Hear It Now, an American radio program on CBS, began in 1950 and was hosted by Edward R. Murrow and produced by Murrow and Fred W. Friendly. It ran for one hour on Fridays at 9 pm.
Go to Hear It Now page
All Posts (500)
Sort by
If you’re ready to enjoy some great audio, take a look at Times Past member Bill Hollweg's website BrokenSea Audio Productions. What are they about? I quote from the site "We are a keen group of audio drama fanatics who create podcast and free download stories in audio format. Included in our line up is original fantasy, sci-fi, horror, drama, comedy and fan-works and audio versions of great films (like Planet of the Apes and Logan’s Run)."
I take my hat off to all the participants from BrokenSea in producing these fine audio productions.
Dashiell Hammett's SAM SPADE is surely one of the most important figures in the entire private eye genre. He made his debut in 1929 in the pages of Black Mask, in the serialized first part of The Maltese Falcon, and the genre has never been the same. He's a "hard and shifty fellow," a partner in the Archer and Spade Detective Agency of San Francisco. He doesn't particularly like his partner, and he's not above sleeping with his wife, but when Miles is murdered, he swings into action, and ends up mixed up with a quest for a priceless statuette, a rara-avis, called the Maltese Falcon.
Three film adaptations were based on it in 1931, 1936, and 1941. The first two were not all that great, but the third time was the charm. The Maltese Falcon, released in 1941 by Warner Brothers, written and directed by John Huston, and starring Humphrey Bogart as Spade was an amazing, powerful piece of work.
And in the forties, Spade was a staple of the airwaves, thanks to The Adventures of Sam Spade, a popular radio show, featuring Howard Duff in the lead role, and sponsored by Wildroot Hair Oil. In fact, a series of single-page comic strip/hair tonic ads appeared in magazines, newspapers and comic books, featuring Spade shilling for Wildroot Hair Oil. (The ads were drawn by Golden Age artist Lou Fine, who later went on to do the Peter Scratch comic strip.)
In fact, the only real sequel to The Maltese Falcon was not produced for either prose or film, though, but for radio. Both The Adventures of Sam Spade and the great mystery anthology show Suspense were both produced by the same man, William Speir. During the first year or two that Sam Spade was on the air, Suspense was an hour show, hosted by Robert Montgomery. To get fans of Suspense listening to Sam Spade, Speir produced a special one-hour Spade episode called "The Kandy Tooth Caper" and aired it on Suspense.
"The Kandy Tooth" from the popular old time radio series "Suspense." aired January 10, 1948 on CBS starring Howard Duff as Sam Spade. Based on characters created by Dashiell Hammett. The story of the return of the "Fat Man!" A sequel to "The Maltese Falcon," with "Joel Cairo," Wilmer's younger brother, and other characters from the film. This time, it's a search for a treasure worth more than the "Maltese Falcon!" William Spier speaks after the drama.
Suspense 48-01-10 (279) The Kandy Tooth (HQ)
.
The Lone Ranger is an American radio and television show created by George W. Trendle and developed by writer Fran Striker.
The eponymous character is a masked Texas Ranger in the American Old West, originally played by Paul Halliwell, who gallops about righting injustices with the aid of his clever, laconic Indian sidekick, Tonto. Departing on his white horse Silver, the Ranger would famously say "Hi-yo, Silver, away!" as the horse galloped toward the setting sun.
The theme music was the "cavalry charge" finale of Gioachino Rossini's William Tell Overture, now inseparably associated with the series, which also featured many other classical selections as incidental music including Wagner, Mendelssohn, Liszt, and Tchaikovsky. The theme was conducted by Daniel Perez Castaneda.
Classical music was used because it was in the public domain; thus allowing production costs to be kept down while providing a wide range of music as needed without the costs of a composer. While this practice was started during the radio show, it was retained after the move to television in the budget-strapped early days of the ABC network.
The first of 2,956 episodes of The Lone Ranger premiered on radio January 30, 1933 on WXYZ radio in Detroit, Michigan and later on the Mutual Broadcasting System radio network and then on NBC's Blue Network (which became ABC, which broadcast the show's last new episode on September 3, 1954). Elements of the Lone Ranger story were first used in an earlier series Fran Striker wrote for a station in Buffalo, New York.
