Boxcars711 Old Time Radio

THE MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER - Written and directed by Robert A. Arthur and David Kogan, the series began on the Mutual Broadcasting System, December 5, 1943, continuing in many different timeslots until September 16, 1952. Unlike many other shows of the era, The Mysterious Traveler was without a sponsor for its entire run. The lonely sound of a distant locomotive heralded the arrival of the malevolent...

Big Town is a radio show that aired from 1937 to 1952. Edward G. Robinson had the lead role of Steve Wilson from 1937 to 1942. Claire Trevor was Wilson's society editor sidekick Lorelei Kilbourne, with Ona Munson taking over that role in 1940. Edward J. Pawley portrayed Wilson from 1942 until 1952 when Walter Greaza was heard as Wilson in the final episodes in the radio series. When Big Town moved...

Manhunt - CRIME DRAMA 1945-1946 15 Minutes transcribed syndication (ZIV network), with crime stories complete in each episode. CAST: Larry Haines as Drew Stevens. New York players were in support. The shows were well written and, for the time period, quite well performed. In Episode One "Clue Of The Masked Murderer", police are notiified of a murder. Upon arrival at the scene, they find nothing. U...

The Third Man (The Lives of Harry Lime) was a old-time radio adventure series that ran in 1951 and 1952. It was based on the 1949 film of the same name. Orson Welles stars as Harry Lime, a perpetually broke confidence man, smuggler, and general scoundrel. He will participate in virtually any criminal activity to make a fast buck, but uses his wits rather than a gun. He draws the line short of murd...

The Haunting Hour - The shows are classic chills from the old school, with creepy organ, overwrought women and over the top men. Perhaps not the highest of melodrama, but obsessively workmanlike. After all, they might have known they were a skeleton staff toiling relentlessly without a ghost of a chance of fame. Thanks to transcription, these unknowns are still with us. John Dunning, succinctly st...

The Philip Morris Playhouse - Philip Morris invested heavily in radio advertising throughout the 1930s and â40s, often having two weekly programs on competing networks. The first, a variety show that ran for twelve seasons (1934-47) and combined musical and dramatic elements, was called Johnny Presents , essentially giving Roventini "top billing" above all the big name guests that appeared on the...

Bold Venture - The Hollywood husband and wife team of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall set sail for adventure in the Bold Venture radio series in early 1951. There were well over 400 stations that aired the program. Since thiswas syndicated * the starting date varied from station to station but Mar 26, 1951 was the official date of the first show. Humphrey Bogart portrayed Slate Shannon, owner of...

The Green Valley Line is "the story of a back-country railroad in the early years of the 20th Century". Not much is known about the people or history of the Green Valley Line radio show. It was probably a single radio station production, since it doesn't even have credits. There's a real live quality to the show, since there's mis-reading of dialogue, and skewed inflections, but that's a great dea...

Dick Tracy had a long run on radio, from 1934 weekdays on NBC's New England stations to the ABC network in 1948. Bob Burlen was the first radio Tracy in 1934, and others heard in the role during the 1930s and 1940s were Barry Thompson, Ned Wever and Matt Crowley. The early shows all had 15-minute episodes. On CBS, with Sterling Products as sponsor, the serial aired four times a week from February...

Let George Do It was a radio drama series produced by Owen and Pauline Vinson from 1946 to 1954. It starred Bob Bailey as detective-for-hire George Valentine (with Olan Soule stepping into the role in 1954). Clients came to Valentine's office after reading a newspaper carrying his classified ad: "Personal notice: Danger's my stock in trade. If the job's too tough for you to handle, you've got a jo...

The Great Gildersleeve (1941-1957) was the arguable founding father of the spin-off program, as well as one of the first true situation comedies (as opposed to sketch programs) in broadcast history. Hooked around a character who had been a staple on the classic radio hit Fibber McGee and Molly, The Great Gildersleeve enjoyed its greatest period in the 1940s, when Harold Peary graduated the charact...

The Adventures Of Maisie - The first in 1939, was from the book "Dark Dame" by the writer Wilson Collison,who did decades of scripting for the silver screen along with Broadway plays and magazine fiction. From the first, MGM wanted Ann Sothern to play Maisie. She began in Hollywood as an extra in 1927. "Maisie and I were just together - I just understood her," Sothern, born Harriette Arlene Lake,...

