Radio Recap: Exploring Tomorrow

Exploring Tomorrow was a latter-day half-hour science fiction program heard on Mutual from December 4, 1957 to June 13, 1958, just as the program X Minus One was wrapping up at NBC. Like X Minus One's predecesor, Dimension X, it was affiliated with the magazine Astounding Science Fiction; unlike Dimension X, it featured active collaboration with the magazine as editor John W. Campbell hosted every episode (which he'd previously done for the short-lived Beyond Tomorrow)!

Exploring Tomorrow has two faults; radio being what it was at the time, it's a very truncated series (episodes tend to run about 15-18 minutes) so the drama is sped through very quickly. The other is the aforementioned Campbell. He considered himself the gatekeeper of science fiction, the tastemaker of the genre, but the man had no talent for dramatics. His unprofessional murmured introductions and outros (while "As Time Goes By" played in the background) really bring down Exploring Tomorrow; as an east coast Mutual program, the actual performances came from the same sort of east coast talent heard on shows like the Mysterious Traveler such as Larry Haines, Mason Adams, Maurice Tarplin, and Lawson Zerbe.

Stories on Exploring Tomorrow came from Astounding and included authors like Robert Silverberg, Isaac Asimov, Gordon Dickson, Philip K. Dick, Murray Leinster and Poul Anderson. Unlike X Minus One, there were no original stories.

X Minus One often had a very whimsical tone, particularly in its stories adapted from Robert Sheckley and the original scripts by Ernest Kinoy. Exploring Tomorrow, being so closely associated with Campbell, had that same Campbellian starchiness. There's precious little light-hearted content - Exploring Tomorrow took itself very seriously. There were even some barbed references to inhuman aliens called "Kinoys" in the episode "The Decision!" Campbell was unkind to people he saw as "outsiders" to the genre (such as Kinoy) dabbling in science fiction and all evidence suggests the majority of science fiction prose writers of the 50s were likewise very hostile towards radio and television people writing in the genre. Note the advertisement above, from an issue of Astounding, with its contempt towards "1930s style BEM's and ray-guns-cum-spaceships!"

Of interest is that Exploring Tomorrow featured its own adaptation of Tom Godwin's "Cold Equations," which did, after all, originate in Astounding. It's a very good adaptation, although I prefer the performances in the X Minus One version.

The first time I heard Exploring Tomorrow it was presented on my local radio station (QR77) as an episode of X Minus One, even though it still had Campbell's mumbled speeches (I didn't know what to make of Campbell's intro and outro - I assumed it was some disc jockey who talked over the original X Minus One intro and outro). The episode was "The Convict" and I wondered then why it sounded so unlike every other X Minus One I'd heard! On the other hand, "The First Men on the Moon" (January 22, 1958) featured a rocket blast that reused the introduction heard on X Minus One! Someone in the sound booth was having fun.

I do like the episode "The Mimic" (by Robert Silverberg) about an extraterrestrial who absorbs other people into its collective - it's a pretty good horror story.

Exploring Tomorrow's brief radio run had nothing to do with quality and everything to do with the diminishing stature of radio drama; when Mutual cancelled the series, it was nothing personal - they were also cancelling the entirety of their dramatic fare on radio!

You can hear the Old Time Radio Researchers' collection of Exploring Tomorrow episodes with the YouTube playlist below:

Radio Recap: Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar

"Another transcribed adventure of the man with the action-packed expense account, America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator: Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar!"

Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar was a detective series that ran over CBS from February 11, 1949 until September 30, 1962. It was one of the very last old-time radio shows, ceasing its broadcast run on the same night CBS cancelled Suspense. The role of Johnny Dollar was played by Charles Russell (1949-1950), Edmond O'Brien (1950-1952), John Lund (1952-1954), Bob Bailey (1955-1960; also known for Let George Do It), Bob Readick (1960-1961) and Mandel Kramer (1961-1962). However, it should be stated up front that of them all, Bob Bailey not only had the longest-run, but today, his episodes continue to be the most thoroughly circulated among all episodes of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar; to many fans, Bob Bailey is Johnny Dollar.

