Boxcars711 Old Time Radio Pod

The Baliff & The Women (Aired November 9, 1984) he Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) began airing a fascinating range of classic, mystery, comedy, documentary, and supernatural drama throughout the 1970s to 1990s to a steadily expanding audience--both in Canada and throughout the northern portions of the U.S. The CBC's extensive Radio offerings were a fairly even mix of organic dramas and comedies showcasing Canada's own great actors, writers and production talent, as well as several popular transcribed, syndicated features from throughout the British Empire and the United States. Indeed many of America's most beloved, popular, versatile and award-winning character actors, musicians, and comedians were Canadian citizens who'd honed their craft in all manner of original Canadian Radio drama. Vanishing Point is the title of a science fiction anthology series that ran on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Radio from 1984 until 1986, although the show would continue under different names and formats.

The Wireless Set (Aired September 21, 1952) This series was very similar to the Black Museum that was hosted by Orson Welles. Both the Black Museum and Whitehall 1212 drew their material from the files of Scotland Yard. The stories were true in every respect except that the names were changed to protect the innocent, as they say. The Whitehall 1212 series boasted that for the first time Scotland Yard opened its files and the producers promised to bring to the public authentic true stories of some of the most celebrated cases. Permission for these records came from Sir Harold Scott, Commissioner of the yard at that time. There is actually a Black Museum. This area is located on the lower ground floor of Scotland Yard and it does indeed contain articles that are closely associated with the solving of a crime. And "Whitehall 1212" was the actual emergency phone number for the yard at the time. THIS EPISODE: September 21, 1952. NBC network. Sustaining. A "Wireless Set" that was never intended to be operative is in the "Black Museum" because of its involvement with the murder of a bartender with strychnine. Horace Braham, Harvey Hayes, Catherine Hines, Lionel Ricou (announcer), Lester Fletcher, Francois Grimar, Guy Spaull, Percy Hoskins (researcher), Wyllis Cooper (writer, director), Carl Harburg. 29:31. Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index.

The Case Of The Left-Handed Fan (Aired October 16, 1948) Michael Shayne was a fictional sleuth created by Brett Halliday (a pen name for author Davis Dresser) who was first initiated into the fraternity for detectives in the 1939 novel "Dividend of Death". Dresser based the character on a “tall and rangy” brawler who once saved his life during a braw in a Mexican cantina. The Shayne character would go on to appear in 69 novels, plus a long-running mystery magazine—and in 1941, was brought to the silver screen in Paramount’s Michael Shayne, Private Detective, an adaptation of Dividend of Death that starred Lloyd Nolan, and paved the way for six additional B-mysteries to follow. The New Adventures of Michael Shayne—premiered on July 15, 1948 starring Jeff Chandler. THIS EPISODE: October 16, 1948. Broadcaster's Guild syndication. "The Case Of The Left-Handed Fan". Commercials added locally. Christina Bancroft, the beautiful actress, hires Shayne to protect her from murder for 3 days. These syndicated programs were recorded 1948 to 1950. Jeff Chandler, William P. Rousseau (host, director), Brett Halliday (creator), Don W. Sharpe (producer), John Duffy (composer, conductor). 26:12. Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index.

A Salute To Football (Aired November 4, 1947) The Milton Berle Show brought Berle together with Arnold Stang, later a familiar face as Berle's TV sidekick. Others in the cast were Pert Kelton, Mary Schipp, Jack Albertson, Arthur Q. Bryan, Ed Begley, vocalist Dick Forney and announcer Frank Gallop. The Ray Bloch Orchestra provided the music for the series. Sponsored by Philip Morris, it aired on NBC from March 11, 1947, until April 13, 1948. His last radio series was The Texaco Star Theater, which began September 22, 1948 on ABC and continued until June 15, 1949, with Berle heading the cast of Stang, Kelton and Gallop, along with Charles Irving, Kay Armen and double-talk specialist Al Kelly. It employed top comedy writers (Nat Hiken, brothers Danny and Neil Simon, Aaron Ruben), and Berle later recalled this series as "the best radio show I ever did... a hell of a funny variety show." It served as a springboard for Berle's rise as television's first major star.