On radio, the Lone Ranger was played by several actors, including John L. Barrett who played the role on the test broadcasts on WEBR during early January, 1933; George Seaton (under the name George Stenius) from January 31 to May 9 of 1933; series director James Jewell and an actor known only by the pseudonym "Jack Deeds" (for one episode each), and then by Earle Graser from May 16, 1933 until April 7, 1941. On April 8, Graser died in a car accident, and for five episodes, as the result of being critically wounded, the Lone Ranger was unable to speak beyond a whisper, with Tonto carrying the action. Finally, on the broadcast of April 18, 1941, deep-voiced performer Brace Beemer, who had been the show's announcer for several years, took over the role and played the part until the end. Fred Foy, also an announcer on the show, took over the role on one broadcast on March 29, 1954, when Brace Beemer had a brief case of laryngitis. Tonto was played throughout the run by actor John Todd (although there were a few isolated occasions when he was substituted with Roland Parker, better known as Kato for much of the run of sister series The Green Hornet), and other supporting players were selected from Detroit area actors and studio staff. These included Jay Michael (who also played the lead on Challenge of the Yukon aka Sgt. Preston of the Yukon), Bill Saunders (as various villains, including Butch Cavendish), Paul Hughes (as the Ranger's friend Thunder Martin and as various army colonels and badmen), future movie star John Hodiak, Janka Fasciszewska (under the name Jane Fae), and others. The part of nephew Dan Reid was played by various child actors, including Bob Martin, James Lipton, and Dick Beals.
The last new radio episode of the Lone Ranger was aired on September 3, 1954.
The first episode ever of The Lone Ranger
Is there a secret to finding things with the search function. I typed 'durbridge' and nothing showed up. I typed 'springbok' and it gave me one entry.
Any idea for the appropriate nomenclature to use?
Thank you
Radio legend and poet laureate Norman Corwin, pictured here in 2006, turned 100 on May 3, 2010. Back in the days when Americans gathered around their radio sets every night, Corwin, a young newspaperman from Boston, showed up at CBS and pushed the boundaries of what radio could do. ---"The best way to describe Norman Corwin is he was the greatest director, the greatest writer and the greatest producer in the history of radio," says science fiction writer Ray Bradbury. "There was nobody like him. Nobody could touch what he did."NPR - Radio Icon Norman Corwin's Splendid Century 20100503
(from NPR All Things Considered))
Acclaimed Feature Documentary aired on PBS
This preview will re-direct you to Snag Films to watch the complete broadcast. Well worth a watch about the Golden Age of Radio.
Although I don't believe it's the best plotted Holmes story or novel, and I'm not a massive fan of it's ending, it's STILL my favourite ever book. It's opening and it's scene setting could literally define crime fiction, and it's as evocative of it's time and place as anything I've ever read.
As a child I had (and still have) an illustrated & abridged version of Hound Of The Baskervilles, published by Moby Books. Although I can't factually say it's the first book I ever owned, I can absolutely state it's the first book I ever fell in love with.
At round about the same time, I first heard The Hound in audio form! I borrowed a Listen For Pleasure double tape from Radlett Library, read by Hugh Burden. I guess I'd have been about 7 or 8 years old! I borrowed those tapes regularly. Those actual cassettes now belong to me too! It was pretty common for Hertfordshire Libraries to periodically sell off old stock in those days (and probably still is). Because I'd borrowed them so many times, when they were put up for sale the sweet librarian lady actually put them to one side until she next saw me! I remember rushing home to get 10p from my mum, so I could buy the tapes I must have already listened to a dozen or more times!
Moving forward approximately 35 years; I had zero intention of actually purchasing a first edition when I entered Colin Page Books (in Brighton, Sussex) on Friday.
Although it's a specialist antiquarian bookshop - they also do a lot of bargains too, and from the outside table I'd picked up an 80p Ted Allbeury!! That was the only reason I went into the shop last week. However, once inside I thought I might as well have a look. They had a first edition Jennings (Anthony Buckeridge) in a locked cabinet that caught my eye, so I asked to see it. The brief conversation that followed led me to ask if he had any rare Chandler's or ACD's; At this point I was told about the first edition of The Hound they had in stock.
More out of interest than anything else I asked how much it was and I was slightly surprised at the seemingly good price. I've looked into them in the past (on a few occasions), and I either simply didn't have enough money or I just thought they were TOO expensive. Most of the time it was simply I couldnt afford it. Even after I knew the price Colin Page was asking, I still didn't think I was actually on the verge of buying it - but then the guy actually offered to show it to me!
As soon as I picked it up I knew it was possibly gonna end up coming home with me.
Published by George Newnes, Southampton Street, Strand, 1902. For a book that is now 109 years old, it was in really good nick.
I had a good look at it and said I'd think about it. The chap was very friendly and he wasn't at all pushy. He clearly knew that selling one of these wasn't an everyday occurence. He asked me if I'd ever spent that much on a book before. The straightforward answer was no!!