In every iteration, Johnny Dollar was an insurance investigator working out of Hartford, Connecticut, who would be sent by insurance companies to investigate their clients' insurance claims. This would involve an element of mystery and usually some danger as Johnny would inevitably find someone trying to steal or destroy an insured item, kill an insured person, or commit insurance fraud. The stories were narrated by Johnny as he indicated the various expenses he incurred on his account. In the early years, he sometimes traveled to investigate clients in exotic locales in Europe, Asia or the Caribbean; but usually, he was stateside. Initially, his tagline "yours truly" came with an implied question mark and his employers would complain about how he'd pad his expense account; that was dropped in time as Johnny became increasingly virtuous; by the time of Bob Bailey, his integrity was unassailable.

An audition program from December 7, 1948 still exists but although the script would turn up on the eventual series, the production is quite different from the eventual series; it was produced by Anton M. Leader (Words at War, Murder at Midnight, Suspense) and starred Dick Powell (who was in between Rogue's Gallery and Richard Diamond, Private Detective at the time)! It's even more surreal hearing Bob Bailey as the bad guy in the 2nd version of the pilot (which was Charles Russell's audition)! Leader didn't stick around past the original pilot, with Richard Sanville producing the series in its early days.

Richard Diamond seemed to haunt the series at times; in "Murder Ain't Minor" (August 7, 1949), Dollar quipped to his client, "There's any number of good licensed private detectives that you could have gone to: Philip Marlowe, Sam Spade and Richard Diamond-- and he would not only have solved your case he would also sing you a song; why did you come to me?" In a final, strange connection, a script from Richard Diamond, Private Detective was recycled with Johnny Dollar as "The Shayne Bombing Matter" (July 14, 1953)!

The series was sustained by CBS for most of its run but Wrigley's served as their sponsor from 1950-1954.

Early episodes had very typical titles but as of "The Abel Tackett Matter" (May 2, 1950) the series set itself apart from others by using "Matter" in the title of every episode. At times in the John Lund era the show would play like a police procedural; "The Dameron Matter" (April 21, 1953) for example, featured Johnny working alongside the police to solve a crime connected to his insurance company.

Music in early episodes was by Leith Stevens, who was also scoring Escape at the time - and indeed, the two shows had very similar organ music then. Wilbur Hatch took over the music when it shifted away from the organ to orchestral; music was mostly canned by 1955 but the series did at least have its own unique music bridges and themes (unlike NBC where every dramatic show used the same music library).

Bob Bailey's initial tenure on the series saw a switch from the half-hour format to a 15-minute Monday-Friday format in 1955. In this era, Johnny would usually solve a single case over 5 days (but some cases ran into 2 weeks). The serialized Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar is probably the most-beloved version of the series (it was my introduction to the program) and these days some fans have edited them into uninterrupted dramas that run about 1 hour each. But this format change only lasted for a year before reverting to the half-hour version.

The Bob Bailey years also included the one time Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar featured a guest star - Vincent Price, who portrayed himself as Johnny's client in "The Price of Fame Matter" (February 2, 1958). It's a fun episode for us Vincent Price fans. On the completion of Bailey's fifth year as Johnny Dollar the program celebrated with "The Five Down Matter" (September 25, 1960), with appearances by most of Johnny's supporting characters.

Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar didn't have a supporting cast in the way most detective programs did. There were all sorts of recurring characters but they didn't appear in every episode; in the Bailey years, Johnny had a girlfriend, Betty Lewis (Virginia Gregg, who previously starred opposite Bailey on Let George Do It), but she only appeared when it suited the plot. Similarly, Johnny had all sorts of insurance company representatives who would send him on his assignments, such as Pat McCracken (usually played by Lawrence Dobkin), but as Johnny was a freelancer he took his assignments from a variety of different companies. There were recurring clients as well, such as the wealthy eccentric Alvin Cartwright (Howard McNear).

The series was produced in Hollywood until 1960, when it moved to New York (costing them Bailey as their lead). It had benefited from CBS' terrific cast of Hollywood radio regulars, including William Conrad, Lawrence Dobkin, Parley Baer, John Dehner, Georgia Ellis, Virginia Gregg, Joseph Kearns, Howard McNear and Raymond Burr. In New York, it drew from the likes of Jackson Beck, Santos Ortega, William Redfield, Raymond Edward Johnson, Luis Van Rooten and Maurice Tarplin -- the same voices heard on Suspense in its own twilight years.

