Granby’s Green Acres is a radio situation comedy from the United States. It was broadcast on CBS July 3, 1950 – August 21, 1950, as a summer replacement for Lux Radio Theatre. Granby’s Green Acres featured a former banker “who knew little about farming and proved it every week. Three of the main characters on Granby’s […]
Crime Classics came to CBS September 30, 1953 and was a neat little series of “true crime stories”. This show introduces itself succinctly: “A series of true crime stories from the records and newspapers of every land, from every time. Your host each week, is Mr. Thomas Hyland — connoisseur of crime, student of violence, and […]
In 1945, Dick Powell portrayed Phillip Marlowe in the movie “Murder My Sweet” based on Raymond Chandler’s novel “Farewell My Lovely”. This was a radical departure in character for Mr. Powell from a Hollywood song and dance man to a hard-boiled detective. On June 11,1945, the Lux Radio Theater brought “Murder My Sweet” to radio, […]
Backstage Wife is an American soap opera radio program that details the travails of Mary Noble, a girl from a small town in Iowa who came to New York seeking her future. Vivian Fridell had the title role from 1935 until the early 1940s. It was then taken over by Claire Niesen, who played Mary […]
Four Star Playhouse was a radio dramatic anthology series in the United States. The 30-minute program was broadcast on NBC beginning in July 1949 and was sustaining. It lasted only three months. Four Star Playhouse was one of “at least 10” new programs developed for that summer by NBC’s [West] Coast programming department. A story in the […]
Let George Do It was a radio drama series produced by Owen and Pauline Vinson from 1946 to 1954. It starred Bob Bailey as detective-for-hire George Valentine (with Olan Soule stepping into the role in 1954). Clients came to Valentine’s office after reading a newspaper carrying his classified ad: Personal notice: Danger’s my stock in […]
Boston Blackie is a fictional character who has been on both sides of the law. As originally created by author Jack Boyle, he was a safecracker — a hardened criminal who had served time in a California prison. Prowling the underworld as a detective in adaptations for films, radio, and television, the detective Boston Blackie […]
From late 1950 to late 1951, you could hear Hank Williams on WSM every morning at 7:15 singing and selling Mother’s Best Flour, as well as self-raising Cornmeal and Pig & Sow Feed. During the 15 minute show Hank and the announcer Louie Buck would pitch the flour in between Hank’s songs. Hank even wrote […]
The Falcon radio series premiered on the Blue Network on April 10, 1943, continuing on NBC and Mutual until November 27, 1954. Some 70 episodes were produced. “Drexel Drake” (a pseudonym of Charles H. Huff) created Michael Waring, alias the Falcon, a free-lance investigator and troubleshooter, in his 1936 novel, The Falcon’s Prey. It was followed […]
Elements of mystery have always been represented in literature, but the detective story didn’t arrive on the scene until the mid 1800’s. Edgar Allan Poe’s The Murders in the Rue Morgue, published in 1841, was the first. The Murder’s main character, C. Auguste Dupin, was a brilliant detective who relied on superior deductive powers to […]