Radio....

[Lucky13]

Fellow brethren of the older generation....and you other lot as well.... Most of us has probably heard of those detective programs from back in the day on radio. What I'd like to know what else there was of the same kind of shows back then, and what else there were that you enjoyed listening to. I sometimes feel that it's a shame that radio don't re-run those shows, as I'd love to listen to them...and probably some other too.
We had a program back in Sweden a few years back before I move here to Scotland, that played nothing 20', 30', 40's jazz and so on, A show that I'm sure that you'd have loved Mr C .... You could close your eyes and just listen to the presenter, who had the right voice for the show, cracking like after a hard life of drinking, smoking etc, doing that and you'd travel back to the 30's New York or Chicago...8)with machinegun fire and police sirens outside..

 

[Njaco]

I used to work late nights and there was a program on narrated by E.G. Marshall about mysteries and other stuff. Loved it! Along with "The Shadow" and the "Invisible Man". I think alot of kids these days are missing out on excersing their imagination with no shows like this around.

"Who knows what evil luurks in the hearts of man.....the Shadow knows!"

 

[Lucky13]

Feel the same NJ, wish that you could buy them on CD... Must have been a few of them running in the good ol' U. S. of A....with Capone, Lucky Luciano, Machinegun Kelly, Bonnie and Clyde etc. etc....as inspiration.

 

[Njaco]

I have a few on vinyl and cassette. Along with the comedy shows - Burns and Allen, etc.

and the all-time favorite.....War of the Worlds from Orson Welles!

 

[Marcel]

I downloaded that War of the worlds. All those shows from Mercury have been put on the net:
The Mercury Theatre on the Air

 

[Njaco]

Cool Marcel, thanks!

 

[RabidAlien]

My Dad had a bunch of tapes I used to listen to alot as a kid, old copies of the Lux Radio Theater shows (Lux being an old laundry soap of some sort waaaaaay back in the day that sponsored the shows). They did stuff like "Treasure of the Sierra Madres" (later a movie with Humphrey Bogart), "Road to Morocco", stuff like that. I also remember some old late-nite shows that aired mystery/horror/sci-fi stuff, sorta "Twilight-Zone"-ish. I miss those, too. Too much TV ruins the imagination! I remember sitting up late at nite with my little alarmclock radio turned low, and visualizing what was going on....I loved that stuff!

I swear I've also heard "The Shadow", but couldn't bet on it. I need to find those again. I know I've seen tape copies in a store somewhere on clearance years ago, and I bet they're on CD now too. Somewhere.

 

[Njaco]

Probably at the Dollar store. Its amazing what you can find on DVD there. Almost have a complete Alfred Hitchcock collection. Minus the usual favorites.

 

[Marcel]

Found another site:
RadioLovers.com - Old Time Radio Shows

I swear I've also heard "The Shadow", but couldn't bet on it. I need to find those again. I know I've seen tape copies in a store somewhere on clearance years ago, and I bet they're on CD now too. Somewhere.

I guess you mean this, Rabid Alien?
http://www.oldradioworld.com/shows/The_Shadow.php

 

[RabidAlien]

That'll do! *g* I swear I was in a Ross somewhere (discount store) and saw a boxed set of old "The Shadow" tapes. Dang, wish I'd've picked it up.

 

[seamist]

I have been going to a site for years now where there are literally thousands upon thousands of old original Old Time Radio shows for free,to listen at the site or download on to the desktop.here is the link:

www.archive.org

use the little search at the very top of the page.all you have to do,is put OTR or old time radio in,and loads will come up.

 

[Thorlifter]

If you have Sirius satellite, they have the old time radio channel, which is one of my favorites. They play all the old stuff........

Superman
Lone Ranger
Boston Blackie
The Shadow
Burns and Allen
Jack Benny
Bob Hope

Just to name a few........


I just checked out that link that Seamist posted. What a treasure!!!!! I guess I'll be downloading all weekend. Thanks for the link.

 

[ccheese]

Now you folks are talking about when I grew up, in the '40's. There was, of
course, "The Shadow" who in reality was LaMont Cranston. There was "Johnny Dollar", a P.I. kinda show that started with him reading his expense account. John (The Duke) Wayne starred in "Sgt. Preston of The Yukon". And "Tennessee Jed". It started with someone saying, "There he goes, Tennessee, Git em", followed by A rifle shot and "Got em…dead center"

"Captain Midnight" was a crime vs hero show. You could send off for a secret
code ring, and at the end of the show they'd give a message in the secret
code. And, yes, I had one. The sponsor was "Ovaltine" a chocolate powder
that mixed with milk.