I count myself as a typical Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar fan in that I prefer the Bob Bailey years. The Edmund O'Brien years have some interest, particularly as they have longer stories (the Baily half-hours used lots of commercials), but I don't have much interest in the New York years - I found Mandel Kramer in particular to be an uninteresting Johnny Dollar.

The Old Time Radio Researchers have a YouTube playlist containing 721 episodes of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar! It includes all the audition recordings and, where the broadcast versions haven't been found uses what are clearly rehearsal versions (particularly in the Edmond O'Brien era).

Radio Recap: Strange Wills

"Dead men's wills are often strange; we cannot attempt to understand them, or try to find the answers; we can but tell the story."

Strange Wills was a syndicated program from Teleways that was hosted by Warren William. It was apparently aired from June 8-December 7, 1946. The show was produced by Robert Webster Light, directed by Albert Ulrich and featured the music of Del Castillo (of Escape).

Warren William had a long career in films that mostly peaked in the 1930s; I thought he was great in Employees' Entrance. He mostly starred in Warner Bros. films and played a lot of detectives, including Perry Mason, Philo Vance, the Lone Wolf and, uh, the not-Sam Spade in Satan Met a Lady.

Some of the dramas were the story of how an unusual will was written, with the will not entering the drama until the climax. In others, the will's reading would set off the drama as the inciting incident. Frequently, the emphasis of Strange Wills was on romance, only occasionally on mystery or thrills.

The episode "Madman's Diary" (August 17, 1946) features the diary of a scientist who claimed he could send people's minds backwards in time to their past lives; it plays out like an episode of the Mysterious Traveler -- it's nothing like the rest of the show!

Warren William usually portrayed a character in the drama in addition to his role as narrator; the cast included the likes of William Conrad, Lurene Tuttle, Howard Culver and Peggy Webber.

Strange Wills is a bit of odd fare; if you want to experience something well-made but off-the-wall, it might fit the bill.

You can hear the Old Time Radio Researchers' collection of Strange Wills episodes with the YouTube playlist below; it opens with the show's audition and pitch, which features a variety of clips from episodes:

Radio Recap: Let George Do It

"Personal Notice: Danger's my stock-in-trade. If the job's too tough for you to handle, you've got a job for me, George Valentine. Write full details."

Let George Do It was a half-hour detective show that starred Bob Bailey as George Valentine, who obtained his clients from an ad in the newspaper that emphasized his status as an odd-job man. His sidekick was Claire Brooks ("Brooksie") portrayed by Frances Robinson (later Virginia Gregg). George's frenemy with the police was Lt. Riley (Wally Maher). Let George Do It aired on Mutual for an impressive eight years from October 18, 1946 until September 27, 1954. It's the work Bob Bailey was best-known for prior to assuming the lead on Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. When he left to take over that series, Olan Soule became George Valentine (we have only a few of his episodes).

In the early days Brooksie was accompanied by her kid brother Sonny (Eddie Firestone Jr.). The tone of the series in the first year was originally broadly comedic; it was only in the second year that Sonny took a hike and the series became more of a traditional detective series. The show's original opening was:

"George Valentine has been out of uniform only a few weeks. Blessed with an abundance of energy and adventuresome spirit and not too much money, he has sunk his last dime in an office, renting a few pieces of furniture and an ad in the classified section of the daily paper, an ad which reads: You have a crime that needs solving? You have a dog that needs walking? You have a wife that needs spanking? Let George do it!"

That "You have a wife that needs spanking?" line was in particular timed for comedic effect. Plots of the first season are very simple, quaint... like an Archie comic book. Listening to the first year, it's amazing that they were given enough rope to retool the series into something a bit more formulaic but also better able to hold up year after year.

Let George Do It featured plenty of familiar radio actors in the supporting roles, including Luis Van Rooten, Paul Frees, Barney Phillips, Betty Lou Gerson, Tony Barrett, Herb Butterfield, Howard McNear, Pedro De Cordoba, Georgia Ellis, Lurene Tuttle, Jeff Chandler and William Conrad.

I've given grief to some other radio detective shows for how they depicted the hero's gal Friday, so I should note Virginia Gregg's Brooksie was a cut above them; she had the typical unrequited love for the hero (George always seemed to be too busy to focus on his relationship with Brooksie) but she wasn't bitter or manipulative, nor was she a flaky airhead. She took part in George's investigations and accepted risky assignments.

