Showing results by author "original radio broadcast" in All Categories

From out of the rain-swept postwar night comes Harry Nile - a man who's seen it all, because he just can't look away. Here are 19 state-of-the-art radio noir dramas, produced by West Coast legend Jim French, and starring Larry Albert as the hard-boiled, straight-shooting Harry! This collection includes four more installments of the "War Comes To Harry Nile" storyline, a Christmas episode, two two-part adventures, and more. You'll hear Pat French, Jay Green, John Patrick Lowrie...and a whole bunch of killer cases.

Tough crimes in a tough world call for a tough man to solve them! That man is Philip Marlowe, Raymond Chandler's king of the hard-boiled detectives - and you'll hear him in 20 radio-noir adventures produced by Norman Macdonnell and starring Gerald Mohr! Jeff Corey co-stars as Detective Lieutenant Ybarra, and Larry Dobkin is heard as Detective Lieutenant Matthews, in these action-packed tales of bullets, broads, and the good old fashioned double-cross.

Tough, hardboiled, and with a dry sense of humor, Jack Webb stars as Jeff Regan, doing the leg work for his not-always-agreeable boss, Anthony J. Lyon. Regan takes on hard and difficult assignments as he investigates counterfeiters, embezzlers, and encounters general mayhem, and most of all murder, in these 16 classic radio episodes. Joining Webb is a cast of many of radio’s finest supporting actors, including Herb Butterfield, Lawrence Dobkin, Barry Kroeger, Lurene Tuttle, Ed Begley, Wilms Herbert, Betty Lou Gerson, and many more.

Karen Heaven is back as the bold, brassy, British investigator Hilary Caine! Our girl detective is as adventurous as ever in scripts adapted from the works of British mystery novelist M. J. Elliot. She takes a holiday in the Bahamas and travels to the United States on assignment for the British War Department - but wherever she goes, murder follows.

Wherever there's a scheme afoot, radio's fabulous freelance insurance investigator is on the job to stop it! Bob Bailey stars as Johnny Dollar, picking up the ringing telephone to take on cases of double indemnity and double cross, foul weather and foul play. Bailey is the definitive Dollar - the character's wry sense of humor fits the actor like a tailor-made suit. He's a man of keen analytical skills and good nature, a man who can use his fists in a tight spot without being an obnoxious "tough guy".

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.

Chester A. Riley: A husband. A father. A lovable, working-class bumbler with the proverbial heart of gold. William Bendix stars as this simple (and sometimes simple-minded) man who starts out with the best of intentions, and ends up making a big mess of things. Scaling the mountainous molehills alongside him are his patient wife Peg (Paula Winslowe), his typical American kids, and his eclectic aggregation of friends, including Gillis and Digger O'Dell, the friendly undertaker - both played by John Brown.

When Howard Duff, radio’s regular Sam Spade, was dropped from the show, Steven Dunne donned the trench coat. Finding his own brash and boyish style with the role, Dunne’s Spade was much like creator Dashiell Hammett himself - a grown-up teenager who loved a put-on, but could be depended on to be loyal and true despite his own troubles. In these digitally remastered capers, Hammett’s hard-boiled hero delves in to the domains of daytime serials, journalism, the waterfront, and international intrigue.

"Even when you know who's guilty, you always receive a startling surprise at the final curtain." He knows who you are and he knows what you did! He's The Whistler—a mysterious figure of the night who knows the nameless terrors of which you dare not speak! Here's radio noir at its finest in twenty tales of crime, mystery, and fate starring Bill Forman as The Whistler. The plotters and the pawns are played by Jeff Chandler, Betty Lou Gerson, Frank Lovejoy, Gerald Mohr, Eleanor Audley, Joseph Kearns, Frances Robinson, and more.

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.

For crime, mystery, and thrills, dial Whitehall 1212! That was the phone number for Scotland Yard, and that's the title of this exciting series. Presented are 16 stories of investigation, drawn from the files of London's Metropolitan Police Force - written, directed, and produced by radio legend Wyllis Cooper. Harvey Hays stars as Chief Superintendent John Davidson, custodian of The Black Museum. He is joined by an "all-British cast", including Horace Braham, Lester Fletcher, Pat O'Malley, Guy Spaull, Patricia Courtley, and more.

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!

Crime, mystery, and just a touch of the supernatural - they're all on display in Radio's Outstanding Theatre of Thrills! Join your host, The Man in Black, for 20 gripping installments of Suspense (including the first ever broadcast of "Sorry, Wrong Number"). Legends like Cary Grant, Agnes Moorehead, Peter Lorre, Vincent Price, Orson Welles, and Gene Kelly star in stories by thriller greats like Agatha Christie, Lucille Fletcher, John Dickson Carr, and Cornell Woolrich. Enjoy these tales well calculated to keep you in…Suspense!

For Detective Danny Clover, Broadway is more than just a street - it’s a living, breathing creature with a mood and a style all its own. Radio’s most lyrical crime drama comes to life in this collection, Broadway’s My Beat, featuring 16 unique tales of murder along the main stem. The series’ purple prose is counterbalanced by the gritty realism that was a specialty of the 16th Precinct and its endearingly eccentric characters. Larry Thor stars as Clover, with Charles Calvert as Sgt. Tartaglia and Jack Kruschen as Detective Muggavan.

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.

He began his career in the 19th century, thrived in the 20th, and lives on in the 21st! The world's most famous consulting detective is as vigorous as ever in Jim French's productions of the Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes! Crafted in the old-time radio tradition by a modern master of the art, here are 15 engrossing adventures inspired by the characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. John Patrick Lowrie is heard as Holmes, with Lawrence Albert as Watson.

Ronald and Benita Colman made 20 guest appearances on The Jack Benny Program, including some of the most hilarious entries in the series. The Colmans' refined personaes played an excellent "grand opera" to the "ragtime" of Jack's mercenary enterprises. In this set, you'll hear the dashing Ronald read the winning entry of the "I Can't Stand Jack Benny" contest. You will also hear Benita receive the third longest laugh ever on the Benny radio program. It's no wonder that The Colmans' visits to Benny's radio series have become listener classics.

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!

Here comes “This Week’s Play” with Jack Benny and all the gang! Mary Livingstone, Phil Harris, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, Dennis Day, and Don Wilson all play their parts in parodies of Hollywood movies, wild Westerns, murder mysteries, and more. Kick back with 16 satirical skits in this collection of classics from the 1940s and 1950s, featuring guest appearances by Barbara Stanwyck, Oscar Levant, Charles Farrell, Sam Goldwyn, Frank Sinatra, and George Jessel!

"Hen-reeeeeeeee! Henry Aldrich!" "Coming, Mother!" Yes, here comes radio's favorite teenager, stumbling and bumbling his way through 16 classic episodes. Ezra Stone stars as Henry Aldrich, a likeable sort of kid who managed to turn everything he touched into catastrophe. With a constantly cracking voice, and a head full of absurdities, he confronts the awkwardness of adolescence…with hilarious results.