The Chronic Rift Network

This late January marks both the birth and death of actor J. Carrol Naish, who was born on January 21, 1896 and died just shortly after his 77 th birthday on January 24, 1973.  Naish received two Oscar nominations for his supporting roles in the films "Sahara" (1943) and "A Medal for Benny" (1945), the latter of which also earned him a Golden Globe.  But he also had an extensive radio career.  Mos...

I like to start off the new year with these adaptations by "The Lux Radio Theater."  Tonight, Leslie Howard reprises his 1934 starring role as the original secret identity hero, "The Scarlet Pimpernel."  Here, Olivia de Havilland plays his wife.  A year later, the two would appear as husband and wife again, in "Gone with the Wind," as Ashley Wilkes and Melanie Hamilton.  Radio lends itself well to...

Here's two more Christmas episodes to round out this December.  We'll start off with a drama, then some comedy.  "This Is Your FBI" ran on ABC radio from April of 1945 to January of 1953.  It dramatized real cases from the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  No less than the head of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, praised the show, calling it "the finest dramatic program on the air."  Then fo...

All December it's Christmas episodes on "PTTF."  We'll start off tonight with a mystery and then a comedy. These Christmas episodes are from the same year, and, as it happens, only one day apart.  First up, we hear from that sultry-voiced PI, "Candy Matson."  Then we'll see what Eve Arden as "Our Miss Brooks" has planned for Christmas.  Episodes Candy Matson December 19, 1949 "Jack Frost" 2:40 Our...

As we approach Thanksgiving, we're going to start off with a Turkey Day-themed crime drama and then then a comedy.  "Jeff Regan, Investigator" starred Jack Webb as a private investigator working for the International Detective Bureau.  The show just barely pre-dates "Dragnet," and Webb's Regan is even drier in delivery than Joe Friday, and more sarcastically verbose.  In tonight's episode, he's di...

It's a Karloff-fest tonight as we prepare to celebrate Halloween.  We start off with an episode of "Information Please" that originally aired on Christmas Eve, but features Boris Karloff as one of the guests.  Are you up on literary skulls, crossers of the English Channel, and poems that feature murder?  Then Boris drops by "Duffy's Tavern" in an effort to scare off a potential buyer. Episodes Inf...

We start off tonight with an episode of "Broadway Is My Beat."  If you think the sophisticated avenues of Time Square to Columbus Circle are free from murder and crime, you're dead wrong.    It's "the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world."  "Broadway Is My Beat" ran from February of 1949 to August of 1954 on CBS.  For most of that run, it starred Larry Thor as New York City...

Sixty years ago today, September 30, 1962, is the date generally accepted as the end of the Golden Age of Radio.  On the same night, the final episodes of "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar" and "Suspense" were broadcast.  "Johnny Dollar" after 13 years and "Suspense" after 20 years.  I couldn't let that pass without observing it by presenting those two final episodes.  Don't worry, those shows will appe...

We start off tonight by trying to match wits with that amateur detective who's also a mystery writer, the eponymous star of "The Adventures of Ellery Queen."  This episode is another twisty one of multiple murders that requires you to really pay attention.  Then on "The College Quiz Bowl," the best brains of Washington and Lee University go up against The University of Pittsburgh.  Although the ma...

Let's begin tonight with another thrilling story of the masked rider of justice, "The Lone Ranger."  We always think of the Lone Ranger as a hero, but to the people of the Old West, he was "The Masked Man," a character a little more morally ambiguous.  Tonight, he and Tonto go up against bureaucracy and marauding outlaws hiding in the hills.  Then on "The Jack Benny Program," it's the first show o...

"Information Please" famously gave away copies of the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" to people who sent in questions that stumped the show's panel. The "Britannica"'s offices were in Chicago. In the summer of 1943, as part of a War Bond drive, the show left New York and broadcast from some "western" cities, starting in Chicago, where, in this episode, the editor of the "Britannica", Walter Yust, was a...

Tonight, we present two examinations of the world of newspapers and investigative reporting, first comedy, then something a little more dramatic.  The newspaper comic strip "Blondie" was created by Chic Young and started running in 1930.  It is still running, as I record this, almost 92 years later.  It features the domestic mis-adventures of the eponymous Blondie, and her husband Dagwood, Bumstea...

"The Adventures of Father Brown" was broadcast on the Mutual Network during June and July of 1945, so only a few episodes were ever produced.  It starred Karl Swenson as the titular priest and part-time detective. The show was based on the Father Brown mysteries, written by G.K. Chesterton starting in 1910 and continuing until 1936, some 50 short stories.  Chesterton was a British, Catholic writer...