I find Let George Do It to be a decent enough program. I can't say that any episodes really stand out to me, but Bob Bailey's performances hold up well. If you like Bailey on Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, you probably enjoy Let George Do It too.

The Old Time Radio Researchers have a YouTube playlist of 243 episodes of Let George Do It - the syndicated versions are at the end of the list, some are available in both network and syndicated versions; the syndicated versions have a somewhat irritating mumbling announcer:

RIP: Sal Buscema

"Our Pal" Sal Buscema passed away last Saturday, just 2 days shy of his 90th birthday. He was the brother of the legendary comics artist John Buscema and got his start inking his brother. He wound up toiling as a penciler and inker at Marvel Comics from 1969 up to 2011. In his time, he worked on just about every major Marvel property, everything from Rom to Spectacular Spider-Man.

While his brother has earned plenty of accolades for his work, Sal hasn't received too many honours for his work (although I note my colleagues at the Inkwell Awards gave him four awards). Sal's most warmly-received run is probably his work on Defenders in the 1970s, but fans dub it "Steve Gerber's Defenders," not "Gerber and Buscema's."

I think Sal Buscema was seen as a "house style" artist - that is, people thought he imitated other artists (like his brother and Jack Kirby) rather than developing his own style. And yet, his style - especially as seen in Spectacular Spider-Man - is undeniably unique. His collaboration with writer Walter Simonson on Thor saw him shift his style to suit Simonson's own art; his long run on Incredible Hulk included a period with moody inks by Gerry Talaoc; and his Spectacular Spider-Man run included a run of stories where he was inked by Bill Sienkiewicz - it's scarcely recognizable as his old "house style."

When Sal Buscema was chosen as the cover artist for the series of Marvel Legacy handbooks we created in 2006 (he wound up drawing the covers to the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s books) I was honoured to have his art grace our cover as at the time, he was one of the last surviving 1960s Marvel artists, a genuine link to the past, which is what our books were honouring.

Rest in peace, Mr. Buscema.

Coming from Marvel in April: Annihilation Conquest TPB!

I haven't worked for Marvel in over a decade but some of my books - like Annihilation Saga - keep being reprinted. I'm always happy to see it brought back; solicit below:

ANNIHILATION MODERN ERA EPIC COLLECTION: CONQUEST PROLOGUE TPB

Volume #3 in the Annihilation Modern Era Epic Collections

Writer(s): DAN ABNETT, ANDY LANNING, CHRISTOS GAGE, KEITH GIFFEN and MORE
Pencils: MICHAEL PERKINS, MIKE LILLY, TIMOTHY GREEN II and MORE
Cover Artist(s): GABRIELE DELL’OTTO
272 PGS./Rated T+ …$37.99
ISBN: 9781302967116
Trim size: 6-5/8 x 10-3/16

Setting the stage for a sci-fi epic that will rock Marvel’s cosmos!

In the grim aftermath of the Annihilation War, a devastated universe struggles to rebuild. Gripped by fear and paranoia, civilizations have collapsed, and entire worlds are now smoking ruins. What’s next for the battle-weary hero known as Nova? What are Ronan’s plans for the once-mighty Kree Empire? And now that Peter Quill is once again Star-Lord, which cosmic characters will join his ragtag crew to guard the galaxy? Meanwhile, the new Quasar – Phyla-Vell, daughter of Captain Marvel – embarks on an epic journey, but what has happened to her home world? What classic foe of the Avengers is now hunting her? And what is troubling her lover, Moondragon? All the while, a devastating threat looms that threatens conquest – and annihilation!

Collecting ANNIHILATION: CONQUEST PROLOGUE (2007) #1, ANNIHILATION: CONQUEST – QUASAR (2007) #1-4, ANNIHILATION: CONQUEST – STARLORD (2007) #1-4 and ANNIHILATION SAGA (2007).

Radio Recap: Easy Money

"The National Broadcasting Company presents a new series of programs transcribed to expose the inside secrets of gamblers, racketeers and con men; it's called: Easy Money."
"Easy money? There's no such thing as easy money."
"Mike Trent, famous rackets detective and ex-magician has an exciting story of an Easy Money swindle for you, and here he is, that super-sleuth who makes an honest living out of fraud, Mike Trent."

