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

Based on the famous detective created by Rex Stout, The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe stars Sydney Greenstreet as “the balkiest, bulkiest, smartest, and most unpredictable detective in the world...that brilliant eccentric private detective, orchid fancier and gargantuan gourmet.” Nero Wolfe, armchair detective in the classic tradition, and Archie Goodwin, wisecracking hard-boiled investigator, shine in eight radio tales from this classic detective series first broadcast in 1950-1951.

He's a specialist in insurance fraud and the finer points of human nature. He's insouciant, cynical, and glib...but honest when it counts. Wherever he goes, there's intrigue, excitement, and mystery! He's the Man with the Action Packed Expense Account: Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar.

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.

Here is radio situation comedy at its finest - from the cartoony fun of Fibber McGee and Molly to the well-drawn family humor of The Great Gildersleeve, from the broad gags of The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show to the subtle wit of The Couple Next Door, from the double-edged meta-comedy of The Jack Benny Program to the blue collar comedy of The Life of Riley. Spend time with Burns & Allen, Ozzie & Harriet, Lucille Ball, Eve Arden, Dennis Day, and all the rest of your favorites in 10 big hours of The Great Radio Sitcoms!

Deck the halls and prop up the antenna - because Christmas is on the air! Here come all of your radio favorites in a holly-wreathed collection of priceless holiday moments. These classic episodes are accented with humor, tinged with adventure, and well-seasoned with all the good family feelings that fill our hearts during this season of the year! From Fibber McGee & Molly to Suspense, from Red Skelton to Marshal Matt Dillon, from Mr. Benny to St. Nick himself, tune in to 10 full hours of seasonal entertainment!

He's settling in with his new life and his new family in Summerfield U. S. A.—and now Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve has a new job! How does a man whose only experience with plumbing is turning on the faucet end up as the new Water Commissioner? These 16 digitally restored and remastered episodes feature Walter Tetley as Leroy, Lurene Tuttle as Marjorie, Lillian Randolph as Birdie, Earle Ross as Judge Hooker, Dick LeGrand as Mr. Peavey, Shirley Mitchell as Leila Ransom…and Harold Peary as Gildy.

Let's play ball! Or hit the track! Or roam the links! Or lace on the gloves! You name the sport, Jack Benny's a fan...and maybe even a participant! Whether he's sitting in the stands or standing in the thick of the action, it all adds up to clutch classic radio comedy! Cheer on Jack Benny, Mary Livingstone, Phil Harris, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Dennis Day, Kenny Baker, and Don Wilson in 16 half hour episodes filled with equal parts rah-rah-rah and ha-ha-ha!

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.

It's the summer of 1944! The world is at war...America wonders what the future will hold...and down in the little village of Pine Ridge, Arkansas, eccentric relatives and mysterious strangers are wreaking havoc on the peaceful lives of Lum & Abner! Here are 36 consecutive quarter-hour broadcasts of radio's classic rural comedy serial, featuring Chester Lauck and Norris Goff as an entire townful of eccentrics. Elmore Vincent co-stars as Phinus Peabody, with Frank Graham as the enigmatic B.J. Webster!

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!

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.

Suave. Urbane. Cultured. And deadly. They call him Paladin, and this lean, quiet man in black brings his gun to bear for whoever can pay his fee (and meet his standards). His business card says it all: Have Gun, Will Travel! John Dehner brings Old San Francisco's righteous pistolero to life in this new collection of 20 classic radio adventures. Ben Wright co-stars as Hey Boy, with Virginia Gregg as Miss Wong.

Rough, rugged, and ready for anything, Jack Benny braves the howling winds atop an icy mountain peak…until he falls down and drags himself back to the ski lodge. Get ready for the comic adventures of radio's favorite comedian as you've never heard him before. He's the manliest of men, the conqueror of every wilderness, the very personification of virile vigor! Jack heads off for 16 rootin'-tootin' outdoor escapades, along with Mary Livingstone, Phil Harris, Bob Crosby, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Kenny Baker, Dennis Day, and Don Wilson.

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.

Your nerves, drawn wire-taut. Your heart, thundering in your chest. Your knuckles, drawn white against your chair. Your mind, leaving the comfort and confinement of "the four walls of today" to tempt the whims of the high seas, to venture to the frozen tundra, the mysterious east, the wild west...to travel to Istanbul, to Europe, and to nightmares. The only limit to the excitement in these 20 episodes of red-blooded adventure drama is the scope of your own imagination.

He might seem like just a regular guy, but don't let that fool you. Beneath the affable exterior he's tough as nails, smart as a whip, and ready for whatever crime wants to dish out! He's Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator - and he's on the track of 16 red-hot cases in this exciting eight-hour collection starring William Gargan! Cases cross the threshold of his Madison Avenue office, and he's got a crack team of supporting cast members to back him up.

The impeccably dressed Charlie McCarthy was as sarcastic as he was stylish. His country cousin Mortimer Snerd was buck-toothed, bucolic...and just as fondly remembered. But it was the egalitarian and exquisitely entertaining Edgar Bergen who brought them to life. Enjoy this Peabody Award winning team in 16 digitally restored and remastered episodes - many of which have not been available since their original broadcast in 1942! Hear performances by Rita Hayworth, W. C. Fields, Harold Peary, Hedy Lamarr, Don Ameche, Dale Evans, and more....

Everyone has secrets...but some secrets are more sinister than others. And the more malevolent the secret, the more The Whistler knows! Wander the foreboding, shadow-filled streets of the imagination in tales that explore the "nameless terrors of which we dare not speak." Bill Forman stars as The Whistler, alongside the suspiciously skillful William Conrad, Gerald Mohr, Elliott and Cathy Lewis, Howard Duff, Doris Singleton, Betty Lou Gerson, and more. Hear them all in in 20 tense tales of crime, suspense, and fate!

Out of the rain and fog of the teeming Pacific Northwest he comes - the tough, methodical, incorruptible private eye Harry Nile. He's the foe of corruption, enemy of gangland, and the best friend you'll ever have when you're up against the wall. Harry gives as good as he gets in this collection of powerful radio adventures, produced, written, and directed by Jim French. Larry Albert takes over the role of Nile from the late Phil Harper, with Pat French back as the detective's assistant Murphy, for 16 cases of back streets and bad news.

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.