Boxcars711 Old Time Radio

I DEAL IN CRIME - Though he was much better in Barry Craig, Confidential Investigator, gravely-voiced William Gargan starred several more times on radio. This is another well done series. THIS EPISODE January 21, 1946. ABC network. Sustaining. Possibly the first show of the series. William Gargan as detective Ross Dolan. Laura Shields hires Dolan to be her bodyguard. He finds plenty of murder. Dre...

GangBusters was an American dramatic radio program heralded as "the only national program that brings you authentic police case histories." It premiered as G-Men, sponsored by Chevrolet, on July 20, 1935. After the title was changed to Gang Busters January 15, 1936, the show had a 21-year run through November 20, 1957. Beginning with a barrage of loud sound effects â guns firing and tires squealin...

2000 AD  (2000 Plus) is known as the first of the network science fiction shows, although it ran on Mutual just a month prior to the introduction of the landmark series, Dimension X. It was a half hour of science fiction wonder in an exciting package. The stories have a charm that is always present in science fiction of the future that is written in the past. "When The Worlds Met" takes place "at...

RADIO CITY PLAYHOUSE - A Half-hour drama, sometimes comedy, often very exciting and suspenseful. The cast were made up of  New York veterans of radio and stage, including Jan Minor and John Larkin as featured performers. The director, Harry W. Junkin, also served as the show's host and narrator. Each week the show introduced a new story, often written by well-known writers of fantasy and suspense...

The Adventures of Sam Spade â 1946-1951 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 McIntir...

Murder By Experts . December 26, 1949. Mutual network. "The Case Of The Missing Mind". Sustaining. A comedy about a Broadway character being driven mad by "Mr. Aladdin." John Dickson Carr (host), Carl Eastman, Ann Shephard, William Zuckert, Bert Cowlan, Ralph Camargo, Phil Tonken (announcer), Robert A. Arthur (producer, director), David Kogan (producer, director), Emerson Buckley (conductor), Crai...

MAN FROM HOMICIDE 1951 ABC show with Dan Duryea Lieutenant Lou Dana, the man from homicide. Dan Duryea stars in this action packed series heard on ABC. THIS EPISODE: July 16, 1951. ABC network. Sustaining. An excellent action-packed whodunit. "Old Man" Kelso, a man with $9 million is found dead with a spear through his body. Lieutenant Lou Dana investigates. Barney Phillips, Basil Adlam (composer,...

The Perada Treasure Episode22 and Episode 23 (11-14-39) SHOW TWO OF TWO

The Perada Treasure Episode20 and Episode 21 (11-14-39) SHOW ONE OF TWO Captain Midnight was a U.S. radio serial broadcast from 1938 to 1949. Created by radio scripters Wilfred G. Moore and Robert M. Burtt, the program was developed at WGN in Chicago. Sponsored by the Skelly Oil Company, it began as a syndicated show in the fall of 1938, airing on a few midwest stations through the spring of 1940....

Philo Vance was the detective creation of S. S. Van Dine first published in the mid 1920s. Vance, in the original books, is an intellectual so highly refined he seems he might be ghostwritten by P. G. Wodehouse. Take this quote from The Benson Murder Case, 1924, as Vance pontificates in his inimitable way: "That's your fundamental error, don't y' know. Every crime is witnessed by outsiders, just a...

The Wayside Theater . January 1, 1939. WBBM, Chicago. "The Adventure Of The Absent Minded Professor". Sponsored by: The Chicago Motor Club. The ultimate absent minded professor story...as the chemistry building explodes! Olan Soule, Patricia Dunlap, Addison Simmons (writer), Verne Smith (announcer), Bill Bouchey, Reese Taylor, Frank Dane, Herb Butterfield, Lesley Woods, Forrest Lewis. 29:29.

Perry Mason is the longest running lawyer show in American television history. Its original run lasted nine years and its success in both syndication and made-for-television movies confirm its impressive stamina. Mason's fans include lawyers and judges who were influenced by this series to enter their profession. The Mason character was created by mystery writer Erle Stanley Gardner and delivered...

