The Good Old Days of Radio Show

This week, we are catching a glimpse of the back of the closet with some Christmas goodies from years past. This time, Christmas 1948. Dominating radio at this time was the comedy show Jack Benny. Phil Harris (a cast member on The Jack Benny Show) and his then retired glamor-star bride Alice Faye are looking to hire an actor to play Santa Claus, and showing up is none other than “guess who.”

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

Author Murray Leinster was one of the oldest and most prolific writers from the Golden Age of Science Fiction, beginning with pulp stories published as early as 1918. Today we are featuring as part of our series on artificial intelligence what is considered his most famous story dealing with “Logics,” which sound uncannily close to the Internet decades later. This story’s very fascinating touch on “ethics of information” echoes problems we are wrestling with even 70 years later.

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

This week we are peeking into our Christmas stocking of the past to look in on Christmas as it was in 1946. Today we have not one, but two Jack Benny shows from this year, and Jack’s visit to the department store to buy Christmas presents from the frazzled clerk played by the voice of hundred Leon Schlesinger cartoons, Mel Blanc. This is the first time Jack and his friends would create this annual fixture that would last all the way into his TV show.

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

Our series on technology out of control continues today with a fabulous study in irony by the great science fiction writer Ray Bradbury. This story of two men scheming for a secret vacation getaway from their wives has been dramatized elsewhere, but none as perfectly executed as this 1955 version from X Minus One.

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

In broadcast history, radio was a regular component of the lives of the American public, bringing them the latest news, entertainers, and events. And perhaps more than any other medium, radio stars were on hand to celebrate the holidays. This year we are peeking back in time to see what Christmas on the radio was all about. Our first stop: Christmas 1941, with the popular series Fibber McGee and Molly.

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

Gather your family around, it's our second Thanksgiving show! And keeping with our short-lived tradition, we are presenting a Walt Disney classic with a twist. This year, it's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," as told by the popular ventriloquist and comedian, Edgar Bergen, and Charlie McCarthy. And with Jane Powell as Snow White and Billy Gilbert as Sneezy, it's a show that is still entertaining for young and old.

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 we say the secret word, and travel back to visit the late 1940s to another early You Bet Your Life. It's the game show that was more about the contestant's conversations with the ever-witty quiz-master Groucho Marx than the game itself. And John shares some wonderful stories about the real life friendship of Groucho and George Fenneman.

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's story has nothing to do with the modern horror franchise. Rather, this is a somewhat humorous, somewhat disturbing story of a wimpy man who can't get the girl or the job, who suddenly finds himself the proud owner of a "build-a-man" kit from the future. Like all stories about technology gone awry, although helpful in the beginning, things soon get out of control.

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 we are featuring a creative fantasy story about a cowardly knight named William the Terrified (played by Dennis Day), who must go on a quest to find Mother Nature and Father Time, and defeat a number of "Swonks" and a "Rhinosodragon", to overcome his fear and win the heart of his lady fair. The story is narrated by the comedy great Fred Allen, and the sound effects are spectacular, which judging by the audience reactions, was quite a show!

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

This is the second in our new series featuring stories about artificial intelligence. "Dwellers In Silence" is an eerie story of an abandoned earth with a group of lone survivors by one of our favorite writers, Ray Bradbury. Originally a 1948 short story that later became part of The Martian Chronicles compilation, the story explores concepts of organic automatons, and the ethics of man-created life.

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