The Good Old Days of Radio Show

This is our Father's Day show, and we are bringing you that average, loving, blue collar dad of the '40s. Film actor William Bendix plays reactive Chester A. Riley, in the well written sitcom The Life of Riley. In this episode, Riley's teenage children try to surprise him for Father's Day, which nearly sends him to the mental ward. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to ou...

Today, a terrific horror story from 1943 by Arch Oboler. The radio series "Lights Out!" made especially good use of sound, as you will hear in this story about two girls on a creepy trip through the woods to see their long lost aunt. Such a sweet little old lady... with a love for animals. What could go wrong? Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Group for n...

Get ready to make lodge robe alterations, radio's homefolks are back, Vic and Sade Gook, Uncle Fletcher and Russell. We are doing two war-time episodes of this low-key, if-you-aren't-listening-you'll-miss-it, comedy series today, with Vic "putting up" the porch swing, and other mid-western adventures.  Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Group for news, dis...

Most people pay little mind to the tiny creatures under their feet or over their heads. And for good reason. But our monster today is one of those little ones. A couple of plumbers have an interesting hobby: making little monsters big. But be careful as you listen to this episode. You too might get stuck in the "man-paper". Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebo...

The history of the Golden Age of Radio and WWII go hand-in-hand. Today for Memorial Day we are bringing you one of the most moving radio productions ever done, Norman Corwin's celebration of victory in WWII. It is a beautifully written play that manages to be both victorious and honoring to those who fought for freedom from the Axis; a note of triumph from a war-weary America. Visit our website: h...

Although there are many monsters conceived in human imagination, few have had as much cultural impact as Mary Shelley's unnamed monster, constructed by Victor Frankenstein out of scavenged body parts. Today we present a well done production of the story from the series, Suspense, starring the celebrated actor, Herbert Marshall. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Fa...

On today's podcast, a fantasy from the "Jazz Age," F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story that is part science-fiction, part satirical comedy, part romantic adventure, and all imagination, The Diamond As Big As the Ritz, referring of course to New York's Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Group for news, discussions, and the latest podcast:...

This week we lost Ken Greenwald, a long time friend of old time radio, and as John's tribute to him, he plays two of Ken's favorite radio shows. We will hear a complete Jack Benny Program with "Professor LeBlanc" from 1947 that was transferred by Mr. Greenwald himself, and the fantastic Quiet Please science-fiction/horror episode, Northern Lights. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/...

Today we present the first in what we hope will be many episodes showcasing the amazing unscripted quip-master, Groucho Marx, from You Bet Your Life. Although it's a quiz show, this program was all about Groucho's spontaneous conversations with the show's contestants. John has chosen the famous "Gonzales Gonzales" episode from 1953 for our introduction to this series. Visit our website: https://go...

WARNING: Today's episode is not for the squeamish! But for you lovers of all things horror, "Drop Dead: An Exercise in Horror" is essential listening. This 1962 Capitol Records LP brings Arch Oboler back to recreate two lost Lights Out! stories, "The Dark" and "The Chicken Heart That Ate New York," along with some other imaginatively gruesome horror vignettes. PARENTS: If you have younger children...

It's the third show of a series. Of a brand new radio series. We travel back to 1957 to hear Stan Freberg and Friends (the great talents of June Foray, Peter Leeds, and Daws Butler) and a visit with Miss Jupiter, The Skin Diver's Mandolin Club, and acrobats on radio.  Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Group for news, discussions, and the latest podcast: h...

Today we're talking old-time science fiction on radio. Join us as we mark the end of another series with a deep dive between host and radio collector John Tefteller, and producer of the podcast Daniel Chase, on the People's Choice for Top 5 favorite science fiction episodes.  Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Group for news, discussions, and the latest po...

Sunday is Mother's Day, so Phil and Franky are trying to get a bargain rate Mother's Day gift for Alice, but instead wind up with several visits to Police Headquarters. A humorous situation comedy from the early 1950s starring the voice of Disney's Baloo the Bear, Phil Harris. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Group for news, discussions, and the latest p...

Today we finish off our series of favorite adventure stories on radio with an all-star production of maybe the most famous adventure story of the 1930s, that started as a novel, became a movie, and inspired many parodies about the French Foreign Legion. We're talking about "Beau Geste," and the cast is led by Laurence Olivier, with Orson Welles, and Noah Beery reprising his role from the silent fi...

It's Jack Benny day again today, with a hilarious show about pretty much nothing. We get to hear from film star Ronald and Benita Colman in this episode as Jack's long-suffering next door neighbors, and Leo Durocher, the manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, drops in and does a pretty good job behind the microphone. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Group for...

Today we ride the rails, looking over the shoulder of a young hobo as he takes his first trip over the Great Divide, along with his mysterious veteran traveling companion, Slim. Great performances by Elliott Reid and Robert Dryden, a top-notch adventure by John Lovelace from 1946. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Group for news, discussions, and the late...

Today we are bringing you a crispy dry comedy from the late 1930s that is revered by more American intellectuals, both of its time, and beyond, than perhaps any other, including Stan Freberg, Ray Bradbury, Jean Shepherd, and even FDR. This is a taste of not only radio history, but a type of mid-western humor that may be all but lost to the annals of time. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofra...

In celebration of Easter, we pause from our current series, to hear a really remarkable program broadcast in 1947. It is a moving and dramatic reading from the New Testament for one voice by the First Lady of the American Theatre, Ethel Barrymore, with music by Meredith Willson.  Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Group for news, discussions, and the lates...

Today, it's the beginning of Easter Week, and we are pausing from our normal schedule to bring you programs from around Easter time during The Golden Age of Radio. We begin with a visit to one of radio's most beloved and long-running radio sitcoms, Fibber McGee and Molly, in an episode from Easter time 1948. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Group for new...

Today, the exciting, romantic adventure classic, "The African Queen," about a little steam launch and its rough Canadian pilot (Academy Award winner Humphrey Bogart) that rescues a prudish Christian missionary (Academy Award winner Greer Garson) in German East Africa in the heat of World War 1, and their daring journey down the Ulanga River in an attempt to destroy a German gunboat. Visit our webs...

Today we have two odd stories about "aging" from 1954 from the dream-like imagination of Ray Bradbury. The production and storytelling is lush with detail, with narration from Bradbury himself. Also here are great understated performances, and a wonderful minimalist score from the young, legendary film composer, Jerry Goldsmith. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our F...

Today we bring you a survival story about a band of cut-throat fortune hunters in the Amazon who strike it rich, but must get back to their boat, despite snakes, vampire bats, piranha fish, electric eels, quick sand, and each other. Vincent Price stars in this violent adventure, that despite its name, isn't too gory. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Grou...

George Burns and Gracie Allen were one of the titans of popular American comedy during the Golden Age of Radio, and later Television, and we are paying tribute to this comedy couple in today’s podcast. The movie villain James Mason, and his wife Pamela Mason, are guests in this show from the late ‘40s, and apparently they are "cat connoisseurs." Who knew? Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofra...

Today, a real spotlight of 1940s radio, a gorgeous adaptation of Herman Melville's haunting masterpiece of one man's obsession with a monster of the unknown deeps, Moby Dick. Although many literary classics were adapted for the air, few presented such a loving tribute to the original poetic language as this one from The NBC Theater. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to o...

This week, we continue our celebration of great comedy series from the '40s and '50s. Phil Harris (Baloo the Bear from Disney's 1967 The Jungle Book) is back with his mischief-maker friend, Franky. Today, Phil bets $50 he can beat Mr. Scott in a golf tournament at the "Swampland Country Club." Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Group for news, discussions,...