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Besides posting book reviews, once in a while I will be posting articles on the subject of pulps. I hope we can generate more interest for the Blog. If you would like to share an article on the pulps, you can send me a message in the Comments of a post.

Friday, December 4, 2015

Radio Archives

 
December 4, 2015
 
16th Anniversary Celebration!
Radio Archives is celebrating 16 years of creating great products and we're commemorating this anniversary with a number of superior offers and once a year discounts through December 31st!
 
The Bargain Basement has a wide selection of Old Time Radio & Audiobook audio CDs - Pulps - Books and lots more at great prices. More than 50 discounted items, supplies limited. Check back often as new items are added every day.
 
Audiobooks at a 50% discount this week!
This week as the Anniversary Celebration continues, the spotlight is on Audibooks! A large selection of Audiobooks on audio CDs are in the Bargain Basement at 50% off this week. Whether you are experiencing one of the audiobook for the first time or completing your collection, this is the sale of the year. The spotlight on Audiobooks ends December 10th.
 

"If trouble is around, yours truly will most likely get a chunk of it."

Richard Diamond, Private Detective proved to be the perfect radio vehicle for actor-singer Dick Powell, combining his tough-guy image, showcased in the 1944 film "Murder, My Sweet" and the 1945-46 radio series "Rogue's Gallery," with his tremendous talent for a song, as all those 1930s Warner Brothers/Fox musicals will bear out. The detective series, created by an aspiring screenwriter named Blake Edwards, featured a hard-boiled detective who rarely took himself too seriously; Edwards, the future director of the "Pink Panther" film series, conceived the Diamond character as an ex-cop who had decided to hang out his own shingle in the investigation business.

Richard Diamond bore a not-unintentional resemblance to another wisecracking detective of the airwaves, namely Sam Spade. Both shamuses - Powell as Diamond, Howard Duff as Spade - demonstrated a breezy insouciance that added a much-needed touch of levity to the type of detective show that was often in danger of sinking under the weight of its own clichés. The lighthearted tone of Richard Diamond was even evident in the program's weekly opening, which featured Powell whistling a jaunty "Leave it to Love." It was not uncommon, after cracking each weekly case, for "the singing detective" to sit down at the piano in the penthouse apartment of Helen Asher, his wealthy, red-headed love interest played by Virginia Gregg and also Frances Robinson, and serenade her with a number from the Hit Parade. In-jokes were rampant on the show; Richard would often make reference to other detectives (notably Sam Spade) and he had a particularly pronounced fondness for actress June Allyson — in real life, Mrs. Dick Powell.

Just as Spade had a love-hate relationship with Lieutenant Dundy, Diamond shared a similar bond with his contact on the force, homicide detective Lieutenant Walt Levinson (played at various times by Ed Begley, Ted de Corsia, Alan Reed, and Arthur Q. Bryan). The sarcastic badinage between the detective and his easily agitated cop pal provided many a memorable moment on the series. Diamond reserved his suffer-no-fools disdain for Sergeant Otis Ludlum, a cop who had such a force field of stupidity surrounding him that you just know he had to have a relative at City Hall looking after his job. Otis was played by actor Wilms Herbert, who also doubled on the show as Francis, Helen's faithful retainer; Francis had an uncanny, mood-killing knack of barging in at the most inopportune times, like when Diamond and Helen were getting ready to turn down the lights and pour the wine....

Richard Diamond, Private Detective debuted over NBC Radio on April 24, 1949 as a sustaining series, but picked up a sponsor in Rexall Drugs in June 1950. Camel Cigarettes picked up the tab as of January of 1951, just before the show moved to ABC, but by June the show was back with Rexall again, which continued its sponsorship until the program left the airwaves on June 27, 1952. The series would return briefly during the summer of 1953 for CBS, recycling earlier scripts from the 1950-51 season.

 
Like so many of his radio contemporaries, Richard Diamond later tried his luck on television in a series that ran sporadically from 1958 to 1960. Powell served as the show's producer but, since he was too busy to play the title role, he hired a young actor named David Meyer for the part - and then suggested he change his last name to Janssen. David Janssen was certainly game, but he simply didn't possess Powell's charm and joie de vivre -- even then he looked as if he was "The Fugitive," on the run from Barry Morse. If the TV series is remembered at all today, it's for the early exposure of actresses Barbara Bain and Mary Tyler Moore, with Moore playing "Sam," the telephone operator at Diamond's answering service -- a role which featured only her sexy voice and her gorgeous legs. Old Time Radio fans know, though, that their fix of Richard Diamond can only be satisfied by tuning in the one-and-only Dick Powell...and what better way than with these eleven fully restored half-hour broadcasts, courtesy of RadioArchives.com.
 
