Episodes
Thursday Apr 22, 2010
The FBI in Peace and War - June 10, 1953
Thursday Apr 22, 2010
Thursday Apr 22, 2010
And, following up from my previous post, here's another example of a program I've dubbed from an lp as an example of the types of shows I might post that aren't directly digitized from transcriptions. It's the June 10, 1953 episode of "The FBI in Peace and War", "The Traveling Man", a drama about a young woman that gets hitched to a seedy young man that's stealing cars for an organized crime gang. The show was sponsored by Brylcreem, Lava soap and Nescafe instant coffee - the jingles are a highlight of the program and the show itself is a brisk, fast-paced little crime drama with some nice sound design work. You can hear an alternate dub of this program, origin unknown, at archive.org. Our mp3 was dubbed from an original 1970s era lp release on the Memorabilia label, catalogue number MLP-706. I have several discs issued by Memorabilia and the sound quality of their programs varies a great deal. Memorabilia seemed to be a "budget" otr label - the discs would generally run only thirty minutes and they featured generic cover art with only the program title along the top of the cover printed on the different releases. Some of the shows, like this one, have good sound quality. Some others, such as their "Charlie McCarthy" and "Fred Allen Show" discs, have a loud 60-cycle hum throughout the program for some reason. Memorabilia also issued cassettes and 8-tracks, but you don't see them as often as the lps. I think some selected posts like this from the reissue lps can be valuable. I have some shows on lps that were pressed in very small numbers that are very rare today and haven't made it into digitized form. In other cases, the dubs can give you an idea of the sound quality available on releases from some labels from the period and can help you if you decide if you want to collect some of the original lps. So, what do you think. Are these posts from tape reels and lps worth pursuing?
Monday Apr 12, 2010
Five Minute Mysteries - Pgm 25
Monday Apr 12, 2010
Monday Apr 12, 2010
"Five Minute Mysteries" was a wonderful little show syndicated by NBC in the 1940s, used by stations as "filler" after sports broadcasts or to fill a short slot on their schedule. There are several episodes of the program floating around but I'm not sure the entire series has been found.
Program 25 is titled "Signal Block" and was transferred from original RCA Syndicated Program vinyl transcription, matrix number ND5-MM-3229-8B. The disc is dated December 22, 1947 in the matrix. I'll drop in more of these in the coming months on the blog - I have two discs from the series.
Saturday Apr 03, 2010
Grand Marquee - January 23, 1947
Saturday Apr 03, 2010
Saturday Apr 03, 2010
"Grand Marquee" is a series I'd never heard of before getting a line check lacquer of one of the shows in the series. It sounds like an anthology series directed at women and the show originated in Chicago.
From January 23, 1947 broadcast on NBC, we hear Olan Soule, Beryl Vaughn and announcer Kleve Kirby in "Love is a Better Word", a comedy about a young woman who is surprised to find a stranger at her door who asks her to marry him. (You might recall Beryl Vaughn from another series on the blog, "Choose a Song Partner".) The program is sponsored by Rayve Shampoo and Yankee Clover Toilet Water and Perfume. And a bit of trivia about Beryl Vaughn - she was a featured player on radio's "Sky King". Oh, and her husband might sound familiar - Ken Nordine. The show was transferred from an original line check lacquer transcription set from an unknown NBC station. The recording includes the NBC id and chimes, but no system cueFriday Mar 12, 2010
Favorite Story - Pgm 43
Friday Mar 12, 2010
Friday Mar 12, 2010
I've been saving the last episode I have of the series "Favorite Story", syndicated by Ziv in the late 1940s and originating at KFI, Los Angeles. Program 43 is timely, since it's an Irish themed story, "Jamie Freel", the favorite story of Barry Fitzgerald and based on an Irish legend. Ronald Coleman is our host and Sean McClory is our star. Goldin dates the show to April 15, 1947.
I've seen another mp3 floating around of this show that's dubbed a little too slow and sounds like it's from a second generation tape; this direct transcription dub should sound a bit better. Our show was transferred from an original red (not green) vinyl Ziv transcription set. Apologies for the cue burn at the beginning of part two. If you're curious, you can read a version of the original folk story at Google Books in an 1890 volume, "Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish". update, 4.15.2010 - Corrected name of the featured star in the show - I put in the incorrect name with an overeager copy and paste from the wrong program.Tuesday Mar 02, 2010
Your Movietown Radio Theatre - Pgm 106
Tuesday Mar 02, 2010
Tuesday Mar 02, 2010
Here's another episode of the Frederick W. Ziv syndicated series "Your Movietown Radio Theatre" from the late 1940s. The show featured notable actors from Hollywood in a wide range of half-hour comedies and dramas. Program 106 in the series is "Sunday Punch". Ann Dvorak, Jeff Chandler and otr favorite Hans Conreid star in a story about a woman whose husband is a fighter. The show is dated by Goldin to 1948. The show was transferred from original ZIV vinyl transcription set, matrix numbers UR 166247 AU5 and UR 166248 AU5. There's no label photo on this one - it's obscured by some heavy water damage.
