Dan's Old-Time Radio Corner - Podcasts

Dan's Old-Time Radio Corner - The Aldrich Family

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Of all the teen sitcoms that aired during the golden days of radio, none was more popular than The Aldrich Family.

Henry began as a minor character in a 1938 Broadway play, then moved to radio first as a one-time skit on the Rudy Vallee show, then as a weekly feature on the Kate Smith Show, then as the summer replacement for Jack Benny, and finally as its own stand-alone show in 1939.

Besides its radio success, Henry Aldrich has his own comic book, television series, and 11 Paramount movies.

Ezra Stone played Henry (with time out as a soldier during World War II), and Jackie Kelk was his best friend Homer Brown.

This episode, Girl Trouble, originally aired on October 17, 1939.

Listen at http://radiofun.info.
 
Dan's Old-Time Radio Corner - Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons

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Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons, was the longest-running radio detective show of all time. In the 18 years it was on the air, it aired 1,690 episodes.

Mr. Keen began in 1937 as a three-a-week serial, and in December 1943 it became a half-hour stand-alone show.

Mr. Keen was played by Bennett Kilpack, and his dimwitted partner, Jim Clancy, was played by Mike Kelly.

This episode, The Case of the Leaping Dog, first aired on April 13, 1944.

Listen at http://radiofun.info.
 
Dan's old-time radio corner - double or nothing, with war bulletin blooper!

DAN'S OLD-TIME RADIO CORNER - DOUBLE OR NOTHING (WAR BULLETIN BLOOPER)

Double or Nothing was a quiz show that ran for 14 years. Prizes were small, but the emcees were interesting enough that the program always drew a good audience.

This episode, from August 12, 1945, is unique in that early in the show it has a incorrect war bulletin. A newsman breaks into the program to announce that Japan has agreed to sign the surrender papers agreeing to the Allies terms.

But later in the show another bulletin interrupts, stating that the first bulletin was in error and that Japan had made no such announcement. (The actual announcement came three days later.)

Listen at http://radiofun.info.
 
Dan's old-time radio corner - the whisper men

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Most of the shows are episodes of popular, well-remembered old-time radio shows. This one is different - it's the pilot episode of a show that was not picked up as a regular series.

It had two names: The announcer calls it The Adventures of Max Chandler, but old-time radio fans call it The Whisper Men.

Karl Swenson starred as Max Chandler, a spy-fighting radio commentator. Karl was best known in radio as Lorenzo Jones in the series of the same name, and in television he played Lars Hanson on Little House on the Prairie. He was also Eddie Haskell's father in Leave It to Beaver.

This episode of The Whisper Men was broadcast on the Mutual network on October 20, 1945.

Listen at http//radiofun.info.
 
Dan's Old-Time Radio Corner - Cathy and Elliott Lewis On Stage

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Elliott and Cathy Lewis were two of the most talented radio actors who ever lived. They were equally at home doing comedy and drama.

They appeared in thousands of radio shows, and in 1953 they starred in their own weekly radio theater.

This show, Cathy and Elliott Lewis On Stage, showcased their talents for a year and a half, but it was created near the end of the radio era, and the explosion of television took away much of its luster.

This is the premiere episode, from New Year's Day, 1953. It's a fun story about a man who posed for a perfume ad, and found himself lusted after by the entire female population. Sheldon Leonard (the smooth-talking "tout" on the Jack Benny Program) is hilarious in this show, The String Bow Tie.

Listen at http://radiofun.info.
 
Dan's old-time radio corner - blondie

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Blondie was the most popular comic strip in America in the early 1930s, and in 1938 it became a movie series, with 28 films made and released in just the next 12 years.

Blondie and Dagwood were played by the same actors in the movies and on the radio. Penny Singleton was a redhead who had to dye her hair blonde for the part, and Arthur Lake played Dagwood.

The radio series began in 1939 and ran until 1950.

This episode, The Entertainment Committee, ran on April 8, 1940.

Listen at http://radiofun.info.
 
Dan's old-time radio corner - the roy rogers show

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Roy Rogers was the King of the Cowboys (after Gene Autry relinquished the throne), and Dale Evans was Queen of the West.

Together they rode the happy trails on Trigger and Buttermilk.

Where the Lone Ranger had silver bullets, Roy and Dale had a German shepherd named Bullet.

And where Gene Autry had a comic sidekick named Frog, Roy had a comic sidekick named Pat Brady.

Roy's radio show was on the air from 1944 to 1955. This episode, Ed Bailey's Bad Luck, originally aired on October 12, 1951.

Listen at http://radiofun.info.
 
Dan's Old-Time Radio Corner - The Falcon

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The Falcon was a private detective who first appeared in a short story, and it was so popular that it spawned 16 Falcon movies in the 1940s.

The radio version was on the air from 1943 to 1954.

Over the course of its run, five different actors played the Falcon: Berry Kroeger, James Meighan, Les Tremayne, Les Damon, and George Petrie.

This episode, The Case of the Puzzling Pinup, was broadcast on November 19, 1950.

Listen at http://radiofun.info.
 
DAN'S OLD-TIME RADIO CORNER - The Old Gold Comedy Theater

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The Old Gold Comedy Theater was a short run (just one season, 1944-45) program that attempted to turn 90-minute movie comedies into 30-minute radio comedies.

The show was not as successful as it should have been, lasting just one season, 1944-45.

The host, Harold Lloyd, had been a movie star in the silent era, and was perhaps thought to be no longer relevant.

And the shows had to move very fast and leave out a lot to finish in just 30 minutes.

Still, the program was able to draw many of the biggest box office draws of the time, from Lucille Ball To Edward G. Robinson to June Allyson to Dick Powell.

