Retro Radio Podcast

A new star has bloomed over the horizons, as Don introduces the star of the new feature, June Moon. Jack tells about his ordeal in being on Orson Welles recent production. Though Don’s praise is flattering, Mary could hit Jack over the head with a flute. As Dennis Day enters, Jack tells about dumping his waitress girlfriend, Gladys. Sunspots have made the news, with radio interference. Is this another prank by Orson? Jack phones him to find out. As the call degrades, Phil Harris is called upon to play, Relax.

Jack announces the play, his version of Disney’s beloved tale, Pinocchio. Parts are assigned, and the play begins, right after a song by Dennis, When You Wish Upon a Star.

Toymaker Jack puts the finishing touches on his creations when Mary Cricket visits, followed by the blue fairy, to grant a wish. The cast breaks out in song with, Give a Little Whistle.

Going to school, Pinocchio Jack is warned of the evil influences of Fred Allen, but who are those boys who are approaching? Phil and Dennis are vaudevillians who try to lure Jack away from a school career. The cast sing, An Actors Life for Me.

Giving up the roaming life, Pinocchio returns to the toy shop to find the blue fairy, but no father. Going to the depths of the sea, Pinocchio searches for his father. Will father and son be reunited? Will the blue fairy still have some magic to lend a hand?

Note: Mary Kelley is the blue fairy, and an old girlfriend of Jack’s. The main reason they didn’t get married was due to religious differences of their families.

What has the hardboiled detective shaken up? Before he can head out to seek comfort with his best gal, Helen, a customer demands Richard’s attention. A package of important papers needs delivered. Though it would be unethical to peek into the package, Richard does, and discovers valuable diamonds.

A phone call is all the assurance that somebody is setting him up, so Walt is called to witness what goes down. Is Richard pulling his own prank on his police buddies? How does the missing diamonds play into a murder that Walt is under pressure to solve?

Tracking down addresses, Richard encounters a dame. What next? A thump on the head? You know it. Will he be any closer to learning why he was picked as the pigeon in the heist? The diamond seem long gone, but a plan begins to form, and Richard gets the answers he needs.

Danger looms as Richard’s plan goes into affect. Calling on Walt to cover his back, the thugs won’t have long before they’re under wraps.

Telepathic flashes have alerted Jim Brandon of possible trouble with a museum piece. The secret of the pharaohs lies within the crypt, but few people know what it may be. Will knowing the secret cost the professor his life? Clark and his cohort have their stories down pat for the cops, but there’s another secret involved.

Details emerge during the inspector’s inquiry, but Jim and Fern go on to do their own investigating of the crypt. How did the professor’s neck get broken? What happened to his notes on the crypt? Bodies pile up, and the pressure is on. Robbers prove they have no honor among them, but who will end up with the jewels? Maybe nobody if Jim learns the crypt’s secret first.

The Avenger is sure to have a trap set to catch a greedy crook. Confessions, and secrets about the mystery abound as the Avenger saves the day.

One of the featured years this year in the podcast is 1956. The rock and roll era had begun, but there was still a lot of the old timers of pop music who were still jitting it big. Not to mention some of the new generation who used hits of the past decades to score it big as well.

Some of the top stars of the year, based on the number of times they had a hit song include Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, and Perry Como who all had from 5 to 7 songs in this top 40 list.

In no pqrticular order, other than being in alphabetical order… more or less… here’s my playlist.

* How Little It Matters, How Little We Know – Frank Sinatra

* Take Me Back To Toyland – Nat King Cole

* 11th Hour Melody – Al Hibbler

* After The Lights Go Down Low – Al Hibbler

* All At Once You Love Her – Perry Como

* Allegheny Moon – Patti Page

* April In Paris – Count Basie (hit 45 single version)

* Canadian Sunset – Hugo Winterhalter & Eddie Heywood (#1 hit)

* Eddie My Love – Fontane Sisters

* Flowers Mean Forgiveness – Frank Sinatra

* Glendora – Perry Como

* Go On With The Wedding – Patti Page

* Hey Jealous Lover – Frank Sinatra

* Hot Diggity (Dog Ziggity Boom) – Perry Como (#1 hit)

* I’m In Love Again – Fontane Sisters

* In A Shanty In Old Shanty Town – Somethin’ Smith & the Redheads (45rpm version)

* written in 1932.

* The Johnny Long and His Orchestra had a million seller of the song in 1946,

* In The Middle Of The House – Vaughn Monroe

* Innamorata – Dean Martin

* It’s Almost Tomorrow – Jo Stafford

* I’ve Got You Under My Skin – Frank Sinatra

* Appeared as early as 1946 on his radio show.

* Juke Box Baby – Perry Como –

* Mack The Knife – Louis Armstrong & his All-Stars

* Mama From The Train – Patti Page

* Memories Are Made Of This – Dean Martin (#1 hit)

* Memories Of You – Four Coins

* The song was introduced by singer Minto Cato in the Broadway show Lew Leslie’s Blackbirds of 1930.

* A 1930 version recorded by Louis Armstrong featuring Lionel Hampton is the first known use of the vibraphone in popular music.

* Notable recordings include: Louis Armstrong (1930), Duke Ellington (1930), Ethel Waters (1931), Rosemary Clooney and Benny Goodman (1956), and several others.

