The Good Old Days of Radio Show

This week we are beginning a new series featuring great monsters on radio. We’re kicking off with a 1947 CBS "Escape" episode titled "Taboo," a terrific werewolf story featuring voice actor Paul Frees. The story focuses on a man investigating mysterious disappearances in Eastern Europe, where locals suspect a werewolf. In addition, we have a unique challenge for you in this episode. Visit our webs...

Here’s something rare I bet you didn’t know existed. A 1954 radio pilot of The Honeymooners. Starring the original cast (Jackie Gleason, Audrey Meadows, Art Carney) this audition recording, never aired on CBS, was created for a potential radio series to run concurrently with the television show, which debuted in 1955. The episode itself showcases the familiar comedic dynamic between Ralph, Alice,...

Today we are presenting a rare, previously unbroadcast recording of a Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters (PPB) luncheon from November 15, 1974, honoring renowned radio writer and director Norman Corwin. This two-hour recording features speeches and anecdotes from numerous prominent figures in radio, television, and film, such as Hans Conried, Lynn Murray, Perry Lafferty, Elliot Lewis, Ray Bradbury, Stan...

This is the final week in our mini-tribute to writer/director/producer Norman Corwin. Today we are bringing you  a special broadcast, "God and Uranium," originally aired on August 19, 1945. This historical recording showcases the commemorative writings of Norman Corwin, presented by Orson Welles and Olivia de Havilland, reflecting on VE and VJ Days and the implications of the atomic bomb. The broa...

Today on our shorter-than-usual episode we have a rare rehearsal recording of "The Pursuit of Happiness," a radio program written by Norman Corwin and starring Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester from December 8, 1939, showcasing Laughton's performance and even capturing a moment where he realizes he is missing script pages, providing a unique glimpse into the unscripted reality of radio rehearsa...

Continuing our short tribute to radio writer/director/producer Norman, we present an episode of "Columbia Presents Corwin," features Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester in a Corwin comedy about Charles E. Gumpert, a seemingly ordinary man who experiences sudden, dramatic personality shifts, believing himself to be various historical figures like Niccolo Paganini, Julius Caesar, Sigmund Freud, and...

Today it’s our annual Independence Day episode. This year, we are bringing you a rare chance to hear a rehearsal recording of Norman Corwin's famous "We Hold These Truths" program, originally aired on December 15, 1941, shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. This newly discovered audio was recorded two days prior to the live broadcast and features different actors in key roles, along with the n...

Today in our tribute to Norman Corwin, we’re bringing you his 1939 Columbia Workshop production, "Seems Radio is Here to Stay." The broadcast is a poetic exploration of the nature and reach of radio, celebrating its ability to connect people across vast distances and its multifaceted role in society, including news, entertainment, and the work of countless individuals behind the scenes. The progra...

Today we bring you a lovely radio show from the series "Columbia Presents Corwin," in Norman Corwin's work titled "Daybreak," which stars actor Ronald Coleman. This is the second performance from July 10, 1945,  repeat of a highly regarded radio play written in the early 1940s, known for its poetic style. The central segment of the broadcast is the radio drama "Daybreak" itself, which chronicles t...

We continue to feature programs written, directed, and produced by Norman Corwin. Today’s episode shows not only the strong poetic touch of Corwin, but integrates it with music, as sung by folk great Burl Ives. It is the historical drama and folk cantata, "The Lonesome Train," which recounts the journey of Abraham Lincoln's funeral train after his assassination. Film buffs will recognize Raymond M...

We continue our short series dedicated to writer/director/producer, Norman Corwin, with an episode of The Fred Allen Show that is not broadly in circulation, originally broadcast on May 14th, 1944, with Corwin as special guest. Allen does a satirical adaptation of the Jack and Jill nursery rhyme presented in Corwin's dramatic style. The second half of the discs were badly damaged, but worth presen...

This podcast is dedicated to showcasing the very best of vintage radio, and with that effort in mind, for the next few weeks we will be highlighting the work of writer/director/producer Norman Corwin. These days he's not exactly a household name, but once you hear his work from the '30s, '40s, and '50s, you will understand why he was so influential. We're kicking things off with a Corwin program f...