It's A Crime Mr. Collins . 1956. Mutual network origination, syndicated. "The Brown Alligator Briefcase". Commercials added locally. Not auditioned. "Any girl would want to be alone in the Mediterranean moonlight, with a very handsome man...unless he were a murderer!" The accent of the Italian police chief sounds Transylvanian. The date is approximate. Mandel Kramer, Gail Collins, Richard Denning....

Throughout the 1950s, Rod Serling had established himself as one of the hottest names in television, equally famous for his success in writing televised drama as he was for criticizing the medium's limitations. His most vocal complaints concerned the censorship frequently practiced by sponsors and networks. "I was not permitted to have my Senators discuss any current or pressing problem," he said...

FAVORITE STORY aired from September 1947 through December of 1949 hosted by Ronald Colman. This is an excellent dramatic series of great stories from classic literature brought to radio. It's popularity was so high and with such well done stories, it was rebroadcasted for many years. THIS EPISODE: MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY The protagonist of the story is a (fictional) young United States Army lieutena...

Fibber McGee and Molly premiered in 1935. The program struggled in the ratings until 1940, when it became a national sensation. Within three years, it was the top-rated program in America. Few radio shows were more beloved than Fibber McGee and Molly. The programâs lovable characters included Mayor LaTrivia, Doc Gamble, Mrs. Uppington, Wallace Wimple, Alice Darling, Gildersleeve, Beulah, Myrt, and...

THIS EPISODE: FAMILY THEATER - January 29, 1948. Mutual network. "Verdict: Guilty". Sustaining. A father tells his two sons a story about a young man who was unjustly sent to jail, and how he planned his revenge on the judge who sentenced him. Dan Dailey (host), Alexander Knox, Stanley Clements, Jean Vander Pyl, Noreen Gammill, Tommy Bernard, Roland Morris, Ross Forrester, Lou Krugman, Griff Barne...

The Clitheroe Kid was James Robertson Clitheroe, Jimmy Clitheroe to most, who by some strange coincidence did come from the town of that name without having to change his family name! At his full height he was 4ft 3in, and played the naughty schoolboy from 1958 to 1972. Although plausable from a distance, he was not really able to pass himself off as a youngster close up, so a TV career did not re...

In 1964, South Africa began The Creaking Door , using original scripts which included stories with a heavy emphasis on the supernatural. The topics ranged from haunted houses to a woman who turns into a giant cat, and of course, the typical paranoid murderer so often presented on the original Inner Sanctum. The host for this series was Peter Bloomfield. There are at present anywhere from 34-37 ext...

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 CBS Radio Mystery Theater (or CBSRMT) was an ambitious and sustained attempt to revive the great drama of old-time radio in the 1970s. Created by Himan Brown (who had by then become a radio legend due to his work on Inner Sanctum Mysteries and other shows dating back to the 1930s), and aired on affiliate stations across the CBS Radio network, the series began its long run on January 6, 1974. T...

Lux Radio Theater , one of the genuine classic radio anthology series (NBC Blue Network (1934-1935); CBS (1935-1954); NBC (1954-1955)) adapted first Broadway stage works, and then (especially) films to hour-long live radio presentations. It quickly became the most popular dramatic anthology series on radio, running more than twenty years. The program always began with an announcer proclaiming, "La...

Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who first appeared in publication in 1887. He is the creation of Scottish born author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A brilliant London-based detective, Holmes is famous for his intellectual prowess, and is renowned for his skillful use of deductive reasoning (somewhat mistakenly - see inductive reasoning) a...

"Double Cross In Space" (Part 2 of 2 Aired 4-03-52) Tom Corbett is the main character in a series of Tom Corbett â Space Cadet stories that were depicted in television, radio, books, comic books, comic strips, coloring books, punch-out books and View-Master reels in the 1950s. The stories followed the adventures of Tom Corbett, Astro, and Roger Manning, cadets at the Space Academy as they train to...

"Double Cross In Space" (Part 1 of 2 Aired 4-01-52) Tom Corbett is the main character in a series of Tom Corbett â Space Cadet stories that were depicted in television, radio, books, comic books, comic strips, coloring books, punch-out books and View-Master reels in the 1950s. The stories followed the adventures of Tom Corbett, Astro, and Roger Manning, cadets at the Space Academy as they train to...