Showing results by author "Hollywood 360 - producer" in All Categories

Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve was a popular character appearing each week on the Fibber McGee and Molly radio show. On August 31, 1941, Gildersleeve landed his own situation comedy, The Great Gildersleeve, becoming radio's first spin-off. Gildersleeve moved from the town of Wistful Vista, where Fibber McGee and Molly lived, to Summerfield, where he oversaw his late brother-in-law's estate and took on the rearing of his orphaned niece and nephew, Marjorie and Leroy Forrester.

Rogue's Gallery was an old-time radio program starring Dick Powell as Richard Rogue, a private detective who trailed luscious blondes, protected witnesses, and did whatever else detectives do to make a living. What set this show apart from others in the genre was that midway through every episode, Rogue would invariably end up getting knocked out and spending his dream time in acerbic conversation on Cloud 8 with his subconscious self named Eugor - Rogue spelled backward.

Philo Vance is a fictional character featured in numerous crime novels written by S. S. Van Dine, published in the 1920s and 1930s, who was later revived in film and on radio and television. During that time Vance was immensely popular. He was portrayed as a stylish, even foppish dandy, a New York bon vivant with a highly intellectual bent - America's Sherlock Holmes. He worked closely with his secretary and right-hand woman, Ellen Deering, and his pal, John Markham, New York County district attorney.

Our Miss Brooks was a situation comedy show heard on radio and seen on television and in films starring Oscar winner Eve Arden. Her skill with the wicked one-liner and acid aside had begun to lead to typecasting, so, to find a new image, Arden signed on for the lead in radio's Our Miss Brooks. The series centered on Connie Brooks, a smart, sharp-witted, lovable English teacher at fictional Madison High School.

Created by Frances and Richard Lockridge, Mr. & Mrs. North were fictional amateur detectives appearing in novels, motion pictures, radio, and television. The Norths were not professional detectives but simply a well-to-do New York couple who stumbled across a murder or two every week and felt compelled to solve the crimes. A 1942 MGM movie starred William Post, Jr. and George Burns' wife, Gracie Allen.

Broadway Is My Beat was a dark, gritty radio crime drama that ran on CBS from 1949 until 1954. The series was originally broadcast from New York, with Anthony Ross portraying Times Square Police Detective Danny Clover. Produced by Lester Gottlieb, it was directed by John Dietz. But by the 13th episode, the series moved to Hollywood (still set in NYC) with producer Elliott Lewis directing a new cast, with scripts by Morton Fine and David Friedkin (the duo that would later write and develop TV's popular secret-agent series I Spy).

The Falcon radio series aired from 1943 until 1954. "The Falcon" was an alternate identity for detective Michael Waring. Like the Falcon movies, the radio plots mixed danger, romance, and comedy in equal parts. Each show began with a telephone ringing and Michael Waring, the Falcon, answering the phone. Speaking with a woman whose voice was never heard, Waring would explain that he had an urgent situation he had to deal with.

Raymond Chandler's celebrated hard-boiled private eye, Philip Marlowe, made his radio debut in 1945 on the Lux Radio Theatre with Murder, My Sweet, starring Dick Powell. Two years later NBC brought the character to the air in his own weekly series starring Van Heflin, The New Adventures of Philip Marlowe. A summer replacement for The Bob Hope Show, the series was short lived, ending on September 9, 1947.

This collection spotlights the iconic Orson Welles in nine of his works from the golden age of radio. These radio dramas, airing from 1938 through 1951, are among his very best and can be enjoyed for years to come. Armed with the nickname the "Boy Genius", Orson Welles graduated from the New York stage to expand his creative talents in the radio industry, hoping to use the audio medium to promote his stage ventures.

It's 1875, and Paladin lives at the swanky Carlton Hotel in San Francisco, where he dresses in formal wear, eats gourmet food, attends the opera, has a Chinese valet named Hey Boy, and enjoys the company of beautiful women. When working as a gun for hire, he dresses entirely in black, uses calling cards, and wears a holster decorated with a chess knight emblem—a symbol that refers both to his name and to his occupation as a champion for hire.

Like Mike Hammer and Philip Marlowe, Shayne is a loner. Once happily married, Mike is devastated when his wife is suddenly and tragically murdered. Grief stricken, Shayne loses himself in his work as a private eye, prowling the dark streets of New Orleans, seeking out his style of revenge on injustice.