The Good Old Days of Radio Show

A few weeks ago we featured a Jack Benny Show that parodied the movie, "It's A Wonderful Life." Today we are listening to the follow-up show, which is a look at "what happened" immediately after the curtain went down on that show. Victor Moore, the largely forgotten actor/comedian of the era, makes a return visit as Jack's guardian angel. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscrib...

It's back to the half-hour format of "Suspense" series this week, and as radio noir goes, Suspense was the absolute best. Today we are presenting the one appearance of Judy Garland on the series. Garland really gets to show her dramatic acting chops in this one, as a carhop in Hollywood who is abducted by a homicidal maniac (played by future "Suspense" producer/director Elliott Lewis) and develops...

We are joined by Nick Santa Maria, writer, comedian, and Abbott and Costello expert, for a second discussion about "The Boys." Today they discuss their meteoric rise to fame, the tragic story of Lou Costello, and The Andrews Sisters, among other topics. In addition we're listening to another Abbott and Costello radio show from 1945, and Bud and Lou's famous 'Hertz Rent-A-Car" routine. Visit our we...

In the late 1940s, the famous series "Suspense" took a short departure from its half-hour format to a one-hour stint hosted by movie actor Robert Montgomery. On paper it sounds perfect, but most fans agree this was a mediocre run that would thankfully return to its normal format. One of the first of these ventures is a one-hour expanded script from the wildly popular radio series "Adventures of Sa...

Today we are bringing you the first of two tributes to "The Boys," Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. Joining us will be Abbott and Costello historian Nick Santa Maria, who will be talking about where the famous comedy team came from, their best films, their radio show, and their legacy. Also we will be hearing one of their radio shows from 1944. The Annotated Abbott and Costello: https://www.amazon.com...

"The Third Man" is one of the all-time great film noir classics. It concerns the bleak setting of post-war Vienna, and the interesting relationships of three principle characters, clashing together over one mysterious individual: the elusive Harry Lime. Orson Welles would appear in a spin-off series as Harry Lime in the 1950s, but here we are bringing a very competent radio version of the original...

It's our annual Halloween podcast! Today we are doing the second "Quiet Please" Halloween broadcast. It's about a man falsely condemned to death for murder, who leaves his body on Halloween night with the victims of the crime to discover the real culprit. Wyllis Cooper's unpredictable storytelling is fully on display here, though it's a story that is much more dramatic than his usual fare.  Visit...

It's the Thursday before Halloween, so we thought we'd dim the lights and bring you a show featuring three tales of terror by the original master of horror, Edgar Allan Poe. The first story is a rare look at Poe humor. The last two are lauded classics from the master: "The Cast of Amontillado," and "The Fall of the House of Usher." Joseph Schildkraut, an Oscar award winning character actor who is...

This month was Groucho Marx's birthday, and as a late tribute, we are bringing you another show from his long running radio series, "You Bet Your Life." It was a light game show that was less about the questions, and more about Groucho's silly conversations with the contestants.  Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Group for news, discussions, and the lates...

Angela Lansbury is the star of this week's radio noir. This gothic story about a rising starlet and her actor husband who is in the twilight of his career resembles "A Star Is Born", but with a dark twist. This is a rare radio appearance by Lansbury in the first phase of her career, where she often played villains like Sibyl Vane from "The Picture of Doiron Gray," and Eleanor Shaw Iselin from "The...

We return to comedy with one of our favorites from golden radio, Red Skelton. Skelton preferred to see himself as a clown rather than a comedian. Indeed his energy and performance elevated him to an unusual place among other comics of the era. This one is all about the post-war meat shortage. Plenty of humor set around a serious topic that gives us a glimpse of the frustration of everyday American...

Some may debate whether today's selection is actually film noir at all, But we think so! The hard-boiled private eyes, femme fatales, and ex-cons are nowhere to be seen in "Five Fingers." In their place is an upper-crust valet for the British ambassador in war-time Turkey, who is feeding secret documents to the Nazis purely for personal gain. This unusual spy tale features strong performances by a...

