On October 15, 1956, Bob Bailey began a brand-new case as Johnny Dollar.

“The Phantom Chase Matter” opens with Johnny looking for an embezzler who skipped bail and disappeared.

The trail is thin.

Then a cryptic clue points Johnny toward New Orleans.

This was the first chapter of a nine-part story, giving Bailey room to do what he did so well. Instead of solving everything in thirty minutes, Johnny could follow leads, make mistakes, meet new suspects and let the mystery build night after night.

Listen to The Phantom Chase Matter, Part 1, originally broadcast October 15, 1956:

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/yours-truly-johnny-dollar-1956-10-15-497-the-phantom-chase-matter-ep-1-1st-of-9-1956-10-15-bob-bailey/

October 15 also delivered one of William Conrad’s darker radio performances.

In 1949, Escape aired “The Sure Thing.”

A ship’s doctor answers a distress call from a yacht carrying a man and a two-million-dollar bearer draft. Once money enters the picture, greed begins turning everyone aboard against one another.

By the time the doctor reaches port, he is alone with the draft.

Then the story takes one more turn.

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/escape-the-sure-thing-william-conrad-1949-10-15/

And ten years earlier, on October 15, 1939, The Mercury Theatre on the Air presented “Escape.”

A man imprisoned for a killing he insists was accidental breaks free and finds himself moving through a strange series of people and situations while trying to stay ahead of the law.

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/the-mercury-theatre-on-the-air-escape-1939-10-15/

Bob Bailey chasing a vanished embezzler. William Conrad trapped aboard a yacht with two million dollars at stake. And a fugitive trying desperately to remain free.

October 15 was a very good day for radio suspense.

Explore more broadcasts from October 15:

https://goldenradiohour.com/on-this-day/?date=10-15

Listen anytime with the Golden Radio Hour app:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.goldenradiohour.radio

#OnThisDayInRadio #JohnnyDollar #BobBailey #WilliamConrad #Escape #OldTimeRadio #GoldenRadioHour

Not things like references in TV and movies, real-life encounters. I can think of two for myself:

1. My grandmother always claimed she was 39. I didn't learn until years later that this was a reference to Jack Benny.
2. I used to work in an office building that had a storage room with a sign "Fibber McGee's Closet" on it. They even used the building standard so it matched all the other rooms.

I came across this short video of Dennis Day - what makes it interesting is that after the first few seconds, it's just him as a normal person. He's being interviewed before "Spring Fashion Show Night" run by "Hale Brothers", a now-defunct department store chain at "Memorial Auditorium" in Sacramento. I wasn't able to find anything about this particular event, but perhaps someone with actual research skills will chime in.

Aside from getting to see Dennis being the real Dennis, he adds another detail I hadn't known to how he ended up on the Jack Benny program. Most sources (that I've seen, at least) say that he was discovered by Mary when she heard a record of him singing, and brought it to Jack's attention. I've never seen much beyond that, but he says that he'd actually submitted it as an audition, which she happened to hear. This is also the first time I'd heard that roughly 500 people auditioned for the part. When I heard that, it occurred to me that I had absolutely no idea just how competitive these show roles could be. If anyone knows more details about Mary's involvement, I'd love to hear it, or any details regarding the second audition he says he had in California. It seems unlikely to me that she would actually be screening auditions herself, but maybe she reviewed the top 10 or something. Since Dennis mentions Jack coming in from Chicago, presumably Mary was in New York separately, for some reason. If she actually had family in New Jersey, like she does on the show, she might have been visiting them.

Dennis speaks about his family, how he got started singing, and how he ended up on the Benny show. There are some interesting facets of language on display as well, such as "How many children have you?" instead of the "how many children do you have?" that we would find more familiar today. Both Dennis and the interviewer speak in very measured, professional tones, unlike a lot of interviews with stars today.

Dennis being out of character isn't something I'd seen aside from briefly during his last episode before joining the navy. I hope everyone else enjoys it, too.

On October 14, 1946, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall brought To Have and Have Not to Lux Radio Theatre.

