Showing results by author "Hollywood 360" in All Categories

The Mercury Theatre was an independent repertory company founded in New York City in 1937 by Orson Welles and producer John Houseman, who is best known for his Oscar-winning performance as Professor Charles Kingsfield in the The Paper Chase. After a series of acclaimed stage productions, Welles and his Mercury Theatre were offered theirown weekly hour-long radio program over the CBS radio network.

"Countdown for blastoff...X minus five, four, three, two, X minus one.... Fire! From the far horizons of the unknown come transcribed tales of new dimensions in time and space. These are stories of the future - adventures in which you'll live in a million could-be years on a thousand may-be worlds." Thus began each episode of X Minus One, a half-hour science fiction radio series that was broadcast from 1955 until 1958.

Created in 1934 by American mystery author Rex Stout, Nero Wolfe is one of the most iconic private investigators in crime fiction. As Watson did for Holmes, Archie Goodwin, Wolfe's confidential assistant, narrates the cases of the detective genius. Wolfe was an armchair detective who rarely left his luxurious brownstone in New York, so Archie would collect the facts and report back. Wolfe would probably not have taken on many cases had he not needed his client's money to pay for his two true passions: fine food and his orchid collection.

This collection contains twelve of the greatest comedy shows ever broadcast during the golden age of radio. You'll hear Ozzie and Harriet Nelson in The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll as Amos 'n' Andy, Robert Young in Father Knows Best, Jim and Marian Jordan as Fibber McGee and Molly, William Bendix as Chester A. Riley in The Life of Riley, Lucille Ball in My Favorite Husband, and more.

First heard on network radio in 1948, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar chronicled the adventures of freelance insurance investigator Johnny Dollar, "the man with the action-packed expense account."

For 14 years, it was one of the most popular detective shows on the air, lasting until the final days of network radio drama in 1962. Each story started with a phone call from an insurance executive calling on Johnny Dollar to investigate an unusual claim. His investigations usually required him to travel to distant locales and often involved murder.

Lucille Ball and Lee Bowman auditioned for the roles of a married couple in a radio pilot for a new comedy, My Favorite Husband, based on the novel Mr. and Mrs. Cugat by Isabel Scott Rorick. The concept was very well received and within a few weeks the weekly sitcom was established. Bowman was replaced by Richard Denning and during the first season, the Cugats were renamed the Coopers, who lived “in a little white two-story house” in the bustling, small suburb of Sheridan Falls.

Dimension X was one of radio's first adult science fiction series, and made its mark by adapting short stories by acknowledged masters in the field, including Isaac Asimov, Clifford D. Simak, and William Tenn. Scriptwriters Ernest Kinoy and George Lefferts, who also contributed their own original scripts, adapted the original stories. At the start of every broadcast, host Norman Rose promised us "adventures in time and space, told in future tense" and you knew you were about to be transported from your everyday existence.

Although "Ol' Blue Eyes" would conquer records, film, and television, it was radio that first made Frank Sinatra a star. Spanning the years 1943 to 1954, this collection showcases Sinatra from such shows as Suspense, The Frank Sinatra Show, The Jack Benny Program, The Burns and Allen Show, and more. Included is the final episode of Sinatra's action/detective series, Rocky Fortune, a low-budget radio series that he decided not to continue after winning his Academy Award.

Created by author Jack Boyle, Boston Blackie was a master safecracker and hardened criminal who served time in a California prison. Rehabilitated, he decided to use his knowledge of the underworld to fight crime as an amateur detective. Known as "an enemy to those who make him an enemy, friend to those who have no friend", Boston Blackie's exploits were adapted to film, radio, and television.

Benny’s radio and television shows entertained audiences for more than three decades and is generally regarded as the high-water mark in twentieth century American comedy.

Here are 12 episodes from the greatest detective shows ever broadcast during the golden age of radio, with the legendary stars that made them great. You'll hear Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Doctor Watson, Sydney Greenstreet as Nero Wolfe, Howard Duff as Sam Spade, Chester Morris as Boston Blackie, Dick Powell as Richard Diamond, and Jack Webb as Dragnet's Sergeant Joe Friday, plus more gumshoes like Philip Marlowe, Bulldog Drummond, Michael Shayne, and Johnny Dollar.

In 1949, NBC brought handsome Irish American actor Brian Donlevy to the radio microphones as international troubleshooter Steve Mitchell in the spy series Dangerous Assignment. Mitchell worked for an unnamed US government intelligence agency, whose boss, "the Commissioner," dispatched him to world trouble spots. Mitchell's assignment was to solve problems in record time and in accordance with US interests.

Here are 12 episodes from the greatest Western shows ever broadcast during the golden age of radio! You'll hear William Conrad as Marshal Matt Dillon in Gunsmoke; John Dehner as the man called Paladin in Have Gun - Will Travel; Alan Ladd in a Western tale well calculated to keep you in suspense; John Wayne, Henry Fonda, and Gregory Peck reprising their film roles in Fort Apache, Destry Rides Again, and Yellow Sky; plus other great Western radio episodes, including four episodes of the high-adventure series Escape.

Fort Laramie was an adult-oriented Western radio series that aired Sunday afternoons on the CBS radio network in 1956. Produced and directed by Gunsmoke's Norman Macdonnell, this realistic Western drama depicted life at Fort Laramie, an important stop on the Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails as well as a staging point for various military excursions during the 19th century.

Here are 12 of the greatest American comedy shows ever broadcast during the golden age of radio. You'll hear Ozzie and Harriet Nelson in The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.

There were several newspaper-based dramas during radio's golden age, including Box 13, Let George Do It, and Casey, Crime Photographer, but Night Beat was a cut above. It was the story of Randy Stone, hard-nosed Chicago Star newsman, and his quest for the human-interest story behind the headlines.

This collection contains 12 of the greatest Western shows ever broadcast during the golden age of radio, including many first episodes from their series. You'll hear William Conrad as Marshal Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke, John Dehner as the man called Paladin on Have Gun - Will Travel, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans on The Roy Rogers Show, Gene Autry on Gene Autry's Melody Ranch, Raymond Burr as Captain Lee Quince on Fort Laramie, and Jack Mather in The Cisco Kid.

A hilarious collection of episodes from the beloved radio show Fibber McGee & Molly Excitable and loose-lipped Fibber means well enough, but it's not always easy for even-tempered Molly to keep him in check and out of trouble. Of course, the long suffering Mrs. McGee's penchant for patience makes it all the funnier when she's finally pushed to the point of exasperation. What both McGees have in common is that they're fabulously friendly, opening their door at 79 Wistful Vista to welcome all sorts of interesting guests, including Mayor LaTrivia, Doc Gamble, and neighborly nemesis Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve.

Here are 12 episodes of the horror and mystery series written and produced by radio announcers beginning in 1946. There were several series under the Hall of Fantasy banner, all produced by Richard Thorne. The first originated from radio station KALL in Salt Lake City. Richard Thorne and Carl Greyson were announcers for the station and coproduced the bare-bones horror series beginning in 1946. Written or adapted by Robert Olson and directed by Thorne, the stories were mostly murder mysteries with traditional endings.

Conceived as a potential radio vehicle for Alfred Hitchcock to direct, Suspense was a radio series of epic proportion. It aired on CBS from 1942 to 1962 and is considered by many to be the best mystery drama series of the golden age. Often referred to as "Radio's Outstanding Theater of Thrills", it focused on suspenseful thrillers starring the biggest names in Hollywood.