rand's esoteric otr

The Adventures of Frank Race - Pgm 33

Paul Dubov and Tony Barrett return this week for another episode of the late 1940s syndicated series "The Adventures of Frank Race".  There's only a few more weeks of the series as we work our way through the episodes in chronological order.

Program 33 is "The Adventure of the Candy Killing".  Race returns to his hometown to discuss a job and, of course, gets mixed up in a murder case.  The victim?  A woman named "Candy Manson".  Any relation to that OTR detective "Candy Matson"? The show was digitized direct from a set of Bruce Eells and Associates vinyl transcriptions, matrix numbers UR-154573 and UR-154574

The Adventures of Frank Race - Pgm 32

Paul Dubov is back again this week as insurance investigator Frank Race in "The Adventure of the Silent Tongue", program 32 in the series, syndicated in the late 40s and throughout the 50s.  Frank is called to death row to talk with an inmate that will soon be executed for murder - a man with a secret past.

The transfer is from an original Bruce Eells and Associates transcription set, matrix numbers UR-153629 N-6 and UR-153630 N-6.  Note that on original disc, the blank space between the opening and start of the episode is rather long; I've left as it is on the original disc.

The Adventures of Frank Race - Pgm 31

Frank Race is in Paris this week as we continue our run through this syndicated program from the 1950s.

In program 31, "The Adventure of the Lady in the Dark", Race and his sidekick Mark are waiting out a rainstorm and run into a mysterious lady that leads them to an old friend in trouble. The show was transferred from an original Bruce Eells and Associates red vinyl transcription set, matrix numbers UR-152995 AU-6 and UR-152996 AU-6.

The Adventures of Frank Race - Pgm 30

Last week, we heard program 27 in the series "The Adventures of Frank Race" as we run through a nearly complete set of episodes of the program from my collection.  This week, we have to skip ahead a couple of episodes since I'm missing some of the discs in my set.

In program 30, Paul Dibov as Frank Race, stars in "The Adventure of the Runway Queen", syndicated by Bruce Eells and Associates in the 1950s.  Race mixes it up with show business types investigating the strange story of a radio singing personality with a seedy mysterious past. The program was transferred from an original Bruce Eells and Associates vinyl transcription set, matrix numbers UR-152676 N-6 and UR-152677 N-6.

The Adventures of Frank Race - Pgm 27

"It was a dark and stormy night!" Well, Frank Race doesn't say those words, but that's pretty much how this week's episode of "The Adventures of Frank Race" starts out. In our weekly visit to this syndicated show recorded circa 1949, we're up to program 27, "The Adventure of the Brooklyn Accent", where Race and his sidekick cab driver are on a case off the coast of Georgia, but no one seems to have a Southern accent.  One of the non-Southern voices you'll recognize is Frank Lovejoy, soon to be the star of his own NBC series, "Night Beat".

The show was transferred from an original Bruce Eels and Associates red vinyl transcription set, matrix numbers UR-151253 N-6 and UR-151254 N-6.  By the way, you may notice the abrupt ending of the show - as the organ music starts fading out, the groove just ends on the original transcription.

The Adventures of Frank Race - Pgm 26

We're up to program 26 in our almost complete run of "The Adventures of Frank Race", continuing weekly on the blog over the next few months.  This radio noir series about a two-fisted vet turned insurance investigator was recorded circa 1949 for syndication and was heard on stations around the country through the 1950s.

This week, Paul Dubov as Frank Race finds himself involved in "The Adventure of the Morman Country", perhaps the only old time radio drama I can recall that involves Mormans in the plot. The show, as usual, was transferred to digital directly from a set of red vinyl Bruce Eels and Associates transcriptions, matrix numbers UR-150749 A-6 and UR-150750 A-6.

The Adventures of Frank Race - Pgm 25

We dive once again into the syndicated adventures of that tough-guy insurance investigator who always seems to get into a good fist-fight each week, Frank Race, as we run through the episodes in the syndicated series in the order they were originally broadcast.

This week, program 25 in the series, "The Adventure of the Diver's Loot".  Frank Race, played by Paul Dubov, is in London with his taxi driver sidekick Mark Donovan and is called in to investigate the death of a child who was on a boat during a commercial salvage operation.  It's another example of how the leftover business of the War, in this case the clean up of sunken ships and junk in harbors, was brought into the series. The show was transferred from an original set of red vinyl transcriptions from Bruce Eels and Associates, matrix numbers U-150103 A-1 and U-150104 A-1.

The Adventures of Frank Race - Pgm 24

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.

The Adventures of Frank Race - Pgm 23

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

The Adventures of Frank Race, Pgm 22

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.