The Last Objective (Aired June 03, 1951) Dimension X was first heard on NBC April 8, 1950, and ran until September 29, 1951. Strange that so little good science fiction came out of radio; they seem ideally compatible, both relying heavily on imagination. Some fine isolated science fiction stories were developed on the great anthology shows, Suspense and Escape. But until the premiere of Dimension X -- a full two decades after network radio was established -- there were no major science fiction series of broad appeal to adults. This show dramatized the work of such young writers as Ray Bradbury, Robert (Psycho) Bloch, Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and Kurt Vonnegut. In-house script writer was Ernest Kinoy. THIS EPISODE: June 03, 1951. NBC network. "The Last Objective". Sustaining. An excellent adventure about the future subterranean wars of mankind. A mind-bender. Ernest Kinoy (adaptor), George Mathis (engineer), Jack Grimes, Lawson Zerbe, Norman Rose (host), Paul Carter (author), Ralph Bell, Wendell Holmes, William Welch (producer), Albert Buhrman (music), Edward King (director), Joseph Julian, Bob Warren (announcer), William Zuckert, Cameron Prud'Homme, Staats Cotsworth. 24:04. Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index.

Recovering A Civil War Map (Aired December 16, 1950) Dangerous Assignment stands as one of the most durable programs of its genre and era in the waning days of The Golden Age of Radio. Espionage or foreign intrigue dramas weren't particularly groundbreaking undertakings by the 1950s. Bulldog Drummond was the first of the more successful exemplars of Radio espionage and intrigue, running from 1941 to 1954, most often under the lead of the gifted character actor, George Coulouris. The Counterspy series had been well underway since 1942 and ran in one incarnation or another through 1954. The Man Called X had already aired--to great popular and critical acclaim--for almost five years prior to 1949. Indeed, within a year of airing Dangerous Assignment's Summer 1949 season, The Man Called X returned to the air for another two years. Dangerous Assignment ran for the most part, network sustained for over half of its entire run. NBC transcribed Dangerous Assignment for syndication via its NBC Orthacoustic Transcription Series. NBC's Orthacoustic transcriptions are the source of most of the surviving recordings. Show Notes From The Digital Deli. Show Notes From The Digital Deli.

Marriage Minded Girl (1956) *The Exact Date Is Unknown. Danger With Granger arrived too late in the Golden Age of Radio to have any real impact on the listening public. Mutual aired this show, starting in 1956, on Monday nights at 8:30 pm. It was a half hour show that featured a private eye in New York City, STEVE GRANGER. His two primary companions were Cal Hendrix, a reporter who served as an all-purpose source of criminal info, and Jake Rankin, a police detective with whom he had a grudging rivalry. The writing on the show seemed to incorporate most of the standard cliche's of the P.I. world. Granger, who was both the star and the first-person narrator of the show (not an uncommon practice with radio gumshoes), never saw a woman, instead "he gave the doll the once-over." He didn't kick with his foot, he "lifted a size 10." Instead of paying cash, he "forked over numbered lettuce." In his investigations Steve Granger cooperates with the police and the FBI and other authorities. The mysteries he solved were fairly reasonable, and while he was a tough guy who roughed up lesser mortals, he seemed to get knocked unconscious at least once in every program.

The Case Of The Gorgeous Greek (Aired August 14, 1952) This hard boiled detective drama began as an RKO Radio Pictures theatrical serial in the 1940s, went on radio in 1945, and then came to TV ten years later in this Syndicated series produced for distribution by NBC Films; Charles McGraw had been in many motion pictures before and after including "The Killers", "Spartacus" and "Cimarron"; in this series he played the title role of a man whose real name was supposedly Mike Waring, an American agent whose code name was "Falcon"; Later Charles McGraw starred in a short lived TV version of "Casablanca" (1955 - 1956) in the character of Rick; He also had a role on the detective drama "Staccato" (1959) Actor McGraw (whose birth name was Charles Butters) met an unfortunate death in real life when he fell through a shower glass door in 1980 at his home in Studio City, CA. THIS EPISODE: August 14, 1952. NBC network. "The Case Of The Gorgeous Greek". Sustaining. Army Intelligence flies "The Falcon" to Athens. "When Greece gets too hot, somebody is bound to catch the devil!" The system cue is added live. Les Damon, Drexel Drake (creator), Fred Collins (announcer), Bernard L. Schubert (producer, transcriber), Richard Lewis (director), Eugene Wang (writer), Anne Burr. 29:35. Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index.