Bogart plays an American boat captain trying to stay neutral in Vichy-controlled Martinique.

That plan does not last.

He is pulled into helping the French Resistance while becoming involved with a mysterious woman played by Bacall.

Bogart and Bacall already had the chemistry that made them one of Hollywood’s great screen pairings, and radio gave listeners a chance to hear that same combination in a very different format.

Listen to To Have and Have Not, originally broadcast October 14, 1946:

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/lux-radio-theatre-1946-10-14-46-to-have-and-have-not-humphrey-bogart-lauren-bacall/

October 14 also gave radio listeners one of the more wonderfully titled episodes in the archive.

In 1953, Crime Classics presented “The Seven-Layered Arsenic Cake of Madame Lafarge.”

Set in France in 1839, the story revolves around a poisoning case filled with arsenic, marriage, family loyalty, and one big question: was Madame Lafarge a murderer, or was she caught in something much more complicated?

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/crime-classics-the-seven-layered-arsenic-cake-of-madame-lafarge-1953-10-14/

And in 1956, William Conrad starred as Matt Dillon in Gunsmoke’s “Gunshot Wound.”

A dying man comes back to Dodge determined to kill the brothers who shot him, leaving Matt racing to stop one final act of revenge before it is too late.

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/gunsmoke-1956-10-14-236-gunshot-wound/

Bogart and Bacall in wartime intrigue. A poisoned cake in 19th-century France. And William Conrad trying to stop a dying man from settling an old score.

October 14 gave radio listeners quite a night.

Explore more from October 14:

https://goldenradiohour.com/on-this-day/?date=10-14

Listen anytime in the Golden Radio Hour app:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.goldenradiohour.radio

#OnThisDayInRadio #HumphreyBogart #LaurenBacall #Gunsmoke #CrimeClassics #OldTimeRadio #GoldenRadioHour

Joan Banks had the kind of face that looked perfectly at home in classic Hollywood, but much of her best work happened where audiences couldn’t see her at all.

She began working in radio while still a teenager and became one of those remarkably adaptable actresses who could move from daytime serials to comedy, crime and suspense without sounding like the same woman twice.

Banks appeared in The Whistler, Escape, Night Beat, Richard Diamond, Private Detective, The Adventures of Philip Marlowe and A Man Called X. She also played Jane Stacy on My Friend Irma.

Her career stretched from the great network-radio years of the 1930s and ’40s all the way into the later CBS Radio Mystery Theater era.

Golden Radio Hour currently has 81 verified Joan Banks performances in the archive.

Explore Joan Banks on Golden Radio Hour:
https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-actors/joan-banks/

Listen anywhere with the Golden Radio Hour app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.goldenradiohour.radio

Do you recognize Joan Banks, or is she a new discovery for you?

Episode 18 of Zach Eastman's "Behind the Dial Podcast"

We’re back with the latest episode of “Behind the Dial,” in which Zach Eastman, vice president of The Society to Preserve and Encourage Radio Drama, Variety and Comedy (SPERDVAC), highlights SPERDVAC’s historic interviews with radio luminaries.

This week we learn the art of Sound Effects and of getting laughs from them with the recollections of CBS Sound Effect legend Ray Erlenborn! Ray was a staple of radio conventions for decades in the 80s and 90s, offering his memories of working with comedy legends like Jack Benny.

Tune in today to learn how Ray came to be a sound artist, how he dissects its importance to the comedy genre, and much more!

This show was originally recorded at a SPERDVAC meeting on April 17th, 1982.

YouTube: https://youtu.be/T6fukLxPw1Y

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4K0jDjP9AZMb4a41tUmbpL?si=2W42H8UDRSC8C8ND7Vj_tA

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-18-make-a-noise-ray-erlenborn-the-art-of/id1872194743?i=1000794065874

And hey, if you like these great podcasts and want to support Zach and his efforts, please remember to go to sperdvac.com and sign up for a membership, with rates starting at $20 annually!

On October 13, 1953, Frank Sinatra took one of the strangest jobs of his radio career.

His character Rocky Fortune answered an advertisement for a chauffeur.

