Showing results by narrator "Old Time Radio" in All Categories

From the darkest, foggiest, most rain-swept streets of your imagination come The Great Radio Private Eyes! Detectives, investigators, shamuses all - here's a legion of radio's best-remembered gumshoes taking on all comers in a wide-ranging collection of thrill-packed cases of crime. They're all here! From Bulldog Drummond to Candy Matson, from the urbane world of The Falcon to the grubby dockside world of Pat Novak - get set for classic radio drama at its most compelling!

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!

One of the definitive detectives of American crime fiction comes to radio - with a matchless mind, a relentless eye for detail, and just a bit of an attitude. That's Philo Vance - S.S. Van Dine's famous amateur criminologist of the 1920s and 1930s, ready for radio in the 1940s. Jackson Beck stars as Vance, with Joan Alexander as secretary Ellen Deering, and George Petrie as District Attorney Markham in 16 mind-challenging mysteries!

Get out the vote! It's no-holds-barred, winner-take-all small town politics at its best as Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve sets his sights on high office! But can Gildy's mayoral aspirations stand up against the competition? And can he balance his campaign against his developing romance with the local school principal? All's fair in love and at the polls in 16 fun-filled 1944 episodes starring Harold Peary as Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve!

Insurance investigator Johnny Dollar was a man of contradictions. He was tough and compassionate, sardonic and thoughtful. You never knew quite what he might do to solve a case - but you always knew he'd get it done! You also knew that he'd be supported by many of the greatest radio performers ever to haunt "Radio Row": Virginia Gregg, Howard McNear, Lurene Tuttle, Joseph Kearns, John Dehner, Stacy Harris…even Vincent Price! Bob Bailey stars as Johnny for five fascinating five-part serial adventures, and a collection of harrowing half-hour tales! Prepare the expense report!

In one corner...we have John Bickerson (played by Don Ameche and Lew Parker), the undisputed snoring champion of the world! In the other corner...we have Blanche Bickerson (played by Frances Langford and Marsha Hunt), radio's most relentless battle ax! Love conquers all? Well, we'll see about that. Listen in as radio's most contentious couple goes to the mat. The sleep-deprived are about to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous matrimony in this cutting comedy.

Dragnet was radio's most successful police procedural series, and by far its most influential, shaping an entire generation's view of law enforcement, and bringing police work to life in carefully-documented detail. Never sensationalistic, but always a gripping listening experience, Jack Webb's signature creation remains the standard against which crime dramas are judged. Webb, who produced and directed the series, stars as Sergeant Joe Friday in gritty dramas of unprecedented realism.

Imagine radio noir in the grand tradition - the mystery, excitement, and adventure of the medium's Golden Age. Now imagine that this has been combined with all of the technical polish that 21st century audio theatre techniques have to offer. That's The Adventures of Harry Nile. Produced by modern-radio legend Jim French, this collection features cases set in the 1940s. A hard-boiled but gentle-souled private investigator takes to the rain-swept streets of the Pacific Northwest.

Life goes on for The Couple Next Door - they are preparing for a family wedding, taking a trip, and planning the construction of a brand new house. Mr. and Mrs. Piper always manage to find a way to get things done, no matter what unpredictable obstacles pop up along the way. Here are 32 episodes of realistic scenarios tinged with a real sense of humor. This classic daytime radio favorite was created and written by Peg Lynch, who stars in these programs, along with Alan Bunce and Margaret Hamilton.

They say the "Old Time Radio Era" ended in 1962, but radio drama carried right on...and here's the proof! Provocative, thoughtful, and up-to-the-minute in its treatment of life as it was lived, that was Theatre 5! This powerful anthology series featured an invigorating combination of veteran performers and rising young actors in sharp, concise stories with a message and an impact!