6 hours - $8.99 Download / $17.98 Audio CDs
 
Having troubles ordering from the website?
Call us at 800-886-0551
 
Twins Judy and Jimmy Barton crawled into their attic one December day and found a passageway to a place called Maybeland. They looked in all the dusty corners for any sign of the silver star that always sat atop their Christmas tree. Their search crossed the path of little Paddy O'Cinnamon, "The Cinnamon Bear," who had shoe-button eyes and a ferocious growl. He showed them a small hole through which the Crazy Quilt dragon had absconded with their star and invited Judy and Jimmy to pursue the rascal. Paddy would function as a guide and they'd chase the dragon throughout Maybeland. Paddy magically "de-grew" the twins so they'd fit through the attic tunnel, fired up a miniature airplane powered by soda pop, and flew the Barton kids into a startling and wondrous adventure.
 
So begins "The Cinnamon Bear," a delightful, one-of-a-kind children's series produced in 1937 by TRANSCO, the Transcription Company of America. Intended to be heard between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the series features twenty-six fifteen-minute cliffhanger installments. The program immediately hooks children because suspenseful fun is always present as each episode concludes with yet another obstacle for Paddy and the twins to overcome. The dragon eventually joins up with the trio but remains unpredictable and mischievous. Named "Crazy Quilt," he succumbs time and time again to his obsession with the shiny silver star.

"The Cinnamon Bear" is, arguably, the best holiday series ever developed for radio. Containing all of the elements of a classic children's fantasy, combined with radio's unique ability to create vivid mental images in the minds of its listeners, it continues to delight both young and old. And now, for the first time, you can hear and enjoy "The Complete Cinnamon Bear" -- including all twenty-six original and unedited shows, the original 1937 promotional recording, and all of the songs from the series as transferred from an original set of 78 RPM recordings. Each of the programs has been digitally transferred directly from a set of original 16" broadcast transcriptions and painstakingly restored for outstanding audio fidelity - truly the best-sounding version of the series that has ever been released. It's yet another triumph for Paddy and his band of travelers as, after well over seventy years, they once again carry on their magical search for the silver star.
 
7 hours - $10.49 Download / $20.98 Audio CDs
 
 
Special 50% discount Offer
A creaking door and a chorus of haunting organ music. No radio show opening is more memorable for many fans than the one heard on Inner Sanctum Mysteries. This disturbing simple salvo led people into thirty minutes of suspense and horror sprinkled with puns from a creepy host, all of which can now be heard again in sparkling audio quality from Radio Archives.
 
Inner Sanctum Mysteries was the brainchild of producer Himan Brown, inspired by the unsettling creaking door in the basement of a studio where he once worked. Brown took that inspiration and built around it a formula that lived on beyond the show itself. Listeners tuned in every week to hear that door open and be welcomed by the sinister, yet often humorous host to join him in a chair near the fire inside the Inner Sanctum for a story sure to chill them to the bone.
 
Stories on Inner Sanctum Mysteries originally included both classic and original tales, the new stories taking center stage as the show continued. With writers like pulp scribes Emile Tepperman and Robert Newman, as well as Robert Sloan, Milton Lewis, and others, it is little surprise that Inner Sanctum is still beloved by fans today. Utilizing numerous clichés and literary devices, Inner Sanctum Mysteries carried listeners into the heart of horror, a liberal dose of camp often thrown in. Using voices ranging from star Boris Karloff to a veteran crew of New York radio actors, Inner Sanctum set the standard for horror programs both on radio and even inspired decades of horror hosts on television.
 
Inner Sanctum Mysteries, Volume 1 features the best of fright, terror, and fantastic storytelling the series has to offer! Ten hours, twenty shows of spine tingling fun.
 
Specially priced until December 10th. 10 hours - $7.49 Download / $14.99 Audio CDs
 
 
Special 50% discount Offer
"You're about to be entertained by some of the biggest names in show business..."

