Boxcars711 Old Time Radio Pod

Johnny Got His Gun (Starring Jimmy Cagney) Aired March 9, 1940 The original canon of scripts encompassed some ninety-plus original stories. And, as dyed in the wool Lights Out! fans will surely point out, a good number of Lights Out! stories were reprised among the Arch Oboler's Plays canon over the years as well. By the second year of Lights Out!, America was under the spell of the diminutive giant of a playwright, Archibald 'Arch' Oboler and his spellbinding, highly personalized writing...

Duration:00:29:53

Episode 8443: Bold Venture - The Terminal Key (09-03-51)

The Terminal Key (Aired September 3, 1951) Bold Venture was a classy production from start to finish. At an estimated cost of $36,000 per taping week [or about $12,000 per episode], it pretty much had to have been. Even subtracting the Bogarts' contribution of $5,000 per episode, that still left $7,000 per episode to fund the remaining production costs. That's about $420,000 a week in today's dollars. More than enough budget to ensure a top notch production. The cost to the...

Duration:00:26:34

Episode 8442: Arch Oboler's Plays - "Johnny Got His Gun" (Starring Jimmy Cagney) 03-09-40

Duration:00:29:53

Episode 8440: Crime Classics - "Torment Of Henrietta Robinson & Why She Killed" (09-07-53)

The Torment Of Henrietta Robinson & Why She Killed (Aired September 7, 1953) Crime Classics was a U. S. radio docudrama which aired over CBS from June 15, 1953 to June 30, 1954. Created, produced, and directed by radio actor/director Elliott Lewis, the program was basically a historical true crime series, examining crimes, and especially murders, from the past. It grew out of Lewis's personal interest in famous murder cases, and took a documentary-like approach to the subject, carefully...

Duration:00:29:23

Episode 8441: The Jack Benny (Jello) Program - "The End To The Benny-Allen Feud" (03-14-37)

INTRO: Bob - Mary Wells -" You Beat Me To The Punch" (1962) The Jack Benny (Jello) Program - "The End To The Benny-Allen Feud" (Aired March 14, 1937) Benny stayed on CBS until January 26, 1933. Arriving at NBC on March 17, Benny did The Chevrolet Program until April 1, 1934. He continued with sponsors General Tires, Jell-O and Grape Nuts. Lucky Strike was the radio sponsor from 1944 to the mid-1950s. The show returned to CBS on January 2, 1949, as part of CBS president William S. Paley's...

Duration:00:34:51

Episode 8439: 21st Precinct - The Brother (04-14-54)

The Brother (Aired April 14, 1954) 21st Precinct was one of the realistic police drama series of the early- to mid-1950's that were aired in the wake of DRAGNET. Hard-boiled private detective series that often portrayed police as inept or incompetent were losing favor. NBC's Dragnet had proven that a realistic police show could attract and hold an audience. In 1953 CBS decided to use New York City as the backdrop for their own half-hour police series and focus on the day-to- day operations...

Duration:00:30:01

Episode 8438: The Adventures Of Sam Spade - "The Crab Louis Caper" (03-02-51)

The Crab Louis Caper (Aired March 2, 1951) The Adventures of Sam Spade was a radio series based loosely on the private detective character Sam Spade, created by writer Dashiell Hammett for The Maltese Falcon. The show ran for 13 episodes on ABC in 1946, for 157 episodes on CBS in 1946-1949, and finally for 51 episodes on NBC in 1949-1951. The series starred Howard Duff (and later, Steve Dunne) as Sam Spade and Lurene Tuttle as his secretary Effie, and took a considerably more...

Duration:00:28:36

Episode 8436: The Damon Runyon Theater- "Neat Strip" (12-11-49)

Neat Strip (Aired December 11, 1949) He was born Alfred Damon Runyan in Manhattan, Kansas, and grew up in Pueblo, Colorado, where Runyon Field and Runyon Lake are named after him. He was a third-generation newspaperman, and started in the trade under his father in Pueblo. He worked for various newspapers in the Rocky Mountain area; at one of those, the spelling of his last name was changed from "Runyan" to "Runyon", a change he let stand. After a notable failure in trying to organize a...