Easy Money was an NBC program that appears to have aired just one year, from October 3, 1954 to June 5, 1955. The series starred Larry Haines as Mike Trent, the series' protagonist. Bill McCoy was the program's announcer. In the series, Mike Trent would go up against professional criminals and use his knowledge of magic to either solve the manner in which the crimes were performed, or equip himself to bring down the criminals.

Larry Haines had an appealing voice; he starred in a lot of episodes of Inner Sanctum Mysteries and I've always found him easy to listen to. Otherwise, the cast was comprised of a lot of familiar NBC voices (many recognizable to listeners of the Adventures of the Falcon).

The use of stage magic to solve crimes makes this show interesting, even with a mere 4 episodes to choose from. I'd be happy to hear more of this show, should they turn up.

The Old Time Radio Researchers Library has 4 episodes of Easy Money, at this link.

2025 in Media

A brief look back at the best films, comics and books I encountered in 2025.

Films of 2025: I made it out to the theatre for just 3 new films in 2025: Captain America: Brave New World, Mission: Impossible - Final Reckoning and Superman. I shared some thoughts about Superman here. For me, the latest Mission: Impossible was the best cinematic experience of the year, which would have surprised me years ago since I started out hating the franchise; I've really come around to it (it helps that the films have shown more respect for the TV series over time) and it's a great experience on a big screen. I also went to the theatre for a 100th anniversary re-release of the Phantom of the Opera which featured live organ music (especially composed for the event) and used an edit of the film assembled by the Calgary Cinematheque to more closely resemble the original theatrical release; it was a unique experience and the edit was the best version I've seen of the 1925 film. I also saw the 2025 films Sinners and Fantastic Four: First Steps at home; Sinners was a good time, I enjoyed its take on vampire mythos - though, frankly, the slaughter of the KKK at the climax of the film surpassed any of the previous action scenes.

Other films that I especially enjoyed were the horror film the Mist, the Holocaust drama Denial, the excellent retro action film Godzilla Minus One and the thriller the Falcon and the Snowman.

Comics of 2025: I continued following Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo, which released the mini-series Ten Thousand Plums last year; I reviewed it here. I also reviewed the anthology comic Fantastic Four Fanfare. I'm still reading Larry Hama's G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero and I'm really enjoy Al Ewing's take on Thor, which is heavy on continuity and cosmic horror. I also read Al Ewing and Steve Lieber's Metamorpho, which was good fun. I'm also reading (and yet to finish) the mini-series Death of the Silver Surfer by Greg Pak and Sumit Kumar and Marvel Knights: The World to Come by Christopher Priest and Joe Quesada.

The only other comic book of note that I read in 2025 was Patton Oswalt, Jordan Blum and Scott Hepburn's Minor Threats, which I reviewed here.

Books of 2025: The only 2025 book I read was Future Boy by Michael J. Fox, his personal account of the making of the original Back to the Future film. The most interesting part of Fox's story were his personal memories of what it was like to be a struggling young actor - it was especially striking to hear about when he owned only three shirts.

I read an awful lot of other books in 2025 - the best works of fiction were the Magic Skin by Honore de Balzac, about a man whose life is mystically bound to a piece of leather; the Secret History by Donna Tartt, which I sought out because I saw it favorably compared to Columbo - I wouldn't make the comparison myself but it was an excellent thriller; I read the science fiction novel Existence by David K. Brin; Cornell Woolrich's Waltz into Darkness was an interesting piece about a man who falls in love with a criminal and tries to make their relationship work; The Three Impostors by Arthur Machen was an engaging mystery read; I read A. P. Herbert's the House by the River, which I'd seen in film form and enjoyed; finally, I started reading Stephen R. Lawhead's Pendragon Cycle, starting with Taliesin and Merlin.

Early on, I read Banned Books by Elizabeth Blakemore and sought out many of the titles listed there; many of them were books about Black people's existence. Those I enjoyed the most were Black Boy, Richard Wright's autobiography about how Communists are intolerable people to be around, even when you're a fellow Communist; Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings; The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas; and Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You by Jason Reynolds.

Having become interested in Dr. Seuss' early cartooning work in publications like Judge, I read Brian Jay Jones' biography of Seuss, Becoming Dr. Seuss. I read Tim Roby's Box Office Poison about movie flops. i read Gideon Defoe's An Atlas of Extinct Countries, which focused on the various reasons why certain nations ceased to exist. And I read about the conservatism of science fiction in Jordan S. Carroll's Speculative Whiteness.

