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Inner Sanctum Mysteries

The Inner Sanctum Mysteries left a definite impression on its audiences. My father tells me stories about how, when he listened as a child with his siblings, they would try to scare each other as they listened to the show and its creepy tales of ghosts and the supernatural. It starred the best New York radio talent available, which at times included well-known stars such as Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre. The series was also known for its signature creaking door sound effect.

As the Radio Hall of Fame explained in its commentary on the inducted radio program, it also offered a major innovation to the world of horror programs: “What made Inner Sanctum Mysteries unique among radio horror shows was its host, a slightly sinister-sounding man originally known as ‘Raymond’. The host had a droll sense of humor and an appetite for ghoulish puns, and his influence can be seen among horror hosts everywhere, from the Crypt-Keeper to Elvira.”

The series’ influence can be felt today, and is part of why it continues to remain a favorite of old-time radio horror fans.

Lights Out

Lights Out originated in Chicago during the 1930s and later moved to New York and Hollywood in the 1940s. The peaks of the series’ popularity came during the time of the show’s first two producers, Wylis Cooper and Arch Oboler. Both were talented writers. Oboler, in particular, wrote outside supernatural genres for many dramatic anthology series, and Cooper produced an additional popular horror series, Quiet Please, in the post-war era. The stories told were the stuff of nightmares for many who grew up listening to them, with episodes like “The Chicken Heart”, “Cat Wife”, and “The Dark.” The show was known for its combination of great acting, terrifying writing, and chilling sound effects. In John Dunning’s book On the Air, he recounts the tale of a woman who called the police in 1935 after hearing an episode because she was just that frightened!

During Oboler’s Hollywood run, the series began with this warning: “Lights Out brings you stories of the supernatural – and the supernormal, dramatizing the fantasies and the mysteries of the unknown. We tell you this frankly — so if you wish to avoid the excitement and tension of these – imaginative plays, we urge you calmly, but sincerely, to turn off your radio – now.” While it may have served as an effective warning to some who didn’t want to listen to something as intense for its day as Lights Out, it also served as an invitation to the show’s core audience. Most of the episodes that survive come from the 1940s, with the vast majority of Cooper’s work on the series lost to the ages.

Dimension X and X Minus One

Dimension X and X Minus One were two separate but related series. Both were New York-based dramatic series that mostly adapted science fiction short stories to radio while creating a few original stories written by staff writers Ernest Kinoy and George Lefferts. Dimension X aired 50 episodes over 17 months in 1950 and 1951. X Minus One blasted off in April 1955 and would continue on the air until it was cancelled in January 1958. Perhaps the most striking difference is the X Minus One opening, which begins with a rocket ship countdown. The stories adapted for both series came from best-selling science fiction magazines, and included stories by writers who’d become legends of the genre like Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Philip K Dick, and Theodore Sturgeon. Both featured the finest New York radio actors bringing the episodes to life.

While there were other science fiction series during the Golden Age of Radio, these two series account for the best sources for adult science fiction.

And That’s Just for a Start

Of course, experienced fans of the Golden Age of Radio will have even more favorites that I’ve not covered. Many will express love  for The Sealed Book, Hall of Fantasy, or 2000 Plus. And of course, with each article, there are so many interesting series out there that are not as well known like, The Family Theater, Cavalcade of America, Life with Luigi, Fort Laramie, This is Your FBI, and Voyage of the Scarlet Queen. In writing these articles, I’ve not covered every possible series, but given the new old-time radio listeners somewhere to start their explorations into Old Time Radio. I hope these are only a starting point to discovering all of the amazing series that are available to enjoy.

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The Lux Radio Theatre

Did you ever wonder how people enjoyed previously released films in those days before television and home video? There were second-run theaters, plus it wasn’t unheard of for Hollywood studios to re-release old film, but one of the best ways people enjoyed films no longer playing in movie theaters was by listening to them on the radio. The Lux Radio Theatre is best known for adapting films into radio plays, cutting 75-90 minute films down to 45-minute radio dramas. Oftentimes, they got the lead film actors to reprise their roles for the radio, like  Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster in Sorry, Wrong Number, or Clark Cable and Claudette Colbert in It Happened One Night.  Other times, different stars would perform the radio play. Some of these would seem to be kind of random casting choices based on who was available, but other choices would lead to alternate takes on film performances, like Edward G. Robinson starring in The Maltese Falcon in place of Humphrey Bogart.

Originally, Lux Radio Theatre was based in New York and adapted Broadway stage plays.  Eighty-two weeks were done this way (only one of these is in circulation). Starting in 1936 and continuing on for nineteen years, Lux was the premier source of Hollywood film adaptations, and the majority of these episodes are in circulation. It’s a great series to listen to if you want to experience a radio take on a favorite film, listen to a radio version of a film that you can’t find on home video, or maybe get a feel for what a film is like before deciding to watch it. It’s a great audio treasure trove direct from classic Hollywood.

Mercury Radio Theatre/Campbell’s Playhouse

The Mercury Radio Theatre is perhaps the best-known of all time Old Time Radio programs, but it’s not really well-understood. The Mercury Theatre is remembered for its historic Halloween Broadcast of The War of the Worlds that led many Americans to believe the Martians were invading, causing a national panic. It’s been the subject of TV specials, and YouTube videos. Everyone knows The Mercury Theatre.

