Month: September 2019

EP2931: Hercule Poirot: The Bride Wore Fright (Listener’s Choice Short Division #1)

Harold Huber

Poirot comes into his apartment to find a woman in a wedding dress hiding from a most dangerous groom.

Original Air Date: December 7, 1945

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Video Theater 164: Richard Diamond: Picture of Fear

A woman snaps a picture of two suspicious men in the woods and Diamond gets caught in the middle while on vacation.

Season 1, Episode 5

Original Air Date: July 29, 1957

EP2930: Dragnet: The Big Coins

Jack Webb

Friday and Smith search for a burglar who sets houses on fire after stealing items of minimal value.

Original Air Date: November 9, 1954
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Radio Series Review: Your Hit Parade

Your Hit Parade was one of the most successful music programs of radio’s golden age, running from 1935-53 on radio and then continuing over television until 1959.

The series evolved into playing the top tunes of the week (often in no particular order) with each song sung live on the air by one of the series’ vocalists. There are more than 100 episodes in circulation, and you can hear a little of the evolution of music over two decades. However, it should be note there’s only handful of recordings from the 1930s and even fewer episodes of the 1950s. The sweet spot for circulating episodes is between 1942 and 1949, so if you love 1940s pop music, Your Hit Parade is for you.

It’s probably my favorite era in popular music with popular music being influenced by old time country western and jazz, along with some great sentimental songs for crooning, World War II patriotic hits, and love songs that were actually about love and marriage.

There were of different vocalist who sang on the series but the most famous was Frank Sinatra, who had two stints as the show’s male vocalist. One of the delights of listening to the series is hearing Sinatra sing some songs that you wouldn’t associate with him like “The San Fernando Valley.”

Of course, Sinatra and the others had to sing some of the lesser songs including the most bizarre song to make the hit parade, “The Woody Woodpecker Song. “

This song stayed on the charts for months, including weeks as the top tune in the country. You can hear Sinatra’s frustration with having to sing this song over and over again. Most bizarre is that Your Hit Parade was based in part on what people were asking the bandleader to play and I strain to imagine adults in the 1940s asking the bandleader to play, “The Woody Woodpecker Song.”  Still, while it’s bit annoying,  it’s not offensive, it’s just bizarre that this tune was this popular with adults.

However, despite a few clunkers, there are a lot of forgotten musical treasures, and some fun performances.  In addition, the series has some episodes that will surprise you such as one episode from 1938 when comic legend W.C. Fields was performing comedy with Baby Snooks “Daddy” Hanley Stafford as the announcer/straight man. In addition, there are some episodes in circulation dated after the show ceased broadcasting a radio version which I assume were the soundtracks of the TV version which were often broadcast over radio.

Overall, I enjoyed listening to the circulating episodes and I would recommend them to any listener with a taste for the pop music of this area.

EP2929: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Racehorse Piledriver Matter

Charles Russell

Johnny is called by an ex-Jockey who fears the owner of a once-successful racehorse plans to kill it for the insurance money.

Original Air Date: October 8, 1949

When making your travel plans, remember http://johnnydollarair.com

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EP2928: Boston Blackie: The ‘High and Dry’ Murder

Richard Kollmar

A dead body is found on a boat in the middle of the city five miles from water.

Original Air Date: January 19, 1949

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EP2927: Rocky Jordan: Congo Copper

Jack Moyles

An old friend of Rocky’s asks him to run a mine he owns in the Congo as he can’t go back since he killed a man.

Original Air Date: May 14, 1950
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EP2926: Let George Do It: Is Everybody Happy?


A wealthy man, who has dedicated his fortune to helping talented people to achieve their potential, is murdered.

Original Air Date: July 2, 1952

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EP2925: Richard Diamond: The Jerome J. Jerome Case (Listener’s Choice Standard Division #5)

An eccentric man shows up in Diamond’s office and claims to have found a body.

Original Air Date: September 17, 1949

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Film Review: Alias Boston Blackie

I noticed Alias Boston Blackie was available for free viewing on Amazon Prime, which is a treat given Sony holds the rights to the Boston Blackie series and has not done much to make the films available. While this was released in April 1942, it’s the most Christmasy detective film I’ve seen from the 1940s, so much so I debated not reviewing it until Christmas, but since it might disappear from Amazon before then, I decided to review it now.