Friday Feb 19, 2010
From the Bookshelf of the World - Pgm 74
Friday Feb 19, 2010
Friday Feb 19, 2010
Sometimes you run into a disc that doesn't look very promising, but can hold a bit of a surprise. "From the Bookshelf of the World" doesn't sound like it would be an interesting Armed Forces Radio Service series. But, this one features a lost performance by actor Boris Karloff.
Program 74 in the series is "On Borrowed Time", based on a play by Paul Osborn, and stars Karloff as Mr. Brink and character actor Parker Fennelly as Gramps. The story, if you're not familiar with it, concerns a little boy, an apple tree, and Death. The disc is undated in the matrix, but I think it may be from the Mutual series, "Great Scenes from Great Plays". A Karloff fan site lists his appearance in "On Borrowed Time" in that series on October 29, 1948. However, the site credits Karloff with the role of Gramps, so I think it may be in error. "On Borrowed Time" was made into a film in 1939 with Lionel Barrymore and Cedric Hardwicke. Osborn worked as a screenwriter in Hollywood with movies like "The Yearling", "South Pacific", and "East of Eden" in his list of credits. The show was transferred from an original undated AFRS vinyl transcription. Update, 2.20.10 - A listener has posted the original newspaper ad for the show. You can find it at this forum (scroll down the page to see the ad). Also corrected the spelling of Parker Fennelly's name in this post.Friday Feb 05, 2010
Hollywood Startime - Pgm 2
Friday Feb 05, 2010
Friday Feb 05, 2010
"Hollywood Star Time" seems to have been one of those ubiquitous drama anthology series that were on the air in the late 1940s with different guest stars each week in little half-hour playlets emoting in front of the microphone.
Originally broadcast March 31, 1946 on CBS, and rebroadcast on the Armed Forces Radio Services as program 2 in the series, we hear "Strange Triangle". Lloyd Nolan stars in this noir suspense drama bout a femme fatale. It sounds like a script that might have been recycled from "Suspense" or "The Whistler", but it's actually based on a 1946 Twentieth Century Fox programmer of the same title. The music is by Hollywood composer Alfred Newman. Our show was digitized from an original AFRS vinyl transcription.
Friday Jan 29, 2010
Crime Photographer - Pgm 61
Friday Jan 29, 2010
Friday Jan 29, 2010
Mystery! Danger! Flashbulbs! It's "Casey, Crime Photographer", a nice little detective show with an unusual twist - the crimes are solved by a nosey newspaper photographer.
In this post, we hear "Woman of Mystery", program 61 in the series, broadcast on the Armed Forces Radio Service as "Crime Photographer" and originally heard on CBS on November 9, 1950. It's one of those "locked room" mysteries, where Casey's keen sense of observation come in handy to discover how a woman was murdered. The show was digitized from an original AFRS vinyl transcription, matrix numbers D-83531 and D-83532. Thanks to listener Joseph Web for loaning the discs from his collection for a transfer and inclusion on the blog!
Sunday Jan 10, 2010
Guest Star - Pgm 108
Sunday Jan 10, 2010
Sunday Jan 10, 2010
"Guest Star" was a long-running series originally broadcast from the 1940s through the 1960s to promote the sale of US Savings Bonds. It may be the most common transcriptions that you run into as a collector.
Usually, the show concentrated on musical performances, but earlier shows in the series did feature short fifteen minute dramas on occasion. Here's one of those unusual little compact dramas, "The Old Character" with guest star Edward Arnold, program 108 in the series originally heard April 17, 1949. In the show, "the old character" is hired to pan gold in exhibit for the centennial of the discovery of gold in California. The program also features Roger Bowman and Harry Sosnik and the Savings Bond Orchestra. Our mp3 originated from original Allied Record vinyl transcription. Thanks again to blog listener Michael Utz for the disc
Sunday Dec 20, 2009
World Program Service - Disc 425
Sunday Dec 20, 2009
Sunday Dec 20, 2009
Here's another in a series of obscure Christmas-themed radio dramas, sold to individual radio stations as part of a station library package by World Program Service in the 1940s. Blog listener Micheal Utz donated this set of discs to my collection.
Disc 425 is a drama titled "Christmas for Eve" that stars Lorraine Day and it's a bit of a doozey, if you like melodrama. A woman, scarred from a childhood fire that happened on Christmas finds new hope during the holiday season after much emotional angst. This one's such a downer, it makes "Mildred Pierce" seem like an Abbott and Costello movie in comparison. (I could see Joan Crawford in this thing if she had an opportunity to slap someone during the show.) The show was transferred from a vinyl World Program Service transcription, matrix numbers BB-53319-B1 and BB-53320-B1. There's no open and close to the program; those would have been covered by your local announcer giving Christmas greetings from one of your area businesses. There's one more disc in this set that will go up just before Christmas.