Then somebody knocked him unconscious.

When Rocky wakes up, he is inside a wealthy household where everyone insists he is a man named Steve Crandell. There is even a wife waiting for him.

And, more importantly, a very large life insurance policy.

The episode is “Double Indemnity,” and Rocky slowly discovers that somebody intends to make him the dead body in an elaborate insurance scheme.

Rocky Fortune gave Sinatra a role far removed from the singer most people remember. Week after week, Rocky took whatever odd job he could find and somehow ended up surrounded by crooks, mysteries and people trying to kill him.

Listen to Double Indemnity, originally broadcast October 13, 1953:

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/rocky-fortune-double-indemnity-1953-10-13/

October 13 was also an especially good day for radio horror.

In 1947, Quiet Please aired “Camera Obscura.” A murderer who believes he escaped punishment encounters a strange optical device that begins showing him the crime he committed in the past.

The past, unfortunately for him, does not intend to stay there.

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/quiet-please-1947-10-13-19-camera-obscura-1947-10-13/

And in 1942, Lights Out gave listeners one of those wonderfully bizarre premises only radio could get away with.

In “Revolt of the Worms,” a chemist experimenting with a growth formula turns his quiet garden retreat into something much more dangerous when the creatures around him begin growing too.

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/lights-out-1942-10-13-273-273-revolt-of-the-worms/

Frank Sinatra caught in an insurance plot. A murderer confronted by his own past. And giant creatures taking over a garden.

October 13 was a strange night for radio, which makes it a pretty good one to revisit.

Explore more from October 13:

https://goldenradiohour.com/on-this-day/?date=10-13

Listen anytime in the Golden Radio Hour app:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.goldenradiohour.radio

#OnThisDayInRadio #FrankSinatra #RockyFortune #QuietPlease #LightsOut #OldTimeRadio #GoldenRadioHour

Mine is the Fibber McGee and Molly episode Cleaning the Hall Closet 3/5/1940. It's significant since it's the first appearance of the hall closet gag, but it's all around a fantastic episode.

This is a recording of segments from the Jack Benny episode, broadcast on April 12, 1942 from Camp Haan in southern California. There are a few things I noticed in it that were interesting (well, to me, at least). There's nothing insanely neat in what I have to say, so feel free to just enjoy the video and stop reading, if you like.

a) The actors handle their scripts differently. Jack moves a page that they just finished to the back of his stack of papers. Dennis Day seems to have his stapled, and Mary Livingston drops her read pages on the stage. In a different episode, a line is flubbed and Jack says something like "take that again, Mary". She says "I can't, I already threw the page away", much to the amusement of the audience.

b) The actors were surprisingly far away from the microphones. I knew that it was common for actors to share microphones, but I'd always assumed they were closer than that when speaking.

c) Speaking of the microphones, the script is held behind the microphone or to the side, not between the actor and the mic. Jack keeps his very low. Presumably it's a directional mic, and this helps keep paper noise down and prevents the script from muffling their speech. Nothing earth-shattering their, just not something I'd thought of.

d) They almost seem to carry themselves as if they're doing a stage read for a play, making eye contact with each other. I'd expected them to spend most of the time looking at the script. Maybe they felt like it made it a better experience for the audience?

e) The audience (and this is very common across OTR, just something I always found interesting) only applauds when an actor has their first line. I've wondered if this was established precedent, etiquette, or simply because they didn't always know what the actors looked like.

f) When Rochester make his appearance, you can see some of the orchestra members applauding. It makes sense for the orchestra to be expected to laugh and look like they were enjoying themselves, I just hadn't realized they also applauded.

g) This video also answered a question of mine when I'd listened to this episode a few weeks ago. After Frank Nelson's line about being the best sound man, Jack says "Virgil, you keep out of this!", pauses, glances down at his script and adds "Jerk!". Since he was clearly supposed to say that word as part of the sentence, and missed it, the audience gets a good laugh. I hadn't understood why "Jerk!" got a decent-sized laugh until I saw that.

h) Always good to see Frank Nelson put in an appearance.

