Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator

Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator was a detective drama heard on NBC Radio from October 3, 1951, to June 30, 1955.

Detective Barrie Craig (William Gargan) worked alone from his Madison Avenue office. Unlike his contemporaries Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe, Craig had a laid-back personality, somewhat cutting against the popular hard-boiled detective stereotype. Others in the cast included Ralph Bell, Elspeth Eric, Parker Fennelly, Santos Ortega, Arnold Moss, Parley Baer, Virginia Gregg, and Betty Lou Gerson.

Don Pardo was the announcer.

Gargan also starred in the role in an unsuccessful 1952 TV pilot written and directed by Blake Edwards. It was presented on ABC's Pepsi-Cola Playhouse as "Death the Hard Way" (October 17, 1954).

A few years earlier Gargan had played a similar character in Martin Kane, Private Eye.

Quiz Kids

Quiz Kids was a popular radio and TV series of the 1940s and 1950s. Created by Chicago public relations and advertising man Louis G. Cowan, and originally sponsored by Alka-Seltzer, the series was first broadcast on NBC from Chicago, June 28, 1940, airing as a summer replacement show for Alec Templeton Time. It continued on the radio for the next 13 years. On television, the show was seen on NBC and CBS from July 6, 1949, to July 5, 1953, with Joe Kelly as quizmaster, and again from January 12 to September 27, 1956, with Clifton Fadiman as host.

 The premise of the original show involved Kelly asking questions sent in by listeners and researched by Eliza Hickok and Rachel Stevenson. Kelly often said that he was not an intellectual and that he could not have answered any of the questions without knowing the answer from his flashcard. Yet he was remarkably kind and affable and put even novice young contestants at ease immediately. The answers were supplied by a panel of five children, chosen for their high IQs, strong academic interests, and appealing personalities, as well as such qualities as poise, quickness, and sense of humor. One of the first Quiz Kids was seven-year-old nature expert Gerard Darrow. For the initial premiere panel, he was joined by Mary Ann Anderson, Joan Bishop, Van Dyke Tiers, and Charles Schwartz.

Other Quiz Kids of the 1940s were Joan Alizier, Lois Jean Ashbeck, Claude Brenner, Geraldine Hamburg, Mary Clare McHugh, war refugee Gunther Hollander and math experts Joel Kupperman and Richard Williams. Panelists rotated, with the three top scorers each week joined by two others the following week; they were no longer eligible to participate once they reached the age of 16.

The Shadow

Easily one of the most beloved old-time radio programs in my house is The Shadow. It was one of my dad's favorites growing up, and he passed that love on to my brother and I. Growing up when I did in the '70s and '80s, of course, these programs were no longer on the radio, so my interest in old-time radio began with seeking out AM radio stations rebroadcasting these shows, and buying them on cassette tapes.

Today with the advent of the internet and the availability of so many shows in MP3 format for free online, it has been really great to indulge my love of these wonderful old gems.

The Shadow is a collection of serialized dramas, originally in pulp magazines, then on 1930s radio and then in a wide variety of media, that follow the exploits of the title character, a crime-fighting vigilante in the pulps, which carried over to the airwaves as a "wealthy, young man about town" with psychic powers. One of the most famous pulp heroes of the 20th century, the radio drama is well-remembered for those episodes voiced by Orson Welles.

Introduced as a mysterious radio narrator by David Chrisman, William Sweets, and Harry Engman Charlot for Street and Smith Publications, The Shadow was fully developed and transformed into a pop culture icon by pulp writer Walter B. Gibson.

The Shadow debuted on July 31, 1930, as the mysterious narrator of the Street and Smith radio program Detective Story Hour. After gaining popularity among the show's listeners, the narrator became the star of The Shadow Magazine on April 1, 1931, a pulp series created and primarily written by the prolific Gibson.
Over the years, the character evolved. On September 26, 1937, The Shadow radio drama officially premiered with the story "The Deathhouse Rescue", in which the character had "the power to cloud men's minds so they cannot see him." This was a contrivance for the radio; in the magazine stories, The Shadow did not have the ability to become literally invisible.

The character and look of The Shadow gradually evolved over his lengthy fictional existence.

As depicted in the pulps, The Shadow wore a black slouch hat and a black, crimson-lined cloak with an upturned collar over a standard black business suit. In the 1940s comic books, the later comic book series, and the 1994 film starring Alec Baldwin, he wore either the black slouch hat or a wide-brimmed, black fedora and a crimson scarf just below his nose and across his mouth and chin. Both the cloak and scarf covered either a black doubled-breasted trench coat or regular black suit. As seen in some of the later comics series, the hat and scarf would also be worn with either a black Inverness coat or Inverness cape.

But in the radio drama, which debuted in 1937, The Shadow became an invisible avenger who had learned, while "traveling through East Asia," "the mysterious power to cloud men's minds, so they could not see him." This revision of the character was born out of necessity: Time constraints of 1930s radio made it difficult to explain to listeners where The Shadow was hiding and how he was remaining concealed. Thus, the character was given the power to escape human sight. Voice effects were added to suggest The Shadow's seeming omnipresence.

