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KARL HAAS presents "Duets", "Canadian Artists" and music for "Stately Occasions" excerpts from his radio series Adventures In Good Music.

YOURS TRULY JOHNNY DOLLAR - aired on CBS February 18, 1949 - ep_001_The_Perikoff_Policy stars Charles Russell as Johnny Dollar. aka "The Parakoff Policy".

Episode 180 Harvest Of Death. Marvin Miller is host. "The Whistler" was an American radio program running for a total of 13 years from May 16, 1942 until September 22, 1955. It was one of the most popular mystery dramas of its' time. Signal Oil Company sponsored the program. The marketing catch phrase was: "Let that whistle be your signal for the Signal Oil program, The Whistler."  During the first two years of the show J. Donald Wilson was the writer and producer. During 1944 producer and director George Allen took over. Other directors included Sterling Tracy and Sherman Marks with final scripts by Joel Malone and Harold Swanton. 692 total episodes were produced. Over 200 of those episodes cannot be found and are no longer in existence.  Episodes of The Whistler began with the ominous narration: I am the Whistler, and I know many things, for I walk by night. I know many strange tales, many secrets hidden in the hearts of men and women who have stepped into the shadows. I know the nameless terrors of which they dare not speak.  Those opening words were spoken along with the echo of footsteps and Wilbur Hatch's 13-note theme, whistled weekly by Dorothy Roberts for 13 years. Bill Forman had the title role of host and narrator. Others who portrayed the Whistler at various times were Gale Gordon (Lucille Ball's future television nemesis), Joseph Kearns (played Mr. Wilson on TV series Dennis the Menace), Marvin Miller (soon the announcer for The Bickersons and, later, television's Michael Anthony on The Millionaire), Bill Johnstone (who played The Shadow on radio 1938-1943) and Everett Clarke.  The stories followed an effective formula in which a person's criminal acts were typically undone by their own stupidity. Ironic twist endings were common, as they had been on the show that most obviously influenced it, The Shadow. The Whistler narrated, often commenting directly upon the action in the manner of a Greek chorus, taunting the criminal from an omniscient perspective. The Whistler seldom featured any major Hollywood stars, but the quality of writing and performance made it a radio mainstay.

Episode 40 aired April 22, 1951 on NBC Radio. Tales of the Texas Rangers is a 20th century Western old-time radio and television police procedural drama which originally aired on NBC Radio from 1950 to 1952 starring Joel McCrea as Ranger Jayce Pearson. When a young family all die a post mortem shows that they had died of botulism from contaminated canned sausage meat.  Their deaths are believed to be an accident until an insurance man turns up with news of policies worth over $20,000 and the main beneficiary is the father’s partner Sid Mack.

Episode 205 aired August 8, 1946 on CBS Radio. Ernest Bowers is badly injured in a car accident, but there is a problem. Earnest is a cataleptic. Catalepsy is a disease of the nerves and mind. The physical conditions when a cataleptic has a spell closely resemble death and include the primary stages of rigor mortis. Ernest carries a note at all times inside his coat pocket stating that he is a cataleptic and that in the event of seeming death his wife or Doctor should be notified. The letter also requested that no autopsy or embalming should be performed on his body for 72 hours although in his particular case the duration of the attacks were usually four hours or less. Ernest Bowers also wore a sterling silver bracelet with an inscription reading do not embalm me I am not dead. Unfortunately, somebody steals the jacket containing the letter as Ernest lays injured and the silver bracelet he wore had snapped and fallen to the pavement and is picked up by two children. OMG...what next? Listen!

"John and Marsha" is a 1951 American novelty comedy single written and performed by Stan Freberg and released on Capitol Records. Consisting of only two words: "John" and "Marsha", the recording is a back-and-forth dialogue between a man and a woman ranging in varied emotion. His first recording "John and Marsha", was a parody of the radio soap operas from the day that consisted of a male and female character (Freberg voiced both) saying each other's name over and over to one another in different emotional inflections.

The Six Shooter starring James Stewart episode 38 When The Shoe Doesn't Fit. Aired on NBC Radio June 17, 1951. As Britt rides to town to look for his next job, he encounters a peddler, and a household made up of Cindy and her step sisters and step mom. There’s a big party to welcome back a young man who went off to college. However it seems the plainly dressed Cindy won’t be going. It takes a little help from Britt and the peddler, but Cindy gets all fixed up to go. Yes, it’s a Western version of Cinderella.

The Shadow aired on Mutual Radio October 31, 1937   Episode 92 The Three Ghosts stars Orson Welles and Agnes Moorehead as Margot Lane. The Shadow, mysterious character who aids the forces of law and order is, in reality, Lamont Cranston. Years ago in India, Cranston learned many strange secrets from a Yogi priest, keeper of the the Temple of the Cobras at Delhi. He taught him the power to "cloud men's minds" so they cannot see him. He is never seen only heard. A recently married woman is brought to madness while living in her husband's creepy manor. He is really a criminal who has altered her Last Will and Testament for his benefit and is now trying to scare the new bride to death in order to gain the woman's estate. 

Sam Spade aired on CBS Radio July 4, 1948 - B093 The Rushlight Diamond Caper stars Howard Duff as Spade. The Adventures of Sam Spade was first heard on ABC July 12, 1946, as a Friday-night summer series. The show clicked at once, and went into a regular fall lineup on CBS September 29, 1946. From then until 1949, Sam Spade was a Sunday-night thriller for Wildroot Cream Oil. When a simple job of guarding wedding presents turns deadly, Sam is thrust into the tasteless world of the elite.  He must wade through an arranged marriage, greedy guardians, and calloused companions to reach the bottom of the Rushlight diamond mystery. Sam Spade is perhaps the most famous of all hard-boiled detectives, creator Dashiell Hammett only featured the character in a single novel, The Maltese Falcon, and three short stories. Hammett wrote from experience, having served eight years as a detective with the Pinkerton Agency. His cases had included investigations of Fanny Brice's gangster husband Nicky Arnstein and the infamous Fatty Arbuckle scandal. Hammett based many of his stories on actual people and cases, but insisted that Sam Spade had no real-life counterpart, and was instead an "idealized" version of "what most of the private detectives I've worked with would like to have been."

This episode of The Saint starring Vincent Price aired June 11, 1950 on NBC Radio. First episode of the 1950 summer series that filled in for Phil Harris & Alice Faye, on Sundays at 7:30pm (EST).  The Saint is called in by the girlfriend of a fight manager who is afraid a big gambler will murder him.