Or everyone knows about that one episode. But The Mercury Theatre was more than that. It ran for nearly two years. It was network-sponsored as The Mercury Theatre, but landed Campbell’s Soup as its sponsor and became The Campbell’s Playhouse. During its nearly two years, it adapted great stories to radio in ways that were fresh and innovative. Orson Welles starred in most productions and maintained creative control throughout the series run, which told stories of classic literature, and then went into more modern works by authors such as Noel Coward and Eugene O’Neil. Welles was supported regularly by talented performers such as Ray Collins, Alice Faye, and Agnes Moorhead, in stories ranging from The Pickwick Papers to Private Lives.

While it lasted less than two years, it left a definite impact on radio, and stands out as the crown jewel of Welles’ radio career.

Suspense

During its twenty years on and off the air, Suspense was a lot of things. The series motto was that it served up, “Tales well-calculated to keep you in…Suspense”. The series had several show-runners, and each took it in his own direction. The series’s popularity led to sponsorships from Roma Wines and later Auto Lite, which allowed it to command the top talent in Hollywood, including stars like Jimmy Stewart, Lucille Ball, Edward G. Robinson, and Anne Baxter. Radio fixtures in light comedy like Jack Benny, Red Skelton, Fibber McGee and Molly, and Ozzie and Harriet could appear in dramatic roles that saw them playing more serious but good characters, or going totally against type.

While much of the series output could be viewed in the mystery genre, a lot of Suspense falls into categories like true crime, westerns, science fiction, and adventure. Under show-runner Elliot Lewis, Suspense featured a two-part adaptation of Othello. The series is probably best known for it original play, “Sorry, Wrong Number,” starring Agnes Moorhead in a one-woman show about a woman who overhears two men planning a murder on the phone. The play was performed eight times on Suspense and Welles called it, “The greatest single radio play ever written.”

The series marked the times of network radio, beginning as a sustained program in New York, going to Hollywood and becoming a star-studded showcase, then as advertising revenue for radio dropped, the series began to rely on Hollywood character actors before the series returned to New York. Its final episode (along with Yours Truly Johnny Dollar) marked the end of The Golden Age of Radio.

Currently, there’s an ongoing blog called The Suspense Project, which has detailed daily regular blog posts on each episode of Suspense and includes links to the best available versions of each episode, as well as detailed information on stars and stories. It’s well worth reading and following for fans of the series.

Escape

Escape was another CBS anthology series that ran from 1947-54. It’s an anthology that has gotten less respect than Suspense. It bounced around the schedule and most often didn’t have a sponsor. Nevertheless, it earned itself a place in the hearts of Golden Age of Radio listeners.  Like many great programs, it developed a memorable opening line: “Tired of the everyday grind? Ever dream of a life of romantic adventure? Want to get away from it all? We offer you … ESCAPE!”

What would follow is a story of adventure. As with Suspsense, the sort of stories told ran the gamut from mysteries to science fiction and tales of horror and magic. The series tended not to feature the sort of huge stars that appeared on Suspense, but this allowed lesser-known actors and comers like Jack Webb and Edmond O’Brien to take on big roles over the radio and show what they could do, often with surprising results. Escape has several episodes that are well-beloved and were performed multiple times both on Escape and on Suspense, such as, “A Shipment of Mute Fate,” “Three Skeleton Key,” and “Leiningen Versus the Ants”

Next week: Horror and Science Fiction Anthology Programs

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The Shadow

Who knows what evil lurks in the mind of men! The Shadow knows….The weed of crime bears bitter fruit. Crime does not pay!

By the time I was growing up in the 1980s and 90s, most specific old-time radio heroes were forgotten. This is one that hung around. The Shadow is iconic, and not just any version of The Shadow. The Shadow began on radio as a narrator of a series of mysterious adventures, and then in the pages of his own magazine as a mastermind behind a crime-fighting operation that worked mostly through a string of operatives. But that’s not what most people think of when they think of The Shadow. Nor do they think of the utterly forgettable film adaptations. They think of the heroic man of mystery who fought evil over the radio, aided by his ability to make himself invisible to his enemies by clouding their minds.

In fact, when I talk to people who were not alive during the Golden Age of Radio, but are fans, The Shadow is inevitably listed as a series they listen to.

Orson Welles’s performance of the character is iconic in pop culture, even though it only lasted about a year. His successors, Bill Johnstone and Brett Morrison, would contribute far more to The Shadow’s body of work. Regardless of which performance you’re a fan of, The Shadow is simply the most recognizable and iconic old-time radio program there is.

The Green Hornet

The Green Hornet premiered in 1936. Like many mystery men of the era, he reflected skepticism about the competence of police. He operated outside the law. However, unlike The Shadow, or early takes on Batman and Superman, The Green Hornet didn’t rub the law the wrong way by hunting down criminals. He promoted the idea of himself as a criminal, to allow him some ability to operate in the underworld. In reality, he was wealthy newspaper publisher Britt Reid. The Green Hornet was joined by his Japanese valet Kato, whose nationality was changed to Filipino during World War II.

The Green Hornet also offered its listeners some imaginative equipment in the Hornet’s car, the Black Beauty, a sleek black car that could outrun both the police and criminals, and a gas gun to leave people unharmed but out of the way until the Green Hornet could work out his plans.