In order to explain this power, The Shadow was described as a master of hypnotism, as explicitly stated in several radio episodes.

Even after decades, the unmistakable introduction from The Shadow radio program, long-intoned by actor Frank Readick Jr., has earned a place in the American idiom: "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!" These words were accompanied by an ominous laugh and a musical theme, Camille Saint-Saëns' Le Rouet d'Omphale ("Omphale's Spinning Wheel", composed in 1872). At the end of each episode, The Shadow reminded listeners, "The weed of crime bears bitter fruit. Crime does not pay.... The Shadow knows!"

For more information regarding The Shadow on the radio, in pulp magazines, comic books, comic strips, television, video games, and motion pictures (including the 1994 feature film starring Alex Baldwin, see below.) check out the extensive Wikipedia page here.

People Are Funny

People Are Funny is an American radio and television game show, created by John Guedel that ran from 1942 to 1960 in which contestants were asked to carry out stunts.

 The series began in 1938 when Guedel made an audition recording, and the following year, his concept of a comedy stunt show aired in Los Angeles as Pull Over, Neighbor, later reworked into All Aboard. Watching a bored, unreceptive audience listening to an after-dinner speaker, Guedel scribbled, "People are funny, aren't they?" on a napkin, and he had his title.

In 1942, learning of a show that was canceled, he pitched People Are Funny to NBC, and it went on the air April 10, 1942 with Art Baker as host. In a popular first-season stunt, a man was assigned to register a trained seal at the Knickerbocker Hotel while explaining that the seal was his girlfriend.

On October 1, 1943, Baker was replaced by Art Linkletter, who continued for the rest of the series. For a memorable stunt of 1945, Linkletter announced that $1,000 would go to the first person to find one of 12 plastic balls floating off California. Two years later, an Ennylageban Island native claimed the prize.


As the popularity of the program escalated, a movie musical titled People Are Funny was released in 1946, offering a fictional version of the show's origin in a tale of rival radio producers. Phillip Reed appeared as Guedel, with Linkletter and Frances Langford portraying themselves. Also in the cast were Jack Haley, Helen Walker, Ozzie Nelson and Rudy Vallée. One outstanding moment in the film is a Spanish dance number performed by Lupe Mayorga (aka Lillian Molieri) to the song "I Love My Marimba."



The radio series moved to CBS from 1951 to 1954, returning to NBC from 1954 to 1960.

Linkletter continued as host of the show during its run on television from September 19, 1954 to April 1, 1960. In one stunt, a contestant would win a prize if he could sustain a phone conversation with a puzzled stranger (picked at random from the phone directory) for several minutes without the other party hanging up. The series received Emmy nominations in 1955 and 1956. It finished #27 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1955-1956 season, then finished #21 for 1956-1957 and #29 for 1957-1958.

Episodes are available on Hulu - People are Funny.

Although the series ended on April 1, 1960, the network aired encores until April 13, 1961, making People Are Funny the first game show to air repeats. On March 24, 1984, a "reconstituted" version of People Are Funny with Flip Wilson as host returned to NBC where it was telecast until July 21.

Derek Roy was the host of a 1955 British version.

The series was satirized in the 1959 Warner Bros. cartoon, People Are Bunny. The Art Linkletter character was named Art Lamplighter, and the show was entitled People are Phoney, in which contestant Daffy Duck became one of his unfortunate victims.

People Are Funny is mentioned in the "Ladies Room" episode of the series Mad Men, and later a clip from the show is seen on a TV set in the background.

STAR WARS (Radio)

An expanded radio dramatization of the original Star Wars trilogy was produced in 1981, 1983, and 1996. The first two radio series, based on Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back, were produced and broadcast by National Public Radio (NPR) as part of NPR Playhouse. A dramatization of Return of the Jedi was produced by most of the same team and it was also broadcast on NPR.

The radio serials were made with the full cooperation of George Lucas, who, in exchange for a dollar each, sold the rights to KUSC-FM, the public radio affiliate at his alma mater, the University of Southern California (USC). Lucas also permitted the use of original sound effects and music from the films.

In the 1980s, radio drama was in decline in the United States. An associate dean of the University of California School of the Performing Arts, Richard Toscan, was keen to champion this art form. Toscan was supported by John Houseman, the producer responsible for Orson Welles's 1938 radio production of The War of the Worlds. He began with the dramatization of short stories by Raymond Carver on KUSC-FM, a campus radio station affiliated to NPR. Following this production, Toscan collaborated with Houseman and NPR producer Frank Mankiewicz on a project to revive the fortunes of NPR Playhouse, the umbrella title for drama productions on NPR. At the suggestion of one of Toscan's students, Joel Rosenzweig, they developed an idea for adapting the 1977 epic space opera film, Star Wars, for radio. The popularity of Star Wars would certainly attract new, younger listeners, but they feared that the production costs would be prohibitively high; however, the production team's academic connections proved to be advantageous; USC was the alma mater of the writer and director of Star Wars, George Lucas, and Lucasfilm quickly granted the rights to KUSC, including the rights to the use of original Star Wars music and sound effects, for a token fee of one dollar.

