Episodes
Monday Nov 10, 2008
Jungle Jim, Pgm 16 - February 16, 1936
Monday Nov 10, 2008
Monday Nov 10, 2008
Continuing our brief run of "The Adventures of Jungle Jim", we drop in on our intrepid explorer in program 16, originally broadcast February 16, 1936.
In this episode, Jungle Jim and Reverend Chalmers attempt to escape from the clutches of the Bat Woman, who is plotting to force the Reverend to marry her to Jungle Jim. "With you as my husband, we can rule this island!" she tells Jim. The show, syndicated by Hearst Newspapers to promote their Sunday color funny papers, was transferred directly from an original RCA Victrolac pressing, matrix number MS 98920. I have one more program from the series that will go up next week.Thursday Oct 30, 2008
Jungle Jim - Pgm 13 - January 25, 1936
Thursday Oct 30, 2008
Thursday Oct 30, 2008
Note: This program contains racial stereotyping themes that may be offensive to some listeners. Continuing with our short run of episodes from the adventure series, "Jungle Jim", we take a listen to program 13 in the series, originally broadcast January 25, 1936 and syndicated by Hearst newspapers to promote their Sunday funny pages.
In this episode, Jim continues battling with the nefarious Bat Woman. Hoping to convince her to free Rev. Chalmers, Jim gives himself up to the Bat Woman. She seems to be enjoying the scene with her assistant and the bullwhip a bit too much... The show was transferred from an original Victrolac transcription pressed by RCA, matrix number MS 98709.Wednesday Oct 22, 2008
Jungle Jim - Pgm 12 - January 18, 1936
Wednesday Oct 22, 2008
Wednesday Oct 22, 2008
Note: This program contains racial stereotypes that may be offensive to some listeners. In this post, we start a short run of four programs in the series "Jungle Jim" from early 1936. The program was based on an adventure comic first published in 1934 in Hearst newspapers. The radio show was an early attempt at "cross promotion", with each week's radio episode reflecting the content of the Sunday comic running in the newspaper.
In the storyline, Jungle Jim goes up against the nefarious "Bat Woman" who has captured the Reverend Chalmers. Will Jim rescue the Reverand from the evil clutches of the Bat Woman? Will Chalmers be able to withstand the Bat Woman's methods of torture? Will the Reverend's daughter find more ways to give us exposition about the story? Listen and find out... I purchased these four discs from an antiques dealer. They were found in the attic of an old hardware store, still in the original shipping packages where they were sent by railroad to a station in Arizona. One even included the special "Shadowgraph" needle used to play these early vinyl discs. Program 12 in the series was released for broadcast on January 18, 1936. The show was transferred from original RCA Victrolac transcription, matrix MS98584.Thursday Sep 04, 2008
The Adventures of Dick Cole - Pgm 2
Thursday Sep 04, 2008
Thursday Sep 04, 2008
We had another program in this series a few weeks back. "The Adventures of Dick Cole" was a half-hour kids show based on a character in Blue Bolt Comics and syndicated in the 1940s by Charles Michelson through World Broadcasting System, Inc.
In program two, Dick and his pal break up a ring of thieves operating in town. Is a cadet at Farr Military Academy involved? Will Dick and his pal escape from the clutches of the gang? Listen and find out... The show was transferred from an original World Broadcasting System vinyl transcription.Wednesday Aug 27, 2008
The Adventures of Frank Farrell - Pgm 2
Wednesday Aug 27, 2008
Wednesday Aug 27, 2008
For completists only, we continue our look at vapid children's programming, circa the 1940s, with uncirculated program 2 of "The Adventures of Frank Farrell", syndicated by the Russell C. Comer Company of Kansas City. Frank's altercation with the school's bully Tony in the previous program is the talk of the town in episode 2. We also learn that Jim, the son of the town banker, is mixed up with some of Tony's "bad" friends from the big city. Transferred from an original Russell C. Comer vinyl transcription with no matrix number, this is the last program in the series in my collection.