The equipment, the characters, and the setting would be the inspiration for comic books and multiple film serials during the radio series run. Afterwards, there’d be a television series, a movie, even more comic books, and an animated series promised down the line. While The Green Hornet spin-off material has been a bit more successful than spin-offs of The Shadow, the radio series is still the basis for where every creature begins their work on the character.

The Whistler

After a brief bit of whistling, a sinister-voiced character says, “I…am the Whistler, and I know many things, for I walk by night. I know many strange tales, many secrets hidden in the hearts of men and women who have stepped into the shadows. Yes… I know the nameless terrors of which they dare not speak!”

As a premise, The Whistler seems pretty similar to the original pre-audio drama The Shadow series. Yet, as no episodes of that series are in circulation, The Whistler is very much its own thing. In early days, The Whistler could have a variety of mystery stories that might seem to fit on series like The Inner Sanctum or Suspense. Yet The Whistler would establish its own style that would define most of its episodes. We meet a character who has a problem or a desire. They make a decision to get what they want by committing a crime, usually murder, and they think they’re clever enough to get away with it. It’s an unusual series, as it’s often waiting to find out how the protagonist ends up getting it in the end.  Does their plot fail, do they do the crime but get caught because of some ironic mistake or twist of fate, does their own trap spring on them? With The Whistler‘s tales, there are so many ways it could end up going wrong. And to keep it interesting, there are atypical episodes, where what you expect doesn’t happen.

Throughout most of its run, the series was heard only on the West Coast. It featured the cream of West Coast radio actors, many of whom got to play far darker roles than they typically landed over radio. The series is a perennial favorite of old-time radio fans, with a unique style that makes it stand out from all the Golden Age’s more straightforward crime programs.

The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

This is a series that’s popular for two reasons. First, there’s the enduring popularity of Sherlock Holmes in general and interest in all things Holmes. Second is the enduring popularity of the Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes films. Of the nearly 200 Holmes episodes in circulation, this duo appear in about a quarter of them, with Bruce also continuing as Watson in an additional thirty-eight episodes with Tom Conway as Holmes. Of course, the radio version features more actors than that. There’s the pre-Rathbone programs that featured forgotten stars like Richard Gordon and Luis Hector, as well as the 1947-49 programs starring John Stanley, as well as the syndicated episodes produced in the UK and starring Sir John Gielgud and Sir Ralph Richardson as Holmes and Watson.

Our Sherlock Holmes Page

The Adventures of Sam Spade

Like many other detective programs on the list, you can partially explain the enduring popularity of Sam Spade’s radio adventures by the popularity of the source material. The Maltese Falcon novel is a classic that is often assigned reading for book clubs. The film is a perennial favorite that earns honors whenever anyone makes an applicable film list. There’s also a dearth of material featuring Sam Spade. Dashiell Hammett only wrote The Maltese Falcon and three additional short stories featuring Spade and, until recently, there have been few modern spin-off stories.

Yet, there’s far more to the series’ popularity. Howard Duff’s take on Spade was iconic, as was Lurene Tuttle as his secretary, Effie. The relationship between the two really sells the series. The direction by William Spier was solid and he managed to have a sort of Rep company of actors who’d bring the superb scripts to life. More than any other series, Sam Spade was able to feature different types of stories and plot points. The series could be absolutely absurd in tales filled with over-the-top characters, at other times, the story could feature real heartbreaking dramatic moments. The ability of the series to do that without giving listeners tonal whiplash is an achievement in and of itself.

Our Sam Spade Page

The Adventures of Philip Marlowe

Like Spade, initial interest in Marlowe can be explained partially by his popularity in literature and film, although Marlowe had more books written about him, more films, and even two different BBC radio adaptations of the Marlowe novels.

The popularity of The Adventures of Philip Marlowe is also due to other elements. The star of the 1948-51 series (Gerald Mohr) gave a career performance as Marlowe. And the production choices were so important. The opening line of the series was absolutely iconic: “Get this and get it straight. Crime is a sucker’s road, and those who travel it wind up in the gutter, the prison, or the grave. There’s no other end… but they never learn.” It grabs your attention and then holds on with great writing. The series has its humorous moments but never goes for some of the truly silly (but often well-executed) stories done on Sam Spade. It maintains a noirish tone and uses the tropes of hard-boiled detective fiction but is never cartoonish about it.

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Richard Diamond, Private Detective

This is Dick Powell’s biggest radio role and it’s definitely a unique one. Powell’s career had had two parts through 1949: As a song and dance man and juvenile lead in 1930s romantic comedies, and then in the mid-1940s, he turned to hard-boiled roles crime films. What if you combined those?

That’s what you get with Richard Diamond, Private Detective, at least with the early seasons. An episode might begin with Diamond having some light romantic banter on the phone with his girlfriend Helen Asher. Then two thugs come into his office, and beat the living daylights out of Diamond. Then Diamond wakes, goes to the police station to ask for help, after doing comedy routines with both Detective Sergeant Otis (Wilms Herbert) and Walt Levinson (originally Ed Begley, Sr. but four actors would play the role during the series) finally gets some information and leaves. Then we get into some typical hard-boiled detective action for about ten minutes, perhaps ending with Diamond having to shoot down a murderer in self-defense. Then shortly after snuffing out a human life, Diamond makes his way to the apartment of his girlfriend, has some light banter, gets on the piano, croons out a romantic ballad and then has a closing joke.