Anyway, I wanted to share the video, and hopefully it's new to someone.

On October 11, 1953, James Stewart rode into another story as Britt Ponset in The Six Shooter.

The episode was “Silver Annie.”

Virtue City is fading away, and the railroad wants a right-of-way through an old mine owned by Annie Huxley. There is just one problem. Annie refuses to sell because she is convinced there is still silver buried inside.

Her family thinks she has lost her mind.

Britt Ponset is not so sure.

What follows is a very Six Shooter kind of Western. Instead of building everything around a gunfight, the story becomes a battle over Annie’s independence, a supposedly worthless mine, and whether one stubborn old woman might know something everyone else has forgotten.

James Stewart was such a natural fit for Britt Ponset. Quiet, decent and reluctant to reach for a gun unless he absolutely had to, he gave radio one of its most human Western heroes.

Listen to Silver Annie, originally broadcast October 11, 1953:

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/the-six-shooter-silver-annie-1953-10-11/

October 11 also gave radio listeners a couple of very different crime stories.

In 1951, Jack Webb’s Dragnet aired “The Big Shoplift.” Friday and Romero investigate a wave of shoplifting cases that eventually leads them to an unexpected offender and a problem much more complicated than simple theft.

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/dragnet-the-big-shoplift-1951-10-11/

And in 1959, Gunsmoke aired “Kitty’s Quandary.” A smooth-talking stranger learns Matt Dillon will be laid up after a tooth extraction, then takes advantage of Kitty’s trust while planning a deadly bank robbery.

William Conrad stars as Matt Dillon, with Georgia Ellis as Kitty.

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/gunsmoke-1959-10-11-392-kittys-quandary/

Three October 11 broadcasts. James Stewart trying to save an old woman’s independence, Joe Friday following an unusual shoplifting case, and Matt Dillon temporarily out of action at exactly the wrong time.

Explore more from October 11:

https://goldenradiohour.com/on-this-day/?date=10-11

Listen anytime in the Golden Radio Hour app:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.goldenradiohour.radio

#OnThisDayInRadio #JamesStewart #TheSixShooter #Dragnet #Gunsmoke #OldTimeRadio #GoldenRadioHour

On October 11, 1953, James Stewart rode into another story as Britt Ponset in The Six Shooter.

The episode was “Silver Annie.”

Virtue City is fading away, and the railroad wants a right-of-way through an old mine owned by Annie Huxley. There is just one problem. Annie refuses to sell because she is convinced there is still silver buried inside.

Her family thinks she has lost her mind.

Britt Ponset is not so sure.

What follows is a very Six Shooter kind of Western. Instead of building everything around a gunfight, the story becomes a battle over Annie’s independence, a supposedly worthless mine, and whether one stubborn old woman might know something everyone else has forgotten.

James Stewart was such a natural fit for Britt Ponset. Quiet, decent and reluctant to reach for a gun unless he absolutely had to, he gave radio one of its most human Western heroes.

Listen to Silver Annie, originally broadcast October 11, 1953:

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/the-six-shooter-silver-annie-1953-10-11/

October 11 also gave radio listeners a couple of very different crime stories.

In 1951, Jack Webb’s Dragnet aired “The Big Shoplift.” Friday and Romero investigate a wave of shoplifting cases that eventually leads them to an unexpected offender and a problem much more complicated than simple theft.

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/dragnet-the-big-shoplift-1951-10-11/

And in 1959, Gunsmoke aired “Kitty’s Quandary.” A smooth-talking stranger learns Matt Dillon will be laid up after a tooth extraction, then takes advantage of Kitty’s trust while planning a deadly bank robbery.

William Conrad stars as Matt Dillon, with Georgia Ellis as Kitty.

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/gunsmoke-1959-10-11-392-kittys-quandary/

Three October 11 broadcasts. James Stewart trying to save an old woman’s independence, Joe Friday following an unusual shoplifting case, and Matt Dillon temporarily out of action at exactly the wrong time.