Kidnappers, bank robbers, interstate con artists, and the occasional spy—it's all in a day's work for Special Agent Jim Taylor! Drawn from official case files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, here are sixteen intriguing investigations torn from the headlines of 1951. Film star Stacy Harris is heard as Taylor, with narration by William Woodson. Tough guys like William Conrad and Sheldon Leonard and lovely ladies like Betty Lou Gerson and Georgia Ellis round out the cast.

Follow Jack Benny and his gang around the calendar in this 16-episode collection that takes you from week to week, from season to season, from holiday to holiday, and from laugh to laugh! And you never know who might pop up to join in the fun. It might be Barbara Stanwyck, or Claude Rains, or Jack's real life daughter, Joan.

In the realm of unforgettable radio voices, there is one that stands head and shoulders above all others - one distinctive voice that could never be convincingly duplicated, one that brought its owner undreamed of success. It was a voice of sandpaper and gravel and rusty scrap iron, rasping over a nation's loudspeakers for more than 30 years.

Reality isn't all it's cracked up to be - at least not whenever Gracie's around! That means that things are always hopping down at the Burns house in this collection of 16 laugh-packed episodes of The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show! Pitchman Bill Goodwin is on hand, and so is a whole gang of famous guests (including Charles Laughton, Eddie Cantor, Herbert Marshall, Bob Burns, and Claudette Colbert). Join the stars, along with Elvia Allman as Tootsie Sagwell, Clarence Nash as Herman the Duck, and Mel Blanc as "The Happy Postman" for eight solid hours of logically-illogical fun!

On a small street in a small town, there's a small house halfway up in the next block. It's there that you'll find a family unlike any other (except maybe your own). Vic, Sade, and Rush talk about the things that nobody wants to admit they talk about, but everybody does. Art Van Harvey, Bernardine Flynn, and Billy Idelson star as the Gook family.

With four new writers and plenty of brand-new gags, radio's favorite comedian entertains home front America, as well as troops at Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine camps. In fact, the whole gang is here! Mary Livingstone, Phil Harris, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Dennis Day, Larry Stevens, and Don Wilson are all on hand—along with plenty of unexpected guests! Here are sixteen laugh-packed episodes from the early 1940s, featuring favorites like Mel Blanc, Frank Nelson, Minerva Pious, John Brown, and Butterfly McQueen.

Here comes the cowboy hero who took 1950 by storm - thundering across the West of your own wild imagination! Dressed in his famous black suit and riding his trusty horse Topper, it’s Hopalong Cassidy in 16 original radio adventures! William Boyd stars as Hoppy, with Joseph Duval as California Carlson. Though most of their adventures are in the general vicinity of the Bar 20 ranch, our heroes do venture out on occasion for exploits in the wider world. Listen in as they encounter scoundrels and schemes from the frontier to the formidable streets of New York!

From fishing in the lake for Old Muley to fishing in the closet for just about everything else, wartime America’s favorite couple keeps the fun coming. Head on down to Wistful Vista and hear it for yourself in this collection of comedy classics from 1944 and 1945! Jim and Marian Jordan star as Fibber McGee and Molly - with Arthur Q. Bryan as Doc Gamble, Shirley Mitchell as Alice Darling, Bea Benaderet as Mrs. Carstairs, Marlin Hurt as the unforgettable Beulah, and Harlow Wilcox selling the Glo-Coat!

When Phillips H. Lord created his long running Gang Busters radio series in January of 1936, crime was rampant and criminals (both actual and fictional) were being glamorized in movies and newspapers. In response, Lord brought the public this police procedural series, dramatizing stories of real cops who kept real counterfeiters, safe crackers, and killers off the streets - and even broadcasting alerts for criminals known to be at large.

Crusader against crime, foe of gangland, smasher of every corrupt and vicious racket - the underworld fears the wrath of Mr. District Attorney! He's not a costumed superhero - he's even mightier, using the forces of law and order to tear down the web of corruption and vice that has ensnared a major American city. Film star David Brian stars as District Attorney Paul Garrett in 16 high-powered episodes. Can he crack the case? Can he pin the crime on the right guy and ensure that justice is served? Listen in and find out!