Showing results by author "Original Radio Broadcasts" in All Categories

It's the 1950s! And for all the decade's charm, petty racketeers, thugs of organized crime, and Communist spies were lurking in its dark alleys. Whether it was urban corruption or The Cold War splashed on the front page of the Sentinel, daring young publisher Britt Reid was keeping a close eye on the story.

She's like Sherlock Holmes with a sassy 1930s attitude! She's Hilary Caine, staff investigator for a British tabloid who knows her way around London…and around every murder case that comes her way!

In early 1943, funnyman Jack Benny developed a serious case of pneumonia while traveling to entertain the troops. Someone would need to stand in for the sultan of Sunday night radio. But who? Orson Welles, the prestige-project prodigy, was an unlikely but inspired choice. Benny’s regular gang is on hand; Phil Harris returns from the military; and additional guests George Burns, Gracie Allen, Barbara Stanwyck, and Butterfly McQueen pop in for a visit. This is The Jack Benny Program like you’ve never heard it before.

During the late 1940s and early 1950s, several different radio programs brought in Hollywood stars to reprise their performances from popular films. Among them, Screen Directors' Playhouse offered something that no other show had: the directors. Imagine, if you will, listening to a radio play of A Foreign Affair and then hearing Marlene Dietrich and director Billy Wilder share their thoughts on the making of this classic film. In addition to Wilder, you'll hear directors like Tay Garnett, Robert Siodmak, and George Marshall in this set of 16 digitally remastered and restored episodes.

Catch the buzz - before the buzz catches you! Britt Reid, daring young publisher, masks up against organized crime and urban corruption as The Green Hornet! Join our hero and his stalwart valet Kato for another collection of 20 classic adventures from the 1948-49 seasons, including several previously uncirculated episodes not heard since their original broadcast.

Sergeant Joe Friday of the LAPD was arguably the most pivotal figure in radio drama's postwar shift toward ultra-realism. Just an ordinary plainclothes cop doing his job, and doing it with a meticulous attention to detail that revolutionized the way radio told its stories. Jack Webb stars Friday, with Barton Yarborough as Ben Romero, Barney Phillips as Ed Jacobs, and Ben Alexander as Frank Smith in this collection of 20 absorbing crime dramas!

Doctors and nurses exchanging tense, meaningful dialogue! A gurney rumbles down a corridor, surgical instruments clatter, and a rubber glove snaps at the end of a life-saving operation! Here is medical drama at its best - tense, taut, and intensely human! Lew Ayres stars as Dr. James Kildare, an intern at the start of his medical career, who takes on the hectic routine of a major metropolitan hospital. Lionel Barrymore co-stars as his gruff-but-kindly mentor Dr. Leonard Gillespie.

With a quick mind and a quicker tongue (occasionally planted firmly in cheek), Dashiell Hammett's daring detective takes the case, takes a few punches, takes the dough (when there is any), and takes advantage of Effie's...good nature, in eight digitally restored and remastered capers.

Just what is Wistful Vista, anyway? Is it a street? A neighborhood? A state of mind? Whatever it is, one thing's for sure—it had just the right mix of personalities to keep things lively! First and foremost, there's Fibber McGee and Molly, brought to life by Jim and Marian Jordan. When they heard a knock on their front door, they might open it up to discover the hard-headed Doc Gamble, played by Arthur Q. Bryan, who never once bought into anything Fibber had to say.

Wherever there are spies…there are counter-spies! From wartime espionage to postwar intrigue, secret operative David Harding is on the job protecting our nation's secrets! In this suspenseful series, produced by radio legend Phillips H. Lord, the stories were works of fiction…but the plots were often based on actual events.

He's settling in with his new life and his new family in Summerfield U. S. A.—and now Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve has a new job! How does a man whose only experience with plumbing is turning on the faucet end up as the new Water Commissioner? These 16 digitally restored and remastered episodes feature Walter Tetley as Leroy, Lurene Tuttle as Marjorie, Lillian Randolph as Birdie, Earle Ross as Judge Hooker, Dick LeGrand as Mr. Peavey, Shirley Mitchell as Leila Ransom…and Harold Peary as Gildy.

He might seem like just a regular guy, but don't let that fool you. Beneath the affable exterior he's tough as nails, smart as a whip, and ready for whatever crime wants to dish out! He's Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator - and he's on the track of 16 red-hot cases in this exciting eight-hour collection starring William Gargan! Cases cross the threshold of his Madison Avenue office, and he's got a crack team of supporting cast members to back him up.

In the darkest reaches of the human psyche, there is no corner quite so dark as the fear of nameless, inevitable Fate. With its startling twists and its mocking laughter, Fate can take any of us at any time. We confront this fear by taking a grim satisfaction with the cruelties that Fate metes out to others. Because if it's happening to someone else, it isn't happening to us...right? The Whistler, the sneering narrator of each story, is the personification of Fate - bringing characters to their grim, well-deserved destinies with considerable panache.

Meet the people who live in the Burns House—and their many famous friends! George and Gracie are back with laugh-a-minute predicaments, which are both helped and hindered by celebrity guests Marlene Dietrich, Eddie Cantor, Jane Wyman, Kay Kyser, Robert Montgomery, and more!

Father Peyton of the Holy Cross Fathers wanted to inspire his country with a radio program. Footing the expense of the show himself, he arranged for some of the biggest names in radio and film to donate their services, and for a network to provide the broadcast time. The series that resulted featured heartwarming stories for audiences nationwide. The commercial breaks were filled only with an earnest, non-sectarian appeal for family prayer, reminding listeners that "The family that prays together stays together."

Tough, yet compassionate - and a first-class detective besides - that's Boston Blackie. The infamous safe cracker turned private eye will lead you through 16 hard-hitting crime classics from 1947-48! Richard Kollmar stars as Blackie, with Lesley Woods as Mary Wesley, and Maurice Tarplin as Inspector Faraday. The race is on for our hero to capture the killers, recover the diamonds, and clear his own name!

Join radio's most popular crime-solving couple, Mr. & Mrs. North, in 12 episodes of mayhem and murder - with a light touch. The Norths aren't your standard detectives: husband Jerry is a book publisher by day, and wife Pam is his stay-at-home better half and most often the catalyst for their exploits when death falls in their laps!

Follow Jack Benny and his gang around the calendar in this 16-episode collection that takes you from week to week, from season to season, from holiday to holiday, and from laugh to laugh! And you never know who might pop up to join in the fun. It might be Barbara Stanwyck, or Claude Rains, or Jack's real life daughter, Joan.

Let's play ball! Or hit the track! Or roam the links! Or lace on the gloves! You name the sport, Jack Benny's a fan...and maybe even a participant! Whether he's sitting in the stands or standing in the thick of the action, it all adds up to clutch classic radio comedy! Cheer on Jack Benny, Mary Livingstone, Phil Harris, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Dennis Day, Kenny Baker, and Don Wilson in 16 half hour episodes filled with equal parts rah-rah-rah and ha-ha-ha!

Reality isn't all it's cracked up to be - at least not whenever Gracie's around! That means that things are always hopping down at the Burns house in this collection of 16 laugh-packed episodes of The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show! Pitchman Bill Goodwin is on hand, and so is a whole gang of famous guests (including Charles Laughton, Eddie Cantor, Herbert Marshall, Bob Burns, and Claudette Colbert). Join the stars, along with Elvia Allman as Tootsie Sagwell, Clarence Nash as Herman the Duck, and Mel Blanc as "The Happy Postman" for eight solid hours of logically-illogical fun!