Explore more from October 11:

https://goldenradiohour.com/on-this-day/?date=10-11

Listen anytime in the Golden Radio Hour app:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.goldenradiohour.radio

#OnThisDayInRadio #JamesStewart #TheSixShooter #Dragnet #Gunsmoke #OldTimeRadio #GoldenRadioHour

A blizzard. An isolated cabin. And two killers who have no intention of letting Matt Dillon walk away.

In “The Cabin,” William Conrad’s Matt Dillon is caught in brutal winter weather and takes shelter in a remote cabin.

Unfortunately, he has chosen the wrong cabin.

What begins as an escape from the storm quickly becomes a fight to stay alive, with Matt trapped inside and very few ways out.

This is the kind of Gunsmoke episode that shows why the radio series was so good. You don’t need a huge gunfight or a dozen characters. Give William Conrad a dangerous situation, a few strong voices and thirty minutes, and Dodge City suddenly feels very far away.

Originally broadcast December 27, 1952.

Listen to The Cabin on Golden Radio Hour:
https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/gunsmoke-1952-12-27-36-the-cabin/

Take Golden Radio Hour with you:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.goldenradiohour.radio

For the Gunsmoke fans: is William Conrad your Matt Dillon?

On October 10, 1948, Alan Ladd starred in an especially intriguing episode of Box 13, titled "Rendezvous in the Park at Night."

Imagine receiving an anonymous letter asking you to meet someone in a park at ten o'clock. You arrive expecting an adventure, but instead find a five-year-old girl waiting alone.

Her mother has left a note asking you to care for her. Then things become even stranger when two women claim to be the child's mother.

That's the situation facing Dan Holiday, the adventurous writer played by Hollywood star Alan Ladd.

Box 13 had one of radio's most entertaining premises. Holiday advertised that he was willing to undertake unusual adventures, and the replies arrived through a newspaper box numbered 13.

This particular story shows just how quickly an ordinary request could turn into something dangerous.

Listen to the October 10, 1948 episode:
https://www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com/crime/box-13/rendezvous-in-the-park-at-night-1948-10-10

ALSO ON OCTOBER 10

1949: Screen Directors' Playhouse presented "Criss Cross," starring Burt Lancaster. A gripping crime drama built around an armored truck robbery, divided loyalties, and betrayal.

1957: X Minus One broadcast "Death Wish." A spaceship headed toward Mars is thrown far off course, leaving its crew struggling with a terrifying problem involving the ship's new computer equipment.

Listen to Death Wish:
https://www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com/sci-fi/x-minus-one/death-wish-1957-10-10

Explore more old time radio history and episodes:
https://goldenradiohour.com/on-this-day/?date=10-10

Listen on the Golden Radio Hour Android app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.goldenradiohour.radio

That's the mystery waiting for Richard Diamond in The Ruby Idol Case, originally broadcast December 3, 1949.

A supposedly cursed ruby idol. A prediction that seems impossible to explain. And a detective who has to figure out whether he's dealing with something supernatural or someone using fear to hide the truth.

Dick Powell brings his unmistakable charm to this unusual case, balancing a genuinely strange mystery with the wit that made Richard Diamond such a memorable character.

If you enjoy detective stories with a little mystery beyond the usual suspects, give this one a listen.

Listen to the complete episode:
https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/richard-diamond-private-detective-1949-12-03-32-the-ruby-idol-case/

Would you believe the curse, or would you start looking for a very human explanation?

On October 9, 1938, Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre on the Air presented “Hell on Ice.”

Just three weeks before the famous War of the Worlds broadcast, Welles and the Mercury company were already showing how cinematic radio could become. “Hell on Ice” turned a brutal Arctic survival story into an adventure built from voices, music and sound effects, with Welles joined by performers including Joseph Cotten and Ray Collins.

Listen:
https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/the-mercury-theatre-on-the-air-mercury-theater-1938-10-09-14-hell-on-ice-1938-10-09/

Also on October 9:

1955: Gunsmoke aired “The Coward,” with William Conrad as Marshal Matt Dillon. Gunsmoke was at its best when the western setting was really a backdrop for difficult choices and complicated people, and this episode comes from the heart of the Conrad radio era.