The series can seem like tonal whiplash but it was entertaining from start to finish. The series could feature some of the most extreme radio violence for the time or be absolutely charming and delightful from week to week. It might seem an odd concept, but it’sone radio fans have come back to for decades.

Our Richard Diamond page

Dragnet

Dragnet premiered in 1949 and changed crime dramas forever. The series was created by and starred Jack Webb, and took a more realistic ground look at police work, introducing police phrases and language into the popular vernacular. The series offered a glimpse at how crimes were actually solved, and showed the difficult and tedious tasks that good police work required, without being tedious itself, which is a remarkable achievement. The series made groundbreaking use of sound effects and its third episode presented its iconic theme.

The series would air for six years on radio and would have two separate TV runs, from 1951-59 and 1967-70 as well as producing a theatrical film in 1954 and a TV movie in 1969. The series often took on hard topics that other shows couldn’t or wouldn’t touch, in a way that was never exploitative, while still being true to the core realism of the series. The radio program is not the best known part of the Dragnet franchise, but it is the foundation and a solid one.

Our Dragnet page.

Yours Truly Johnny Dollar:

Yours Truly Johnny Dollar began airing in February 1949 and aired 230 episodes between then and when it left the air in September 1954, with three actors playing the lead role. Each made their mark as the titular freelance insurance investigator. Yet, none of them are the key to the series’ continued popularity.

Jack Johnstone was hired as director of the series and chose Bob Bailey as his star. The series returned to the air as 15-minute daily serialized adventures and then transitioned to half-hour weekly episodes for Bailey’s four years in the series. Johnstone and Bailey’s take on Johnny Dollar was to create a more grounded human character and adding in real touches of continuinity and recurring characters, so that Johnny had a sort of “family” of supporting characters he was associated with.

The vast majority of the serials came into circulation during the boom of old time radio in the 1970s and was frequently replayed by hosts of radio nostalgia programs. Bailey’s characterization gained a following among many who hadn’t heard him the first time. While some dispute whether his take on Johnny Dollar was the best, it is without a doubt the reason for the series’ popularity.

This isn’t say to that Bailey serials or the Bailey era is all that Johnny Dollar has to offer. There were hundreds of episodes with the other five Johnny Dollar actors and each were talented and offered their own unique take on the character. One was an Academy Award winner and one was an Emmy Award winner. Edmond O’Brien, John Lund, and Mandel Kramer have more Yours Truly Johnny Dollar episodes circulating than most other old time radio detective programs and each has people who view them as the best actor to play the role. However, Bailey is the favorite of most fans and without the Bailey era, the series would not be nearly as popular as it still is.

Our Johnny Dollar page

Next week: Dramatic Anthology Programs

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The Lone Ranger

Probably, the most iconic old-time radio program of them all. It went to television and many might think of its eight year run on Television from 1949-57, it was during its 21 year run on radio that the Lone Ranger, a series that was targeted towards kids, became a popular pop culture hit with all ages. The Lone Ranger, the only survivor of six Rangers who were ambushed. The Lone Ranger set out to bring the guilty parties to justice and then continued on as the Lone Ranger, aided by Tonto. The series was a thrice weekly feature with more than 2,000 episodes in circulation including a long-running serialized story from 1941 where he takes on a mission from the President to fight the Legion of the Black Arrow and proceeds to do so over sixty-four episodes. In addition, the Lone Ranger met up with historical figures such as Teddy Roosevelt and Billy the Kid. I asked Andrew Rhynes who posts episodes of the Lone Ranger (and also edits this podcast) and he suggested those who are new to the Lone Ranger may want to start with episodes from the 1950s as the writing quality improved.

Gunsmoke:

Gunsmoke is another program that made the leap to television and the 1955-75 TV show enjoys popularity even in the age of streaming. The radio series began three years before in 1952 and began radio’s last great trend, the rise of the adult western. Gunsmoke and the other adult westerns brought a more realistic look at the harsh realities of life in the Old West. William Conrad starred in the rad series as Marshall Matt Dillon and led a talented cast of the best radio performers in telling the stories of life in Dodge City. Throughout its run,t he series was known for its great writing, superb acting, and well-done sound design. The series would be the last surviving program from the Golden Age of Radio when it left the air in 1961.

The Old Time Radio Superman Show

In 1940, Superman came to radio less than two years after being introduced in the pages of Action Comics magazine. Superman was popular but very new. Radio would actually define the character in many: Jimmy Olsen was first introduced on the radio, so was kryptonite, and also the radio would be home to the first Superman-Batman team-up. The series originated from New York and starred Bud Collyer as Superman and Joan Alexander as Lois Lane. Superman had all sorts of adventures, on land (including some modern westerns), sea, the and even a few in space. A couple of storylines stand out as particularly memorable. There was the exciting Kryptonite Saga which would lead to Superman battling the Atom Man, a Kryptonite-power Ex-Nazi soldier. This serial became the inspiration for the Superman Movie serial Atom Man v. Superman. Superman battled the forces of intolerance in post-war America, most memorably in The Clan of the Fiery Cross, Superman would take on a thinly disguised version of the Ku Klux Klan. This serial became the basis for a recent graphic novel, Superman Smashes the Klan.(affiliate link.)