Despite Lucasfilm's generous offer, NPR was still faced with the costs of writing scripts, hiring actors, and renting studio space. With no funding available to cover the $200,000 budget, NPR entered into a co-production deal with the British broadcaster, the BBC, which had a long tradition of radio drama production. The BBC provided a production team, including director John Madden, and in exchange received broadcasting rights in the United Kingdom. From the outset, the NPR producers felt that the script would lend itself well to an episodic treatment, drawing on the format of the 1930s movie serials such as Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers that had originally inspired Lucas when he wrote Star Wars.

The American science-fiction novelist Brian Daley was brought in to write the script. Daley had access to Lucas's early drafts of the Star Wars scripts and expanded the narrative to include material that had been cut from the final edit of the film so that the 13-episode radio adaptation ran approximately four hours longer than the film version. Casting the audio serial was not as easy as had been hoped; while the producers were able to secure the actor's Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels from the original film, Harrison Ford was unavailable as he was filming Raiders of the Lost Ark at the time, and his place was taken by Perry King, an actor who once auditioned for the part of Han Solo in the 1977 film.

Led by Mankiewicz, NPR's promoted the Star Wars serial with a successful publicity campaign, attracting coverage in Playboy, The New York Times, and Time, who hailed the production with the headline, "Radio drama is making a resounding comeback". Star Wars was launched at a special NPR event at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, in which the drama was played under a starry light show. Broadcasts began in March 1981 to critical acclaim, and the drama instantly attracted 750,000 new listeners, representing a 40 percent increase in NPR audiences and a quadrupling of the network's youth audience. On the basis of this success, KUSC went on to produce popular adaptations of the sequel, The Empire Strikes Back. An adaptation of Return of the Jedi followed over a decade later, and it was produced by many of the same people who produced the KUSC/NPR productions.

The Star Wars radio dramas were authorized adaptations of Lucas's scripts, and they were originally considered canon. Commentators argued that, while the radio dramas varied somewhat from the film scripts, they should be considered canon insofar as they did not directly contradict the films; however, in 2012, The Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm and the rights to Star Wars.[5] In 1994, Lucasfilm's continuity editor, Allan Kausch, stated that "'Gospel', or canon as we refer to it, includes the screenplays, the films, the radio dramas, and the novelizations." In 2014 Lucasfilm announced that previous works which were set in the Expanded Universe (including comics, novels, and videogames) were to be re-branded as Star Wars Legends, and only the Skywalker saga and The Clone Wars film and television series were to be considered canon, in addition to new spin-off works.

The first radio drama relates the backstory which immediately precedes the narrative of the original 1977 film, and this backstory overlaps with the Legends novels Jedi Dawn, Rebel Dawn, and the 2016 film Rogue One. Commentators have since noted that the canon story which is introduced in Rogue One conflicts with episode 2 of the radio drama, "Points of Origin". In the radio drama, the Death Star plans are obtained after a rebel attack on an Imperial convoy; rebel agents then transmit the Death Star plans from the planet Toprawa to the Tantive IV. In Rogue One, the plans are transmitted from Scarif, where they were archived, to Admiral Raddus's flagship, the Profundity. The plans are then taken on board the docked Tantive IV, which launches before Darth Vader can recapture them.

In 2015 another adaptation of A New Hope was published, The Princess, the Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy. The author, Alexandra Bracken, stated that she was reading the Expanded Universe to try to "sneak elements in" to the canon and adapted material from the radio drama.

Star Wars is a 13-part (5 hour, 57 minute) radio serial originally broadcast on National Public Radio on March 9, 1981. It was adapted by Brian Daley from the 1977 film, and directed by John Madden, with music by John Williams and sound design for Lucasfilm by Ben Burtt. The serial was recorded in 1981 at Westlake Recording Studios in West Hollywood, California.

Daley adapted the script partly using material from earlier drafts of Lucas's scripts, and restored several scenes cut from the final edit of the film, as well as adding original new scenes created especially for the audio version. The narrative of the first two episodes takes place entirely before the opening scene of the 1977 film and expands the background to events leading up to the capture of the Tantive IV spacecraft above the planet Tatooine. Episode 1, largely based on cut scenes from the original, explores the life of Luke Skywalker on Tatooine. During the story, Luke's skyhopper (a vehicle seen in the background in Luke's garage during the film) is damaged during a desert race; Luke sees the distant Star Destroyer battle in the sky; and he is reunited with his childhood friend, Biggs Darklighter. Episode 2, made up of material written entirely by Daley, provides backstory to Princess Leia's acquisition of the Death Star plans from agents of the Rebellion on the planet Toprawa. In scenes set on the planet Alderaan, Leia discusses the plans with her father, Prestor Organa, and determines to go in search of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Later episodes mostly follow the storyline of the film, but additional scenes expand the narrative. In one scene, Han Solo has a meeting with an agent of Jabba the Hutt called Heater; this dialogue is based on a scene in which Solo meets a humanoid Jabba in the docking bay, cut from the original film but later reinstated in the 1997 Special Edition in modified form. In another episode, Daley inserts a conversation in which Admiral Motti attempts to convince Grand Moff Tarkin to leverage the Death Star as a political tool.