We start off tonight with another episode of "Gunsmoke."  Here, a mysterious couple shoot four other strangers in town, sending Marshall Dillon and Chester after them all around the West.   Then, on "The Kraft Music Hall," Bing Crosby is joined by actor Keenan Wynn for lots of World War II-era laughs and songs. Episodes Gunsmoke March 21, 1953 "Pussy Cats" 1:34 The Kraft Music Hall July 13, 1944 G...

      "Once Upon a Time" UK Airing: January 25, 1968 US Airing: September 14, 1968     "Fallout" UK Airing: February 1, 1968 US Airing September 21, 1968 A previous Number 2 returns to the Village and is given permission to crack the Prisoner using Degree Absolute. When it fails, it appears that the Prisoner is put on trial, but it is actually his recent tormentors who are which ultimately leads t...

"My Man Godfrey" is a classic screwball comedy from 1936.  Filmed and set during the Great Depression, it stars William Powell as Godfrey, a "forgotten man":  one of the millions of unemployed and down-and-out at the time.  Carol Lombard co-stars as the daughter of wealthy family who soon employ Godfrey as their butler.  Both Powell and Lombard reprised their roles for this episode of "The Lux Rad...

We begin this evening with "The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe."  This is a particularly clever and twisty plot involving a high-stakes card game.  Then on "The Jack Benny Program," Jack is a little concerned that his contract for next season hasn't been renewed yet.  Is he going to be replaced by his competition? Episodes The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe January 12, 1951 "The Killer Cards" 1:38 The...

Tonight, we start off with a couple episodes of "The Goldbergs."  Not the TV series set in the 1980s, but the long-running radio series from the 1930s and 40s.  The show tells the story of the daily life of the Goldbergs, a Jewish family living in New York and, later, Connecticut. The program was created by and starred Gertrude Berg.  When the program moved to television in the 1950s, she was the...

We start off tonight with everyone's favorite medical drama, "The Story of Dr. Kildare."  Here Drs. Kildare and Gillespie help an aging Western movie star with psychological difficulties.  Then we drop by 79 Wistful Vista for a visit with "Fibber McGee and Molly."  Tonight, Fibber is very busy with big business as he takes huge orders for the mysterious AJB Company. Episodes The Story of Dr. Kilda...

We start off with a tale well-calculated to keep you in … "Suspense."  In this twisty episode, tough guy actor Edward G. Robinson stars as both himself and as a humble little nothing of a man who has big ideas.  Robinson made his mark playing gangsters in movies like "Little Caesar" and "Key Largo," not to mention the corrupt overseer Dathan in "The Ten Commandments."  This episode is so clever an...

The school bell is ringing, so let's check in with a handful of very bright youngsters on "The Quiz Kids."  I hope you know your baseball scoring rules, animals associated with each of the 48 (!) states, and that favorite topic of 8 th graders everywhere: opera.  Then on "The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show," the couple returns from vacation to find that Phil's pal Frankie Remley has turned the Harris...

We start off tonight with another "X Minus One" adaptation of a classic science fiction short story.   This time it's Tom Godwin's "The Cold Equations," a controversial tale that's still a subject of discussion.   Then on "The Great Gildersleeve," Mr. Peavy finally gets a day off while Gildy minds the drug store.   What could possibly go wrong?   Episodes X Minus One August 25, 1955 "Cold Equation...

We start off tonight with another episode of that wonderful quiz show, "Information Please."   This is an Armed Forces recording, which means that the original was recorded and then all the ads were taken out and replaced with short classical music breaks.   Are you up on the publication dates of certain famous literary works, the details of perfume production, and the strange behaviors of animals...

"Mr. and Mrs. North" featured a married couple of sleuths.  They began their career in short stories written by Richard Lockridge in the 1930s, but soon progressed to novels, a movie, a Broadway play, an Edgar-Award-wining radio show, and eventually television in the 1950s.  They have affection for each other, and Mrs. North plays just as much a part in the stories as does her husband.  Then, with...

I like to start off the new year with these adaptations by "The Lux Radio Theater" of light, amusing tales.  "The Canterville Ghost" was a short story written by Oscar Wilde in 1887. Over the years, there have been numerous adaptations.  The latest version just aired in the U.K. on the BBC and starred Anthony Head of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" as the title character.  I assume this will be coming...