Next week: Popular Crime Programs

Previous Article: Popular Sitcom/Variety Programs

Amos and Andy: 

There are few shows from the Golden Age of Radio that have generated more controversy than Amos and Andy, as the two main characters were Black men, but voiced by white actors, Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll. In addition, there were claims that the show reinforced negative racial stereotypes. Others take a more nuanced view of the radio program and television show by pointing to a universal aspect of its humor and characterization, particularly as the series went on.

There’s a lot that’s debatable about the series, but there’s also quite a bit that’s undeniable. Gosden and Correll pioneered the techniques of radio acting, transitioning from broad methods of playing scenes used by stage actors to more subtle modulations. They worked together in a small studio and weren’t playing to a studio audience. The series was also undeniably popular and long-lasting. It began airing as a daily serial in 1928 and continued until becoming a weekly sitcom and finally a daily program that mixed skits and music called The Amos and Andy Music Hall, which left radio in 1960. Only a few dozen of their 15 years of serialized stories are in circulation, with the bulk of episodes coming from that sitcom era.

Lum ‘n Abner

Two Arkansas childhood friends named Chester Lauck and Norris Goff had established a blackface act that garnered them an audition for a local radio station. Sensing the glut in such acts after the success of Amos and Andy, the two created a new hilbilly act where they played two rural shopkeepers. The characters of Lum and Abner ran the Jot ’em Down Store in the then-fictional town of Pine Ridge, Arkansas. Lum ‘n Abner was a comic soap opera with serialized misadventures keeping listeners tuned in for their homespun humor. Like Gosden and Gorrell, Lauck and Goff were the only ones heard in the studio, although Lauck and Goff voiced even more characters and kept up the practice for most of the program’s serialized run. The serials ran with few interruptions from 1931-48. During the ’30s, its popularity led to the unincorporated Arkansas community that inspired Pine Ridge being renamed from Waters to Pine Ridge, and three other unincorporated communities being renamed after the show.  Unlike Amos and Andy, Lum ‘n Abner‘s transition from daily serial to half-hour weekly sitcom didn’t work, and the weekly series was cancelled after two years in 1950, but Lum ‘n Abner would return for a final serial run for more than a year in 1953. They continued to enjoy popularity, as evidenced by gatherings held of fans from around the country into the twenty-first century through the Lum ‘n Abner Society and also the Lum ‘n Abner Museum and Jot ‘Em Down Store that closed just this year.

Fibber McGee and Molly

Fibber McGee and Molly began in the Depression, but its influence extended for a quarter of a century. The series premiered in 1935 and starred husband-and-wife vaudeville team Jim and Marion Jordan as the titular characters. The show’s lines became part of the culture of the era. It centered around the schemes and exaggerations of Fibber McGee and the trouble it got the pair into. Throughout its run as a 30-minute weekly program, the series boasted a rotating cast of entertaining characters that inhabited the McGees’ hometown of Wistful Vista, such as Mayor LaTrivia (Gale Gordon), Doc Gamble (Arthur Q. Bryan), and of course, Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve (Harold Peary). The series’s great running gags, such as Fibber McGee’s closet, and repeated lines like, “You’re a hard man, McGee” and “Tain’t funny, McGee” became recognized parts of pop culture. The series was vital to morale on the homefront during World War II. In 1953, Fibber McGee and Molly became a daily serialized program, until 1956 when it became a series of short vignettes on NBC’s Monitor program, which lasted until Marion Jordan passed away in 1959.

The Great Gildersleeve

The Great Gildersleeve was the first great sitcom spin-off.  Gildersleeve began as a character on Fibber McGee and Molly as a foil for Fibber McGee. The character was popular enough to get his own series. So in 1941, he boarded a train from Wistful Vista to Summerfield, where he would take charge of the business affairs of his young adult niece and pre-teen nephew, becoming a surrogate father and eventually a pillar of the community. He would become the town’s water commissioner in Season 2, and be involved in various civic projects and misadventures. Gildersleeve’s family, along with their cook Birdie (Lililian Randolph), and Judge Hooker (Earle Ross), would form the nucleus of the series and a community that would become just as real to listeners as Wistful Vista. The series recast the lead when star Peary was lured away to CBS in 1950. Willard Waterman proved an able replacement. Yet, the series suffered the decline typical of many comedies of the era, with long-term characters disappearing, a 1954 reformat as a serialized comedy, and then going off the air for good in 1958.

Burns and Allen

George Burns and Gracie Allen were a husband-wife comedy team that worked together going back to vaudeville in the 1920s and films in the 1930s. They had their first radio appearance for the BBC in 1929 and began working in radio in the 1930s. There are quite a few circulating radio episodes of their 1930s and early 1940s show, which was a lot of sketch comedy and comedic patter. These programs aren’t bad. In fact, they came up with some clever ideas, like the “Gracie for President” stunt in 1940. But a change was needed, as they were doing the same sort of boy-girl comedy sketches they had done in their twenties and they were both over forty-five. In the fall of 1941, they would move to a sitcom format that centered around George and Gracie playing themselves as a married couple. It was a brilliant, crazy ride. During one period of the show, there was the “Happy Postman”, played by a depressed-sounding Mel Blanc; Gracie had a talking pet duck named Herman who talked like Donald Duck; and Gracie also had her women’s auxiliary, The Beverly Hills Uplift Society. The series had recurring ideas such as Gracie believing George to be the most talented singer to walk the face of the Earth, and announcer Bill Goodwin being a major heartthrob and wolf. Gracie succeeded in drawing a universe of Hollywood stars into whatever craziness was going on, whether it was Alan Ladd, Orson Welles, Charles Laughton, Frank Sinatra or Herbert Marshall, and their often against-type performances added to the program’s comedy. The series left radio for television after the 1949-50 season.