Alias Boston Blackie find Blackie (Chester Morris) staging a Christmas Eve show for prisoners.  Inspector Farraday (Richard Lane) comes along for the ride suspecting Blackie is up to no good. However, a bitter prisoner (future Academy Award nominee Larry Parks) claims he was framed. He decides to tie up a performing clown and take his place so he can get to the outside and enact vengeance on the men who framed him. Blackie needs to stop him before the prisoner gets Blackie and his sister (Adele Mara) in trouble.

What Worked:

Morris’ portrayal of Boston Blackie is the best I’ve seen.  This film avoids the worst fault of Blackie as a character as he can sometimes seem a bit “too cool for school.” Here Blackie is more grounded. The script acknowledges Blackie’s been to prison and Farraday sent him there. Blackie expresses an understandable note of annoyance at Farraday’s continued suspicion.

I also like Farraday in this one as he seems more competent and believable than in many of the radio episodes. Blackie still gets the better of Farraday several times throughout the story, but it feels less like Blackie is fighting a battle of wits with an unarmed man than it does in some later films.

Detective Matthews schtick as a bit of a dim bulb policeman works far better than it did in the later film A Close Call for Boston Blackie which I reviewed previously. He’s helped by Farraday’s competence.

There are fun antics and clever turns as Blackie has to dodge the police and find some way out of this mess. There were a couple moments when I was expecting the film to go one direction and it went somewhere else entirely, leaving me pleasantly surprised. It was both exciting and amusing.

George Stone made a decent showing here as Blackie’s sidekick Runt, delivering a few laughs, and never becoming annoying.

I like the Christmas vibe, which the film uses just right. While the movie’s not overly sentimental, it does maintain a holiday feel without overdoing it. It’s the type of detective movie you’d reach for around the holidays when you want their flavor without being drenched.

Also, we get to see the character of Arthur Manleder, who I’d only heard in the 1944 Summer radio series.  

What Doesn’t Work

Larry Park’s character is loathsome. Giving the escaped prisoner a sister who was one of the performers served a plot purpose of explaining why Blackie tries to reason with the guy so he can return the escapee without getting the sister in trouble. However, the guy’s response to Blackie’s overtures and his willingness to expose his sister to legal jeopardy to carry out this revenge plot makes me despite this character. That’s a problem as the movie’s focus eventually shifts to Blackie trying to uncover proof of the escaped would-be murderer’s innocence.

I also have to say the prisoner had his own private office as the prison’s “dramatic director” that he could access while guards were everywhere. This is one of the silliest plot ideas I’ve ever heard.

Being only sixty-seven minutes hurts this film as its more than forty minutes in when Blackie shifts from tracking down the prisoner to proving his innocence which makes for a bit of a rushed story towards the end.

Overall:

I enjoyed this quite a bit. It’s still a B-movie, but it’s a pretty well-done film despite its flaws. Chester Morris turns in a solid performance and most of the rest of the cast is on-point. It’s a fun, fast-paced film with fun comic moments. Watch it now, or wait until December and hope it’s still on Amazon to watch so you can enjoy it in all its Christmasy glory.

Rating: 4 out of 5

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EP2924: Dragnet: The Big Locker

Jack Webb

Friday and Smith catch a man outside a pawn shop with a thousand dollar emerald ring.

Original Air Date: November 2, 1954

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EP2923: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Search for Michelle Marsh

Charles Russell

Johnny goes to Boston to find a missing insured woman and finds a private eye who dies with her name on his lips.

Original Air Date:September 25, 1949

When making your travel plans, remember http://johnnydollarair.com

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EP2922: Boston Blackie: The Broken Clocks Murder

Richard Kollmar

A man pays Blackie $5,000 to stay the night. In the morning, the man unable to determine the time, as all the clocks and watches in the apartment are stopped. He’s then murdered.

Original Air Date: January 12, 1949

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EP2921: Rocky Jordan: Horde of the Manluks

Jack Moyles

Rocky spots a crashing plane and is then pursued by a man with a machine gun.

Original Air Date: January 12, 1949

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EP2920: George Do It: The Man From Jaune Cache


A man hires George because his brother-in-law is due to arrive from South America and he’s afraid that the brother-in-law’s in trouble because of a man who’s been watching his house.

Original Air Date: June 25, 1951

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