Month: July 2010

EP0200s Suspense: The Khandi Tooth Caper

 Howard Duff

In this made-for-radio sequel to the Maltese Falcon, Casper Guttman (Joseph Kearns) returns, but this time he’s seeking a piece of dental work.

Original Air Date: January 10, 1948

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EP0200: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Abel Tackett Matter

Edmond O'Brien

Johnny heads to Borneo to locate a policy holder with a $750,000 life insurance policy who has been missing for five years.

Rehersal of May 2, 1950

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EP0199: Sherlock Holmes: The Strange Case of The Murderer in Wax

Basil Rathbone

Scotland Yard calls Sherlock Holmes in to catch a serial killer who has killed ten young women.

Original Air Date: January 7, 1946

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EP0198: Let George Do It: The Corpse on a Caper

Bob Bailey

George is given a simple job. Deliver the body of a dead college student to her wealthy family in Mexico. Then the body disappears.

Original Air Date: January 10, 1949

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EP0197: Jeff Regan: The Man Who Lived by the Sea

Jack Webb

Jeff Regan is hired by a phony mind-reader to protect him from a woman he’s blackmailing, and then he’s pulled off the case without notice. 

Quote of the Show: “He looked unhappy-like someone had fed him a Vaseline Sandwich.”  

Original Air Date: December 18, 1948 

He looked unhappy-like someone had fed him a Vaseline Sandwich 
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EP0196: Box 13: Death is No Joke

A friend calls Dan in for help when someone is playing a lot of practical jokes on his horrid family, many of which have turned vicious. Dan’s afraid the punch line may be murder.

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Original Air Date: September 29, 1948

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EP0195: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Pearl Carassa Matter

Edmond O'Brien

Johnny Dollar’s job is to deliver a $5000 insurance payoff to the beneficiary of a murdered woman, but he founds himself being stalked and beaten. Why?

Original Air Date: April 25, 1950

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EP0194: Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Iron Box

Basil Rathbone

An eighty-four year-old Scottish Lord who because of being born February 29 has been waiting 63-years for the inheritance he should have gotten when he was 21 finds out he’ll have to wait a little longer, and then Holmes reports he was pushed out the window.

Original Air Date: December 31, 1945

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EP0193: Let George Do It: Murder and One to Go

Bob Bailey

A man sends George a $250 retainer to track down a forgotten silent film star, and before George can see him, turns up dead.

Original Air Date: January 3, 1949

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EP0192: Jeff Regan: The Gambler and His Lady(ies)

Jack Webb

A mother calls the Lyon for help when she becomes concerned about her getting mixed up with a gambler.

Original Air Date: December 11, 1949

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Gambling house owner to Regan: There are people who come out of here with more than they came in.

Regan: Yeah, you.

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EP0191: Box 13: Daytime Nightmare

In answer to a letter to Box 13, Dan goes to lunch with a businessman. He wakes up to find himself strapped down in a saniterium where everyone calls him Mr. Stokes.

Original Air Date: September 22, 1948

Note: Some people got this week’s episode last week. If this episode sounds familiar download EP0186

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And Now, Let’s See What’s Happening Down in Pine Ridge…

Imagine an old time radio show that spawns an annual festival, led to the renaming of a town, and 55 years after its first airdate, keeps a small town grocery store in business.

You needn’t imagine. The show is called Lum and Abner, radio’s two-man show featuring Chester Lauck and Lum Edwards and Norris Goff played Abner Peabody. The two managed the Jot ’em Down Store.  The town had several other residents such as Dick Huddleston, who owned a competing general store, Squire Skimp, an unscrupulous lawyer, Cedric Weehunt, their hired hand, and Grandpappy Spears. All of these parts, plus a few others were played by Lauck and Goff, showing great flexibility as actors.  The show’s 24-year run with a variety of networks and sponsors was impressive, but what makes its so impressive is how well its endured.

A 2-day festival is held every June in Mena, Arkansas in their honor, and the show is still run in reruns over radio stations in Mena and Chicago. Two proprietors run the Jot-Em-Down Store and the Lum ‘N Abner Museum in the unincorporated community of Pine Ridge, where the stories were based. The store draws visitors from around the U.S. and even around the World.

What got me interested in the show was a series of high quality audio downloads posted at the archive.org known as the Pine Ridge Project. They amounted to a series of 34 seperate entries in the Archive, each featuring a whole MP3 CD’s worth of Lum and Abner in High Quality Audio, as well as one with some extra Lum and Abner clips.  I was curious about why the show would have such devoted fans and began listening.

Lum and Abner’s strength comes in its simple conversational nature. Unlike many radio shows of the era such as Burns and Allen, Lum and Abner weren’t doing radio vaudeville. It was an easy going style of comedy that still got into some amazingly zany places. (Ex: When Lum receives a chain letter asking everyone to send a dime to the person at the top of the list, they have the idea to write a chainletter that has everyone send hogs rather than dimes.)

The show’s serial format also gives the show a continuity lacking in other old time radio comedy shows with their sketch mentality. Actions have consequences for Lum and Abner. 

The comedy was well done with Lum, Abner, and friends coming up with some of the most fascinating dialogues in old time radio.  (For an example, see the family tree discussion on this page.)

The show  did have some heart.  Lum and Abner’s friendship was often tested and tried made their way through business, but they invariably made up after each row. The show also did a good job of teaching good rules of business and financial conduct through negative examples.

The show gives a peak into the world of Rural America of the 1930s.  And it has an air of authenticity from the fact that it was based on a real life town in West Arkansas that was called Waters, and many of its citizens. For example,  Dick Huddleston was not only a character on the show, but the real life owner of the only general store in town.

As the town was unincorporated, Huddleston got permission from the Post Office to rename the community to Pine Ridge in1936.  The one unrealistic thing about the fictional Pine Ridge was there there were too many people. Currently, Pine Ridge has 21 inhabitants, only slightly less than it had back in the age of Lum and Abner, so the cast of hundreds that showed up as Pine Ridge residents wasn’t realistic. However, then again, a community the size of the real Pine Ridge couldn’t support two grocery stores either.

While, I’ve only been listening to Lum and Abner for a few weeks, they’re already like old friends. Their 15 minute length makes them perfect for short little pick me ups or can leave a smile on my face before bed.  Nealry 80 years  after they started, the laughter continues.

Further Reading:

The Pine Ridge Project (All 35 Parts)

The Road to Pine Ridge

The National Lum and Abner Society

EP0190: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Story of the 10:08

 Edmond O'Brien

Johnny Dollar investigates the hijacking of a train and finds murder and the item stolen to be worth surprisingly little.

Rehersal for show that aired: April 18, 1950

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EP0189: Sherlock Holmes: The Second Generation

*The daughter of Irene Adler has a favor to ask of Sherlock Holmes that involves attempted burglary.

Original Air Date: December 17, 1945

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EP0188: Let George Do It: Death in Fancy Dress

Bob Bailey

The latest person to respond to George’s ad, an apparent blackmailer whose victim committed suicide is so repugnant that George offers his services to bring his wannabe client down.

Original Air Date: December 27, 1948

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