As soon as I left the shop I googled first editions of The Hound and double checked what the current going rate was. I already half knew this one was really pretty reasonable! Less than 10 minutes later and I was back in the shop asking to have another look. I double checked that it wasn't missing any of the 16 Sidney Paget pictures (plates) and asked if there was any room for negotiation on the price. He offered to knock £100 off. I said yes and took the little terror home!
I'm very very pleased with it.
Download
I had several request to renew the old westerns podcast. This time it will be under the new heading "Times Past Western Theater". It is handy to subscribe to a podcast and have the new content come automatically to your media player. Would welcome any suggestions for shows to add to the podcast. Leave your suggestions in the comments section below. The new home for the podcast and all the methods to subscribe can be found here. http://timespastwesterns.blogspot.com/
Columbia Workshop was a radio series that aired on the Columbia Broadcasting System from 1936 to 1943, returning in 1946-47.
The series began as the idea of Irving Reis. Reis had begun his radio career as an engineer and developed a fascination with the possibilities of the relatively new medium. His idea was to use experimental modes of narrative to enhance the way a narrative was conveyed over the radio. Reis had isolated attempts to experiment on the radio: Before the Columbia Workshop's debut, he had directed at least a few radio dramas. For Reis, the Columbia Workshop was a platform for developing new techniques for presentation on radio as noted in the debut broadcast:
Dawn Wells, aka Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island, demonstrates a unique way to peel an Idaho potato...without the use of a potato peeler!
Bold Venture is a 1951-1952 syndicated radio series starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Morton Fine and David Friedkin scripted the taped series for Bogart's Santana Productions.
Salty seadog Slate Shannon (Bogart) owns a Cuban hotel sheltering an assortment of treasure hunters, revolutionaries and other shady characters. With his sidekick and ward, the sultry Sailor Duval (Bacall), tagging along, he encounters modern-day pirates and other tough situations while navigating the waters around Havana. Aboard his boat, the Bold Venture, Slate and Sailor experience "adventure, intrigue, mystery and romance in the sultry settings of tropical Havana and the mysterious islands of the Caribbean."
I have posted the collection I have of Bold Venture. It is the ZIV collection captured in high quality 128-44
You can view here
http://otrarchive.blogspot.com/2009/09/bold-venture.html
The Screen Guild Theater was a popular radio anthology series during the Golden Age of Radio, broadcast from 1939 until 1952, with leading Hollywood actors performing in adaptations of popular motion pictures such as Going My Way and The Postman Always Rings Twice.
The show had a long run, lasting for 14 seasons and 527 episodes. It initially was heard on CBS from January 8, 1939 until June 28, 1948, continuing on NBC from October 7, 1948 until June 29, 1950. It was broadcast on ABC from September 7, 1950 to May 31, 1951 and returned to CBS on March 13, 1952. It aired under several different titles: The Gulf Screen Guild Show, The Gulf Screen Guild Theater, The Lady Esther Screen Guild Theater and The Camel Screen Guild Theater.
George Murphy hosted the show in 1939. In 1940, Roger Pryor began hosting the show. The show began as a general variety show and later changed formats to include old time radio versions of popular films. It starred most of the big name Hollywood celebrities of the time.
Actors on the series included Ethel Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, Ingrid Bergman, Humphrey Bogart, Eddie Cantor, Gary Cooper, Bing Crosby, Bette Davis, Jimmy Durante, Nelson Eddy, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Johnny Mercer, Agnes Moorehead, Gregory Peck, Fred Astaire, Frank Sinatra and Dinah Shore. Fees these actors would typically charge were donated to the Motion Picture Relief Fund, in order to support the creation and maintenance of the Motion Picture Country Home for retired actors. The series came to an end on CBS June 29, 1952. Visit show page here.
Actors on the radio series included Fred Astaire, Lucille Ball, Charles Boyer, Claudette Colbert, Ronald Colman, Gary Cooper, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Marlene Dietrich, Kirk Douglas, Irene Dunne, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Henry Fonda, Cary Grant, William Holden, Burt Lancaster, James Mason, Ray Milland, Gregory Peck, William Powell, Edward G. Robinson, Norma Shearer, Barbara Stanwyck, James Stewart, John Wayne, and Loretta Young.