Duffy’s Tavern

Duffy’s Tavern starred Ed Gardener as Archie, the manager of the titular tavern. Duffy’s Tavern was promoted as a future series on the 1940 CBS Radio pilot series Forecast, with the series making it to air in 1941. The owner, Duffy, was never seen or heard, but we got Archie’s side of regular phone conversations. The tavern was inhabited by regular supporting characters like Eddie the Waiter (Eddie Green) and Finnegan (Charlie Cantor). Like many other old time radio comedy protagonists, Archie would generate most of the plot with one crazy scheme or another, often leading to the involvement of a celebrity guest. The series left the air at the end of 1951.

Our Miss Brooks

Our Miss Brooks was the most notable role of Eve Arden’s amazing career, as she played Connie Brooks, English teacher at Madison High School. She was doted on by teacher’s pet Walter Denton (Richard Crenna), and constantly found herself at odds with authoritarian principal Osgood Conklin (Gale Gordon), while vying for the affection of “bashful biology teacher” Philip Boynton (Jeff Chandler and later Robert Rockwell).  Unlike other protagonists, Miss Brooks didn’t always cause the craziness around her, but found herself having to deal with the dictatorial whims of Mister Conklin or some overzealous or foolish action by Walter. The series premiered over radio in 1948, it moved to television from 1952-56, and even was turned into a feature film in 1956, but also continued over radio until 1957.

You Bet Your Life

You Bet Your Life was a quiz show hosted by Groucho Marx. The basic gameplay involved Marx asking two contestants a series of questions to win money. If they said the Secret Word of the day, a stuffed duck that had a mustache like Groucho would descend from the ceiling and give the lucky pair $100. The details of the gameplay changed quite a bit over the course of the show’s fourteen-year run, but no one really cares about those details more than sixty years later. The appeal of the series is listening to one of the greatest comedians of all time interview ordinary people and come up with hilarious lines on the spot. The series came to television in 1950 and would continue to be broadcast simultaneously over television and radio until 1960. There have been numerous attempts to revive the concept, most recently with Jay Leno as host in syndication from 2021-2023.

Next Week: Adventure/Western Programs

This is an article series that’s really written for people who have little to no background in the Golden Age of Radio. You might wonder what old-time radio programs are out there, and what are the sort of well-loved must-listen-to shows that are staples of the Golden Age.

By no means are these the only shows or even the best shows or the shows you might like best. In most of these genres I’ve enjoyed series that are a bit more off the beaten path or a bit more specialized. But these are a good place to start to find out what programs you might enjoy from the shows that other generations of fans have liked. In most cases, there’s a large number of episodes available, so if you really connect, you’ll have a lot of entertainment in store.

I’m basing these recommendations on factors such as induction into the Radio Hall of Fame, as well as observations on what the most popular programs seem to be and which come up most with casual old-time radio fans and not necessarily my favorites.

In this first article, we’re going to cover comedy/variety programs that are a combination of sketches and musical numbers, as opposed to sitcoms. Next week, we’ll include sitcoms and game shows.

The Jack Benny Show

Simply put, Jack Benny was the biggest name in the golden age of radio comedy. The Jack Benny Show was a top-rated program for twenty years. Benny showed himself adept at evolving his style and performances to change with the times, while also building one of the best supporting casts in radio, including announcer Don Wilson, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, bandleader Phil Harris, and singer Dennis Day. The latter two actually had their own successful sitcoms. Benny’s running gags, such as his character’s cheapness, his attempts at playing the violin, his claim to being thirty-nine years old for decades, and Benny’s ego were established pop culture ideas and even served as fodder for other comedians.  Benny’s success continued with Emmy- and Golden Glove Award-winning work on television. The earliest Jack Benny shows are interesting as historical artifacts but he really hits his stride in the mid-late 1930s.

The Fred Allen Show

Fred Allen was a master of wit and sarcasm, and was a trailblazer in the realm of radio satire. He hosted radio comedy programs for various sponsors from 1932-49, with his wife, Portland Hoffa, appearing in most of them. Allen was best remembered from his long-running comedic feud with Jack Benny. Also, Allen’s later radio shows (beginning in December 1942) featured a segment called Allen’s Alley, where a cast of wacky characters answered a question or commented on a news item of the day.

The Bob Hope Show

Bob Hope hosted radio programs for Pepsodent, Jello, and finally Chesterfield Cigarette over a 16-year period from 1939-55. Hope enjoyed immense popularity that was buoyed by his his invaluable work entertaining US troops overseas. Hope delivered snappy opening monologues that were filled with topical jokes, which can leave modern audiences unfamiliar with the news of Hope’s day a bit confused. However, Hope was a strong ad-libber. For most of his radio run, he was supported by “Professor” Jerry Colonna, a mustached comedian whose absurdist lines drew nearly as many laughs as Hope. Hope also featured some of the best stars in Hollywood as guest stars.

