Showing results by author "Original Radio Broadcast" in All Categories

Horror stars, action heroes, matinee idols, leading ladies - Suspense offered them all a showcase that expanded and emphasized their distinctive talents. Peter Lorre and Edward G. Robinson were particular favorites and appear here in tortured, desperate roles and never failing to wring every bit of tension from the scripts in their hands. Popular comedians - like Bob Hope and Milton Berle - were also regularly featured. Cast hard against type, the audience was forced to view them in an entirely different light and were left gasping in their wake.

Phil Harris was brash, egotistical, and charming as hell. Alice Faye was regarded by George Gershwin and Cole Porter as the best female singer in Hollywood. Together, they starred in one of the most uninhibited and funny comedy series on radio. Benefiting from the likeability of its stars, a wonderfully cast group of supporting players, and one of the most prolific and clever writing teams of the mid-20th century (Ray Singer and Dick Chevillat), The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show is a complete delight. This collection features 20 digitally remastered programs.

From start to finish, Dragnet brings you a real-life police drama of unprecedented realism. When the series hit the air in 1949, there was nothing else like it, anywhere. In this collection, Jack Webb and Barton Yarborough star in 20 broadcasts from the earliest months of radio's landmark police procedural.

If there's one lesson to be learned from science-fiction, it's that nothing lasts forever. From human lives to vast civilizations, the overarching theme of the genre is that the old will give way to the new. Look to futures past with X Minus One! One of the most imaginative series of the 1950s brings you to adventures in worlds beyond fear, beyond imagination, beyond the farthest stars. Works by the leading genre authors of the day (including Philip K. Dick, Robert Sheckley, and Clifford Simak) were turned into tight, well-acted half-hour dramatizations.

While George Burns and Gracie Allen were uproariously funny on stage, screen, and television, radio was - and remains - the preeminent showcase for their comedic talents. Here you’ll find 20 digitally remastered and restored radio episodes, including some available here for the first time anywhere, featuring big name guest stars like Cary Grant, Ray Milland, Hedy Lamarr, Charles Boyer, Ida Lupino, Bing Crosby, Cesar Romero, and more! Aiding and abetting the stars was a top-notch supporting cast that included announcer-sidekick Bill Goodwin and others!

Do you relish the ridiculous? Get ready for realms of absurdity only possible with radio comedy! Here's a selection of some of Jack's best sketches, parodies, and far-fetched fables - with Mary Livingstone, Phil Harris, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Dennis Day, Don Wilson, and a few surprise guests (including Humphrey Bogart)! The play's the thing! Whether it's a lush romance, a leather-pounding Western drama, a hard-boiled detective thriller, or a tale of rip-roaring adventure, you can count on Jack Benny to turn it sideways and make it funny!

Crime is everywhere in postwar Los Angeles—and so is Sgt. Joe Friday. From robbery detail to the Bunco Squad, from narcotics to homicide, he's on the job in radio's definitive police procedural series.

She's like Sherlock Holmes with a sassy 1930s attitude! She's Hilary Caine, staff investigator for a British tabloid who knows her way around London…and around every murder case that comes her way!

Harry Nile is a former Chicago cop, who quit the force after uncovering a vein of corruption. He stalks the rainy streets of pre-war Seattle on behalf of private clients with the help of his assistant, a lady named Murphy. Phil Harper stars as Nile, with Pat French as Murphy, in this exciting series that has been heard on radio stations coast to coast in the US and Canada, on satellite radio, and reached a worldwide audience online. After more than 25 years, it's the longest running private-eye show in American radio history.

The late 1950s were the golden age of the radio western, and Gunsmoke stood at the top of the mesa, proudly overlooking the terrain! These searing dramas of frontier life - told with honesty, sensitivity, and nail-biting tension - feature William Conrad as Marshal Matt Dillon. Here are 24 unforgettable adventures of the Old West, originally broadcast between 1956 and 1958. Parley Baer co-stars as Chester, with Howard McNear as Doc, and Georgia Ellis as Kitty.