November 5, 1950 saw the debut of what many observers at that time considered radio's "last gasp": "The Big Show" - "ninety minutes with the most scintillating personalities in the entertainment world." The National Broadcasting Company mounted the expensive, star-studded extravaganza in an effort to reclaim its former dominance on Sunday nights, decimated by both television's rising popularity and the success of rival CBS in peeling off much of NBC's former talent (Jack Benny, Edgar Bergen, "Amos & Andy", etc.) in the Tiffany network's legendary "talent raids." 

With a price tag of nearly $100,000 (that's $885,000 in 2008 dollars) per broadcast, "The Big Show" presented a weekly mixture of comedy, drama and music from such guest stars as Jimmy Durante, Ethel Merman, Danny Thomas, Groucho Marx, Fanny Brice, Bob Hope, Eddie Cantor, Rudy Vallee, Judy Garland and Fred Allen - the latter graduating to semi-regular/contributing writer status. In fact, each program found the guests introducing themselves by name; the introductions completed with a husky voice intoning "...and my name, dahlings, is Tallulah Bankhead." Bankhead, a celebrated stage veteran renowned for her work in plays like "The Little Foxes" and "The Skin of Our Teeth," served as the show's mistress of ceremonies - proving to be both an apt foil for the program's guests and a self-deprecating good sport for an endless series of "rivalry-with-Bette-Davis" jokes. In explaining her motivation for agreeing to host a weekly radio series, she told Newsweek Magazine "I have to live in the style, dahling, to which I'm really accustomed."

"The Big Show" has long been considered one of radio's biggest financial failures but, listening to the program through 21st Century ears, the show will surprise many a radio fan; the program's writing remains top-notch, the performers are at the peak of their craft, and the music remains sprightly and entertaining as ever. What makes "The Big Show" mind-boggling is that it seems inconceivable that a program of its scope could be put across today. Of course, many thought it impossible back then, but host Tallulah Bankhead reassured listeners that "all it takes is courage, vision...and a king-sized bundle of dough." And with that, Radio Archives invites you to listen to a courageous, visionary - and yes, expensive - program from radio's Golden Age; the first five shows of the series that, thanks to expert transfers and complete audio restoration, make a battered-and-bruised contender sound like a genuine champ
 
Specially priced until December 10th. 10 hours - $7.49 Download / $14.99 Audio CDs
 
 
by Frederick C. Davis writing as Curtis Steele
Read by Milton Bagby
 
 
Speeding through the silent blackness of the night, a long freight-train was laden with a cargo more precious than fine gold — wheat! Then suddenly, the hirelings of Apocryphos unleashed red destruction, and the great machine lay wrecked, its cars of priceless grain afire... Another blow in the ruthless campaign that was driving a proud people, whimpering, to slavery — overwhelmed by the cruel pangs of hunger! The four horsemen of the Apocalypse, thundered sharp-hoofed over the sterile reaches of a famine-wasted continent, while only one man — Operator #5 — realized the ghastly extent of the diabolical plot. And only he — America’s undercover ace — could hope to bring the canny schemer to the justice he deserved — death!

James Christopher did not technically belong to the U. S. Secret Service. He was a top agent for an America’s unnamed Intelligence Service. It was in his blood. His father, John Christopher, retired from the same agency years before. Answerable only to his superior, Z-7, and carrying a letter from the President of the United States identifying him as Operator #5, Jimmy Christopher played for keeps. He carried a rapier sewn into his belt, and in a golden skull hanging from his watch-chain was a reservoir of poison to be taken in the event of capture.

Aided by a small group of trusted assistants, ranging from his twin sister Nan to scrappy street urchin Tim Donovan, Jimmy Christopher was a one-man defense force. Proud and patriotic, expert marksman and swordsman, he is the best America has to offer in a time of severe trial.

Into this unprecedented crisis plunged Jimmy Christopher. Only one man, but a man who embodied the American spirit — and stands prepared to perish to protect his country.
 
Legions of Starvation is read with stirring intensity by Milton Bagby. Originally published in the December, 1934 issue of Operator #5 magazine.
 