The Red Skelton Show

Skelton probably had fewer guest stars on his show than any program on this list. After a bit of monologing, most episodes became a mix of songs and sketches, all of them starring Skelton. Skelton created multiple beloved characters: Clem Kadiddlehopper; the outlaw Deadeye; Willy Lump-Lump; and, most popular of all, Junior, the “Mean Widdle Kid”, a young boy who was easily far more dangerous than the outlaw.  He was great at ad-libbing a sketch, and when he or anyone else flubbed a line, he was sure to let listeners know and make it a hilarious moment. While Skelon was light-hearted, he would often surprise listeners with a poignant or thought-provoking piece. He also considered coming into people’s homes via radio to be a trust that should not be abused. Skelton’s program ran from 1939-53.

The Abbott and Costello Show

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello are best known for the “Who’s on First” baseball comedy routine, but fans of classic comedy know them as one of the best teams on the silver screen. Their films have maintained enough popularity that their radio program remains a natural draw. They had their own radio series as a summer replacement in 1940 before getting their own time slot. On radio, you get typical Abbot and Costello verbal comedy with all the clever wordplay and the brilliant delivery. The radio show didn’t have any way to feature Costello’s brilliant physical comedy skills, but the show makes up for it by allowing the two to play off some interesting guest stars, including Lucille Ball, Bugs Bunny, Cary Grant, and Alan Ladd. In the later years, they also did an Abbott and Costello Kids program that was tied to the work of the Lou Costello, Jr. foundation.

Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy Shows

One of radio’s quintessential acts, ventriloquist Edgar Bergen found success with his dummy Charlie McCarthy on the Royal Gelatin Hour. In 1937, they became a featured comedy act on the new Chase and Sanborn Hour. The series would change names and sponsors over the years, becoming The Charlie McCarthy Show and eventually The New Edgar Bergen Hour. The series had varying lengths and features, but until the end seem to feature Hollywood’s A-list as guest stars, from Mae West to Liberace. Charlie McCarthy was a mischievous character who made cutting remarks to guests, argued with Bergen, and also got into all sorts of trouble, and even had a romance with Marilyn Monroe at one point. Bergen was the straight man to Charlie, making for a fascinating one man comedy team.

Next week: Sitcoms and Game Shows

Previous Films: That Mothers Might Live, Of Pups and Puzzles,  Main Street on the March, and Stairway to Light.

Goodbye, Miss Turlock (1948)

Ten years after his first Oscar-winning film, John Nesbitt produced, wrote, and narrated his last Oscar Winner.

Goodbye, Miss Turlock is set against the backdrop of the social changes that America faced as the country marched towards the second half of the twentieth century. For decades, the one-room “little red schoolhouse” was a symbol of rural education in America. The expansion of highways and other changes in rural life made bussing children to larger schools make more sense. And so America’s rural one-room schools were slowly passing away. This short focuses on one of these schools, whose teacher was Miss Turlock.

The film spends a few minutes with Miss Turlock, who is viewed by her young students as harsh and stern, except to a boy who the narrator described as “slow.” The film in its short-running length shows the reality of Miss Turlock, something many of her students didn’t figure out until adulthood. The movie’s closing is sweet and sentimental in a way that calls to mind longer films like Goodbye, Mr. Chips and Cheers for Miss Bishop.

Goodbye, Miss Turlock has all the hallmarks of the best Nesbitt short. Great and moving narration with a touch of humor, solid silent acting that uses body language and facial expressions to sell scenes, and some nice editing work.

The film is the most sentimental of the five Oscar-Winners. But it’s important to be just as clear what it’s not. It’s not a film that’s resisting the end of the red schoolhouse or complaining about it. Rather, it’s honoring the schoolhouse and those who taught in them. The film is a salute to the passing of a way of life with no judgment on what came after.

Appropriately, even as the little red schoolhouse was nearing its end, so was John Nesbitt’s passing parade. The last of Nesbitt’s seventy-two short films for MGM would be released in 1949 and in 1951, The Passing Parade would pass from radio.

So much of Nesbitt’s radio work has been lost to the ages. However, that which survives, coupled with his short films, showcases his talent as a storyteller and his gift for speaking to the hearts of listeners and viewers. And in many cases, that gift can even bridge the chasm of time.

Goodbye, Miss Turlock is currently available on YouTube

Previous Films: That Mothers Might Live, Of Pups and Puzzles, and Main Street on the March.

Stairway to Light (1945)

Stairway to Light begins with a powerful attention-grabbing opening.

A French language chyron on a mental asylum appears, and then shifts to a dark basement covered with straw. Text splashes across the screen: “Until this fantastic but historic event took place, mentally sick people were believed to be animals. They were penned in cages and controlled by the use of whips and streams of ice cold water.” The camera pans across the basement to a room where a burly, rugged man hoses down a man in a cell.

The film goes on to tell how this all changed thanks to the efforts of Philippe Pinel (Wolfgang Zitzer), who took charge of a mental hospital and transformed mental asylums in France, and later throughout the world. The story is beautifully and dramatically told, with so many powerful moments packed into less than ten minutes of screentime.

Pinel’s changes ran into opposition, with many viewing him as a menance. In many ways, this story paralleled Nesbit’s first Oscar Winner, That Mothers Might Live. However, life played out a bit differently for Dr. Pinnel and the opposition culminates in a violent mob and perhaps the most memorable twist of a remarkable short form.

