The Good Old Days of Radio Show

Today’s continuation of our top 10 adventure radio shows, we present a full hour production of John Huston's 1948 film, "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre," about three greedy gold prospectors in the Mexican wilderness, fighting for survival against nature and bandits. Two Academy Award Winning actors, Humphrey Bogart and Walter Huston, return for this well-done audio version. Visit our website: ht...

Today we bring back the popular Jack Benny Show, with another great episode from the 1945-46 season. Edgar Bergen shows up in this one, another leading comedian of the era, with his dummy Charlie McCarthy, and Jack tries to sell him the Sportsmen Quartet! Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Group for news, discussions, and the latest podcast: https://www.fa...

Today we open the pages of a real two-fisted pulp adventure of the middle 20th century. We are traveling with a stout American fortune-hunter and his guide Pedro into the jungles of Central America to search for a legendary lost ruin in the heart of an ancient volcano. They find gold and jewels and weird statues of dog-headed creatures, but what is behind the strange black door? Visit our website:...

In December we brought you an entertaining and well-written show from Stan Freberg and Company. Today Stan is back with another clever program from this short-running 1957 series, which includes a visit to the Abominable Snowman, a statue carved out of oleomargarine, and "Rock Around Stephen Foster." Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Group for news, discu...

Today the third in our top 10 adventure series. We delve deeply into the deadly and fast-paced world of hidden identities and international espionage, as Richard Hannay, played by Orson Welles, is pursued by the police for a murder he did not commit, and a spy ring for secrets he does not understand, in John Buchan's entertaining thriller, The 39 Steps. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradi...

This week we are once again showcasing the incredible, super-charged comedic talents of Red Skelton. In the 1940s, the big sensation sweeping the country were department stores. In this episode from 1946, J. Newton Numbskull, Clem Kadiddlehopper, and the Mean Widdle Mean Kid are back to tell us what department stores were like in the 1940s. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscr...

Today's story is one of the most popular amongst radio fans, and one of the best man vs nature stories ever written. If you've never heard this story of a man who refuses to flee his South American plantation in the wake of a devouring army of ants ten miles long and two miles wide, you are in for a true nail-biting treat. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Faceboo...

Today we have vintage comedy again, introducing The Bickersons. If you've ever overheard petty bickering between a husband and wife, you may not have thought this could be turned into a 10 minute comedy sketch. But John and Blanche Bickerson did exactly that, and it was one of the funniest comedies from this era. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Group fo...

Today we're beginning a new series of 10 of the greatest adventure stories produced for radio. We start with the ultimate terrifying game of pursuit on a jungle island with a twisted genius, in Richard Connell’s The Most Dangerous Game, starring Orson Welles at his wicked best. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Group for news, discussions, and the latest...

Today we have a double bill of radio's Sam Spade, starring Howard Duff, the private detective made famous in the movies by The Maltese Falcon. First, Spade is witness at a deathbed confession in a thriller from The Adventures of Sam Spade, and then Gracie Allen recruits Sam Spade to stop a miscarriage of justice in a fun 1949 episode of the George Burns and Gracie Allen Show. Visit our website: ht...

This week, John Tefteller takes a brief respite between series and is joined by co-creator Daniel Chase to chat about the people's choice for the top scariest horror shows, what makes classic horror special, and some general banter about vintage radio. The Top 10 Horror shows: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHn7jZvB9V3El-fuH2fLhWb7Ln5klx8nZ See the poll: https://www.facebook.com/groups/8817792...

This week we introduce to this show a forgotten comic of the '40s and '50s, Judy Canova. Judy Canova was a talented novelty singer and hayseed comedian. This show from early post-War America features a well-written "Ma and Pa" skit with the amazing voice of a hundred cartoons, Mel Blanc. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Group for news, discussions, and t...

In 1956, while most of America was obsessed with the newest novelty, television, one of the great masterpieces of radio was produced, the grim social commentary, Brave New World. Perhaps very few people actually heard it. This radio adaption, done in two parts, pushes all the limits of the day, and is narrated by the author, Aldous Huxley. This is the last in our Top 10 Sci-Fi series. Visit our Fa...

It's comedy day, and today we feature the real life husband and wife team, Phil Harris, who started as a bandleader and became famous on the Jack Benny Show, and Alice Faye, the famous movie starlet of the 1930s. This is a wacky situation comedy in the early '50s that had us in stitches, as Phil and his cohort Franky donate blood to the Red Cross. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/...

A hard boiled private detective, drug addiction, a mysterious suicide, and a mad Nazi scientist. Sounds like a perfect recipe for a camp masterpiece. But this is one of the best science fiction stories from the Golden Age, an intriguing story of dread and dark twists at every turn. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Group for news, discussions, and the lat...

Red Skelton is back! Along with Willie Lump Lump and the Mean Widdle Mean Kid. This show is all about the housing shortage, which happened proceeding the return of service men after WWII. Different problems, different times, but you don't need to have a MA in History to enjoy this show. The humor is as funny today as it was back in 1945. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe...

Again we visit the fantastic worlds of Ray Bradbury. The Martian Chronicles book is a loosely connected series of short stories about earth's conquest of Mars, and this drama from 1951, superbly adapts several for the ear. Pay attention to this take on "There Will Come Soft Rains," which features several interesting key differences from last week's. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.co...

Fans of classic movies will know today’s star well. She was number one at the box office during the dark days of the depression, and was most popular before she reached the age of 10, Shirley Temple. The movie “Captain January” featured Shirley at the pinnacle of her film popularity, and she would return at age 13 to reprise her role for radio. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Su...

Today we have two stories “about the future” by Ray Bradbury, one of the most adapted for radio science fiction authors. "There Will Come Soft Rains" is about an automated house at the end of the world, and "Zero Hour" about the latest children’s game, “Invasion.” Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Group for news, discussions, and the latest podcast: https...

Today we visit a wacky house of horrors in a swamp with killers, a butler who sounds like Peter Lorre, and man-eating plants. Radio’s Sam Spade, a youthful charismatic take on the character played by Howard Duff, hops into the action without batting an eyelid in this fun romp from 1949. For a special bonus clip to today's episode follow this link for a never-before-released behind-the-scenes parod...

Our Science fiction series continues today. What is causing old people to die of starvation with their pockets full of money? This is a fantastic, head scratching story full of twists and turns, by the editor of Galaxy Magazine, H. L. Gold. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Group for news, discussions, and the latest podcast: https://www.facebook.com/grou...

Happy New Year! What better way to welcome 2022 than with a wild comedy show from 1946. We bring you one of our favorite comedians, Red Skelton, with his New Year's show featuring madcap characters Deadeye, and the Mean Widdle Mean Kid. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Group for news, discussions, and the latest podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/8...

It’s the last podcast of 2021! Today we are jumping backwards and forwards in time more than Marty McFly. We’re traveling back to 1950 to hear an excellent time travel story, about a future soldier who wakes up to find himself reliving his childhood. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Group for news, discussions, and the latest podcast: https://www.faceboo...

Nero was the Roman Emperor of what ancient city? Tom Howard, George Shelton, Lulu McConnell, and Harry McNaughton are back with It Pays To Be Ignorant!, the quiz show spoof. This is another never before released episode from August 17, 1945. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Group for news, discussions, and the latest podcast: https://www.facebook.com/gro...

It's our Christmas show! Bring your kids of all ages. We have a wonderful Christmas tale for you about a charming old gentleman with a snowy white beard who may or may not be the jolly personage we all know. It's Miracle on 34th Street, starring Edmund Gwenn reprising his classic role of Kris. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Group for news, discussions,...