rand's esoteric otr

American Family Robinson - Pgm 259

Here’s the last in our series of previously lost episodes of the mid-1930s propaganda radio serial, “American Family Robinson”, syndicated by the National Association of Manufacturers to combat FDR’s New Deal policies.

As we join this week's episode, Luke, Myra, and Windy Bill were on an airplane that ran out of gas and landed in the mysterious town of Bleekerville.  They’re being held captive by the town’s leader, Cy.

In program 259, Luke has sneaked out of his confinement and talks with Myra and Windy Bill about the strange happenings in the town before he’s interrupted by the arrival of Zeek, investigating what’s going on.

Our transfer is from an original World Broadcasting, Inc. sixteen-inch vinyl transcription, matrix number BB155355A2.

American Family Robinson - Pgm 258

We’re nearing the end of our run of previously lost episodes of the controversial radio serial, “American Family Robinson”, syndicated by the National Association of Manufacturers to combat Roosevelt’s New Deal polices.  We’ll have one more episode next week.

Luke, Myra, and Windy Bill are stranded in the strange little town of Bleeckerville after their airplane runs out of gas.  They’re being held captive by the secretive residents of the town.  In program 258, Myra talks with the wife of town leader Cy Bleecker, discovering that the town doesn’t have a library.

Our mp3 was transferred from an original World Broadcasting, Inc. sixteen inch transcription, matrix number BB15554A2.  My apologies for the rough sound, but this disc was pretty beat up.

American Family Robinson - Pgm 257

Now another in a series of previously lost episodes of the controversial fifteen minute serial, “American Family Robinson”, distributed by the National Association of Manufacturers as propaganda against FDR’s New Deal policies.

Luke, Myra, Windy Bill and a pilot are stranded in the strange little town of Bleeckersville after their plane runs out of fuel and is forced to land.  A mysterious leader of the town, Cy Bleecker, has ordered all of them to be held captive in two separate homes.

In program 257, Luke has escaped and is confronting Cy about his control over the townspeople and the secret they’re trying to keep.  We finally discover, with a slip of some information from one of the townspeople, is that this storyline is about the evils of a business being run by the state.

Our mp3 was transferred rom an original sixteen inch World Broadcasting System, Inc. red acetate transcription, matrix number BB1553A.

 

American Family Robinson - Pgm 256

Now, back to “American Family Robinson”, the controversial propaganda 1930s serial sponsored by the National Industrial Council.  Read more about this series on my original post about the program from a few years ago.

This week, we start hearing a few later programs in the series that are previously lost, skipping ahead in the storyline quite a bit.

As we join them in program 256, Luke and Myra’s airplane has crashed near Bleeckerstown because Windy Bill stowed away on the aircraft and broke the gas line.  The town is hostile to strangers and Luke and the pilot find themselves held captive in the home of the town’s leader, Cy Bleecker.  Somehow, this leads to a diatribe by Luke against high taxes.

Think about it - Luke is being held captive in a strange town by a bunch of mysterious hostile people, and all he can think about is being mad about indirect taxes.  The writers must have really been running out of ways to work all that anti-FDR propaganda into the show by that point.

Our mp3 was transferred from an original sixteen inch World Broadcasting System, Inc. red acetate transcription, matrix number BB5552A.

 

American Family Robinson - Pgm 205 - outtake

In our previous post, we heard a master lacquer for program 205 in the series, “American Family Robinson”.

Now, the other side of the disc.  It’s the same show, but there’s some kind of goof-up half-way through the show and the director stops the recording.  At the end, you can hear the actors briefly out of character.

The excerpt was transferred from a 16” green labeled Presto lacquer.  There are no matrix markings or other information on the side.

 

American Family Robinson - Pgm 205 - lacquer master

Once again, we drop in on the “American Family Robinson”.  This series of posts are some more lost episodes of the program I found over the past couple of years.  You can read about this controversial series in my original post about the show.

Program 205 of the series has Aunt Leticia staging a vaudeville show for the workers of the Centerville Herald and, as usual, trying to introduce “high culture” into the proceedings.  As part of the show’s propaganda purpose, Luke goes into a little speech about keeping workers happy.

This disc is rather special - it was transferred from a 16” unlabeled green label Presto vertical cut lacquer that appears to be a master made for the program.  There’s no matrix number on the disc - just the series name and program number.

I don’t think the disc was carried through the process of plating and mastering - it doesn’t have any discoloration or other signs that it was actually used to create a metal part.  It might have been a rejected take or perhaps the script was revised and re-recorded before release or it might have been used to dub another set of lacquers used for the actual mastering process.

In the next post, an outtake from the same episode from the other side of the disc.

American Family Robinson - Pgm 141

 

Starting off our posts this week on the blog is another previously lost episode of the controversial mid-thirties syndicated propaganda radio serial, “American Family Robinson”, sponsored by the National Association of Manufacturers.  Read more about the series in my first blog post on the broadcasts.

Previously, Gus Olsen bought the Centerville “Herald” and made Luke the managing editor.  Gus also rented out the ground floor of the building to a pet shop.  In program 141, Luke comes up with a plan to get rid of a goat and other animals from the shop cause havoc in the newspaper offices and Gus presents Luke with a new secretary.  This is one of the more humorous episodes of the series.

Our mp3 was transferred from an original sixteen inch World Broadcasting System, Inc. vinyl transcription, matrix number BB13029A2.

American Family Robinson - Pgm 140

Here’s another episode of the controversial mid-30s radio serial, “American Family Robinson”, sponsored by the “National Industrial Council” (actually the National Association of Manufacturers).  Read more about the series here.

The Robinsons have returned to Centerville from New York and Luke has his old job back as newspaper editor.  Myra is settling back into the house with her friend Olga.  Gus stops by to take Luke to work and they eventually get into a conversation about how free enterprise encourages new inventions.

Our mp3 was transferred from an original sixteen inch World Broadcasting System, Inc. vinyl transcription, matrix number BB13028A.

American Family Robinson - Pgm 123

And now another episode of the controversial mid-1930s propaganda serial, “American Family Robinson”, syndicated by the National Association of Manufacturers under the name of the “National Industrial Council”.  You can read some background in my original post about the series.

At his point in the serial, Windy Bill has concocted some kind of fake murder scheme to draw tourists to Centerville.  In program 123, he flimflams a rather dim-witted jailer so he can escape from prison.  Since “American Family Robinson” is really about bashing FDR’s New Deal policies, the jailer somehow winds up having an in-depth conversation about capitalism with Luke, the editor of Centerville’s newspaper.

Our mp3 was transferred from an original World Broadcasting 16” acetate transcription, matrix number BB12489A.  We’ll have more random shows I recently uncovered from the series in future weeks.

American Family Robinson - Pgm 122

Once again, we drop in on the American Family Robinson for a previously lost episode of the controversial series.  You can read some background on the series in my original 2009 post about the show.

In program 122, Dobins, a local neighbor, decides to teach Windy Bill a lesson by leaving him in jail after Windy Bill hatches a plot about a fake murder to bring tourists to Centerville.

The show was transferred from an original sixteen inch acetate World Broadcasting System, Inc transcription, matrix number BB12490A.