Stairway to Light is currently available on YouTube

Previous Films: That Mothers Might Live and Of Pups and Puzzles

Main Street on the March (1942)

From 1936-1956, there were actually two categories for live-action short films, one-reel films (up to eleven minutes long) and two-reel films (up to 22 minutes long.) The only year which saw Nesbitt win an Oscar for the two-reel category was 1942. It actually won the same year that  Pups and Puzzles won in the one-reel category.

Some Americans might imagine that the country moved immediately from a footing of self-satisfied isolationism to the country being all-in for World War II. The reality was more complicated than that. Main Street on the March shows America undergoing a subtle evolution, with the events of Pearl Harbor being the end rather than the beginning. It starts on a typical American Main Street in May 1940, where Americans tended to believe the year-old War was a “phony war.” However, Germany’s May 10, 1940 invasion of Belgium, Luxembourg, and Holland began to awaken Americans to the importance of strengthening America’s national defense.

The film is of great historical significance, as Nesbitt’s narration is mixed with real-life historic statements by figures such as Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. Nesbitt describes a process of change and the country passing through multiple stages over the year and a half between Germany’s actions and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It also shows how Americans prepared for war in that crucial year and a half. Without those prepartions, the war could have had a very different outcome.

The film had actually been completed and slated for release on December 8, 1941. However, events led to the film being pulled back, and new scenes and narration being added to reflect the events of Pearl Harbor and America’s final evolution. The original film wrapped before America’s entry into the war, and would have had a different conclusion, and you can see a few hints of what that might have been in the surviving footage.

Not all edits were merely for dramatic or thematic purposes. Some street scenes were filmed in Hagerstown, Maryland on West Washington Street and North Potomac. As such, the premiere of the film was held on January 5, 1942 in Hagerstown. However, in the original cut, there were more scenes in Hagerstown’s leading defense factories, but after the US joined the War, it was determined that these scenes had to be removed.

While I’d be curious to see the original cut, the final film is well worth a view and definitely earned its Oscar. It tells how America changed over the course of a year and a half. It’s a film that would really be of interest to anyone who’s interested in the events of World War II and America’s involvement in it.

As of this writing, Main Street on the March is available on YouTube.

Previous Film: That Mothers Might Live

Of Pups and Puzzles (1941)

This short film is about a revolution in American industrial hiring practices. The one-reel film talks about the old way, where a foreman would look at a group of men, and make a superficial choice as to whom to hire based on who looked strong.

Circumstances were going to make such arcane hiring practices untenable. While the film was released three months prior to Pearl Harbor and America’s entry into World War II, America had begun a peace-time draft and ramped up national defense production. Getting the right person into the right job would be critical. To do that, employers turned to psychologists, and behavioral experiments involving three dogs and a chimpanzee.

The film does a good job of making its potentially dry content interesting, as it explains how animal behavior studies changed human hiring practices. Having cute animals on the screen for much of the run time keeps things interesting, and Nesbitt’s storytelling abilities keep the story moving along. The resulting hiring practices of the 1940s are quaint to say the least, as we travel back to a time when unexpectedly pulling a gun out of a drawer and firing it was just all part of the hiring process.

While Of Pups and Puzzles presents its material in an entertaining way, I can’t help but feel actual interest in the film’s content is a bit niche for modern audiences. One IMDB user said it’d be of most interest to “research psychologists and industrial/ organizational personnel specialists.” If you fit that niche or just want to see some old animal footage, you may enjoy this film.

Of Pups and Puzzles is available on YouTube.

John Nesbitt was a mainstay of the Golden Age of Radio as one of radio’s great storytellers. Nesbitt was known for his Passing Parade, which aired for more than a decade, both as a stand-alone program as well as a segment on longer programs, such as Johnson’s Wax Summer Program and The John Charles Thomas Show.

However, Nesbitt’s talents weren’t just enjoyed by radio listeners. He narrated more than fifty short films, which were played in theaters before the feature attraction. Many, but not all, were a film series of Passing Parade. Nesbitt’s voice would be the only speaking role as he told viewers an unusual or remarkable true life story.

Nesbitt’s films were not just filler. Films that Nesbitt narrated and either produced or wrote received a total of five Academy Awards for short films over an eleven-year period from 1938-49.

In this series, we’ll take a look at each one.

That Mothers Might Live (1938) 

That Mothers Might Live opens with shots of a 1930s hospital. We’re then told of a man who dreamed of this a century before and are transported to a 19th-century hospital. There, a popular young obstetrician named Doctor Semmelweis (Shepherd Strudwick) becomes obsessed with finding out what has caused the death of more than two thousand women over the course of six years.

Semmelweis’s tireless research leads to a breakthrough discovery that could change medicine and save the lives of numerous patients. In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, it was considered common sense. But in the nineteenth century, it rubbed against hospital politics and the pride of physicians. The film shows Semmelweis’s fight and the toll it would take on him.

Strudwick’s acting is solid. In what’s a non-speaking role, he manages to bring Semmelweis to life and to go through the whole gamut of emotions in just a few minutes.  The film is well-directed and well-edited, taking the audience on this emotional roller coaster ride in ten minutes through the incidental music and cuts. Nesbitt’s narration is flawless and keeps the audience engaged from start to finish.

Semelweis’ story was a footnote in history that the average viewer both then and now had never heard of. For those who saw That Mothers Might Live, Semelweis’ story is one that’s impossible to forget.

The film won the Oscar for Best Short Subject (One-Reel) in 1939.

That Mothers Might Live is currently available on YouTube.