Episodes
Friday May 01, 2009
Home Town Sketches - Pgm 49
Friday May 01, 2009
Friday May 01, 2009
Well, here's an odd little syndicated show I can't find much information on. "Home Town Sketches" seems to be a light-hearted serial, along the lines of "Easy Aces" or "Vic and Sade", that looks at characters in a small town called Centerville. It was sponsored by Fels-Naptha laundry soap (which is, believe it or not, still available today) and was broadcast four days a week. I've seen the program listed in some newspaper logs in 1936; it may have only been syndicated regionally, perhaps on the West Coast.
The main characters on the show operate a radio station - an example I'll post next week actually takes the form of a "broadcast within a broadcast". In this show, Anna Q. Watts and Captain Albert return from their honeymoon in Hollywood and Catalina. The show was transferred from an original Radio Recorders transcription disc, pressed on blue Vinylite probably by Columbia, matrix number RR-1543. Apologies for the scratches on the disc, but the years haven't been kind to this unique transcription. Next week, the other side of the disc with program 50 in the series.
Friday May 01, 2009
Favorite Story - Pgm 13 - Joan of Arc
Friday May 01, 2009
Friday May 01, 2009
I recently came into a group of discs from the Ziv syndicated series "Favorite Story". According to Goldin, the show originated at KFI, Los Angeles. Each week, the program presented the "favorite" stories of famous personalities. Program 13 in the series dramatizes the story of "Joan of Arc", the favorite story of actress Jennifer Jones. Joan Lorring stars as Joan and the program, as it was each week, was introduced by Ronald Coleman. Goldin dates this particular episode to September 16, 1946.
I have to admit that Joan Lorring was unfamiliar to me, but it turns out she starred opposite Bette Davis in "The Corn is Green" in 1945 and was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her work. Also in the cast of "Joan of Arc", you'll recognize a couple of the hardest working men in radio, Howard Duff and William Conrad. Other programs in the "Favorite Story" series include many old time radio regulars. The show was transferred from an original red vinyl Ziv syndication transcription set, matrix numbers L22370-A1 and L23371-A1.
Friday May 01, 2009
The Adventures of Frank Race - Pgm 24
Friday May 01, 2009
Friday May 01, 2009
Well, we're more than half-way through our almost complete run of "The Adventures of Frank Race", a noir detective series syndicated by Bruce Eels and Associates in the 1950s.
This week, program 24 in the series, "The Adventure of the Sobbing Bodyguard". Race, as is the usual pattern, is trying to relax and get some sleep when his sidekick, taxi driver Mark, interrupts him. This time it's with a dead body and it looks like Mark might be accused of murder. Our program was transferred from an original Bruce Eels and Associates red vinyl transcription set, matrix numbers U-150101 A-6 and U-150102 A-1.
Tuesday Apr 28, 2009
Best Plays, Pgm 5
Tuesday Apr 28, 2009
Tuesday Apr 28, 2009
Broadcast from 1952 through 1953, "Best Plays" was a one-hour sustaining anthology series on NBC hosted by John Chapman, drama critic for the New York Daily News, and focused on works from the New York stage. Program 5 in the series as broadcast by the Armed Forces Radio Service and originally run on NBC on August 30, 1953, is Noel Coward's "Tonight at 8:30".
Of course, "Tonight at 8:30" is a cycle of ten one-act plays by Coward and any combination of the works can be performed during a performance. In "Best Plays", we hear two of the one-acts, "Ways and Means" and "Still Life" featuring Madeleine Carroll and Jerome Cowan. While the scripts, acting and direction are quite good, "Best Plays" suffers from the "canned" quality of several dramatic series from the late Old Time Radio period. You'll recognize several stock music cues that were frequently used in shows at this time - one dramatic bit of music, used at the beginning of the show, will be recognizable to anyone who has heard an episode of "The FBI in Peace and War" and "Tales of the Texas Rangers". Several episodes of "Best Plays" were written by Earl Hamner. He would go on to a successful career writing for television, including a half dozen scripts for "The Twilight Zone". His most famous work was for "The Waltons", inspired by his own experiences growing up in Depression-era Virginia. If you want to explore some of John Chapman's reviews for the Daily News, you can browse through them at the newspaper's web site. (I enjoyed the headline for his review of the original Broadway production of "Hair" that he headlined "Itchy, Twitchy and Dirty".) Our mp3 was transferred directly from an original AFRS vinyl transcription set.
