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

Classic thrills and unforgettable chills are drawn from the pages of literary mysteries. Draw the curtains, dim the lights, close your eyes, and enter The Weird Circle! With stories adapted from the works of unquestioned masters of the Gothic genre by top radio talent, you'll go from shiver to shake with every episode.

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.

Based on the famous detective created by Rex Stout, The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe stars Sydney Greenstreet as “the balkiest, bulkiest, smartest, and most unpredictable detective in the world...that brilliant eccentric private detective, orchid fancier and gargantuan gourmet.” Nero Wolfe, armchair detective in the classic tradition, and Archie Goodwin, wisecracking hard-boiled investigator, shine in eight radio tales from this classic detective series first broadcast in 1950-1951.

Hit the road, Jack! Take a train, a plane, or even a ship! Wherever he goes, and however he gets there, Jack Benny is always good for a laugh. Mary Livingstone, Phil Harris, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, Dennis Day, and Don Wilson come along for the ride in 16 travel themed adventures in this collection. Climb aboard for coast to coast clowning, with special appearances by the infamous racetrack “tout” (Sheldon Leonard) and the reliable railway announcer (Mel Blanc). “Train leaving on track five for Anaheim, Azusa, and Cuc-amonga!”

Radio’s dark alleys and rain-swept side streets were prowled by plenty of detectives - but, only one of them sat down each week at the piano, after the felons were safely jugged, and crooned to his girlfriend. Dick Powell, the tenacious man with the sweet tenor voice, stars as Richard Diamond, Private Detective! Diamond is a delightfully unpredictable detective - as much inclined to shoot off his mouth in a tight spot as he is to shoot off his gun - who can take more than his share of punishment from goons and gunsels without having his sense of humor take a beating.

Philo Vance, America's most popular fictional detective of the 1920s and 1930s, moved from S. S. Van Dine's novels onto the silver screen and later radio. The aristocratic amateur sleuth was portrayed in more than 100 radio broadcasts by Jackson Beck, the versatile actor who had previously starred as the Cisco Kid and announced The Adventures of Superman. Return to the scene of the crime in 18 classic whodunits, costarring Joan Alexander (radio's Lois Lane) as Ellen Deering and George Petrie as District Attorney Markham.

When last we left our pals from Pine Ridge, they were involved in considerable intrigue. They were receiving reports from the Masked Muskrat, threats from the Black Pelican, and a baby from a melancholy mother. The further adventures of Lum Edwards and Abner Peabody find them confounded by one commotion after another. At the Jot 'em Down Store, there is much bother about the baby, a mystery about a coat-of-arms, and mischief about ghosts, gunshots, and gold mines.

The boys from Pine Ridge get quite an education when the town finds itself in need of a new school teacher. The candidate they hire is eminently qualified - and not at all what president of the school board, Lum Edwards, had in mind! Professor Sloane, tireless in the pursuit of knowledge, spearheads ambitious plans for an observatory, a rocket ship, and a trip to Mars - manned by none other than Lum and Abner! With financial backing from the unscrupulous Squire Skimp, the duo declares themselves "scientifics" and set their sights on the stars.

In the realm of unforgettable radio voices, there is one that stands head and shoulders above all others - one distinctive voice that could never be convincingly duplicated, one that brought its owner undreamed of success. It was a voice of sandpaper and gravel and rusty scrap iron, rasping over a nation's loudspeakers for more than 30 years.

An orange glow peeks through the window on a crisp October night. Is it a jack-o'-lantern? Or, is it the radio dial? It's both! This collection of radio's happiest Halloween moments is replete with good old-fashioned haunted houses, costume parties, cemeteries, tricks and treats. Have fun with favorites like Jack Benny, Hal Peary, William Bendix, Ozzie and Harriet, Lucille Ball, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, and Boris Karloff. This wholesome, family-oriented on-air All Hallows' Eve comedy celebration includes 12 digitally restored and remastered episodes.

In Wistful Vista, there's never a dull moment - not when Fibber McGee's around to make trouble, get in trouble, or completely misunderstand the very nature of trouble! Whether down at the bowling alley, at the Elk's Club dance, or just hanging around at the corner of 14th and Oak, you'll always find plenty of laughs. Here are 20 classic radio romps with everyone's favorite couple, in broadcasts from 1948-1950. Bill Thompson, Gale Gordon, Arthur Q. Bryan, Richard LeGrand, and salesman supreme Harlow Wilcox are heard along with Jim and Marian Jordan as Fibber McGee and Molly!