Duration:00:28:19

Episode 8437: Box 13 - "Hunt And Peck" (03-06-49)

Box 13 - "Hunt And Peck" (Aired March 6, 1949) Alan Ladd's early portrayals of Dan Holiday did tend to be a bit pat, somewhat sparse in depth, and even wooden in the beginning. Ladd hired some excellent voice talent for his project, and these superb, veteran Radio professionals set a pretty high bar for Ladd, himself. Box 13 is highly expositional, as are most programs of the genre, and Ladd's grovelly, gritty voice lends itself well to the production. But by Episode #6 it seems apparent...

Duration:00:28:19

Episode 8435: I Was A Communist For FBI - "Squeeze Play" (09-03-52)

1/20/2022

Squeeze Play (Aired September 3, 1952) I Was a Communist for the FBI was an American espionage thriller radio series with 78 episodes syndicated by Ziv to more than 600 stations in 1952-54. Made without FBI cooperation, the series was adapted from the book by undercover agent Matt Cvetic, who was portrayed by Dana Andrews.The series was crafted to warn people about the threat of Communist subversion of American society. The tone of the show is very jingoistic and ultra-patriotic. Communists...

Duration:00:26:34

Episode 8434: The Jack Carson Show - "Jack Writes His Will" (03-12-47)

1/20/2022

Jack Writes His Will (Aired March 12, 1947) Jack Carson, because of his size — 6 ft 2 in (1.9 m) and 220 lb (100 kg), had his first stage appearance as Hercules in a college production. During a performance, he tripped and took half the set with him. A college friend, Dave Willock, thought it was so funny he persuaded Carson to team with him in a vaudeville act—Willock and Carson—and a new career began. This piece of unplanned business would be typical of the sorts of things that tended to...

Duration:00:30:45

Episode 8433: The Whistler - Death Pays A Visit (06-11-45)

1/20/2022

Death Pays A Visit (Aired June 11, 1945) The stories followed an effective formula in which a person's criminal acts were typically undone either by an overlooked but important detail or by their own stupidity. On rare occasions a curious twist of fate caused the story to end happily for the episode's protagonist. Ironic twist endings were a key feature of each episode. The Whistler himself narrated, often commenting directly upon the action in the manner of a Greek chorus, taunting the...

Duration:00:30:03

Episode 8432: The Black Museum - The Champagne Glass (09-30-52)

The Champagne Glass (Aired September 30, 1952) Opening in 1875, the Crime Museum at Scotland Yard is the oldest museum in the world purely for recording crime. The name Black Museum was coined in 1877 by a reporter from The Observer, a London newspaper, although the museum is still referred to as the Crime Museum. The idea of a crime museum was conceived by Inspector Neame who had already collected together a number of items, with the intention of giving police officers practical...

Duration:00:24:06

Episode 8431: The Secrets Of Scotland Yard - Smoke Clings To The Hair (1944)

Smoke Clings To The Hair (1944) *The Exact Date Is Unknown The Secrets of Scotland Yard was initially hosted by Clive Brook, probably for the first year or so. To add to the air of authenticity, Brook sometimes discusses matters with Percy Hoskins, a 1950s crime expert and reporter for the London Daily Express. Hoskins knew every nook and cranny in London’s seedier districts and personally reported on many of the major crimes of the day. A student of crime, Hoskins was also one of the...

Duration:00:27:39

Episode 8430: The Sears Radio Theater - "Hostages" (02-07-79)

Hostages with Virginia Gregg (Aired February 7, 1979) Sears Radio Theater (SRT) was an anthology series of radio drama which ran weeknightly on CBS Radio in 1979, sponsored by the department-store chain; in its second year, 1980, it moved to the Mutual Broadcasting System and became the Mutual Radio Theater; the MBS series was repeats from the CBS run, until September of 1980, when a short season of new dramas was presented. The Mutual run was still most often sponsored by Sears. Often...

Duration:00:35:49

Episode 8429: Boxcars711 Overnight Western "Wild Bill Hickock" - The Gold Maker (11-19-51)

Boxcars711 Overnight Western "Wild Bill Hickock" The Gold Maker (Aired November 19, 1950) Guy Madison starred as Bill with Andy Devine as his sidekick, Jingles. (Now there’s a name you want to go through Hollywood with.) This Wild Bill Hickock was quick with his fists and a quip, but Jingles (dear god that nickname) got all his glory by using his immense girth to fight the bad guys. Jingles if you couldn’t tell was the comedic element in the series. And what is it with overweight sidekicks...

Duration:00:25:14

Episode 8428: The New Adventures Of Nero Wolf - The Girl Who Cried Wolf (12-15-50)