By the 1956-57 season, Gunsmoke had reached the peak of its dramatic power as radio’s foremost adult western, with its powerful scripts and careful characterizations. William Conrad leads the cast as Marshal Matt Dillon, along with Parley Baer as Chester, Howard McNear as Doc, and Georgia Ellis as Kitty. The citizens of Dodge City, Kansas emerged as living, breathing embodiments of frontier America in radio dramas that represent the medium at its most potent. Experience 27 hard-hitting adventures from this landmark season in this collection!

What happens when radio's favorite comedy couple opens a closet door? A cascade of chaos and fun falls right out! Jim and Marian Jordan star as Fibber McGee & Molly in sixteen laugh-packed episodes written by Don Quinn and Phil Leslie.

In the darkest reaches of the human psyche, there is no corner quite so dark as the fear of nameless, inevitable Fate. With its startling twists and its mocking laughter, Fate can take any of us at any time. We confront this fear by taking a grim satisfaction with the cruelties that Fate metes out to others. Because if it's happening to someone else, it isn't happening to us...right? The Whistler, the sneering narrator of each story, is the personification of Fate - bringing characters to their grim, well-deserved destinies with considerable panache.

From Brooklyn to Inglewood, here comes radio's favorite blue-collar family man—leaving a trail of confusion wherever he goes! Chester A. Riley is back, with long-suffering wife Peg, trouble-prone kids Junior and Babs, moochy pal Gillis, and Digger O'Dell, The Friendly Undertaker, in sixteen hilarious half-hour episodes. William Bendix is heard as Riley, along with co-stars Paula Winslowe, John Brown, Tommy Cook, and Barbara Eiler—plus series creator Irving Brecher, and special guest Red Skelton!

So Frankie Remley asked Phil Harrisand they'd soon find out, kicking off a memorable run of The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show. The Rexall years marked the peak of the program's popularity, and the laughs come thick and fast! Join Phil, Alice, Elliott Lewis, Walter Tetley, Robert North, and the whole gang for the first 20 surviving episodes of the 1948-49 season.

Headless monks, disappearing scientists, demon barbers, and clever killers abound when Sherlock Holmes is on the case! Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce are the World's Greatest Detective and his doughty sidekick in this collection of 16 classic episodes! Journey back to those foggy days in London Town when, at the slightest provocation, "the game's afoot"! Let yourself be led by the legendary pipe-smoking, cap-wearing genius who solves the mystery, saves the day, and even seems to come back from the dead!

Walk the streets of Dodge City with William Conrad as Marshal Matt Dillon in 20 masterpieces of western storytelling. Dillon was not a straight-backed rider with a steely jaw. He was a man who had seen too much, a survivor of conflicts he'd rather have avoided…a man who knew only too well what errors of judgment could cost on the frontier. Parley Baer played Dillon's sidekick Chester, a seemingly naive yokel who was nevertheless as cold-blooded as Dillon when occasion demanded.

Wherever there's someone in need of help, you'll find the man in black they call Paladin. The character first appeared on television, but later made his way to radio in one of the medium's last great adult Westerns. The hero's travels from his home base in San Francisco to serve clients throughout the West ensured a wide range of new characters for listeners. John Dehner rides as the enigmatic gunslinger in 20 unforgettable radio adventures, with Ben Wright as Hey Boy and Virginia Gregg as Miss Wong.

In Wistful Vista, there's never a dull moment - not when Fibber McGee's around to make trouble, get in trouble, or completely misunderstand the very nature of trouble! Whether down at the bowling alley, at the Elk's Club dance, or just hanging around at the corner of 14th and Oak, you'll always find plenty of laughs. Here are 20 classic radio romps with everyone's favorite couple, in broadcasts from 1948-1950. Bill Thompson, Gale Gordon, Arthur Q. Bryan, Richard LeGrand, and salesman supreme Harlow Wilcox are heard along with Jim and Marian Jordan as Fibber McGee and Molly!

Presented here are Western stories of unparalleled realism and uncompromising emotional complexity. Marshal Matt Dillon (William Conrad) doesn't revel in violence, but he uses it because he lives in a violent place at a violent time, where only the violent can survive.