Family Doctor - "New York" & "Out Of Control" 1932 Over the years, many television series, books, and movies have taken a longing look at the past in programs such as Little House on the Prairie and The Waltons which served as a reminder of old fashioned values and a time when a sense of community was a reality. The quest for this sort of world continues in the 21st Century with the rise of Amish fiction stories. Family Doctor is not taking a look back, but is set in the then-present which is widely believed to be 1932 when the shows were produced. Like the other syndicated 15 minute shows we examined the last two weeks, Family Doctor's 39 episodes were syndicated to various radio stations and sold as a package. Unlike the other shows, Family Doctor had regular character and story archs. The show follows the adventures of Grant Adams, the longtime physician of the small town of Cedarton. Cedarton is a three-dimensional town brimming with wonderful characters who Doc Adams tries to help and encourage including Pete who runs the drugstore and Griff, the workaholic boat renter who works too hard and always promises that he'll find a younger man to do his hard work. Then there are two teenage girls who compete for the hear of a clerk at the drug store and then when he leaves, they fight for the next clerk hired. Show Notes From Great Detectives (greatdetectives.net)

Every Shot Counts (Aired October 31, 1949) Let George Do It was a radio drama series produced by Owen and Pauline Vinson from 1946 to 1954. It starred Bob Bailey as detective-for-hire George Valentine (with Olan Soule stepping into the role in 1954). Clients came to Valentine's office after reading a newspaper carrying his classified ad: "Personal notice: Danger's my stock in trade. If the job's too tough for you to handle, you've got a job for me. George Valentine. "The few earliest episodes were more sitcom than private eye shows, with a studio audience providing scattered laughter at the not-so-funny scripts. Soon the audience was banished, and George went from stumbling comedic hero to tough guy private eye, while the music became suspenseful. Valentine's secretary was Claire Brooks, aka Brooksie (Frances Robinson, Virginia Gregg, Lillian Buyeff). Show Notes From The Old Time Radio Researcher's Group and The Digital Deli. THIS EPISODE: October 31, 1949. Mutual-Don Lee network. "Every Shot Counts". Standard Oil, Chevron. A movie cowboy asks George to help prevent a murder. George fails, but the prime suspect is blind!. Leo Cleary, Jackson Gillis (writer), John Dehner, Clayton Post, Walter Burke, Virginia Gregg, Don Clark (director), Eddie Dunstedter (composer, presenter), David Victor (writer), Bob Bailey, Frances Robinson. 27:20. Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index.

The Cape Or The Shroud (1950) *The Exact Date Is Unknown. From 1949-1956 the Mutual Broadcasting System ran a series entitled John Steele, Adventurer. This was an anthology series, introduced by the title character, who has apparently had trouble keeping a job: he served at various times as ship's captain, baseball league president, county sheriff, State Department special agent in Turkey, etc. Each story is told from the point of view of the main character, a friend of Steele's. Steele himself makes cameo appearances in the series. The series featured Ted Mallie as the announcer (Mallie also announced for The Shadow and I Love A Mystery) and Don Douglas as John Steele, and was directed by Elliot Drake. It often promised “suspense and hard, fast action,” and nearly always delivered. It had excellent production values, and its plots that were often complex. The stories are reminiscent of pulp stories from magazines like Argosy or All-Story. They represent a wide variety of stories from sports stories to mountain climbing to western-flavored stories. One of the more interesting stories features a boy who is a deaf-mute under the heel of a proud and domineering farmer father. It was certainly ambitious to feature a character who cannot speak for himself. The producers used an echo chamber effect to represent the inner voice of the young man as he endlessly repeated the phrase "no one" signifying that he could rely on "no one." As John Steele would often say at the end of one of his stories, "A life of adventure is yours for the asking, but don't look for it; it may find you! Happy hunting!"

No Sad Clowns For Me (Aired June 25, 1950) Jeff Regan, Investigator was one of the three detective shows Jack Webb did before Dragnet (see also Pat Novak For Hire and Johnny Modero: Pier 23). It debuted on CBS in July 1948. Webb played JEFF REGAN, a tough private eye working in a Los Angeles investigation firm run by Anthony J. Lyon. Regan introduced himself on each show "I get ten a day and expenses...they call me the Lyon's Eye." The show was fairly well-plotted, Webb's voice was great, and the supporting cast were skillful. Regan handled rough assignments from Lion, with whom he was not always on good terms. He was tough, tenacious, and had a dry sense of humor. The voice of his boss, Anthony Lion, was Wilms Herbert. The show ended in December 1948 but was resurrected in October 1949 with a new cast; Frank Graham played Regan (later Paul Dubrov was the lead) and Frank Nelson portrayed Lion. This version ran on CBS, sometimes as a West Coast regional, until August 1950. Both versions were 30 minutes, but the day and time slot changed several times. THIS EPISODE: June 25, 1950. CBS Pacific network. "No Sad Clowns For Me". Sustaining. 8:30 P.M. "When a little old man named Crackly comes in, don't take his case." Mr. Crackly wants to find a man named Bliss. A circus story. Frank Graham, Frank Nelson, Richard Aurandt (organist), Howard McNear, William Froug (writer), Gilbert Thomas (writer), Sterling Tracy (director), Bob Stevenson (announcer). 30:28. Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index.