This is week 11 of our series dedicated to comedians on the thriller series Suspense, and we decided to extend it one more week to present an episode that is not one of the better scripts but stars one of our favorite comedian-couples Phil Harris and Alice Faye. Joining us one last time in this series is Suspense Researcher Joe Webb. There were many other comedians who appeared on the series durin...

This is the final week on our series Comedians on Suspense. The stars are bandleader Phil Harris and his real-life wife, glamour movie star Alice Faye, appearing here in an episode of their sitcom from April 22, 1951. The storyline centers on a farcical attempt by Phil to write a serious drama, ultimately a parody of the series “Suspense.” Harris and Faye would appear as guest stars on “Suspense”...

Today we are bringing you another unlikely comedian in a Suspense episode. This one comes late in the Suspense series, and it features the young comedian/writer/voice talent Stan Freberg in a dramatic role, a surprising departure from his usual work. Host John Tefteller and guest Dr. Joe Webb discuss Freberg's diverse talents and his unexpected appearance in this thriller, about a man who gets mur...

We are listening to episode thirteen of the Stan Freberg Show today from 1957. If you listen to this podcast regularly, you will know Stan Freberg is one of John’s favorite comedians, and when we found out Freberg was a guest star on the thriller series, Suspense, we had to do it. In this episode of his comedy show, they do a horror movie parody about a teenage werewolf who transforms into an adve...

It’s Thursday again, and in this series that means we are focusing on the Suspense radio program episode "Murder in G Flat" which was the first of four Jack Benny appearances on the series. Researcher Dr. Joe Webb is with us again to dive into the background of this episode, highlighting Benny's unusual serious role as a piano tuner who finds stolen money, and tells us how Benny came to star in th...

We’re featuring this week probably the most popular comedian on this podcast, the great Jack Benny. Jack was a guest star on the thriller series “Suspense” on four separate occasions. On Thursday we will be listening to Jack Benny’s first appearance on Suspense, but today we are listening to a Benny show from 1952. In this one, they are roasting “Suspense.” Visit our website: https://goodolddaysof...

On Tuesday we heard “America’s Favorite Young Married Couple,” Ozzie and Harriet in their popular radio sitcom, that would go on to even greater success on television.  Today we hear them in one of their appearances on the thriller series “Suspense.” The episode tells a story about the couple unexpectedly buying a trunk at auction for a mere three dollars, only to discover that a mysterious man de...

This week on Comedians on Suspense, we are featuring the comedy couple, Ozzie Nelson and Harriet Hilliard, in "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet." Ozzie expresses his preference for routine, particularly his breakfast of boiled eggs, while Harriet contemplates shaking things up, even considering a new haircut. This light sitcom came about in the late ‘40s, though Ozzie Nelson and Harriet Hilliar...

Today comedian Red Skelton is the unlikely star on the thriller series, Suspense, with an episode called  "The Search for Isabel." It’s the unusual story of a lonely man who becomes obsessed with a woman he's never met through wrong number phone calls, culminating in a surprising crime revelation. Dr. Joe Webb is here again bringing his vast research on Suspense to introduce the episode, and we ex...

This week we are featuring comedian Red Skelton. Yes, Red Skelton was a guest star on the thriller series, Suspense. And it’s a great episode! You can hear that on our Thursday episode, but today we are leading the way with the "Raleigh Cigarette Program" from March 19, 1946, featuring comedian Red Skelton. This one is all about cars: Willie Lump Lump obtains a driver's license, and Junior (“The M...

It’s Fibber McGee and Molly week on the show. But this time rather than their well-known cozy comedy format, the beloved radio couple appears here in a dramatic episode of Suspense titled "Backseat Driver." Suspense had become known for recruiting comedians, and popular radio comedians in particular, offering them a chance to step out of their rigid stereotypes and do something different. Joining...

Jim and Marian Jordan, better known as "Fibber McGee and Molly," are our featured comedy duo this week on the podcast. On Thursday they will appear in an episode from the thriller series, “Suspense.” Today, however, we’re going back a couple of days before that broadcast to hear them on their popular radio series. This episode is centered around Fibber McGee's excessive talking and habit of interr...

Today we present Lucille Ball as you may have never heard her before. Lucille Ball had quite a career play various femme fatales in the movies before becoming the legendary star of the television show “I Love Lucy.” However, here she plays a dark role as a con artist who targets men, and learns that one of her victims may have been a notorious serial killer, setting off a deadly game of cat and mo...