* Moonlight Love (Clair de lune) – Perry Como

* More – Perry Como

* Night Lights – Nat King Cole

* Nothing Ever Changes My Love For You – Nat King Cole

* On London Bridge – Jo Stafford

* Please Don’t Leave Me – Fontane Sisters

* Rock And Roll Waltz – Kay Starr (her original #1 version)

* Somebody Up There Likes Me – Perry Como

* Standing On The Corner – Dean Martin

* That’s All There Is To That – Nat King Cole & The Four Knights

* The Tender Trap – Frank Sinatra(from the movie of the same.) name.

* Too Young To Go Steady – Nat King Cole

* True Love – Bing Crosby & Grace Kelly

* Walk Hand In Hand – Tony Martin

* You’re Sensational – Frank Sinatra (45 single version)

* Blueberry Hill – Lois Armstrong.

* Gene Autry (1940) (the original version, from the movie The Singing Hill) (1941)

* The Glenn Miller Orchestra (vocal by Ray Eberle) (1941) (The most famous version in the 1940s.

* Louis Armstrong with Gordon Jenkins’ Orchestra and Choir (1949) (with different lyrics)

* My Blue Heaven – Fats Domino.

* A hit as early as 1927 with Paul Whiteman, vocals by Bing Crosby.

Ernest Chapel is a former baker, who is a heavy drinker and a little late for his appointment to jury duty. Trying to listen through the fog of his hangover he is stunned to learn he’s the 13th juror. Why is is wife on the stand?

His confusion clears enough to realize there’s a reason nobody else knows he’s the 13th juror, and why they can’t hear his comments. Is his wife really confessing that she killed him? From her testimony, would anybody blame her?

Despite the violent outburst, the couple really do love each other. Leaving the courtroom,, its almost as if Elsa can look right at Ernest, and he walks her home in the cold snowy weather… or does he?

Lum hears how each of the old gents, Phinus and grandpap, couldn’t stand to hear the other read from the almanac. The latest thing that has Abner worried is who the next stranger that old Phinus will bring home for supper. Poppa just loves to bring those fellers home, thinking he knows them, but can anything be done to stop the habit?

Lum recommends to keep Phinus away from the barber shop, or other hangouts in town. The kind of crowd he keeps is the kind who voted for McKinnley. One problem is that Phinus turns in early for bed, leaving Abner in an awkward spot to entertain the guest he doesn’t know. You’d think folks would have enough sense to go home, but no. they keep hanging on.

With a new stranger in town, Abner just knows he’ll end up at his house for supper. He and Lum describe the man, as he is seen lurking on the street. Abner jumps to conclusions. A phone call from Lizabeth solves all Abner’s worries… sort of.

No Johnny's or Bobby's here some of the n=more unusual names in song.

A telegram calls on Bill to come to the remote, chilly mountain top community to help. a gang known as the Moon Mountain men are trying to drive out the honest folks.

A gun fight breaks out, and Bill enters the fray to put an end to it. The locals are upset at their homes and barns being burned down. Time to confront the gang up on the mountain, Though gun shots come their way, Bill is determined to spend the night on the mountain. Tom Long tells Bill his side of the story. Will it put an end to the conflict, or stir things up? The mystery grows when Bill learns that it hasn’t been Tom, or the Moon Mountain men doing the raids. But is there more to learn?

The coyote Bill is looking for is in the valley, and his time is running out. What clues will Bill have to lead him to the culprit of the burned out homesteaders? A secret about the mountain men pressures a liar to expose himself. Get ready for guns to blaze as Bill catches the real bad guy in the valey.

Abner is constantly having to shuffle his poppa between home, and the store, to minimize the wearing Lizabeth and Lum to a frazzle. Today, we find grandpap reading facts from the almanac to Abner. He pauses long enough to ask about Lizabeth. The sample business letters he reads serve to keep Abner confused.

Here comes Phinus, and grandpap is ready to entertain the old gent. As the absent minded Phinus chats up old times from the Civil War, Abner takes a phone order. It turns out to be aunt Charity, and grandpap is called home. Since he laid it aside, Phinus has taken over reading from the almanac.

Before he goes, grandpap warns Abner about the way the old gent reads the almanac out loud, spouting off useless facts. If Abner doesn’t put a stop to it, Phinus is liable to drive off customers. Another phone call switches the gents up, and Phinus has to talk to Lizabeth, while grandpap resumes his station at reading facts from the almanac. All that out loud reading gets to Phinus, and he’s glad to be heading home again.

Mysterious things at a boardinghouse has Mrs Hudson reporting to Mycroft Holmes, the older brother of the famous detective. What is a bird man? Mrs Hudson claims it’s like a werewolf. Feathers on the boardinghouse window seem to prove her idea out, Is it an old wives tale, or serious it could just be carrier pigeons, but with wartime there are concerns over a leak

A letter to Holmes has him and Watson on the case. Disguised as building inspectors, the investigation begins. Signs of the carrier pigeons are found, the suspected link to espionageA struggle, a gun, and an uppercut, but Holmes is left standing. Will a pigeon with a coded message lead them to its master?

Holmes has cracked the code, and has set a trap.

in a club, with a feather clad singer, a prize pigeon from the Morarty gang is spotted. Shots are fired, a dead body, and Holmes has to answer questions at Scotland Yard. There’s still time to spring a trap to catch the killer, and put an end to the mystery. Stay tuned as Sherlock wraps it all up.