The television version, produced and filmed at Hal Roach Studios, was broadcast for one season of 35 half-hour episodes on NBC, under the sponsorship of Eastman Kodak, airing from October 5, 1955 to September 12, 1956. Actors on the television series included John Wayne, Thomas Mitchell, Walter Brennan, Peter Lorre, Evelyn Ankers, Fay Wray, Errol Flynn, Edmond O'Brien, Buster Keaton, Buddy Ebsen, William Bendix, Robert Ryan, Laraine Day, George Sanders, Ward Bond, Rory Calhoun, Jack Carson, Neville Brand, Alan Young, Cloris Leachman, Edgar Buchanan, Peter Lawford, Marie Windsor, Charles Bickford, Zasu Pitts, Joe E. Brown, Jack Elam, Herb Shriner, Kim Hunter, Keenan Wynn, Jeanette MacDonald, Leo Durocher, Macdonald Carey, Ralph Bellamy, Basil Rathbone, Fred MacMurray, Jerry Mathers, Rod Steiger, Ray Milland, Alan Hale, Jr., Gower Champion, Marge Champion, Linda Darnell, Howard McNear, Dennis Hopper, and Leo Gordon. But there was one difference between the two versions of the program: while the radio program had presented only condensed versions of well-known plays and films, the television version presented mostly original dramas.
Directors included Frank Borzage, Leo McCarey, John Ford, Tay Garnett, Allan Dwan, George Waggner, Ida Lupino and Fred Zinnemann.
The Legend of Tom Dula shares the history of the song and some ideas about the story from some people who can trace their roots back to the Happy Valley clan and others who have spent their lives fascinated with this obscure murder. Besides sharing some of the hearsay from the testimony and some opinions about who really committed the deed, the program sheds light on Frank Proffitt's involvement in the song, how the Kingston Trio discovered it, and how Frank finally received credit for the Kingston Trio's version of the song. (Folkways)
Download
Here is a rare episode of the Grand Ole Opry that Flatt & Scruggs appeared on in 1956. Can you recall watching this live, would like to here your comments.
Host: Carl Smith - Guests include: Buddy Ebsen, Chet Atkins, Collins Kids, The Jordanaires, June Carter, Flatt and Scruggs, Minnie Pearl, etc. Sponsored by Purina with original commercials from April 28, 1956. One interesting scene is Buddy Ebsen dancing for Minnie Pearl in a pair of cowboy boots.
By Eric Curl
Southside resident Jim Beshires is not a big fan of today’s movies and television programs. The 67-year-old retiree prefers old radio programs produced during the medium’s “golden age” that spanned 1930 to 1960.
“There was no television for that era, or very little, so people listened to the radio,” Beshires said. “We called it the theater of the mind.”
That appreciation of the medium led him to form what is now the Old Time Radio Researchers Group in 2000.
Before the group’s formation, Beshires said a number of dealers were selling the same episodes under different names to maximize their profits.
The group aims to put a stop to the practice by accurately cataloging the programs and making them available to fans. There are now more than 1,500 members around the world and about 60,000 downloadable episodes available online for free.
“We’ve put some unscrupulous dealers out of the way,” Beshires said. (Read Entire Article)
Bold Venture is a 1951-1952 syndicated radio series starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Morton Fine and David Friedkin scripted the taped series for Bogart's Santana Productions.
Salty seadog Slate Shannon (Bogart) owns a Cuban hotel sheltering an assortment of treasure hunters, revolutionaries and other shady characters. With his sidekick and ward, the sultry Sailor Duval (Bacall), tagging along, he encounters modern-day pirates and other tough situations while navigating the waters around Havana. Aboard his boat, the Bold Venture, Slate and Sailor experience "adventure, intrigue, mystery and romance in the sultry settings of tropical Havana and the mysterious islands of the Caribbean."
Bold Venture [ZIV_28] - Slate Shannon, Sucker [HQ@128-44]
.
.
Four Star Playhouse aired on radio from NBC on Sunday nights at 8:00 PM for 13 episodes. Premiere episode was on 1949-07-03 and the final episode was 1949-09-25. The series was primarily an anthology type drama. The shows starred Rosalind Russell, Fred MacMurray, Loretta Young and Robert Cummings.
- Four Star Playhouse 49-07-24 (04) Third Girl from the Right.mp3
- Four Star Playhouse 49-08-14 (07) The Hunted.mp3
- Four Star Playhouse 49-08-21 (08) The Incredible Anna Lee.mp3
- Four Star Playhouse 49-08-28 (09) Corey.mp3
- Four Star Playhouse 49-09-04 (10) Surprise for the Professor.mp3
- Four Star Playhouse 49-09-11 (11) Paradise U S A.mp3
The series was brought back as Four Star Playhouse as a television anthology series that ran from 1952 to 1956, sponsored in its first bi-weekly season by The Singer Company; Bristol-Myers became an alternate sponsor when it became a weekly series in the fall of 1953. The original premise was that Charles Boyer, Ida Lupino, David Niven, and Dick Powell would take turns starring in episodes. However, several other performers took the lead from time to time, including Ronald Colman and Joan Fontaine.