When the series was re-issued on NPR several years later, it was retitled The New Hope (as opposed to the official alternate title, A New Hope), keeping in line with the subtitles of the episodes of the original trilogy films.

Episode titles:

"A Wind to Shake the Stars"
"Points of Origin"
"Black Knight, White Princess, and Pawns"
"While Giants Mark Time"
"Jedi that Was, Jedi To Be"
"The Millennium Falcon Deal"
"The Han Solo Solution"
"Death Star's Transit"
"Rogues, Rebels and Robots"
"The Luke Skywalker Initiative"
"The Jedi Nexus"
"The Case for Rebellion"
"Force and Counter Force"
Cast
Several actors reprised their roles in the film. Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels returned to reprise their roles as Luke Skywalker and C-3PO, respectively.

Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker
Ann Sachs as Princess Leia Organa
Perry King as Han Solo
Bernard Behrens as Obi-Wan Kenobi
Brock Peters as Lord Darth Vader
Anthony Daniels as C-3PO
Keene Curtis as Grand Moff Tarkin
John Considine as Lord Tion
Stephen Elliott as Prestor (Bail Organa)
David Ackroyd as Captain Antilles
Adam Arkin as Fixer
Kale Browne as Biggs Darklighter
David Clennon as Motti
Anne Gerety as Aunt Beru
Thomas Hill as Uncle Owen
David Paymer as Deak
Joel Brooks as Heater
John Dukakis as Rebel
Stephanie Steele as Camie
Phillip Kellard as Customer No. 2
The supporting cast included James Blendick, Clyde Burton, Bruce French, David Alan Grier, Jerry Hardin, John Harkins, Scott Jacoby, Meshach Taylor, Marc Vahanian, John Welsh, and Kent Williams. Ken Hiller provides the narration.

The Empire Strikes Back
Genre Radio drama
Running time 4 hours 15 minutes
Country of origin USA
Language(s) English
Home station NPR/KUSC
Starring
Mark Hamill
Anthony Daniels
Billy Dee Williams
Ann Sachs
Perry King
Bernard Behrens
Brock Peters
Written by Brian Daley
Directed by John Madden
Produced by Tom Voegeli
Executive producer(s) Jon Bos
Narrated by Ken Hiller
Recording studio A&R Studios, New York City
Original release February 14, 1983 – April 25, 1983
No. of episodes 10
Audio format Stereo
Opening theme Star Wars Main Theme
The success of the first series led to a 10-part, four hour 15 minute series based on the 1980 film The Empire Strikes Back, again written by Daley and directed by Madden. It was recorded in 1982 at A&R Studios, New York City.[4][13] The series debuted on NPR on February 14, 1983.

Like the preceding series, The Empire Strikes Back expands on the movie's story and incorporates new scenes such as an Imperial attack on a Rebel convoy taking place before the film's original opening scene and a tense conversation between Solo and Skywalker when the two are stranded in the Hoth wastelands.

National Public Radio's promoted the series in part by getting Craig Claiborne to create his version of Yoda's rootleaf stew recipe, which the Jedi Master serves Luke in the hut on Dagobah. The recipe ran in magazines and newspapers across the country.[14]

Episode titles:

"Freedom's Winter"
"The Coming Storm"
"A Question of Survival"
"Fire and Ice"
"The Millennium Falcon Pursuit"
"Way of the Jedi"
"New Allies, New Enemies"
"Dark Lord's Fury"
"Gambler's Choice"
"The Clash of Lightsabers"
Cast
Billy Dee Williams reprised Lando Calrissian, and John Lithgow played Yoda at the same time Madden was directing Lithgow in the play Beyond Therapy. Hamill and Daniels returned to voice Skywalker and C-3PO.

Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker
Perry King as Han Solo
Ann Sachs as Princess Leia Organa
Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian
Bernard Behrens as Obi-Wan Kenobi
Brock Peters as Lord Darth Vader
John Lithgow as Yoda
Anthony Daniels as C-3PO
James Eckhouse as Beta
Peter Friedman as Dak
Ron Frazier as Deck Officer
Merwin Goldsmith as General Rieekan
Peter Michael Goetz as Ozzel
Gordon Gould as Veers
Paul Hecht as The Emperor
Russell Horton as 2-1B
James Hurdle as Controller
Nicholas Kepros as Needa
David Rasche as Piett
Alan Rosenberg as Boba Fett
Jay O. Sanders as Imperial Pilot
Don Scardino as Wedge

The supporting cast again included David Alan Grier and also included Sam McMurray, Steven Markle, Stephen D. Newman, John Pielmeier, Geoffrey Pierson, Gary Tacon, and Jerry Zaks. Ken Hiller provides the narration.