It's a new season, a new network, a new bandleader, and a new sponsor - but it's still the same great comedy couple! Radio favorites George Burns and Gracie Allen laugh it up big time in 16 gag-packed broadcasts from 1940-41. The cast will crack you up with silly skits, a bonkers breach of promise suit, and the madness of a mink coat mistake. You'll hear bandleader Artie Shaw, a couple of special guests, and a few rare episodes, as well!

Excitable and loose-lipped Fibber means well enough, but it's not always easy for even-tempered Molly to keep him in check and out of trouble. Of course, the long suffering Mrs. McGee's penchant for patience makes it all the funnier when she's finally pushed to the point of exasperation. But, both McGee's are fabulously friendly, opening their door at 79 Wistful Vista to welcome the likes of Mayor LaTrivia (Gale Gordon), Doc Gamble (Arthur Q. Bryan), and neighborly nemesis Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve (Hal Peary).

For gamblers, burlesque queens, murderers and innocents, comedy and tragedy were found in equal measure on the streets of Damon Runyon's Manhattan. Runyon, one of the most popular and widely-read figures of the Golden Age of the American Short Story, found his work was cut to measure for success in the most verbal medium of all: radio drama. John Brown stars as the glib Broadway, whose scene-setting brings a distinctive unifying touch to these fourteen digitally remastered episodes of the classic Damon Runyon Theatre radio series.

The voice of Bob Bailey conjured both the weariness of the world and all its kindness. You may know him best as Johnny Dollar or George Valentine, but he was so much more. Sample the breadth of Bob Bailey's talent in this tribute collection. Here are 10 hours of classic radio dramas, comedies, mysteries, and even a science fiction tale…all of which feature the talented thespian. You'll also hear wonderful performances by an array of outstanding co-stars, including Shelley Winters, Raymond Burr, Mercedes McCambridge, Burgess Meredith, John Dehner, and many more.

While the shadows are lonely - a place where lost and lethal souls withdraw into the solitude of their own minds - there is one who knows that they are not deserted. Into this dark and murky realm there is one who can see with cutting clarity…The Whistler! When those who willingly put a first foot on a slippery slope, and then a second, The Whistler knows how such travels go, and how such journeys must end. At every treacherous step, the sly scorn of this circumspect counselor will whisper in their ear - urging them on…toward their undoing!

If there's one lesson to be learned from science-fiction, it's that nothing lasts forever. From human lives to vast civilizations, the overarching theme of the genre is that the old will give way to the new. Look to futures past with X Minus One! One of the most imaginative series of the 1950s brings you to adventures in worlds beyond fear, beyond imagination, beyond the farthest stars. Works by the leading genre authors of the day (including Philip K. Dick, Robert Sheckley, and Clifford Simak) were turned into tight, well-acted half-hour dramatizations.

Walk the streets of Dodge City with William Conrad as Marshal Matt Dillon in 20 masterpieces of western storytelling. Dillon was not a straight-backed rider with a steely jaw. He was a man who had seen too much, a survivor of conflicts he'd rather have avoided…a man who knew only too well what errors of judgment could cost on the frontier. Parley Baer played Dillon's sidekick Chester, a seemingly naive yokel who was nevertheless as cold-blooded as Dillon when occasion demanded.

Jack Webb and Barton Yarborough star as Joe Friday and Ben Romero - just a couple of cops doing their job. Follow them step-by-step through 20 true-to-life cases, drawn from the files of the Los Angeles Police Department. Their dialogue was never clichéd or exaggerated, and their cases never relied on jumped-up action sequences to deliver impact. Whether they were on the trail of a car thief with violent tendencies, a fast-moving gang of safecrackers, a kidnapper, a mail thief, or a murderer, their job was the same: Get 'em.

By the 1956-57 season, Gunsmoke had reached the peak of its dramatic power as radio’s foremost adult western, with its powerful scripts and careful characterizations. William Conrad leads the cast as Marshal Matt Dillon, along with Parley Baer as Chester, Howard McNear as Doc, and Georgia Ellis as Kitty. The citizens of Dodge City, Kansas emerged as living, breathing embodiments of frontier America in radio dramas that represent the medium at its most potent. Experience 27 hard-hitting adventures from this landmark season in this collection!