Month: February 2011

EP0340: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Port O’Call Matter

Edmond O'Brien

Johnny investigates the near simultaneous robberies of several finance companies.

Original Air Date: January 13, 1953

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EP0339: Sherlock Holmes: The Strange Death of Mrs. Abernathy

Tom Conway

Sherlock Holmes investigates the death of a country matriarch in a house where everyone has a motive. The key clue? Parsley.

Original Air Date: November 30, 1946

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EP0338: Let George Do It: The End of Summer

Bob Bailey

George is called up to a house in the country where a man’s wife is missing as is a local doctor. The sister-in-law is suspicious and confused, while the husband is acting guilty.

Original Air Date: August 29, 1949

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EP0337: Nero Wolfe: The Case of the Deadly Sell Out

Sidney Greenstreet

Nero Wolfe is hired to find a missing boxer, when the boxer turns up dead, Wolfe must find the murderer.

Original Air Date: January 5, 1951

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EP0336: The Adventures of Abbotts: The Blood Red Diamond

Claudia Morgan

A Catcher is murdered before a big game, Pat Abbott believes that the team’s star pitcher may be the key to finding the murderer, but doesn’t like Jean’s tactic of going undercover as a single girl to extract information from the wolfish pitcher.

Original Air Date: March 6, 1955

1957 AFRTS Transcription

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The Triumph of Rochester

PlayPlay

Eddie

There are no small parts, only small actors.-Milan Kundera

During Hollywood’s Golden Age, Black actors who made it to Hollywood found themselves playing  the same old stereotypical roles the same old way

Yet, even during Segregation, a few Black performers managed to make a connection to a wider public. None did this better than Eddie “Rochester” Anderson.

Anderson was born into show business and active in Vaudeville.  His big break in radio came in 1937 when he landed what was to be a one-shot performance on the Jack Benny show, but would instead start an association with Benny that would last for nearly 30 years in the role of Rochester. While Rochester was Benny’s valet, Anderson portrayal moved away from stereotypes to create one of the golden age’s most memorable characters.

Anderson became a popular regular on the Jack Benny show, with his entrances always drawing tremendous applause as seen in this 1942 video of a radio recording session:

Rochester may have been a valet, but Anderson made the character iconic and memorable with his style and perfect pitch comic timing as seen in this 1957 clip of the Jack Benny TV show.

Anderson was multi-talented. He was not only a great comedian, but he was also a talented singer and dancer. In the 1940 film, “Buck Benny Rides Again,” he gave a sterling singing and dancing performance with Theresa Harris in singing, “My, My, My:”

Appearing on the radio show, “Jubilee,” Anderson showed his comic stylings in a memorable performance of, the Vaudeville song, “Waiting for Jane,” :

Anderson also starred in several films apart from Benny including, “Cabin in the Sky.” In 1950, CBS auditioned a radio show for Anderson called, “The Private Life of Rochester Van Jones” which would have been a daily 15 minute serial. The show wasn’t greenlighted but we do have the audition recordings do exist and give us an idea of what might have been:

The more I see and hear of Eddie Anderson, the more impressed I am with him. His combination of gobs of talent and charisma was rare, and the character to achieve his dream in the face of adversity is still rarer.

EP0335: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Leland Blackburn Matter

Edmond O'Brien

An old friend is murdered while investigating another murder in South Carolina. Is the murdered investigator’s wife (an ex-flame of Johnny’s) behind the killing or did the perpetrators of the original murder do it.

Original Air Date: December 16, 1950

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EP0334: Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Sally Martin

Tom Conway

Holmes and Watson investigate the murder of the owner of a ship.

Original Air Date: November 23, 1946

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EP0333: Let George Do It: The Empress of Fishfalls

Bob Bailey

George, Lt. Riley, and Claire go on a fishing vacation, and end up fishing a murdered midget out of the water. In a town full of ex-circus people, who committed the crime?

Original Air Date: August 22, 1949

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EP0332: Nero Wolfe: The Case of the Bashful Body

Sidney Greenstreet

While visiting an orchid shop, Archie finds the dead body of a disliked man. By the time, Archie gets Nero Wolfe, the body is gone with only some blood on a fern.

Original Air Date: December 29, 1950

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