Return of the Jedi
Return of the Jedi
Return of the Jedi Logo
Genre Radio drama
Running time 4 hours 15 minutes

Starring
Joshua Fardon
Perry King
Ann Sachs
Anthony Daniels
Bernard Behrens
Arye Gross
Paul Hecht
John Lithgow
Brock Peters
Written by Brian Daley
Directed by John Madden
Produced by Tom Voegeli, Julie Hartley
Narrated by Ken Hiller
No. of episodes 6
Audio format Stereo
Opening theme Star Wars Main Theme

NPR's plans for a Return of the Jedi radio serial were put on hold when federal funding for NPR was dramatically reduced; however, NPR was never the producer of the radio series nor was it ever granted the rights to produce the radio adaptations nor did NPR fund any of the radio productions. Plans for a Jedi radio adaptation fell apart in the 1980s due to a disagreement (believed to be financial) between KUSC, Los Angeles (the producer of the two previous radio adaptations, and to whom the rights were granted for the production) and Lucasfilm. NPR was granted limited rights to air the two previous radio series because KUSC, Los Angeles provided the radio adaptations to NPR as part of NPR's National Program Service that allows any NPR member station rights to air the series as part of the annual dues already paid (rather than the 3rd party Extended Program Service where KUSC could have charged each station a fee for rights to air cutting out NPR).[citation needed] It was not until 1996 that a six-part adaptation of Return of the Jedi was made by Highbridge Audio, the company that had released the first two series on tape and CD. The production returned to the Westlake Recording Studios, where the original series had been recorded.

Like the preceding series, Return of the Jedi expanded its story by incorporating new scenes. One depicts Luke Skywalker constructing a new lightsaber on Tatooine, based on a deleted scene from the movie. A scripted scene between C-3PO and Boba Fett in Jabba the Hutt's palace was rejected by Anthony Daniels, who felt that the golden droid should not be on friendly terms with a bounty hunter. Fett was replaced by the dancer "Arica" (actually Mara Jade in disguise) from Timothy Zahn's Tales from Jabba's Palace short story.

The audio play's adapter Brian Daley died only hours after its recording was concluded; "additional material" was contributed by John Whitman, who introduced changes that were required so the series could have continuity with the newly developed plan for the prequels, as well as changes that were identified by its director and cast. The series was dedicated to the memory of Brian Daley.

The show's cast recorded a special get well message for Daley after the author left the studio, unaware that he would never hear it. The message is included as part of the collector's edition box set.

Episode titles:

"Tatooine Haunts"
"Fast Friends"
"Prophecies and Destinies"
"Pattern and Web"
"So Turns a Galaxy, So Turns a Wheel"
"Blood of a Jedi"
Cast
The adaptation used many of the original radio cast, though Joshua Fardon took over as Luke and Arye Gross replaced Billy Dee Williams as Lando. Ed Begley Jr. was the voice of Boba Fett and Edward Asner, speaking only in Huttese, voiced Jabba the Hutt. The only actor who starred in all the feature films, as well as all three radio dramas, was Anthony Daniels.

Joshua Fardon as Luke Skywalker
Perry King as Han Solo
Ann Sachs as Princess Leia Organa
Anthony Daniels as C-3PO
Bernard Behrens as Obi-Wan Kenobi
Arye Gross as Lando Calrissian
Edward Asner as Jabba The Hutt
Paul Hecht as The Emperor
John Lithgow as Yoda
Brock Peters as Lord Darth Vader
Ed Begley Jr. as Boba Fett
Samantha Bennett as Arica
David Birney as Anakin Skywalker
Peter Dennis as Moff Jerjerrod
David Dukes as Bib Fortuna
Peter Michael Goetz as General Madine
Ian Gomez as Salacious Crumb
Martin Jarvis as Barada
Jon Matthews as Wedge
Natalia Nogulich as Mon Mothma
Mark Adair Rios as Admiral Ackbar
Yeardley Smith as 9D9
Tom Virtue as Major Derlin
The supporting cast included Rick Hall, Andrew Hawkes, Sherman Howard, Karl Johnson, John Kapelos, Ron Le Paz, Joe Liss, Paul Mercier, Steven Petrarca, Jonathan Penner, Gil Segel, Nia Vardalos and Ron West. Ken Hiller provides the narration.

Other broadcasts and releases
Existing radio promos, deleted scenes, and additional music tracks are available which originated on previous releases of this collection and in the NPR broadcast versions.

"Radio Promo No. 1 – Anthony Daniels"
"Radio Promo No. 2 – Ann Sachs"
"Radio Promo No. 3 – Mark Hamill"
"Additional Music"
"Star Wars Radio Drama – Alternate Take of 'Your Father's Lightsaber'"
""Star Wars Radio Drama – Alternate Take 'Bail and Leia'"
"Return of the Jedi Radio Drama – Alternate Take 'Speederbike Chase'"
"The Making of The Radio Dramas"

Spin-off merchandise

In 2013, two special sets of Topps trading cards were released called Star Wars Illustrated, which featured illustrations of scenes from the first Star Wars radio drama. The Topps artwork was also used to illustrate two collectors' editions of the Original Radio Drama released at the same time by HighBridge Audiobooks.

International broadcasts and releases
In July 1981, the Star Wars radio adaptation was broadcast by BBC Radio 1.

--via Wikipedia

You can also listen via Apple Podcasts, Podbean, and YouTube.

Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar!

"The man with the action-packed expense account, America’s fabulous freelance insurance investigator, Johnny Dollar".