Tuesday Apr 28, 2009
Bing Crosby Show - March 12, 1953
Tuesday Apr 28, 2009
Tuesday Apr 28, 2009
This week, we turn back to Bing Crosby's show for General Electric, originally broadcast on CBS. The program of March 12, 1953 features guest Jimmy Stewart.
In the show, Bing sings a swingin' version of "Jeepers Creepers" as the first tune, then a big chunk of the program is taken up by banter and an extended comedy sketch/GE commercial with Jimmy talking about being on Jack Benny's television program and then shopping for a General Electric washer for his wife. The program was transferred from an original Radio Recorders laquer transcription set. These are a group of KCBS/KCBS-FM, San Francisco, airchecks that I obtained recently of Bing's show. At the opening, you'll hear the station ID and a bit of a fun singing Burgermeister Beer commercial. More Bing pitching for GE in the coming weeks in the blog.Tuesday Apr 28, 2009
The Adventures of Frank Race - Pgm 23
Tuesday Apr 28, 2009
Tuesday Apr 28, 2009
This week's episode of "The Adventures of Frank Race" is the first in the series with Paul Dubov in the title role. Dubov, would carry on through the conclusion of the series, replacing Tom Collins. Dubov has an extensive list of credits at radiogoldindex.com; his acting career on radio spanned from 1940 through the 1970s with bit parts on many popular series including "Gunsmoke" and "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar".
Program 23 in this series, "The Adventure of the Green Dubloon", has Race investigating a case near the Panama Canal that involves a former radio actor who is a master of dialects, but has since become an accountant. The show, originally recorded circa 1949 and syndicated throughout the 1950s, was transferred from an original Bruce Eells and Associates red vinyl transcription set, matrix numbers UR-149421 AU-6 and UR-149422 AU-6
Monday Apr 20, 2009
Front Page Drama, Pgm 147
Monday Apr 20, 2009
Monday Apr 20, 2009
Here's another episode in the long-running series "Front Page Drama", a weekly quarter hour dramatic show based on stories in the "American Weekly" distributed with Hearst Newspapers.
Our little play in this episode is "The Devil's Crib", a mysterious story about old lighthouses, star-crossed lovers and ghosts from the depths of the tumultuous sea. This was syndicated as program 147 in the series and was intended for broadcast February 15, 1936. Transferred from original RCA Victrolac transcription, matrix MS98935.
Monday Apr 20, 2009
The Passing Parade, Pgm 23
Monday Apr 20, 2009
Monday Apr 20, 2009
Let's drop in on Jim Nesbitt again this week to see what story of the unusual and strange he has in store for us in this series syndicated in the early 1950s by MGM.
In program 23 of the series, we hear the fascinating tale of Wild Jack Howard, the Man Who Searched for Death. It seems that Howard was an Earl with a longing for adventure and danger who made a contribution to the War effort. And then ... well, I'll let Jim Nesbitt finish the story. Our mp3 was transferred from an original vinyl MGM Radio Attractions transcription, matrix number MGM JN 1623.
Monday Apr 20, 2009
Mystery Playhouse, Pgm 154
Monday Apr 20, 2009
Monday Apr 20, 2009
"Mystery Playhouse" was a "catch-all" Armed Forces Radio anthology series that drew on programs from series such as "Molle Mystery Theater". Program 154 is from the CBS series "Inner Sanctum".
In this episode, "The Dark Chamber", originally broadcast December 11, 1945, a man and woman are kidnapped by an evil scientist and made the subjects of an experiment in fear. Sounds like something that would happen on "The Shadow", doesn't it? The show was transferred from original AFRS vinyl transcription.
Monday Apr 20, 2009
The Adventures of Frank Race, Pgm 22
Monday Apr 20, 2009
Monday Apr 20, 2009
We continue with our weekly look at "The Adventures of Frank Race", a program syndicated by Bruce Eells and Associates throughout the 1950s and originally recorded for broadcast circa 1949.
In program 22 of the series, "The Adventure of the Roughneck's Will", Frank is called into a case by an old college chum who is now a lawyer. It seems he has a client with one of those "survival of the fittest" wills that causes all his hiers to want to bump off each other. Sounds like something you'd hear on "Inner Sanctum", doesn't it? This is last program in the series that features Tom Collins in the lead role. Next week, we'll hear Paul Dubov take over the microphone as Frank Race. The show was transferred from an original Bruce Eells and Associates red vinyl transcription set, matrix numbers UR-148771 AU-6 and UR-148772 AU-6.