Have been coming across a lot of cassettes of old-time radio lately so I will list their contents here along with my thoughts:
Philip Marlowe 06/12/1947 (Who Shot Waldo): The first episode. Story was a bit difficult to follow.
The Chase and Sandborn Hour 10/30/1938: The program that aired opposite Orson Wells' "War of the Worlds." Not sure what they were trying to achieve. This episode contains folk songs, popular songs, opera, a pithy drama in the middle, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, and the Canovas.
Golden Days of Radio, (Salute to Comedy): This program aired on the Armed Forces Radio Service in I'm guessing 1969. They could have used a clip from an actual Jack Benny show instead of his appearance on Bing Crosby's program.
A cassette featuring an overview of the speeches of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
The Six Shooter 12/20/1953 (Britt Ponsett's Christmas Carroll): As cheesy as the numerous other adaptations that would follow in years to come.
Baby Snooks 05/01/1951 (Report Card Blues): So true: adults tell kids to be truthful and then lie about all kinds of things.
I didn't know they handed out report cards on the first of the month in the fifties.
Also, back then, couldn't you only buy a turkey around Thanksgiving and Christmas?
Escape 01/14/1948 (Leininjen Versus the Ants): A real classic. Glad I finally listened to it!
Excellent musical scoring!
Fibber McGee and Molly 12/09/1941 (Forty Percent Off): I listened to this episode on tape but I prefer the version I have on an external hard drive because it has the war news at the beginning.
I'd forgotten just how great the writing on this show was and how literate popular entertainment used to be.
Norman Corwin's "On a Note of Triumph": A repeat performance.
Nobody ever truly triumphs in war.
The Jack Benny Show 03/02/1952 (From Palm Springs with Danny Kaye, Frank Sinatra, George Burns, and Groucho Marx): Jack and the gang made doing the show seem like fun and made it look easy, as if they were just sitting around the studio cracking wise with each other.
I prefer the versions of episodes with the Lucky Strike commercials intact.
First of all, are they truly afraid some kid of today or my generation growing up is going to take up smoking Luckies because Jack Benny told them to?
Also, being as how commercials were worked into the show back then, it disrupts the listening experience.
Lux Radio Theatre 06/02/1947 (The Jazz Singer): First, I am aware the word in the title should appear as theater but I am Canadian.
As I've said before, Al Jolson is just such an incredible person to think about. You have a guy who was unbelievably popular up through the 1920s, a huge vaudeville hit who went onto star in history's first successful talking picture. Shortly thereafter, he fades into obscurity.
Then, in 1946, Hollywood makes a biopic about Jolson featuring his singing and he makes a big comeback, arguably becoming more popular in the last few years of his life than he was previously.
First heard this on a cassette my mom bought me from Dave O'Hearn's Golden Years of Radio in Marysville, Ontario.
Suspense 08/21/1943 (Sorry, Wrong Number): The first repeat performance.
I first heard this episode on a Saturday night on shortwave station WBCQ around the time I was in college.
Grand Central Station 12/24/1949 (A Miracle for Christmas): Had never even heard of this program before stumbling across it on the tape.
Presents a humanist Jesus.
Philco Radio Time 01/29/1947 (Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour): Some nice, light entertainment for someone who had just returned from a hard day's work.
Best part is the "Road to Morocco" song near the end.
The Saint 08/06/1950 (The Corpse Said Ouch): I found this episode a bit boring.
Have Gun, Will Travel 11/27/1960 (From Here to Boston): The series finale.
Was this the only time Paladin ever shot anyone?
Vick and Sade 09/06/1944 (Muted Silver Moonbeam Chimes): Love the rural midwestern accents.
Lum 'n Abner 12/19/1948 (Traditional Christmas Show): Makes me think of an episode of "Newhart" with a sort of similar plot.
Norman Corwin's "We Hold These Truths" 12/15/1941: Something people today sorely need to listen to.
So neat how they connected Los Angeles, New York and Washington and got everything coordinated. Remember, this was all live.
Arthur Godfrey 10/21/1953 (Arthur is Talking About Kleenex): Too informal to ever be approved for broadcast by a major network today.
Walter Winchell 03/27/1949: I had never even heard of Kaiser and Fraser cars before.
I think Winchell read a date wrong and meant to say "next Saturday April 9" instead of 6.
X -1 12/07/1955 (Nightfall): Though I'm not much of a science fiction fan, "X -1" is one of my favourite OTR shows.
Super Man 09/25/1945 (The Meteor of Crypton-Part Two): Great redramatization of the man of steel's origin story for the kids who missed or weren't around for the series premier back in 1939.
Mercury Theatre on Air 06/21/1946 (The Hitchhiker): I think this is the best piece of OTR I've ever come across.
Big Town 03/26/1940 (Death Rides the Highway): I like the fact this episode brought out the human element of the situation.
Back in the days when you had to use a wash tub instead of a washing machine.
The Rinso commercial at the beginning can be found on the compilation "Fifty Famous Commercials."
Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar 01/09-13/1956 (The Todd Matter): I'd heard a couple of the half-hour episodes of this show but not the 15-minute daily serialized version.
A pretty solid mystery.