For over twelve years, from 1949 through 1962 (including a one year hiatus in 1954-1955), this series recounted the cases of Johnny Dollar. The name of the show derives from the fact that he closed each show by totaling his expense account, and signing it "End of report... Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar".

As originally conceived, Johnny Dollar was a smart, tough, wisecracking detective who tossed silver-dollar tips to waiters and bellhops. Dick Powell starred in the audition show, recorded in 1948, but withdrew from the role in favor of other projects. The role went instead to Charles Russell. The show, for which Powell auditioned, was originally titled "Yours Truly, Lloyd London," although the name of the show and its lead character were apparently changed before the audition tape of December 6, 1948, was actually recorded.

The final episodes of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar and Suspense, airing on CBS, are often cited as the end of the golden age of radio. The last episode of Johnny Dollar, "The Tip-Off Matter", ended at 6:35 p.m. Eastern Time on September 30, 1962, followed immediately by the final broadcast of Suspense.

With the first three actors to play Johnny Dollar — radio actor Russell and movie tough-guy actors Edmond O'Brien and John Lund — there was little to distinguish Johnny Dollar from other detective series at the time (Richard Diamond, Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade). While always a friend of the police, Johnny wasn't necessarily a stickler for the strictest interpretation of the law. He was willing to let some things slide to satisfy his own sense of justice, as long as the interests of his employer were also protected. The series ended in September 1954.

CBS Radio revived Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar in October 1955 with a new leading man, a new director, and a new format. The program changed from a 30-minute, one-episode-per-week affair to a 15-minute, five-nights-a-week serial (Monday through Friday, 8-8:15pm EST) produced and directed by radio veteran Jack Johnstone. The new Johnny Dollar was Bob Bailey, (pictured) who had just come off another network detective series, Let George Do It. With a new lead and 75 minutes of air time each week, it became possible to develop each storyline with more detail and with more characters. Almost all of the Johnny Dollar serials were presented by CBS Radio on a sustaining basis (unsponsored, with no commercials); only two of the 55 serials take time out for a sponsor's message.
Bob Bailey was exceptionally good in this format, making Johnny more sensitive and thoughtful in addition to his other attributes. Vintage-radio enthusiasts often endorse Bailey as the best of the Johnny Dollars, and consider the 13-month run of five-part stories to be some of the greatest drama in radio history. The serial scripts were usually written by Jack Johnstone, "John Dawson" (a pseudonym for E. Jack Neuman), Les Crutchfield, or Robert Ryf, Blake Edwards also contributed several scripts and the show was always produced and directed by Johnstone. The show featured an excellent stock company of supporting actors, including Virginia Gregg, Harry Bartell, Vic Perrin, Lawrence Dobkin, Parley Baer, Howard McNear, John Dehner, Barney Phillips, Lillian Buyeff, Tony Barrett, Don Diamond, Alan Reed, and Forrest Lewis. Movie character actors appeared occasionally, including Jay Novello, Hans Conried, Frank Nelson, Leon Belasco, William Conrad, Edgar Barrier, and Billy Halop.
In late 1956 CBS Radio retooled the show, which reverted to a weekly half-hour drama, airing on late Sunday afternoons. Bob Bailey continued in the leading role until 1960 (and wrote one episode, "The Carmen Kringle Matter").

The final episodes of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar and Suspense, airing on CBS, are often cited as the end of the golden age of radio. The last episode of Johnny Dollar, "The Tip-Off Matter", ended at 6:35 p.m. Eastern Time on September 30, 1962, followed immediately by the final broadcast of Suspense.

Sources-
Wikipedia
Archive.org

The Green Hornet

In 1935, George W. Trendle, the WXYZ co-owner and managing partner who had spearheaded the development of The Lone Ranger, sought to bring on air a similar series. Trendle sought to create a series that would "show that a political system could be riddled with corruption and that one man could successfully combat this white-collar lawlessness." Liking the acoustic possibilities of a bee sound, Trendle directed it be incorporated into the show. The team experimented with names, with Trendle liking The Hornet, but that name had been used elsewhere and could have posed rights problems. Colors including blue and pink were considered before the creators settled on green.

The vigilante nature of her hero's operation quickly resulted in the Green Hornet being declared an outlaw himself, and Britt Reid played to it. The Green Hornet became thought of as one of his city's biggest criminals, allowing him to walk into suspected racketeers' offices and ply them for information, or even demand a cut of their profits. In doing so, the Green Hornet usually provoked them to attack him to remove this competitor, giving him license to defeat and leave them for the police without raising suspicion as to his true motives.

He would be accompanied by his similarly masked chauffeur/bodyguard/enforcer, who was also Reid's valet, Kato, initially described as Japanese, and by 1939 as Filipino of Japanese descent. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, references to a Japanese heritage were dropped.

The series originated on January 31, 1936, on WXYZ, the same local Detroit station that originated its companion shows The Lone Ranger and Challenge of the Yukon. Beginning April 12, 1938, the station supplied the series to the Mutual Broadcasting System radio network, and then to NBC Blue and its successors, the Blue Network and ABC Network, from November 16, 1939, through September 8, 1950. It returned from September 10 to December 5, 1952. It was sponsored by General Mills from January to August 1948, and by Orange Crush in its brief 1952 run.