One interesting note about the discs from this series. Usually, if a program was syndicated and had space for a commercial at the beginning, they would play a music bed for the announcer to talk over or begin the next segment of the program in a new band on the disc. Not so with this one - they recorded the brief opening and a long passage of silence for the commercial. In episode one, the commercial break is about 1:15; in program two, it's more or less 1:30. If I were a staff announcer or engineer, I'd be annoyed to no end, since it doesn't give you a good way to time or pace your commercial. Enough with this dreadful series - let's move on to something more interesting.Wednesday Aug 27, 2008
The Adventures of Frank Farrell - Pgm 1B
Wednesday Aug 27, 2008
Wednesday Aug 27, 2008
Proving that not all of Golden Age radio is classic, here's the premiere episode of "The Adventures of Frank Farrell", a low-budget rip-off of "Archie", albeit without humor or decent acting. The show was syndicated, probably in the 1940s, by the Russell C. Comer Company, Kansas City. We heard the audition program in a previous post.
In this uncirculated episode, program 1B, Farrell, ever the perfect athlete, wins the big football game and the coach jumps on the team for not being the shining example that Frank is. And, to really get things going, there's a budding romance between Farrell and the new female cheerleader for the team. The program was transferred from a Russell C. Comer vinyl transcription with no matrix number. And, by the way, I have no idea if there was a program 1A (and really don't want to find out). Thankfully, there's only one more episode of this series in my collection.Wednesday Aug 13, 2008
The Adventures of Frank Farrell - Audition Program
Wednesday Aug 13, 2008
Wednesday Aug 13, 2008
Here's another rare old time radio series, "The Adventures of Frank Farrell", syndicated by the Russell C. Comer Company, Kansas City and probably dating from the 1940s. In this Audition program, which isn't in circulation among otr enthusiasts, the local commercials are replaced by a pitch to potential advertisers about the great increase in sales that can happen when you sponsor "Frank Farrell". The pitch also emphasizes the good, clean "all American" characters and notes that the show is "free from horror, shock, the supernatural and the abnormal". But it's still exciting! (At least that's what the announcer tells us.)
The program itself is from later in the series; the plot involves Frank getting held up from playing in the big basketball game by the coach's arch-nemisis who hired goons to kidnap him and move all of his furniture out of his house! (Don't ask.) I have a big tolerance for a wide range of old time radio programming and can find something entertaining and interesting about everything I've posted on the blog, even the "Sports Answer Man". However, "Frank Farrell" has to be some of the worst scripting and acting I've run into. The show reminds me a great deal of kids shows on PBS and Nickelodeon that are heavy on life lessons, role models and one dimensional characters. "Farrell" seems to have been written by adults "talking down" to kids, thinking they knew how students talk or act. I swear, if Spud, the goofy sidekick in the show, were in my high school, I'd be very suspicious - how sounds like he's in his mid-thirties and suffering from arrested development. I feel sorry for kids exposed to this kind of non-entertainment. Well, enough of my editorializing. The show was transferred from an original vinyl transcription from the Russell C. Comer Company, matrix number C-9537. Unfortunately (for me) or perhaps fortunately (for you, if you're interested in this show), I've got two other non-circulating episodes going up on the blog in a couple of weeks.Saturday Jul 12, 2008
Adventures of Dick Cole - Pgm 24, circa 1946
Saturday Jul 12, 2008
Saturday Jul 12, 2008
"The Adventures of Dick Cole" was a juvenile adventure program syndicated in the 1940s based on a feature in Blue Bolt Comics. I've found references that indicate the show was initially recorded and distributed in 1942 and the RadioGOLDINdex dates a run to 1946. The program stars Leon Janney as Dick Cole and features Paul Luther announcing and Lew White on organ. Program 24, which deals with a gang of bank robbers using walkie-talkies to plan robberies, appears to be uncirculated and probably dates from circa 1946 since it references the portable radios being developed during the War.
"The Firesign Theater" did some wonderful parodies of this style of kids programming with their Porgie Tirebiter sketches in the late 1960s, inspired by "Archie" and "The Aldrich Family". This is a wonderfully goofy, charming little show in its own way, a product of a very different time with it's "Golly, gee whiz" attitude and peppy little "rah rah" school song. It sounds as thought Dick Cole and the policeman could use a lesson in police brutality and Miranda rights - the cop invites Dick to beat information out of one of the crooks at one point in the show. And, at the end of the story, the boys turn down the reward and give it to Farr Academy for scholarships. A very different time, indeed. The show, produced by Batten Barton, Durstine and Osborne, has been transferred from two original red vinyl transcriptions with paste-over Muzak labels; Goldin notes the show as being originally syndicated by Charles Michelson.