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/gunsmoke-1955-10-09-183-the-coward/

1956: Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar continued “The Primrose Matter” with Part 2. Bob Bailey’s Johnny Dollar follows the trail of a major payroll robbery deeper into the case, continuing one of the five-part serials that made this era of the series so addictive.

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/yours-truly-johnny-dollar-1956-10-09-493-the-primrose-matter-ep-2-1956-10-09-bob-bailey/

Explore more radio history:
https://goldenradiohour.com/on-this-day/?date=10-09

Listen on the Golden Radio Hour Android app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.goldenradiohour.radio

You may not recognize the name Lillian Buyeff immediately, but longtime old time radio listeners have almost certainly heard her.

She was the kind of performer radio depended on. No single signature character was necessary. Buyeff could step into a tense mystery, a frontier drama, a crime story, or an adventure and make the character believable within minutes.

That versatility put her behind the microphone on some of radio’s strongest dramatic programs, including Escape, Suspense, Gunsmoke, The Whistler, Fort Laramie and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar.

Old time radio had plenty of stars. It also had remarkable working actors like Lillian Buyeff who helped make thousands of individual episodes work.

Do you recognize her name, or is Lillian Buyeff a new discovery for you?

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-actors/lillian-buyeff/

Listen to thousands of classic radio episodes in the Golden Radio Hour app:
Golden Radio Hour on Google Play

On October 8, 1944, Fanny Brice’s famous Baby Snooks crossed into the world of Blondie in “Baby Snooks Visits the Bumsteads.”

Brice had turned the mischievous, impossible-to-control Snooks into one of radio’s best-known child characters, despite playing the part herself as an adult. This episode brings Snooks into the Bumstead household, creating one of those fun golden-age radio crossovers where two familiar comedy worlds collide.

Listen:
https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/blondie-baby-snooks-visits-the-bumsteads-1944-10-08/

Also on October 8:

1949: Philip Marlowe aired “The Open Window.” Gerald Mohr’s Marlowe gets another case filled with the hard edges, suspicious characters and late-night atmosphere that helped make the series one of radio’s defining private-eye dramas.

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/philip-marlowe-1949-10-08-53-the-adventures-of-philip-marlowe-053-the-open-window/

1956: Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar began the five-part “Primrose Matter,” with Bob Bailey as Johnny. The opening chapter sends Dollar into the desert looking for killers and robbers, beginning another of the serialized stories from the celebrated Bailey era.

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/yours-truly-johnny-dollar-1956-10-08-492-the-primrose-matter-ep-1-1956-10-08-bob-bailey/

Explore more radio history:
https://goldenradiohour.com/on-this-day/?date=10-08

Listen on the Golden Radio Hour Android app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.goldenradiohour.radio

Bette Davis was already one of Hollywood’s most commanding stars when radio brought her performances into living rooms across the country.

In this 1944 Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of The Letter, Davis stars alongside Herbert Marshall and Vincent Price in a story built around murder, deception and a secret that refuses to stay buried.

Listen:
https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/lux-radio-theatre-1944-03-06-44-the-letter-bette-davis-herbert-marshall-vincent-price/

Golden Radio Hour Android app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.goldenradiohour.radio

On October 7, 1941, Red Skelton began his Raleigh-sponsored NBC series with “Policemen,” the first broadcast of that run. Ozzie Nelson and Harriet Hilliard joined Skelton for a mix of music and comedy built around policemen and a mock murder investigation. It was an early chapter in the radio career that would make Skelton one of the most recognizable entertainers of his generation.

Listen:
https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/the-red-skelton-show-policemen-first-show-for-raleigh-nbc-1941-10-07/

Also on October 7:

1950: Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar aired “The Richard Splain Matter,” with Edmond O’Brien as Johnny Dollar. It is a great chance to hear the series before the later Bob Bailey era.

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/yours-truly-johnny-dollar-1950-10-07-66-the-richard-splain-matter-1950-10-07-edmond-o-brien/

1974: CBS Radio Mystery Theater aired “Sister of Death.” Bret Morrison, remembered by many listeners as The Shadow, appeared in this story about a newlywed, a disturbing portrait, and the dead woman pictured in it.

