Old Time Radio Shows

Paul Frees is one of those talents that is great fun to investigate. Even a short search of Paul Frees will have you saying "Really, that was him?" Frees was born in Chicago and started his acting/radio career in 1942. Like so many, he was interrupted by WWII. Frees was drafted and fought in Normandy during the D-Day Invasion . After being wounded in action he attended college, but cut his education short when his wife became ill. Returning to radio, his versatile voice talents were put to work announcing and sometimes starring on Suspense .  These duties were shared with his friend and fellow talented Voice,  William Conrad . Frees explained in an interview that he would announce when  Conrad  was starring in the episode, or involved with another project, and vice versa.  Both possessing memorable basso profundo voices, they made an effort to sound like one another in the announcements. Frees also did a lot of work on sister program  Escape . ...

Charles Bickford, a U.S. actor born in 1891, held several jobs at a young age, before entering the world of burlesque on a dare in 1911. Burlesque eventually led Bickford to Broadway, where he starred alongside James Cagney in  Outside Looking In , in 1925. Shortly thereafter, he enjoyed success playing the role of Macready, in the 1928 Broadway production of  Gods of the Lightning . The character Macready was based on the life of anarchist Ferdinando Nicola Sacco, who along with Bartolomeo Vanzetti, were tried and executed for armed robbery . Bickford’s intense, durable and dominating physical features, paired with his stern, authoritarian voice landed him several film, radio and television roles. After he was contacted by Cecil B. DeMille, Charles Bickford accepted a studio contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM.) It was not long before he became dissatisfied with the work and the studio. Reluctantly, MGM executives released the disgruntled Bickford from his contract o...

It is quite difficult to say these days of wireless internet and cable TV what we have and did before technological advancements came over. What we did after preparing, eating, and putting away dinner; what we did after all house chores were finished... Well, at present, we rarely see family that eat dinner together, more so sit down and do stuff together. That wasn’t always the case, though. Because once, there was radio! Golden Age of Radio The so-called Golden Age of Radio had its beginnings way back during the First World War, when United States President Woodrow Wilson utilized radio to send message to the people of America. Then, the period is said to have come to its end on September 20, 1962, when radio programs Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar and Suspense went on-air for the last time on CBS. There may be resurgence of interest in radio when the CBS Radio Mystery Theater aired in the 1970s, but this was not, in any way, comparable to the six decades of suspense, laughter, and d...

Some how, London of the late 1880s manages to become even more creepy coming to us from the speakers of our radio . This is the London of foggy nights and shady dealings and fast talking. The London where a bloke in the wrong part of town after dark could get his head thumped and his purse pinched quicker than you can say "Bob's your Uncle"! It is also the London that is terrorized by Jack The Ripper . The case of Jack The Ripper, also known as the Whitechapel Murders, is perhaps the most infamous of unsolved crimes. By the late 1800s modern police departments, including Scotland Yard, had adopted scientific investigation as an important part of their procedures. Despite this, there is very little that is definite about Jack the Ripper , including the number of his victims. The poverty of the Whitechapel district at the time made it a hotbed of crime, so there were murders that could have been the hidden work of the Ripper, while some which he is credited with sho...

Al Gordon and Hal Goldman joined Jack Benny' s writing team in 1950. Jack Benny''s radio show was famously dependent upon his writers, and was quick to give them credit for making him look good. Despite Jack's supposed reputation as a cheap skate, his writers were also some of the best paid in Hollywood. It wasn't that Jack Benny couldn't be funny without a script, but he was much more comfortable performing with one. One well reported incident occurred when Jack stopped a rehearsal to call his writers around him. "Look," Jack told the writers, "I want to give Mel Blanc credit. I want a line for the tag of the show that says the part of the violin teacher was played by Mel Blanc." One of the four writers took Jack's script from him and wrote "The part of the violin teacher was played by Mel Blanc." Reading the new writing in the script, Jack said "This is great. This is exactly what I wanted to say. Gees, thanks guys....

In a world where $80 cable bills and monthly cellphone charges in excess of $100 are not uncommon, where the cost of producing a penny exceeds the coin's face value by a significant percentage, where the price of filling the gas tank can sometimes exceed what many of us paid for our first car, it can be refreshing to hear Old Time Radio Quiz Shows where the prize is often ten dollars or less. Obviously ten bucks had a lot more "meaning" in the 1940s and 50s than it does in the 21 st century, but there is a definite feeling that the radio quiz shows were more about fun and entertainment than about giving away or winning large sums of money. There were exceptions; on the wildly popular Queen For a Day the contestants were often competing for some serious help from the sponsors, as well as a suite of rather glamorous prizes in the form of housewares, appliances, and beauty supplies and treatments. It Pays To Be Married also gave some rather significant prizes in ...

Howard Hughes was summoned to Washington D.C. in 1947 to be raked over the coals but turned the tables on the committee,  giving better than he got! In 1947, Howard Hughes was summoned before the senate to testify about the government contracts Hughes Aircraft and Electronics won during World War II. ABC recorded the hearings and provided a 25 minute synopsis with commentary and descriptions when required. The hearings were often contentious between Hughes and the committee especially between Hughes and Senator Ralph Brewster. Before the hearings started, Hughes mounted a giant publicity campaign lambasting the hearings and, specifically, Brewster. He charged that the senate was protecting Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) against Hughes' Trans World Airlines (TWA). Hughes said that Brewster even suggested merging TWA and Pan Am. The Hughes Hearings were an exercise in how to take on a bunch of senators and win. Hughes believed that the hearings were intended to d...