Showing results by author "Original Radio Broadcasts" in All Categories

He stood just three feet tall, but his wit was larger than life! Charlie McCarthy was made of wood, but to millions of radio listeners, he was as real as Edgar Bergen - and much, much funnier. Impudent, irreverent, and positively irrepressible, here are 16 rare and classic radio episodes featuring Charlie himself.

Two radio stalwarts, Ted DeCorsia and Ben Wright, give voice to the dignified, professional, and persistent Peter Black. Once on a case, he never relents until the suspect is behind bars. Black’s boss, Chief Inspector Harkness, is portrayed by Bill Johnstone - who also sets the tone each week as the powerful narrator of the series. Skillfully directed by William Robson and Elliott Lewis, and taughtly written by masters of the craft Antony Ellis, Morton Fine, and David Friedkin, this series is sure to capture your imagination.

Get out the vote! It's no-holds-barred, winner-take-all small town politics at its best as Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve sets his sights on high office! But can Gildy's mayoral aspirations stand up against the competition? And can he balance his campaign against his developing romance with the local school principal? All's fair in love and at the polls in 16 fun-filled 1944 episodes starring Harold Peary as Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve!

Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar takes a turn towards the hardboiled as film-noir favorite Edmond O'Brien takes over the role of America's Fabulous Freelance Insurance Investigator. His gritty, driven performance is well worth rediscovering. O'Brien's harder, more cynical Dollar brought him harder and more cynical clients…and adversaries. In this collection of original radio episodes from 1950-52, Johnny finds more than his quota of murder, mystery, and malfeasance.

You—yes, you! You might think you're getting away with it. You might think it's in the bag. You might think nobody knows what you're really up to! But The Whistler knows—and tells—in this new collection of twenty tale-twisting thrillers! Real life husbands and wives—Elliott and Cathy Lewis, Frank Lovejoy and Joan Banks, Jeanette Nolan and John McIntire—are heard in this suspenseful set, along with Bill Forman as The Whistler.

"Even when you know who's guilty, you always receive a startling surprise at the final curtain." He knows who you are and he knows what you did! He's The Whistler—a mysterious figure of the night who knows the nameless terrors of which you dare not speak! Here's radio noir at its finest in twenty tales of crime, mystery, and fate starring Bill Forman as The Whistler. The plotters and the pawns are played by Jeff Chandler, Betty Lou Gerson, Frank Lovejoy, Gerald Mohr, Eleanor Audley, Joseph Kearns, Frances Robinson, and more.

The unpredictable adventures of freelance troubleshooter George Valentine entertained West Coast audiences for nearly a decade. Bob Bailey delivers a definitive performance in the title role, with able support from Frances Robinson as Brooksie, Eddie Firestone as Sonny, Wally Maher as Lieutenant Riley, and Joe Kearns as Caleb the Elevator Man. Together, they gave radio one of its most distinctive private-eye programs. Come experience the exciting exploits of an intelligent investigator who'd rather think than throw down...but, who could certainly handle himself in a scrap!

Secrets, suspicions, and suspense rise up thick as the Seattle fog in seventeen post-war noirs set in the Pacific Northwest. Produced and directed by Jim French, these new-time radio episodes bring back the classic radio style.

From out of the rain-fogged nights of 1940s Seattle strides the thinking-listener's private investigator on the trail of crime, intrigue and mystery! Tune in to The Adventures of Harry Nile, produced by modern radio legend Jim French. Larry Albert and Mary Anne Dorward star in eighteen radio tales produced in the classic style!

Imagine radio noir in the grand tradition - the mystery, excitement, and adventure of the medium's Golden Age. Now imagine that this has been combined with all of the technical polish that 21st century audio theatre techniques have to offer. That's The Adventures of Harry Nile. Produced by modern-radio legend Jim French, this collection features cases set in the 1940s. A hard-boiled but gentle-souled private investigator takes to the rain-swept streets of the Pacific Northwest.

One of the definitive detectives of American crime fiction comes to radio - with a matchless mind, a relentless eye for detail, and just a bit of an attitude. That's Philo Vance - S.S. Van Dine's famous amateur criminologist of the 1920s and 1930s, ready for radio in the 1940s. Jackson Beck stars as Vance, with Joan Alexander as secretary Ellen Deering, and George Petrie as District Attorney Markham in 16 mind-challenging mysteries!

Radio Spirits is pleased to present 20 classic episodes of Suspense, one of radio's longest running and best mystery anthology series. This collection features programs from the early 1950s as produced and directed by Elliott Lewis. Suspense was well-known for its guest star performers and the shows presented here are no exception, featuring appearances by Dana Andrews, Joseph Cotton, Richard Widmark, Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, Alan Ladd, Dennis Day, Fred MacMurray, Agnes Moorehead, William Bendix, Ronald Colman, Joan Crawford, Phil Harris and Alice Faye and more.

Dan Holiday learned about crime as a hard-boiled newspaper reporter and writes about it as a best-selling mystery novelist. How does he find his plot ideas? He advertises for adventure! Sound like a man you'd like to know? Drop him a note care of Box Thirteen.

Once she has your rapt attention, she begins to tell you - with a gleeful cackle - her tales of ghosts, devils, and curses. The narratives she weaves convey countless examples of how jealousy, revenge, greed and ambition can result in circumstances as frightening as any caused by supernatural beings.

In one corner...we have John Bickerson (played by Don Ameche and Lew Parker), the undisputed snoring champion of the world! In the other corner...we have Blanche Bickerson (played by Frances Langford and Marsha Hunt), radio's most relentless battle ax! Love conquers all? Well, we'll see about that. Listen in as radio's most contentious couple goes to the mat. The sleep-deprived are about to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous matrimony in this cutting comedy.

Dragnet was radio's most successful police procedural series, and by far its most influential, shaping an entire generation's view of law enforcement, and bringing police work to life in carefully-documented detail. Never sensationalistic, but always a gripping listening experience, Jack Webb's signature creation remains the standard against which crime dramas are judged. Webb, who produced and directed the series, stars as Sergeant Joe Friday in gritty dramas of unprecedented realism.

Suave. Urbane. Cultured. And deadly. They call him Paladin, and this lean, quiet man in black brings his gun to bear for whoever can pay his fee (and meet his standards). His business card says it all: Have Gun, Will Travel! John Dehner brings Old San Francisco's righteous pistolero to life in this new collection of 20 classic radio adventures. Ben Wright co-stars as Hey Boy, with Virginia Gregg as Miss Wong.

An unprepossessing little man in a sweatshirt and sneakers set the world of radio ablaze in the late 1930s with a startling new vision of what radio drama could be. Eight decades later, his work is still fresh, powerful, and brilliantly original.

Enter the world of The Whistler, a scheming story-teller who goads the guilty towards their own downfall. Oh, the identity of the murder is never a mystery, but there's always a shocking twist in the tale!

Just what is Wistful Vista, anyway? Is it a street? A neighborhood? A state of mind? Whatever it is, one thing's for sure—it had just the right mix of personalities to keep things lively! First and foremost, there's Fibber McGee and Molly, brought to life by Jim and Marian Jordan. When they heard a knock on their front door, they might open it up to discover the hard-headed Doc Gamble, played by Arthur Q. Bryan, who never once bought into anything Fibber had to say.