Distinguished by its use of classical music for themes and for bridges between scenes, The Green Hornet was "one of radio's best-known and most distinctive juvenile adventure shows". The series detailed the adventures of Britt Reid, a debonair newspaper publisher by day, a crime-fighting masked hero at night.

The opening sequence of the radio show originally began with the announcer proclaiming that the Green Hornet "hunts the biggest of all game! Public enemies that even the G-Men cannot reach!", referring to FBI agents. Bureau chief J. Edgar Hoover objected to the line's implication that some crime-fighting was beyond the abilities of the FBI, and it was changed to "public enemies who try to destroy our America!"

The radio show used Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee" as its theme music, blended with a hornet buzz created on a theremin.

One relatively minor aspect of the character that tends to be given limited exposure in the actual productions is his blood relationship to the Lone Ranger, another character created by Striker. The Lone Ranger's nephew was Dan Reid. In the Green Hornet radio shows, the Hornet's father was likewise named Dan Reid, making Britt Reid the Lone Ranger's great-nephew.
In the November 11, 1947, radio show episode "Too Hot to Handle", Britt tells his father that he, Britt, is the Green Hornet. After Dan's initial shock and anger, Dan refers to a vigilante "pioneer ancestor" of theirs that Dan himself had ridden alongside in Texas. As he expressed pride in and love for his son, the Lone Ranger theme briefly played in the background.

The Green Hornet was adapted into two movie serials: The Green Hornet and The Green Hornet Strikes Again!. Disliking the treatment Republic gave The Lone Ranger in two serials, George W. Trendle took his property to Universal Pictures and was much happier with the results. The first serial, titled simply The Green Hornet and released in 1940, starred Gordon Jones in the title role, albeit dubbed by original radio Hornet Al Hodge whenever the hero's mask was in place, while The Green Hornet Strikes Again! of 1941 starred Warren Hull. Keye Luke, who played the "Number One Son" in the Charlie Chan films, played Kato in both. Also starring in both serials were Anne Nagel as Lenore Case, Britt Reid's secretary, and Wade Boteler as Mike Axford, a reporter for the Daily Sentinel, the newspaper that Reid owned and published. Ford Beebe directed both serials, partnered by Ray Taylor on The Green Hornet and John Rawlins on The Green Hornet Strikes Again!, with George H. Plympton and Basil Dickey contributing to the screenplays for both serials. The Green Hornet ran for 13 chapters while The Green Hornet Strikes Again! had 15 installments, with the Hornet and Kato smashing a different racket in each chapter. In each serial, they were all linked to a single major crime syndicate which was itself put out of business in the finale, while the radio program had the various rackets completely independent of each other. Green Hornet comic books began in December 1940. Many other comic renditions have followed throughout the years following. The Green Hornet was a television series shown on the ABC U.S. television network. It aired for the 1966–1967 television season and starred Van Williams as both the Green Hornet and Britt Reid, and Bruce Lee as Kato. Williams and Lee's Green Hornet and Kato appeared as anti-heroes in the second season of the live-action 1960s Batman TV series, in the two-part episodes "A Piece of the Action" and "Batman's Satisfaction". A film version of The Green Hornet was released on January 14, 2011, starring Seth Rogen. This film, in my personal opinion, was a bastardization of the source material. A slap in the face to true fans of the character. Only earning mention on this blog for the very fact that it was such an utter embarrassment, and to urge you to avoid at all cost. For now, the character lives on, for true fans, in the pulp magazines, comics, movie serials, television episodes, and radio shows. Linked above is a selection of some of those radio programs, I hope you enjoy. For more detailed information, visit the Green Hornet Wikipedia page, or the page devoted to the Green Hornet radio program.

Richard Diamond, Private Detective

Richard Diamond, Private Detective is an American detective drama, created by Blake Edwards, which aired on radio from 1949 to 1953, and on television from 1957 to 1960.

 Dick Powell starred in the Richard Diamond, Private Detective radio series as a light-hearted detective who often ended the episodes singing to his girlfriend, Helen (Virginia Gregg). Other regular cast members included Ed Begley as Rick's friend and former partner on the police force, Lt. Walter Levinson, and Wilms Herbert as Walt's bumbling sergeant, Otis. It began airing on NBC Radio on April 24, 1949, picked up Rexall as a sponsor on April 5, 1950, and continued until December 6, 1950. Many of the shows were either written or directed by Edwards. Its theme, "Leave It to Love", was whistled by Powell at the beginning of each episode.

With Camel cigarettes as a sponsor, it moved to ABC from January 5, 1951, to June 29, 1951, with Rexall returning for a run from October 5, 1951, until June 27, 1952.

Substituting for Amos 'n' Andy, it aired Sunday evenings on CBS from May 31, 1953, until September 20, 1953.

Dick Powell's company, Four Star Television, produced the television version of Richard Diamond,
Private Detective, which premiered in the summer of 1957 on CBS. It returned to CBS in January 1958 for the second season and in February 1959 for the third season, again on CBS. In the fall of 1959, the fourth and final season aired on NBC.