During the golden age of comedy, an audience favorite was entertainers that roasted one another. Perhaps the most famous of these "feuds" was between Fred Allen and Jack Benny, who started accidently by hurtling sideways barbs at one another on their popular radio shows, and developed into an all-out, but good-natured insult-fest. Fred Allen's parody of radio quiz shows "King For A Day" many consi...

Joseph Cotten had a diverse leading man career in the movies. On radio he played some characters that made Uncle Charlie from Hitchcock's "Shadow of the Doubt" look innocent in comparison. In this Suspense story, he plays twins, one of which murders the other and disposes of the body in suitcases. He has one problem, however... getting rid of that pesky head. Visit our website: https://goodolddays...

Today we are bringing you the 9th show of a series. Of a "brand new" radio series. Stan Freberg is back with his cast of cartoon voices in an amusing comedy/variety show featuring a visit with the abominable snowman, "Crossington Washing the Delaware," and the "Honeyearthers." Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Group for news, discussions, and the latest p...

Dashiell Hammett, the author of "The Maltese Falcon," wrote another famous novel, "The Glass Key." It's a murder mystery that revolves around the seedy world of corrupt politicians, crime syndicates, and grift. Today in our journey through "radio noir" we are bringing you Orson Welles's nuanced adaptation of the story. Although it has all the hallmarks of noir, including murky motives and startlin...

We started a quest through Jack Benny's 1946-47 season, which is a period where Jack had established a strong cast of characters and his writing team hit a stride that would carry him into his best loved comedy. This week, Jack and Mary have just seen "It's A Wonderful Life," and he is joined by the director Frank Capra, and Victor Moore as Jack's guardian angel, in a little fantasy of their own....

In the 1940s, a new film making style surged into popularity that featured light and shadow crime dramas that looked dirty, gritty, and violent. "Film noir" featured hard-boiled anti-heroes who were often driven by animalistic, morally ambivalent motives, and met with a grim end. At the same time, radio explored these same areas, so this week we are going to be starting a dark journey through... "...

It's the final pick in our brief series examining the diverse work of radio writer/director Arch Oboler. We've explored just about every type of script Oboler did, from fantasy, horror, drama, comedy, and pulp. Today we are going back to 1938, when Arch Oboler wrote a comedy sketch for a primetime radio variety show that infamously caused such a fervor, it almost destroyed hundreds of network radi...

We continue to explore the innovative work of radio writer/director Arch Oboler. This series would not be complete without an Oboler fantasy play. The oddly named story "The Word" appeared on Lights Out!, but it was not as Oboler points out at the beginning a horror story. It's about a man and a woman visiting the Empire State Building when everyone in the world suddenly and inexplicably vanishes....

Tommy Cook is back with us this week. Tommy is just turning 93 years old, and his memories of working with Arch Oboler as a child actor are still extremely vivid. Today we also hear Tommy at age 15 performing in a humorous, light-hearted Oboler script about a boy corresponding with a Chinese "pen pal."  Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Group for news, di...

This show was so unbelievably campy and weird, we almost didn't do it. Arch Oboler wrote the script for this episode of the legendary radio series, "The Shadow," and Orson Welles was the star, along with Agnes Moorhead. With the powerhouse of talent involved, it's a radio misfire that is fascinating to listen to on so many levels. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our...

Actor Tommy Cook is our special guest today. Tommy was the youngest member of Arch Oboler's stock company during the 1940s. Today Tommy joins us to talk about Arch Oboler, and also his own prolific radio and movie career. We hear Tommy in his first leading role (and his amazing performance!), on Oboler's "Everyman's Theater."  Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Fac...

Today we are back to Arch Oboler's series "Lights Out!" This show is interesting, because it's about two network radio typists preparing scripts for Lights Out! when strange things begin to happen. Arch Oboler's stream of consciousness technique of using continuous repetitive dialogue is put to good use here. Also one of Oboler's favorite actresses, Mercedes McCambridge, gives a stellar performanc...

During the 1930s, Arch Oboler became very famous for his serious plays, many of which had anti-fascist undertones. When war was declared, Oboler's occasional story with hints of isolationist views went away, and he became one of the strongest pro-war writers on the air. Today we hear a beautifully written story starring Raymond Massey, about a single dad who sees his two children go off to war. Vi...