This episode, Brewster's Millions, is about a man who must give away a million dollars in 30 days, or lose an inheritance of 30 million dollars.

It aired on March 18, 1945.

Listen at http://radiofun.info.
 
DAN'S OLD-TIME RADIO CORNER - Candy Matson

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Yukon 8-8208!

Old-time radio aficianados know that as the phone number for Candy Matson, San Francisco's female private eye.

Created by Monty Masters and starring his wife Natalie Parks in the title role, Candy Matson ran on radio for three years, from 1949 to 1951.

This episode, Devil in the Deep Freeze, was originally broadcast on November 10, 1949.

Listen at http://radiofun.info.
 
DAN'S OLD-TIME RADIO CORNER - Author, Author

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There were a lot of quiz shows on old-time radio, but none were quite like Author, Author.

Famous authors, led by Ellery Queen, had to create a story that made sense out of a nonsense situation that was thrown at them.

Ellery Queen was really two people - a pair of cousins named Manfred Lee and Frederic Dannay.

This is the pilot episode, and the host here is humorist-poet Ogden Nash. When the show was picked up for the regular schedule three months later, the host was humorist S.J. Perelman.

This pilot episode, The $2,001 Watch, was originally broadcast on January 4, 1939.

Listen at http://radiofun.info.
 
Dan's Old-Time Radio Corner - The Red Skelton Program

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Red Skelton began working in show biz when he was ten years old.

He did vaudeville and burlesque, and he made his first radio appearance in 1937.

He soon had his own show, and he was on the air with his own program (first radio, then TV) for 32 years.

In this episode, from January 8, 1950, Red is required to take a physical for CBS.

Listen at http://radiofun.info.
 
DAN'S OLD-TIME RADIO CORNER - Red Ryder

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Red Ryder was a juvenile western that for a time rivaled and even topped The Lone Ranger in the Hooper ratings.

First a series of short stories, then a newspaper comic strip, Red Ryder was so popular in the early 1940s that it spawned a series of movies and a comic book.
Red Ryder was responsible for tons of branded merchandising items, including the Daisy Red Ryder BB rifle made famous in the movie A Christmas Story.

The radio series was on the air from 1942 to 1951.

Red Ryder was called "Red" because he had red hair and wore a red shirt. He had a sidekick called Buckskin and a native American juvenile partner named Little Beaver.

This episode, The Law Comes to Stovepipe, first aired on January 12, 1943.


Listen at http://radiofun.info.
 
Dan's Old-Time Radio Corner - TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT

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Take It or Leave It was a quiz show that doubled the prize with each correct answer. First you won a dollar, then two, then four, and on up to the top prize of $64.00.



When the show went to television, it worked the same way, but the top prize was a thousand times more - hence the show name, The $64,000 Question.

The radio show was on the air from 1940 to 1952, and over the years it had several well-known hosts, including Phil Baker, Eddie Cantor, Garry Moore, and Jack Paar.

This episode, which first aired on November 8, 1942, featured special guest Jack Benny.


Listen at http://radiofun.info.
 
Dan's Old-Time Radio Corner - The Peg Lynch Programs

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Peg Lynch is a national treasure. She's still going strong at 95, and as funny as ever.

She assures us that she comes from a family of good genetic stock, her grandmothers living well into their 100s. Speaking of one of them, Peg says: "She collected three war pensions. Civil War, Spanish-American War, and World War I. And I think she was a drummer boy in the Revolutionary War."

Peg performed last week at the Old-Time Radio Convention in Cincinnati. She was a national radio fixture from the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s, first writing and starring in Ethel and Albert, then writing and starring in The Couple Next Door (same show, new name). She wrote nearly 800 shows over two decades.

Peg and her late partner, Alan Bunce, played a married couple who talked with each other. A simple concept, and absolutely hilarious. But rather than me talk about it, let's just listen to it.

Here are two 15-minute shows: Ethel and Albert, More Storage Space, from June 4, 1945, and The Couple Next Door, Barking Test for Brownie, from May 7, 1959.

Listen at http://radiofun.info.
 
Dan's Old-Time Radio Corner - Rogers of the Gazette

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Will Rogers Junior was much like his father - down-home, folksy, and always spouting gems of country wisdom.

And Rogers of the Gazette was the perfect program for him.

Rogers played a small-town newspaper editor who was constantly called upon to solve the problems in his community.

With Georgia Ellis (radio's Miss Kitty on Gunsmoke) as his assistant Maggie Button, and Gunsmoke's Chester, Parley Baer, as the local doctor, there are several voices in this show you'll recognize.

This episode also features Howard McNear, Gunsmoke's Doc Adams and Andy Griffith's Floyd the Barber.

Listen at http://radiofun.info
 
DAN'S OLD-TIME RADIO CORNER - Nightwatch

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Nightwatch was the first true-life, real-time radio police procedural. Reporter Don Reed rode with Culver City, California cop Don Perkins on the night shift.

Reed's tape recorder saved for posterity the drama of Officer Reed's exploits.

The show ran just one year near the end of the old-time radio era, from April 1954 to April 1955. This episode, Three Time Loser and Shotgun Boy, aired on August 7, 1954.

Listen at http://radiofun.info
 
Dan's Old-Time Radio Corner - Art Linkletter's House Party

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This week's Radio Corner show was a needle in a haystack.

Though Art Linkletter's House Party was on the air for 24 years, it seems that nobody saved any of the episodes.

I searched everywhere, and just as I was about to give up, I found the website of the granddaughter of a radio engineer who had recorded an episode of House Party in 1947. The photo is the label of that recording.

You can listen to that record at http://radiofun.info.
 
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