I don't think Ethel Stromberg would have gotten charged with murder, though. The most she'd probably get charged for would be accessory after the fact of the burglary and possession of stolen goods; possibly profiting from stolen goods if any evidence could be found.
Norman Corwin Presents 07/17/1945 (The Undecided Molicule): Without a doubt the strangest story I have ever heard in any medium.
I didn't know humour columnist Robert Benchley acted.
Dimension X 08/18/1950 (The Martian Chronicles): First heard this on "The WRVO Playhouse" on 89.9 WRVO Oswego, New York when I was a kid in the nineties. The episode was different than I remembered it because I thought the Martians blew themselves up but upon listening to it again on tape I still think it is one of the finest half-hours of OTR ever produced.
The bit about Timmy's dad showing him the Martians gets me.
Eddie Cantor 06/09/1943 (Eddie's Twenty-ninth Wedding Anniversary with Jack Benny, Groucho Marx, George Burns, and Gracie Allen): Kind of had the feel of an acutual anniversary party with friends.
Escape 03/17/1950 (3 Skeleton Quay): Another eerie and excellent old-time radio episode.
The Chase and Sandborn Hour 12/12/1937 (Adam and Eve with Mae West): Can't believe some of this went out over the air.
Charlie McCarthy says there are eleven days till Christmas when, if the date on this is correct, there would actually have been 13.
Cavalcade of America 09/22/1941 (Native Land Part One): Back when sponsors and broadcasters were still interested in putting high-brow, intellectual, patriotic programs on the air. I enjoyed it despite the propaganda stoking Americans up for the war.
Cavalcade of America 09/29/1941 (Native Land Part Two): This program really was unique.
Fred Allen 05/26/1946 (King for a Day): Classic stuff!
I think they re-used "Allen's Alley" from the March 3 show.
Wonder if NBC got any complaints over Jack Benny being sans trousers on the radio.
By the end the audience is laughing hysterically, Kenny Delmar can't get through his commercial and they bump up against the clock!
Mercury Theatre on the Air 10/30/1938 (The War of the Worlds): Finally got to listen to this broadcast after hearing bits and pieces and so much about it.
By comparison, the second half is a lot less dramatic than the first half.
I think toward the end of the first half you can hear knocking at the studio door.
Abbott and Costello 05/11/1942 (Lou Substitutes for Joe DiMaggio): Heard this episode for the first time when I was a teenager on a tape from Dave O'Hearn.
Command Performance 02/15/1945 (Dick Tracy in B Flat): Shows you just how creative they could be in those days.
Norman Corwin's 14 August 08/14/1945: So glad this collection from Radio Spirits included these three Norman Corwin plays.
Drag Net 12/22/1949 (.22 Rifle for Christmas): The boy who accidentally shot his friend receiving the friend's Christmas presents seems to me like a reward for the boy's carelessness.
I first heard this episode in the nineties on "The WRVO Playhouse" hosted by the late John Krauss on WRVO-FM, the NPR station from Oswego, New York.
The Shadow 05/01/1938 (White God): This episode is cool in that you don't hear too many "Shadow" episodes where Lamont and Margo actually travel to different places. They mainly solved crimes in the town where they lived.
Sam Spade 06/20/1948 (The Deathbed Caper): A defense lawyer would have a field day with this case.
The Bickersons aka Dream Time 03/16/1947 14 (Blanch Bets on the Horses): Had a couple risque lines in that sketch.
Inner Sanctum Mysteries 10/02/1945 (The Shadow of Death): Love the interplay between the host and Mary.
The Great Gildersleeve 12/21/1941 (Buying a Gift for McGee): Forgot how cleverly Gildersleeve phrased things.
One of the early sitcoms.
I Love Lucy 02/26/1952 (Breaking the Lease): Before hearing this today I had no idea "I Love Lucy" was also a radio show.
How would a sixteen-piece band fit in the apartment?
Arch Obler's Plays 03/09/1940 (Johnny Got His Gun): A play about a soldier grievously wounded in the war to end all wars while the second one raged in Europe.
Suspense 07/19/1955 (Backseat Driver): A great episode but its still hard to picture Fibber McGee and Molly outside their sitcom.
The Lone Ranger (Origin Show): The date I found for the Radio Spirits cassette is June 30, 1948 but it doesn't quite match the episode I have on my external hard drive of OTR.
Gunsmoke 05/06/1956 (The Photographer): First heard this episode on WBCQ.
Let's Pretend 08/23/1947 (Mell-a-lot): The story doesn't really make sense but its always interesting to hear what children's programming was like back then.
Bold Venture no specific date (Deadly Merchandise): First heard this episode in a set called "Old-time Radio Novels" that my mother bought me. That set was the second old-time radio shows I ever owned after the tape of "The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" my uncle gave me.
Quiet Please 08/09/1948 (The Thing on the Fourble Board): Very eerie.
First heard this on WBCQ as well.
And now for a couple miscelaneous episodes:
NBC University Theatre 04/10/1949 (Moby Dick): Excellent adaptation of this classic novel.
Amos 'n Andy 03/13/1955 (Kingfish and Saffire Both Rent Cottage Out): They overused the falling through the porch gag.
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