The Good Old Days of Radio Show

Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Bob Hope playing Superman? Yes, Command Performance ventures into its second comic hero spoof. This one stars Hope as Clark Kent (A.K.A. Superman), Paulette Goddard, and features the inspired casting of Bela Lugosi as the Man of Steel's nemesis, Dr. Bikini, and his minion, Professor Atoll, played by the comic character actor Sterling Holloway (perhaps best remembered as the voice of Disney's "Winnie-the-Pooh").

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Today Mickey Rooney stars as an expelled student who discovers the brutal murder of his stepmother and, assuming it was committed by his father, frames himself for the crime. However, he soon realizes his father is innocent, and he has taken the rap for the true perpetrator. This is the 10th and final tale by mystery writer Cornell Woolrich, and another incredible dramatization from the radio series "Suspense." Joining us one final time for this series is researcher Dr. Joe Webb.

Joe Webb's Blog Post: https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2024/02/1949-04-28-lie.html

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Our theme music is "Why Am I So Romantic?" from Animal Crackers: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KHJKAKS/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_MK8MVCY4DVBAM8ZK39WD

Nightbeat was a noir-style suspenseful melodrama from the early 1950s, and a vehicle for the actor Frank Lovejoy. We featured Frank Lovejoy in last Thursday's episode, so we're showing you his showcase series, where he played a newspaper reporter searching the night for unusual human interest stories. This is the first episode of this series, which was created at a time when NBC was attempting to innovate to combat television and the recent CBS talent raids. 

Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/

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Our theme music is "Why Am I So Romantic?" from Animal Crackers: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KHJKAKS/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_MK8MVCY4DVBAM8ZK39WD

Today's story is a grim departure from Cornell Woolrich's usual man-on-the-run suspenseful mystery, as we plunge into the gloomy world of New Orleans, voodoo, and jazz music. This is an extraordinary production of the Cornell Woolrich story, "Papa Benjamin," about a bandleader who steals an unholy rhythm, and gets a curse put upon him, which leads him to the edge of madness. Dr. Joe Webb is here with us again to discuss this story as our journey through the work of Cornell Woolrich nears its end.

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If you don't do Facebook, we’re also on Gab: https://gab.com/OldRadio 

Our theme music is "Why Am I So Romantic?" from Animal Crackers: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KHJKAKS/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_MK8MVCY4DVBAM8ZK39WD

Another East Coast vintage comedy program this week. Fred Allen was far, far more mainstream than the programs we featured for the preceding two weeks, and he is probably best known for his "Allen's Alley" segment. But like Henry Morgan and It Pays To Be Ignorant, many of these jokes tended toward topical and regional. Though this type of humor was considered bleeding-edge at the time, it unfortunately pushes Allen's shows more into the area of historically interesting. Enough of the jokes do still make sense to make this a fun, timeless show to listen to.

Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/

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Our theme music is "Why Am I So Romantic?" from Animal Crackers: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KHJKAKS/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_MK8MVCY4DVBAM8ZK39WD

It begins with a train wreck, and an unhappy woman who assumes the identity of a burn victim. But how long can she continue this charade? That's the premise of today's story by mystery writer Cornell Woolrich. Our very special guest researcher Dr. Joe Webb is with us again to discuss this episode of the radio series "Suspense" from 1946 which stars Susan Peters, whose own tragic backstory lends a dark undertone to this story.

Joe Webb's Blog Post: https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2023/09/1946-12-12-they-call-me-patrice.html

Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/

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If you don't do Facebook, we’re also on Gab: https://gab.com/OldRadio 

Our theme music is "Why Am I So Romantic?" from Animal Crackers: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KHJKAKS/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_MK8MVCY4DVBAM8ZK39WD

Like last week's Henry Morgan Show, we are again featuring zany East Coast comedians. This week, a "lost" episode of It Pays To Be Ignorant from February 16, 1945. This one is another onslaught, machine-gun round of rapid-fire Dad jokes, some of them hitting so fast, by the time you get it you are halfway through the next one. We are happy to be able to save and resuscitate this weird brand of long-forgotten comedy.

Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/

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Our theme music is "Why Am I So Romantic?" from Animal Crackers: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KHJKAKS/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_MK8MVCY4DVBAM8ZK39WD

Today on the podcast, a woman learns that her husband won a lottery. The only problem is, the ticket is in the pocket of his coat... buried with his body. So begins a story with a darkly comic bent from the pen of Cornell Woolrich, the king of the pulps all throughout the 1940s. Agnes Moorehead (best remembered for her intense performance on "Sorry Wrong Number") stars, and Dr. Joe Webb joins us for this divisive story from 1946.

Joe Webb's Blog Post: https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2023/07/1946-04-04-post-mortem.html

Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/

Subscribe to our Facebook Group for news, discussions, and the latest podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/881779245938297

If you don't do Facebook, we’re also on Gab: https://gab.com/OldRadio 

Our theme music is "Why Am I So Romantic?" from Animal Crackers: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KHJKAKS/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_MK8MVCY4DVBAM8ZK39WD

Today, the second episode of the fully produced half-hour Henry Morgan Show. This episode is a non-stop barrage of wise-cracks, crazy voices, and weird musical interludes. Who cares if one bombed? It was on to the next so fast, it didn't matter. This is before Morgan got a sponsor for the show, so like the later Stan Freberg Show, he gets a chance to invent mock commercials for non-existing products that alone are worth the price of admission.

Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/

Subscribe to our Facebook Group for news, discussions, and the latest podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/881779245938297

Our theme music is "Why Am I So Romantic?" from Animal Crackers: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KHJKAKS/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_MK8MVCY4DVBAM8ZK39WD

What would you do if you knew your spouse was a wanted criminal? To make matters worse, she was a fire starter and you were an insurance investigator? That's the dilemma of the protagonist in this story by the popular mystery writer we are featuring all this month on the podcast, Cornell Woolrich. We are pleased to be joined once again by radio researcher Dr. Joe Webb to discuss today's story from 1949, which stars Fredric March.

Joe Webb's Blog Post: https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/2023/03/1943-12-09-night-reveals.html

Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/

Subscribe to our Facebook Group for news, discussions, and the latest podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/881779245938297

If you don't do Facebook, we’re also on Gab: https://gab.com/OldRadio 

Our theme music is "Why Am I So Romantic?" from Animal Crackers: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KHJKAKS/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_MK8MVCY4DVBAM8ZK39WD