THE WEIRD CIRCLE was a syndicated series that was heard on Mutual stations November, 1943 through October, 1947 and very briefly in September/October of 1947 on ABC. The show presented 30 minute tales of horror, frequently inspired by classic horror or ghost stories, frequently done by French authors. It opened with the sound of the surf and the chant-like opening, "In this cave by the restless se...

The Man Called X was an espionage radio drama which aired on CBS and NBC from July 10, 1944 to May 20, 1952. Herbert Marshall had the lead role of agent Ken Thurston who took on dangerous cases in a variety of exotic locations. Gordon Jenkins Orchestra supplied the background music. Leon Belasco played Mr. X's comedic sidekick, Pagan Zeldchmidt, who always turned up in remote parts of the world be...

Hollywood Radio Theater (Lux), one of the genuine classic radio anthology series (NBC Blue Network, 1934-1935; CBS 1935-1955), adapted first Broadway stage and then (and especially) films to hour-long live radio presentations and became the standard by which future radio and early television anthologies would be judged. Cecil B. DeMille was the host of the series each Monday evening from June 1, 1...

Have Gun â Will Travel was a popular American Western television series that aired on CBS from 1957 through 1963. It was one of the few television shows to spawn a successful radio version. The radio series debuted on November 23, 1958. The show followed the adventures of Paladin, a gentleman-turned-gunfighter (played by Richard Boone on television, and by John Dehner on radio), who preferred to s...

The Price Of Fear - For the 1970âs late-night horror show, The Price of Fear, the BBC dramatized the most chilling stories they could find, drawing on talented new writers as well as the established master of terror who narrated tale, re-written as though Price actually experienced each chilling adventure himself. The show was enormously successful in the UK and abroad, and a number of series were...

People are Funny was a television game show that premiered and ended on NBC from 1954-1961. It was shot in the outside world and dared people to do stunts for fun for spectators. This was done to "reveal the true nature" of their guests. This show was considered a predecessor to most of the reality game shows we know today, such as "Survivor" and MTV's "Jackass." Art Linkletter was the more well-k...

Our Miss Brooks , an American situation comedy, began as a radio hit in 1948 and migrated to television in 1952, becoming one of the earlier hits of the so-called Golden Age of Television, and making a star out of Eve Arden (1908-1990) as comely, wisecracking, but humane high school English teacher Connie Brooks. The show hooked around Connie's daily relationships with Madison High School students...

The Lone Ranger was a long-running early radio and television show based on characters created by George W. Trendle, and developed by writer Fran Striker. The titular character is a masked cowboy in the American Old West, who gallops about righting injustices, usually with the aid of a clever and laconic American Indian called Tonto, and his horse Silver. He would famously say "Heigh-ho Silver, aw...

Rogue's Gallery came to the Mutual network on September 27, 1945 with Dick Powell portraying Richard Rogue, a private detective who invariably ended up getting knocked out each week and spending his dream time in acerbic conversation with his subconscious self, Eugor. Rogue's Gallery was, in a sense, Dick Powell's rehearsal for Richard Diamond, Private Detective. Powell played private detective Ri...

Sam Spade was a tough private investigator. Each case was unfolded as a report dictated to his secretary, Effie, who was always flustered and secretly in love with him. He always quoted his license number and referred to each investigation as a âcaperâ. Each report was dated with the actual airdate. CAST: Howard Duff, Steve Dunne, Lurene Tuttle, John McIntire, William Conrad, Cathy and Elliot Lewi...

Life with Luigi was a radio comedy-drama series which began September 21, 1948 on CBS. The story concerned Italian immigrant Luigi Basco, and his experiences as an immigrant in Chicago. Many of the shows take place at the US citizenship classes that Luigi attends with other immigrants from different countries, as well as trying to fend off the repeated advances of the morbidly-obese daughter of hi...

The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet , an American radio and television series, was once the longest-running, live-action situation comedy on American television, having aired on ABC from 1952 to 1966 after a ten-year run on radio. Starring former bandleader Ozzie Nelson and his wife, vocalist Harriet, the show's sober, gentle humor captured a large, sustaining audience, even if it never reached th...

The Adventures of Frank Race was a 1949-50 radio adventure serial syndicated by Bruce Ellis Productions. The 30-minute program was first broadcast in some markets beginning May 1, 1949. An attorney who turned international adventurer after WWII, Frank Race (Tom Collins, Paul Dubov) mainly investigated insurance scams. After the first 22 shows, Dubov took over the title role. Tony Barnett portrayed...