In an ongoing series of delightfully diverse collections, Radio Archives opens its vaults to bring you another eight hours of entertainment from a wide variety of classic radio shows.
Under Arrest, a police procedural drama first aired in July of 1946, began as one of these summer replacements. A mixture of This Is Your FBI and the earlier Calling All Cars, it initially starred Craig McDonnell as Police Captain John Drake, head of a large metropolitan police force. Aired over the Mutual Network in the summer months of 1946, 1947, and 1948 as a seasonal replacement for The Shadow, the 1948 series featured a change of leading character and leading man: radio and movie character actor Joe DeSantis took over the lead as the series became “the story of Captain Jim Scott’s fight against crime”.
The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe, Wolfe was a licensed private detective, but his sleuthing served more as a diversion from his other pursuits: a collector of rare books, a preoccupation with sartorial splendor, a prize-winning horticulturist with a mania for orchids, and a gourmet/gourmand who was once described by his faithful assistant Archie Goodwin as weighing “a seventh of a ton” - about 286 pounds. He had learned that detection was a necessary evil to shore up his frequently depleted financial coffers, though he was loathe to abandon his elegant brownstone at West 35th Street in New York City, preferring to let Goodwin handle the legwork. Still, “a man’s gotta eat” — and Wolfe often left his luxurious, comfortable surroundings albeit reluctantly whenever a case he was working on required mobility. Radio Archives is pleased to present two more broadcasts of this immensely entertaining mystery series that wouldn’t fit in our ten hour radio set. These newly restored shows obtained from the original master transcription discs, and are presented to you in full audio fidelity for your listening pleasure. So sit back and enjoy tantalizing tales of mystery with the man who’s “the smartest and the stubbornest...the fattest and the laziest...the cleverest and the craziest...the most extravagant detective in the world: Nero Wolfe!”
The Big Story. In the 1930s, the movies generally depicted newspaper reporters as fast-talking scalawags, as likely to steal a photo of a missing person from the mantelpiece of the victim’s mother as they were to embroider the facts of a breaking story in order to scoop the competition. This image of the newshound has its root in The Front Page, a satirical comedy-drama from the pens of Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, both ex-newspaper reporters themselves, who based their characterizations on the various reporters they had known while working for the Fourth Estate. But, in 1946, a radio producer named Bernard J. Prockter came across a newspaper story that impressed him. It seems that a team of reporters from the Chicago Times had worked for months on the details of a fourteen-year-old murder case, writing a series of stories on the crime and eventually freeing a man who had been falsely accused, convicted, and imprisoned. Such diligence from this often-maligned profession, Prockter thought, might well be a good basis for a radio series -- and thus, in 1947, The Big Story was born.
The First Nighter Program. First heard in 1930, The First Nighter Program transported listeners to “the little theater off Times Square” to be a part of the opening night performance of a new play. With the support of atmospheric sound effects, and accompanied by the excited chatter of an enthusiastic crowd, Mr. First Nighter led his fellow audience members into the theater, commented on the playbill, enjoyed the orchestral overture, and sat back as the curtain was raised on yet another Broadway success. It was all radio poppycock, of course; the shows were broadcast from Chicago or Hollywood, never New York City, and the plays were generally light comedies or dramas, written especially for the show. But for twenty-three years, this often charming series brought the glamor and sophistication of the Great White Way into the living rooms of America. The two programs in this collection come from late in the series run and feature Barbara Luddy, Olan Soule, and Rye Billsbury as “Mr. First Nighter”.
The Screen Guild Theater. Imagine Hollywood’s biggest stars performing, week after week, free of charge, for thirteen years to help fellow actors in need. This was The Screen Guild Theater radio show’s mission from 1939 to 1952. This Archive Masters collection offers five full-length broadcasts of The Screen Guild Theater. The movie stars are legion, including such bright lights as Ray Milland, Robert Montgomery, Richard Widmark, Jane Wyman, Bing Crosby, Dinah Shore, and Phil Harris — many of whom here recreate their original motion picture performances.
It’s a unique glimpse into the diversity of radio’s past — and a reminder of just how entertaining radio drama can be! 8 hours $23.98 Audio CDs / $11.99 Download.
