Old Time Radio

[Menard]

I rather like the old radio shows such as The Shadow and Jack Benny. In browsing the Edward R Hamilton Bookseller site I came across several of the Radio Spirits collections on cassette and CD. I have included the link to the page. (*This company only takes check or money order. An order form can be printed from the website or just write what you want on a sheet of paper. Shipping is $3.50 irregardless how much you order.)


Old Time Radio Collections



Post Edited (01-06-05 02:00)

[Deej]

Jack Benny and The Shadow are favorites of mine, as well. Burns and Allen are also good. And for star power, I like Box 13 with Alan Ladd and The Saint with Vincent Price. Dragnet is cool, but I've noticed that at least once during the broadcast, someone will be offered a cigarette. "You're under arrest for killing that guy....care for a smoke?". Could be because they were sponsored by Chesterfield Cigarettes or maybe I'm just cynical.

Check out BillSparks.com, good collections and reasonable prices. One of my favorite sites is RUSC.com, it's the only site I've found where you can listen to the programs online. It's a pay site, but the rate is reasonable(about $7.50 per month). They even have some hard to find stuff, like BOLD VENTURE starring Bogart and Bacall, which I haven't been able to find in any collection. Anyway, it's worth a listen. Glad to find another OTR fan!!



Post Edited (01-06-05 02:15)

[Menard]

Aside from The Shadow and Jack Benny, some of my favorites include Boston Blackie, Phillip Marlowe, You Bet Your Life, Suspense, and of course Burns and Allen. I do get a kick out of the old commercials that are included with some episodes, but I particularly like the way they integrated the sponsor into the show in Burns and Allen by using their announcer. The Shadow is an example of a premise that was ideal for radio as his unique abilities did not translate well in the few attempts that were made to put him on film. Both Boston Blackie and The Shadow had a calculated shrewdness to them and The Shadow took a particular pleasure in being one step ahead of the badguy, but letting the badguy think he was in control. The bookseller to which I have posted a link has clearance prices on these Radio Spirits sets. I was able to get 40 episodes of The Shadow on cassette for $14.95 and 40 episodes of Jack Benny on CD for $16.95. They also have a 10 CD set of The Shadow (20 episodes) which includes the voices of all six actors who played The Shadow, four as The Shadow and two in supporting roles. I believe this set is available for around $11.95.

[kriegerg69]

Several sites here which I use all the time:

This site has LOADS of free, complete episodes....and usually several for each show:

http://www.radiolovers.com/

This site not only sells MP3 CD's which contain dozens of episodes from each show on a single CD (which can be anywhere from 20 to 50 hours of shows per disc), but each show's page has a complete sample episode you can download:

http://www.otrcat.com/all.htm

This Mercury Theater site has several complete shows from Orson Welles and the Mercury Theater you can download, including WAR OF THE WORLDS:

http://www.unknown.nu/mercury/

Others out there also if you do a web search.

[Scott]

Hey Kriegerg69 are you the person who posted the one and only Chiller Theater intro on the internet, because someone using the name Kriegerg put it up on the Chiller Theater page. Those are also great memories. Let me know if you are the one. Thanks.

[kriegerg69]

Scott wrote:

> Hey Kriegerg69 are you the person who posted the one and only
> Chiller Theater intro on the internet, because someone using
> the name Kriegerg put it up on the Chiller Theater page. Those
> are also great memories. Let me know if you are the one.
> Thanks.
>

Depemds which version of the logo you're referring to. The later, black & white version with the old movies clips is on this page (not mine):

http://www.21ca.com/chiller/

The first version with the six-fingered hand is one I originally created and posted (Click the pic to download it):



HOWEVER....if you go to the DVD Drive-In site, George Reis (the webmaster) has a page up there for Chiller with the complete listings of all the broadcasts. He asked me to send him the clip I created to put up on his page, and later on someone else supllied him with the soundtrack for the video, so George now has the "fingers" version with sound up.

[Max Gardner]

Thanks for the link. I've been a fan of old-time radio since college, particularly Suspense, Quiet Please and Lights Out. CBS Radio Mystery Theatre can be entertaining, but it tends to mess around with existing stories in utterly baffling ways.

[Menard]

There was a radio horror anthology show I used to listen to in the early to mid seventies. It was hosted by E. G. Marshall. Is that CBS Radio Mystery Theatre or does it sound familiar?

[peter johnson]

Radio drama rules --
I did Ben Popken's Play With Your Radio for 2 years, broadcasting live on the web at www.kvcu.org, but off the air now -- dammit --
There are some other groups out there -- RabbitEars radio theatre sometimes is on some Public Radio streams, but you have to find them on different channels.
Lamont Cranston is the best -- whether played by Welles or the other guys, it doesn't matter -- wotta character --
peter johnson/denny crane

[Scott]

Wow, yea I really like that intro. I used to watch that every Saturday Night on WPIX. Those are some great memories staying up for CHILLER THEATER. You did a wonderful thing putting the famous hand in quicksand on the internet. I was looking at the page with the listings when I saw it about a month ago, but I also saw it on the Chiller Theater site a couple years ago. Neat how you were all able to put together the sound and image. Thanks.

[trekgeezer]

"What  evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!"

When I was a kid one of my big brothers bought a set of records from a company called The Longines Symphonette of old radio shows.  It had The Shadow , Jack Benny, Burns and Allen, Allen's Alley, Fibber McGee and Molly. I remember Allen's Alley featured a character called Senator Claghorn who sounded amazingly like Foghorn Leghorn.  Of course Fibber McGee would always end up opening his filled to the brim closet making everything tumble out.  

These brought great joy to my Mom and Dad because when they were young this was their TV.

[Ozzymandias]

Warner Brothers cartoon department came up with Foghorn Leghorn as a joke and based him on the Senator Claghorn character.

[Scott]

A couple radio shows I like listing to were FIBBER MCGEE and the JOEY McCARTHY SHOW with the dummie.

Of coarse I will always like BURNS AND ALLEN and ABBOTT AND COSTELLO.

[Menard]

"The weed of evil bears bitter fruit"

Aside from listening to a horror anthology on the radio in the seventies, my introduction to old time radio was about 25 years ago when I started collecting these single episode cassettes a lot of the bookstores were carrying (annoying, you had to turn the tape over half way through the episode).

Back then, one of my favorites was Jack Benny, and of course the Abbott & Costello 'Who's on First' episode.

However, THE SHADOW has truly become my addiction among old time radio shows; irregardless who is playing THE SHADOW (an advantage of radio when it came to changing stars).

I will eventually get into the MP3 CDs for the sake of cost and volume, but I still like listening to my cassettes on the Crosley replica I have.

[kriegerg69]

Scott wrote:

> Neat how you were all able to put together the sound and image.
> Thanks.

I didn't.....I explained in my reply above that I was only able to do the clip silently, and after supplying it to George Reis for his site, someone else came up with the sound, and George pieced it together.