5 hours - $9.99 Download / $19.98 Audio CDs
 
by Will Murray and Lester Dent writing as Kenneth Robeson
Read by Michael McConnohie
 
 
It began with an uncanny encounter on busy Seventh Avenue. Two men pass each other in the street, walking along calmly one minute—struck down the next by a horrific fate.
 
All over Manhattan, soundless detonations cut down prince and pauper alike. No one is safe. Great buildings are reduced to ruin. Banks are demolished. The authorities stand helpless.
 
Only one man, Doc Savage—scientist, adventurer and superman—can penetrate the eerie enigma that threatens to bring the mightiest city on earth to its knees. But when The Alchemist decrees that the Man of Bronze must surrender unconditionally to save New York, will Doc be snuffed out next?
 
From the besieged canyons of New York to the rugged coast of Alaska, Doc Savage and his men race to resolve the riddle that brings grisly doom to ordinary citizens—and threatens the economic recovery of a Depression-besieged world.
 
Michael McConnohie once again gives a commanding performance reading this enthralling thriller.
 
10 hours - $19.99 Download / $39.98 Audio CDs
 
 
Special 50% discount Offer
by R. T. M. Scott
Read by Nick Santa Maria
 
 
Meet the Spider — master of men! More just than the Law... more dangerous than the Underworld. Hated, wanted, feared by both! Alone and desperate, he wages deadly, one-man war against the super-criminal whose long-planned crime-coup will snuff a thousand lives! Can the Spider prevent this slaughter of innocents?
 
In the summer of 1933, Popular Publications President Harry Steeger and his executive editor, Rogers Terrill, decided to enter the new field of magazines built around a single hero. They wanted to publish a crimebuster to rival a famous pulp juggernaut. Steeger frankly admitted in later years, “The reason we started the title The Spider was because of the success of Street & Smith’s The Shadow. At this point in pulp history individual titles became very popular, so we decided to try out a few ourselves.”
 
The author chosen to pen the first Spider tale was a famous mystery and suspense novelist whose preferred byline was R. T. M. Scott. More than a dozen years before, Scott became famous for his stories and novels featuring Secret Service Smith, a government agent who later became a consulting detective for hire. It's clear that Scott modeled this new hero for the Depression generation after his previous protagonist.
 
The Spider Strikes establishes the essentials of this exciting series. Richard Wentworth is reckless, cold-blooded, and perfectly willing to play dangerous game between the law who seeks his capture and the enemies of the law he is sworn to track down. While his motivations are unclear, his single-minded determination is without question. He is a hunter of criminals, and in his debut novel he becomes a hunter of supercriminals in the form of the mysterious Mr. X.
 
So go now with Richard Wentworth, alias the Spider, as he tackles his first great case and comes face-to-face with the diabolical Mr. X.
 
Nick Santa Maria brings the action to electrifying life. Originally published in The Spider magazine, October, 1933.
 
Specially priced until December 10th. 5 hours - $4.99 Download / $9.99 Audio CDs
 
 
 
 
The Shadow
The Shadow Double Novel Reprints
 
Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows! The Shadow crisscrosses the country battling thieving black marketeers in two wartime thrillers by Walter B. Gibson. First, The enigmatic "King of the Black Market" endangers the future of our nation at the time of its greatest peril. Then, coast-to-coast car hijackings sabotage the war effort until The Shadow shuts down the subversive "Crime Caravan." Bonus: an Orson Welles Shadow classic from the Golden Age of Radio! This instant collector's item showcases the classic color pulp covers by Modest Stein and the original interior illustrations by Paul Orban, with original commentary by popular culture historian Will Murray. Double Novel Reprint $14.95
 
 
 
Doc Savage Double Novel ReprintsBooks by Will MurrayLost Radio Scripts bookDoc Savage Audiobooks
by Will Murray and Lester Dent, writing as Kenneth Robeson, cover illustration by Joe DeVito
 
When a vivacious blonde convinces Monk Mayfair to skip an important sea voyage to London, and instead run off to her Louisiana plantation, Ham Brooks is very suspicious.
 
After Doc Savage enters the picture, things start popping. As in fists and guns. Finding themselves on a steamship bound for the Caribbean, Doc, Ham, and a reluctant Monk become embroiled in wartime intrigue surrounding the question of who is desperately trying to keep them off the Northern Star, and why?
 
