Showing results by narrator "Old Time Radio" in All Categories

For Detective Danny Clover, Broadway is more than just a street - it’s a living, breathing creature with a mood and a style all its own. Radio’s most lyrical crime drama comes to life in this collection, Broadway’s My Beat, featuring 16 unique tales of murder along the main stem. The series’ purple prose is counterbalanced by the gritty realism that was a specialty of the 16th Precinct and its endearingly eccentric characters. Larry Thor stars as Clover, with Charles Calvert as Sgt. Tartaglia and Jack Kruschen as Detective Muggavan.

Fred Allen specialized in literate wordplay, lacerating satire, and a squinty-eyed critique of the passing scene. His style was entirely his own: the slate-pencil whine of his voice, the ludicrously-named supporting characters, and the small-town-cum-big-city rattle of his dialogue. Join him in a promenade through parody, along with co-stars Portland Hoffa, Alan Reed, Kenny Delmar, Minerva Pious, John Brown, Charlie Cantor, and Parker Fennelly. Even Fred’s guest stars jump into the jest!

Here comes “This Week’s Play” with Jack Benny and all the gang! Mary Livingstone, Phil Harris, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, Dennis Day, and Don Wilson all play their parts in parodies of Hollywood movies, wild Westerns, murder mysteries, and more. Kick back with 16 satirical skits in this collection of classics from the 1940s and 1950s, featuring guest appearances by Barbara Stanwyck, Oscar Levant, Charles Farrell, Sam Goldwyn, Frank Sinatra, and George Jessel!

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.

Jeremy Brian Kendall rides the untamed West as an observer, a chronicler, and a reluctant participant. As a correspondent for an English newspaper, Kendall explains the wild frontier to his readers in all its bold color, all its violence, and all its subtlety...without ever losing sight of his own identity. John Dehner stars as J. B. Kendall in 21 classic episodes of this unique, distinctive Western.

Jim Brandon is a biochemist, a scientific marvel, a master of the Black Light of Invisibility. He's the Avenger! This classic pulp hero was adapted for radio, continuing to fight evil-doers with the help of the Telepathic Indicator and the Diffusion Capsule.

The late 1950s were the golden age of the radio western, and Gunsmoke stood at the top of the mesa, proudly overlooking the terrain! These searing dramas of frontier life - told with honesty, sensitivity, and nail-biting tension - feature William Conrad as Marshal Matt Dillon. Here are 24 unforgettable adventures of the Old West, originally broadcast between 1956 and 1958. Parley Baer co-stars as Chester, with Howard McNear as Doc, and Georgia Ellis as Kitty.

Can a high-stepping star of the London stage find happiness as the wife of a dignified college president? Find out when you visit The Halls of Ivy! Ronald Colman and Benita Hume star in this gently comic tale of academic life, where the kindly President Hall of Ivy College and the witty Mrs. Hall find themselves embroiled in the troubles and travails of their students, their staff, and - every now and then - themselves. Here are 16 delightful episodes of this erudite 1950s classic, bridging comedy and drama with the utmost class.

No problem's so big, no dilemma so perplexing that Chester A. Riley can't find a way to make it just a little bit worse! Even in sunny Southern California there's always a revoltin' development or two to keep radio's favorite blue-collar dad behind the eight ball! William Bendix stars in 16 laugh-packed half hours as the bumbling paterfamilias, with Paula Winslowe as his long-suffering wife Peg and John Brown as the unforgettable Digger O'Dell (the friendly undertaker)!

Your nerves, drawn wire-taut. Your heart, thundering in your chest. Your knuckles, drawn white against your chair. Your mind, leaving the comfort and confinement of "the four walls of today" to tempt the whims of the high seas, to venture to the frozen tundra, the mysterious east, the wild west...to travel to Istanbul, to Europe, and to nightmares. The only limit to the excitement in these 20 episodes of red-blooded adventure drama is the scope of your own imagination.

This series tells the fascinating and exotic story of the crew of The Scarlet Queen, "the proudest ship to plow the seas." Their quest for a Chinese treasure leads them to remarkable encounters in ports of call throughout the Pacific Ocean and the China Sea. Captain Philip Karney - played by Howard Duff in the audition episode, and thereafter by series creator Elliott Lewis - is at the helm of the 78 foot ketch. At the skipper's side is First Mate Red Gallagher, played by the husky-voiced Ed Max.

Wherever there's a scheme afoot, radio's fabulous freelance insurance investigator is on the job to stop it! Bob Bailey stars as Johnny Dollar, picking up the ringing telephone to take on cases of double indemnity and double cross, foul weather and foul play. Bailey is the definitive Dollar - the character's wry sense of humor fits the actor like a tailor-made suit. He's a man of keen analytical skills and good nature, a man who can use his fists in a tight spot without being an obnoxious "tough guy".

He knows crime, and he knows criminals...because he was once on the wrong side of the law himself. That's Boston Blackie - a friend to those who have no friends, an enemy to those who make him an enemy! Broadway actor Richard Kollmar stars in his best-remembered radio role as the tough yet sympathetic ex-safecracker. Lesley Woods costars as his lady friend Mary Wesley, with Maurice Tarplin as Inspector Faraday. Join them for 16 exciting investigations of jewel heists, murder and more!

From the archives of "Geoffrey Barnes, Connoisseur of Mysteries" come high tension tales of suspense, of intrigue, of crime and passion. These are presented by some of radio's top professionals in a style that's "smooth…so smooth - and slick…so slick!" A Tuesday night radio favorite for years, here's your ticket to the Molle Mystery Theatre! Step inside for 16 digitally restored and remastered episodes of "the best in mystery and detective fiction."

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.

Step into radio’s legendary house of horrors. The only program on the air to combine pitch-dark horror with sardonic humor, sending forth its undead monstrosities with rotting tongue pressed firmly into cheek. The razor-voiced Raymond Edward Johnson handles his hosting duties like an oily insurance salesman with a sideline in ax murder, while playful Paul McGrath brings forth an effortlessly exaggerated sense of black comedy. Come in! You’ll never know what’s going on behind the rust-metal shriek of the infamous Creaking Door until you open it.

"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.

With four new writers and plenty of brand-new gags, radio's favorite comedian entertains home front America, as well as troops at Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine camps. In fact, the whole gang is here! Mary Livingstone, Phil Harris, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Dennis Day, Larry Stevens, and Don Wilson are all on hand—along with plenty of unexpected guests! Here are sixteen laugh-packed episodes from the early 1940s, featuring favorites like Mel Blanc, Frank Nelson, Minerva Pious, John Brown, and Butterfly McQueen.

Elliott and Cathy Lewis are the aural medium's most formidable husband-and-wife team in On Stage. Produced by the pair for a single season in 1953-54, it's a showcase for every sort of story that can be told with the medium of sound—which is, of course, every sort of story! Mr. & Mrs. Radio tell you tales of adventure, romance, comedy, mystery, and more. Some of these unique broadcasts feature musical performances by Cathy, with Ray Noble composing and conducting. Enter the theater of the mind with the most reliable and remarkable of guides.

From Brooklyn to Inglewood, here comes radio's favorite blue-collar family man—leaving a trail of confusion wherever he goes! Chester A. Riley is back, with long-suffering wife Peg, trouble-prone kids Junior and Babs, moochy pal Gillis, and Digger O'Dell, The Friendly Undertaker, in sixteen hilarious half-hour episodes. William Bendix is heard as Riley, along with co-stars Paula Winslowe, John Brown, Tommy Cook, and Barbara Eiler—plus series creator Irving Brecher, and special guest Red Skelton!