Goodbye 1938 (Aired January 1, 1939) Benny had been only a minor vaudeville performer, but he became a national figure with The Jack Benny Program, a weekly radio show which ran from 1932 to 1948 on NBC and from 1949 to 1955 on CBS, and was consistently among the most highly rated programs during most of that run. With Canada Dry Ginger Ale as a sponsor, Benny came to radio on The Canada Dry Program, beginning May 2, 1932, on the NBC Blue Network and continuing there for six months until October 26, moving the show to CBS on October 30. With Ted Weems leading the band, Benny stayed on CBS until January 26, 1933. Arriving at NBC on March 17, Benny did The Chevrolet Program until April 1, 1934. He continued with sponsors General Tires, Jell-O and Grape Nuts. Lucky Strike was the radio sponsor from 1944 to the mid-1950s. The show returned to CBS on January 2, 1949, as part of CBS president William S. Paley's notorious "raid" of NBC talent in 1948-49. There it stayed for the remainder of its radio run, which ended on May 22, 1955. CBS aired reruns of old radio episodes from 1956 to 1958 as The Best of Benny. THIS EPISODE: January 1, 1939. "Goodbye 1938" - Red network. Sponsored by: Jell-O. Jack blows his lines six minutes into the program and stops the show. Mary reads a New Year's poem. The show features the first performance of, "The New Tenant," which was to become an annual New Year's fantasy. Andy Devine, Don Wilson, Jack Benny, Kenny Baker, Mary Livingstone, Phil Harris and His Orchestra, Eddie Anderson, Billy Gray (?), Harry Baldwin, Ed Beloin (writer, performer), Bill Morrow (writer). 29:10.

Earthquake (Aired April 10, 1949) The Damon Runyon Theater was a show series that was syndicated across the USA beginning in early 1949. Damon Runyon was a gifted sports writer in New York City as well as being a great journalist and great short story writer. His stories were humorous ones, written in the "dem" and "dose" vernacular of the city's loveable and not so loveable characters of Broadway, the prize ring and the underworld. His most famous collection of short stories, Guys and Dolls, was on Broadway and later made into a movie. Many of his stories were filmed including Sorrowful Jones, A Pocketful of Miracles, Lady for a Day, Blue Plate Special, The Lemon Drop Kid (twice) and Little Miss Marker (four times). In addition to this The Damon Runyon Theater was syndicated for television in the mid 1950s. THIS EPISODE: April 10, 1949. Program #28. Mayfair syndication. "Earthquake". Commercials added locally. A cop trails a very strong killer all the way to South America, and then fails to return to the States with his prisoner! Damon Runyon (author), John Brown, Richard Sanville (director), Russell Hughes (adaptor), Vern Carstensen (production supervisor), Frank Gallop (announcer). 27:05. Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index.

All-American Fake (Aired October 17, 1949) Crime Does Not Pay was an anthology radio crime drama series based on MGM's short film series. The films began in 1935 with Crime Does Not Pay: Buried Loot. For the most part, actors who appeared in B-films were featured, but occasionally, one of MGM's major stars would make an appearance. The radio series aired in New York on WMGM (October 10, 1949-October 10, 1951) and then moved to the Mutual network (January 7-December 22, 1952). Actors included Bela Lugosi, Everett Sloane, Ed Begley, John Loder and Lionel Stander. THIS EPISODE: October 17, 1949. Program #2. MGM syndication. "All-American Fake". Commercials added locally. Taylor Dunn is a con-man who looks like football hero Kit Marlowe. He uses the resemblance to swindle people. Even his wife doesn't know that he's a phoney! The date above is the date of the first broadcast on WMGM, New York, from which this syndication version may have been taken. Jon Gart (composer, conductor), Sidney Blackmer, Marx B. Loeb (director), Ira Marion (writer), Burton B. Turkas (technical advisor), Bob Williams (announcer). 26:35. Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index.