Audio Time Travel

Today we travel back in time to June 24, 1942 with the second episode of this long running show. Today's story is an adaptation of a short story that was well-known to the original audience. This episode features Joseph Kearns, who was one of the CBS radio stalwarts, appearing in thousands of shows over the years.

Today we travel back in time to August 30, 1942 for an episode of Command Performance, which was a show done as a morale booster for the American armed forces during WW-II. One of the tag lines for the show was that they would keep going "until it's over, over there." There would often be mentions of specific service members who had written in or sent a telegram to request their favori...

Today we travel back in time to September 20, 1953 to hear James Stewart as Britt Ponsitt, the unusual gun fighter who rarely uses his gun. Instead, he uses his brains to get out of trouble.

This is the second episode of Box 13 and was syndicated in 1948. Alan Ladd stars as Dan Holiday in a very well-produced series.

Today we travel back to April 27, 1946 for an Academy Award adaptation of Snow White.

Today we travel back to June 23, 1933 for the last show of the 1932-1933 season. The sponsor is Chevrolet and there are several ads for their $445 car. This one includes an all star party to celebrate Mary's birthday. Of course, all the celebrities are impersonated, often poorly, to comedic effect.

The original air date for this episode was April 15, 1950. The show is set in 2006 and centers around some "modern mechanical domestic servants" and some of the problems that arise with robots, especially robots (or "humanoids") that are part of an alien invasion. Of note is how people pronounced the word "robot" at this time: like RO-bitt.

The original air date for this episode, the first of the series, was July 7, 1947. This is an adaptation of the Rudyard Kipling story "The Man Who Would be King."

The original air date for this show was June 6, 1942 and this is an episode of the Charlie McCarthy show (named for the ventriloquist's doll, not the ventriloquist Edgar Bergen). This features Judy Garland singing absolutely beautifully. NOTE: There are some racially insensitive references that were very common during WW2.

The original air date for this episode is April 26, 1952. In this first episode of an extremely high-quality program, the main character (Marshall Matt Dillon) crosses paths with the Wild West legend Billy the Kid...before he became Billy the Kid.

This high-quality syndicated series from 1948 stars Alan Ladd as the main character, Dan Holiday. Holiday was a writer looking for new ideas, who posts an ad in the newspaper and gets his responses to Box 13. The adventures go from there as Holiday gets a new response each week for a total of 52 episodes.

This show originally aired on June 1, 1936 and features a cast of major stars including Marlene Dietrich and Clark Gable, as well as renowned director Cecille B. DeMille. As with all LRT shows, this was broadcast live and is the first broadcast from the new theater built in Hollywood specifically for the show.

The original air date for this episode was March 31, 1933 and the sponsor for this one is Chevrolet. There is an insensitive remark about Gandhi and a racially insensitive portrayal of one of the characters. There's lots of music, of course, and plenty of in-show ads for the new $445 Chevrolet Six car, which would cost $11,000 in 2025. Mary (played by Jack's wife Sadie Marx) makes her radi...

The original air date for this episode was April 8, 1950 and the plot of the story projects forward into 1965 for a fascinating insight into the way people thought the future would unfold. Dimension X was one of only two science fiction shows made for adult listeners. Throughout the series, you get the impression that people had several concerns about the rapidly increasing pace of technological a...

The original air date for this episode of this amazing anthology series was June 16, 1942. Suspense was one of the longest running radio programs and several episodes are considered classics by old time radio fans.

The original air date for this episode was June 23, 1948. This is actually the second audition show (now we call these pilots) for this delightful comedy starring Eve Arden, who was already a well known comedic actress. The role of Mrs. Davis (Connie's landlady) was recast and reshaped into a much more ditzy type. Similarly, the role of Mr. Conklin was eventually recast to feature the wonderfu...

The original air date for this episode was April 13, 1952 when it aired on the Hollywood Star Playhouse. That led to the show being made into a series on NBC radio. The episode was then aired again on July 15, 1953. The Six Shooter was, quite simply, one of the best shows in the last part of the golden age of radio and featured one of the best actors of the age, James Stewart. One of the more inte...

The original air date for this show is August 3, 1964. This was part of an ABC anthology show which was an attempt to revive the radio drama. This was known as Theater Five because an episode aired each weekday at 5:00 (drive time) and there were five episodes each week. These episodes are about 20 minutes each so the rest of the half hour time slot could be filled with ads and a news update.

The original air date for this adaptation of a successful Broadway play was October 28, 1935. This comedy play was broadcast live, coast to coast, and featured two of the biggest stars of the day. The Lux Radio Theater was considered so important among Hollywood elites that film productions would frequently stop for the entire week a star needed when scheduled to be featured on the Lux stages. The...

The original air date for this show was May 2, 1932 and the sponsor was Canada Dry. By the time this show aired, Jack Benny was well-known all around the US due to his prolific vaudeville performances. Jack was known for his ability to ad lib and it is clear he was trying to hold himself back throughout this show. (Note: typical clicks and pops, but overall good audio quality.)