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/cbs-radio-mystery-theater-1974-10-07-157-sister-of-death/

Explore more radio history:
https://goldenradiohour.com/on-this-day/?date=10-07

Listen on the Golden Radio Hour Android app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.goldenradiohour.radio

This had to have been like 2017, if that matters at all, and AM radio late at night playing old radio dramas. Honestly I really do not have much to go on other than there was 2 primary characters a man with a voice that reminded me of William Conrad and another character, and Asian...kid... that kept referring to the other character as "Fannigan" or "Fwanain" or maybe ever "Bwanangin". Ya know the stereotypical Asian accent for the time. That is what I recall the most, it being so over the top. I feel like this was war or war time story but heck if I can find any reference to it anywhere? The audio was not early tinny kind but more of the later 50s era.
Any ideas on what I could have been listening to?

Hello Old Time Radio,

Our next Code Bear Audio Dramas is here! I wanted to come back with our newest episode: The Thin Man: Case of the Goofy Groom.

We’ve been having a lot of fun bringing these old radio scripts back to life with our local cast, and this time we’re returning to Nick and Nora Charles for another mystery, complete with a wedding, a goofy groom, suspicious circumstances, and plenty of Nick and Nora banter.

We also had a little extra fun with this one and recreated one of the original radio advertisements from the broadcast! We’ve been trying to preserve some of the charm of listening to an old-time radio show while still making these recordings our own, and recreating the ad felt like a fun way to lean into that experience.

Everything is performed by our wonderful cast, recording together as an ensemble, which has been one of my favorite parts of making the series. Hearing everyone develop different characters, play off each other, and figure out how to tell the entire story through sound has been such a great experiment.

If you enjoy old-time radio, audio mysteries, or Nick and Nora getting themselves wrapped up in increasingly ridiculous situations, I’d love for you to give it a listen. And since we’re still growing the series, let us know what you would like to hear!

🎧 The Thin Man: Case of the Goofy Groom is available now on Code Bear Audio Dramas: https://info.codebearmedia.com/audiodramas

AI transparency: No AI was used in the recording, voices, or performances of this episode. All performances are from our human cast. The promotional thumbnail was composited in Photoshop using stock imagery, traditional editing techniques, and some of Photoshop’s AI-assisted tools.

On October 6, 1953, Frank Sinatra stepped into a very different role from the one most people remember him for.

NBC introduced Rocky Fortune, with Sinatra playing Rocco Fortunato, an unemployed young man willing to take whatever odd job the employment agency could find for him. Naturally, his very first assignment was working as an oyster shucker.

It did not stay ordinary for long.

In Oyster Shucker at the Fifty Fathoms, Rocky discovers pearls hidden inside oysters and suddenly finds himself mixed up in a smuggling operation. It was the beginning of one of the stranger corners of Sinatra’s career, with Rocky drifting from job to job and somehow finding trouble waiting at nearly every stop.

Listen to the October 6, 1953 premiere:

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/rocky-fortune-oyster-shucker-at-the-fifty-fathoms-1953-10-06/

October 6 also gave radio listeners a couple of wonderfully strange trips beyond the ordinary.

In 1947, Quiet Please aired Not Enough Time, the story of a man who succeeds in building a time machine and traveling fifty years into the past. But when he returns, he is no longer interested in celebrating his discovery. Instead, he wants the machine destroyed.

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/quiet-please-1947-10-06-18-not-enough-time-1947-10-06/

Eight years later, X Minus One broadcast First Contact. Two spacecraft meet far from home. One carries humans. The other does not. Neither side is willing to reveal the location of its home world, turning humanity’s first meeting with another intelligent civilization into a tense game of trust and survival.

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/x-minus-one-1955-10-06-first-contact/

So October 6 gave radio a pearl-smuggling Frank Sinatra, a time machine its inventor desperately wanted erased, and humanity staring across space at someone staring back.

That is a pretty good day in radio history.

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https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.goldenradiohour.radio