated Ziv series, “Favorite Story”, this week presenting a story that was originally a radio play. It’s Program 61 in the series, “Inside a Kid’s Head”, the favorite story of Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
The play was written by Jerome Lawrence Schwartz and Robert Edwin Lee. In fact, it was the first play they wrote together after forming a partnership in 1942. “The Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama” notes that a few years later, they would become two of the founders of Armed Forces Radio, creating programs for the network such as “Mail Call” and producing programming for events like V-J Day. After the War, they continued working together, writing for the stage. You might have heard of one of their more successful little plays - “Inherit the Wind”.
“Inside a Kid’s Head” is an imagatnitive and fun little tour through the life of a ten year old boy. The cast includes many old time radio favorites such as Hans Conreid.
The show was transferred from an original Ziv red vinyl transcription set. The show may be previously uncirculated or uncommon among otr collectors.
Filed under:
drama — randsesotericotr @ 7:20 pm
Here’s the other side of the transcription set I posted a few weeks ago in the series “Movie Playhouse”. This appears to be a Towers of London production syndicated in the US by Charles Michelson; the transcriptions have Michelson labels pasted over the original Towers of London labels.
Program 4 of the series is “Take My Life”. The previous episode, “Becky Sharpe”, sounds as if it was created specially for radio broadcast. This program, however, sounds like it was edited from the actual soundtrack of the film. “Take My Life” was a mystery film from the UK released between 1947 and 1949 in various countries, so this series can be safely dated to the late 40s or early 50s time period.
The mp3 was transferred from an original shellac Towers of London/Charles Michelson shellac transcription set, matrix numbers 6CTP 15069-1 and 6CTP 15070-1. The show and series appear to be previously lost. The show has been processed with click reduction software for improved sound.
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