"Mr District Attorney" was a crime show, where no one had a first name. Jay Joston played the part of the D.A. who was always referred to as "The Chief", Vicky Volla was "Miss Miller" and the head investigator was "Harrington". It always opened with "…and it shall me my duty, as District Attorney, not only to prosecute to the limits of the law, all persons accused of crimes, perpetrated within this county, but to defend, with equal
vigor, the rights a privileges of all it's citizens".

There was "Gangbusters", a show about the F.B.I., Another FBI show was, "The FBI in Peace War" which was suppose to take you through real cases. "Gunsmoke" that did not star James Arness, "The Gene Autry Show (with Dale Evans) was on Saturday morning. "The Inner Sanctum" always started the show with a very creaky door, that took forever to close, then did with a slam. "The Outer Limits" was another spooky show. On Tuesday evening was "The Eddie Cantor Show" a song and dance show. It always closed with him singing, "I love to spend each Tuesday with You….. as friend to friend……. I honestly do…." Perry Como had a show, too. The Bob Hope Show was another. They always had a guest, like Crosby or female singers. The Jack Benny Show was a comedy (with Eddie Anderson as "Rochester"). Jack would play his violin, and he was good til he started hamming it up. Fred Allen had a show, and sometime during the show you'd go down "Allen's Alley" to meet his guest. Who can forget George Burns Gracie Allen or Amos Andy ??

Comedy shows abounded with "Fibber McGee Molley" who lived at 79 Wisful Vista, and his famous closet. And Molley's "t'aint funny, Mcgee !" "The Little Immigrant". Which was a comedy that starred J. Carroll Nash (he was the Italian soldier in "Sahara"). It started with a letter to his mother, in Italy, and ended with him signing, "Luigi Basco, The little immigrant". "Thunder Road" (later a movie) was about the boys in the country who made moonshine and run it to the big cities. It was drama/comedy and lots of car chases with squealing tires.

There were serials on in the late afternoon, "Jack Armstrong (The All American boy)", which was sponsored by Wheaties. "Sky King", "Smilin' Jack", "Terry The Pirates", "Superman" who was "faster that a speeding bullet, could leap tall buildings in a single bound, more powerful than a locomotive….. Look…up in the sky… it's a bird".....etc.

Some of the serious stuff was "The Lux Radio Theater", which as mentioned
was sponsored by Lux Soap. Proctor Gamble had a story kind of show
too, something with the word "Ivory" in it. Can't remember that one...

I can't believe I am actually remembering all of this…… I lived this stuff, back then.

Around 1100 the soaps started.. "When A Girl Marries", "As The World Turns", "Stella Dallas", "One Life To Live", "Young Widow Brown", "The
Sands Of Time", and others. Kept the stay-at-home moms glues to the radio.

There are more, I'm sure, but my brain is tired…. And my eyes are misty.

Hope this helps, Lucky…..

Charles

 

[Wildcat]

I downloaded that War of the worlds. All those shows from Mercury have been put on the net:
The Mercury Theatre on the Air

My DVD of the original War of the Worlds has the Orson Wells broadcast included as a special feature. Great touch I thought.

 

[RabidAlien]

"The Inner Sanctum" always started the show with a very creaky door, that took forever to close, then did with a slam. "The Outer Limits" was another spooky show.

Charles

DUDE!!!!!!!!!! THAT'S THE ONE!!!! I remember that squeaky door!!!! I don't recall most of the episodes, but I remember liking them and I loved that door!!!

"Outer Limits" was awesome, too, I put it right up there as an audio-only version of "Twilight Zone".



ETA: Only found 8 episodes of "Sky King" on there...how many were aired?

 

[ccheese]

ETA: Only found 8 episodes of "Sky King" on there...how many were aired?

Are you talking about the radio show or the TV show of Sky King ? On the
radio there were 52 episodes a year, donno about the TV show. On TV he
flew a Cessna 310B, on the radio he flew a single engine, four place tail
dragger, which was never named.

Charles

 

[RabidAlien]

Either way, radio or TV. I remember catching one or two episodes on TV once, probably TCN channel or something, and liked what I saw. I even liked the recent "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" movie. How they got all that cool technology packed into a P-40, I'll never know....but its a cool sci-fi flick! (hope they make a sequil). I'll just continue looking, then.

 

[Matt308]

Now you folks are talking about when I grew up, in the '40's. There was, of
course, "The Shadow" who in reality was LaMont Cranston. There was "Johnny Dollar", a P.I. kinda show that started with him reading his expense account. John (The Duke) Wayne starred in "Sgt. Preston of The Yukon".
Charles

Sgt Preston of the Yukon was the Duke?!!? Man, all those shows used to be on DSB-AM about 5yrs ago on Sunday nights around here and I used to lay in the bed with my boys and listen. Never knew Sgt. Preston was voiced by John Wayne. I'll be...