From New York City to the Bahama Banks, Doc Savage and his mighty men follow the trail, making new allies along the way, until they plunge into a hurricane of horror only some will survive…. Softcover $24.95
 
 
(Note: The price was incorrect on the website last week, so the sale price has been extended one more week.)
by Will Murray, cover illustration by Joe DeVito
 
Doc Savage vs. King Kong!
 
Eighty years ago in February, 1933 the Street & Smith company released the first issue of Doc Savage Magazine, introducing one of the most popular and influential pulp superheroes ever to hit the American scene. Doc Savage was the greatest adventurer and scientist of his era, and while his magazine ended in 1949, he influenced the creators of Superman, Batman, Star Trek, The Man from UNCLE and the Marvel Universe—to name only a few.
 
While that first issue of Doc Savage was fresh on Depression newsstands, RKO Radio Pictures released one of the most important fantasy films of all time. Everyone knows the story of how King Kong was discovered on Skull Island and hauled back to New York in chains, only to perish tragically atop the world’s tallest skyscraper, the Empire State Building.
 
As it happened, that was where Doc Savage had his world headquarters. For decades, fans have wondered: Where was Doc the day Kong fell?
 
On the eightieth anniversary of these fictional giants, Altus Press is proud to release the first authorized clash between The Man of Bronze and the Eighth Wonder of the World—Doc Savage: Skull Island. Written by Will Murray in collaboration with Joe DeVito, creator of KONG: King of Skull Island, Doc Savage: Skull Island is a new pulp epic. Softcover $12.47
 
 
The pulps' greatest superhero returns in two action-packed thrillers by Lester Dent writing as "Kenneth Robeson." First, after Johnny Littlejohn disappears in Cairo, Doc Savage journeys to the Land of the Sphinx to discover the strange secret behind "The Pharoah's Ghost." Then, the Man of Bronze is accused of murder when "The Man Who was Scared" is killed in Doc's own offices! PLUS a Bill Barnes novelette by Charles S. Verral, a never-published article by Lester Dent and a classic illustrated story from the Golden Age of Comics. This instant collector's item showcases both classic color covers by Modest Stein and the original interior illustrations by Paul Orban with historical commentary by Will Murray, author of sixteen Doc Savage novels. Double Novel Reprint $14.95
 
 
The Spider
The Spider Double Novel ReprintsThe Spider Double Novel ReprintsThe Spider AudiobooksThe Spider eBooks
 
The Spider, Volume 7
Published by Sanctum Books
The pulp's most murderous crimebuster wages his deadly war on crime in two violent 1935 thrillers by Norvell Page. Recovering from life-threatening injuries, Richard Wentworth confronts the lightning-wielding Lion Man from Mars to end mass slaughter and save his beloved city from "The Flame Master." Then, with Nita held hostage and Commissioner Kirkpatrick enslaved by a criminal mastermind, The Spider wages his lone war against the acid-spraying "Overlord of the Damned." This double novel pulp reprint showcases the original color covers by John Newton Howitt, John Fleming Gould's classic interior illustrations and historical commentary by Will Murray. Double Novel Reprint $14.95
 
 
Magazines
 
 

 
has a wide selection of Old Time Radio - Audiobooks - Pulps and lots more at great prices. More than 50 discounted items, supplies limited.
 
 
 
 

Comments From Our Customers!
 
Jim Gaudet writes:
Wow! I was in heaven listening to every episode of "Richard Diamond, Private Detective"! More please?
 
Dean Seabrook writes:
I just wanted to express my appreciation for the extraordinary amount of material you have posted about the radio serial "The Cinnamon Bear." I am originally from Portland, Oregon, and "The Cinnamon Bear" has been broadcast in Portland since 1938; my mother grew up with it, I grew up with it, and now my children listen to it. I have never seen most of the images and materials you posted. What a treat!
 
Anthony Thompson writes:
Wow! I can't say enough about how these CDs sound. I was skeptical until I heard them. I purchased volume 1 of "The Big Show" and am ecstatic. You don't know how many times I've replayed the theme on half a dozen different MP3 versions of the shows just to decipher the words to the theme song and it is crystal clear on each of the five episodes I purchased. I will soon be purchasing the other 4 sets. Thanks again!
 
If you'd like to share a comment with us or if you have a question or a suggestion send an email to Service@RadioArchives.com. We'd love to hear from you!

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