David Janssen, prior to The Fugitive, starred as Diamond, a former officer of the New York Police Department and a hard-boiled private detective in the film noir tradition. His secretary, "Sam," was shown only from the waist down to display her beautiful legs. Initially, these were the legs of Mary Tyler Moore for seven episodes, but later the legs of other actresses were seen. Don Taylor played the title role in a 1956 television pilot, broadcast as an episode of the anthology series Chevron Hall of Stars.



TV EPISODE -- "RICHARD DIAMOND, PRIVATE DETECTIVE"

The Lone Ranger

The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked Texas Ranger who, with his Native American companion Tonto, fights injustice in the American Old West. The character has become an enduring icon of American culture.

He first appeared in 1933 in a radio show conceived either by WXYZ radio station owner George W. Trendle or by Fran Striker, the show's writer. The show proved to be a huge hit, and spawned an equally popular television show that ran from 1949 to 1957, as well as comic books and movies. The title character was played on radio by George Seaton, Earle Graser, and most memorably Brace Beemer. To television viewers, Clayton Moore was the Lone Ranger. Tonto was played by, among others, John Todd, Roland Parker, and in the television series, Jay Silverheels.

Departing on his white stallion, Silver, the Lone Ranger would shout, "Hi-yo, Silver! Away!" As they galloped off, someone would ask, "Who was that masked man anyway?" Tonto usually referred to the Lone Ranger as "Ke-mo sah-bee", meaning "trusty scout" or "trusted friend." These catchphrases, his trademark silver bullets, and the theme music from the William Tell overture are indelibly stamped in the memories of millions who came of age during the decades of the show's initial popularity or viewed the television series.

While details differ, the basic story of the origin of the Lone Ranger is the same in most versions of the franchise. Six Texas Rangers are ambushed by a band of outlaws led by Barthalamo "Butch" Cavendish. Later, a Native American named Tonto stumbles on the scene and recognizes the lone survivor, John Francis Reid, as the man who had saved his life some time in the past. He nurses Reid back to health. The two men dig six graves for Reid's comrades, among them Reid's brother, Captain Daniel Steven Reid who is the Captain of the Texas Rangers. John Reid fashions a black mask using material from his brother's vest to conceal his identity, so that Cavendish will think there were no survivors. Even after the Cavendish gang is brought to justice, Reid continues to fight evil under the guise of the Lone Ranger.

In every incarnation of the character to date, the Lone Ranger conducts himself by a strict moral code put in place by Striker at the inception of the character. Actors Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels both took their positions as role models to children very seriously and tried their best to live by this creed. It reads as follows:
I believe...
that to have a friend, a man must be one.
that all men are created equal and that everyone has within himself the power to make this a better world.
that God put the firewood there, but that every man must gather and light it himself.
in being prepared physically, mentally, and morally to fight when necessary for that which is right.
that a man should make the most of what equipment he has.
that 'this government of the people, by the people, and for the people' shall live always.
that men should live by the rule of what is best for the greatest number.
that sooner or later...somewhere...somehow...we must settle with the world and make payment for what we have taken.
that all things change but truth, and that truth alone, lives on forever.
in my Creator, my country, my fellow man.

The Lone Ranger was a TV show that aired for eight seasons, from 1949 to 1957, and starred Clayton Moore as the Lone Ranger and Jay Silverheels as Tonto. Only five of the eight seasons had new episodes. It was the ABC television network's first big hit of the early 1950s. Moore's tenure as the Ranger is probably the best-known treatment of the franchise. For the show's third season, Moore sat out due to a contract dispute and was replaced by John Hart. Moore returned for the final two seasons. The fifth and final season was the only one shot in color. A total of 221 episodes were made. In 1948, Western Publishing, with its publishing partner Dell Comics, launched a comic book series that lasted 145 issues. This originally consisted of reprints from the newspaper strips (as had all previous comic book appearances of the character in various titles from David McKay Publications and from Dell). However, new stories by writer Paul S. Newman and artist Tom Gill began with issue #38 (August 1951). Some original content was presented as early as #7 (January 1949), but these were non-Lone Ranger fillers. Newman and Gill produced the series until its the final issue, #145 (July 1962). The Dell series came to an end in 1962. Later that same year, Western Publishing ended its publishing partnership with Dell Comics and started up its own comic book imprint, Gold Key Comics. The new imprint launched its own Lone Ranger title in 1964. Initially reprinting material from the Dell run, original content did not begin until issue #22 in 1975, and the magazine itself folded with #28 in 1977. The Lone Ranger has also seen incarnations on the silver screen, most recently in the 1981 box-office failure, The Legend of the Lone Ranger starring Klinton Spilsbury.

Walt Disney Pictures announced in September 2008 that Johnny Depp would be portraying Tonto in the latest adaptation entitled 'The Lone Ranger' with a projected release date of May 31st, 2013. Sources: Wikipedia, Archive.org, and Comics.org

Episodes of the Lone Ranger television show can be viewed on Hulu.

Enjoy this large assortment of episodes of The Lone Ranger radio program via Archive.org