I also read a few books about the present state of Christianity in the US, including The Kingdom, the Power and the Glory by Tim Alberta and The Exvangelicals by Sarah McCammon.

I also read a great book about Angola - Jess Auerbach's From Water to Wine, her perspective of what Angola's emerging middle class are like. Although she lived in a different part of Angola than where I lived, I appreciated and understood many of her insights.

Radio Recap: Anthology

Anthology was a half-hour program on NBC from February 28, 1954 to June 12, 1955. It featured readings of poetry, most of them culled from recording (occasionally they played snippets from plays such as the works of Shakespeare, although the emphasis remained on the poetic nature of the works). Some times the poems were read by the original poets; other recordings were read by well-known performers. Other times they featured interviews with poets who read from their recent publications.

Poets heard in recordings on Anthology included Elizabeth Bishop, Claire Bloom, Noel Coward, T. S. Eliot, Archibald MacLeish, Carl Sandburg and Edith Sitwell. Famous names heard reading poems on Anthology included John Carradine, Ronald Colman, George Coulouris, Bing Crosby, Jose Ferrer, Sir John Gielgud, Frank Lovejoy, Agnes Moorehead, Tyrone Power, Vincent Price, Basil Rathbone and Orson Welles.

The series was hosted by Harry Fleetwood, produced by Steve Wright and directed by Draper Lewis. Obviously, if you don't like poetry you won't want to check out this series, but I think it's unusual enough that you should give it a chance. Some episodes feature seasonal themes such as Halloween and Christmas, which you might want to add to your own seasonal playlists.

Many of the recordings feature music behind the orator of the poems. I find it distracts from the poems and I wasn't alone - Fleetwood frequently read from listener mail in which listeners complained about the music and he discussed the matter with his guests, with opinions heard either side of the issue. Personally, I think music leading in and out is fine but when it plays under the spoken words it tends to interfere with the words' impact.

You can hear 57 episodes of Anthology at the Old Time Radio Researchers Library at this link.

Radio Recap: Great Plays

Great Plays was an hour-long program heard on NBC's Blue network, heard from February 26, 1938 til January 25, 1942. The series featured adaptations of popular plays from throughout history - not so much contemporary plays. There were plenty of radio programs which adapted plays, but they tended to feature either contemporary or beloved classics like Shakespeare. Great Plays features performances of many plays which I'd never heard of before.

Great Plays didn't feature famous names in the cast but the plays themselves were presented in an interesting manner - the first episode, adapting "The Birds" by Aristophanes, took the time to explain what the theater-going society in Greece of the time would have been like; that kind of context is lacking in other programs with famous plays.

The productions aren't all captivating, but a few stood out for me; George S. Kaufman's "Beggar on Horseback" (April 6, 1941) features a surreal dream sequence that required the program to be a bit more inventive in terms of musical cues and sound effects than their usual fare.

You can hear 46 episodes of the Great Plays at the Old Time Radio Researchers Library at this link.

Radio Recap: Michael Shayne

Michael Shayne was a detective hero created by Brett Halliday (aka Davis Dresser) who debuted in 1939; his publication, Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine ran 1956-1985 and the character had movies from 1940-1947 and a TV series from 1960-1961. And for our purposes, he was featured in three very different radio programs: The Adventures of Michael Shayne, Private Detective (Mutual, 1946-1947); The New Adventures of Michael Shayne (syndicated, 1948-1949); and The Adventures of Michael Shayne (ABC, 1952-1953).

I was surprised how difficult it was to find an explanation of where the different series came from and who was responsible for them. Even the normally-reliable RadioGoldIndex is shaky when it comes to the New Adventures of Michael Shayne, which only lists a few of the many circulating episodes. The best resource I found was the sadly-missed Digital Deli, whose article on every version of the Adventures of Michael Shayne can still be read via the Wayback Machine.

Mutual's The Adventures of Michael Shayne, Private Detective was apparently the version most faithful to the print version of the character. It starred Wally Maher as Michael Shayne and Cathy Lewis as his secretary Phyllis Knight. Although Phyllis originated in the print version, it seems the radio adaptation pushed her pretty hard as Shayne's sidekick, to the point that the series was always announced as starring "Wally Maher and Cathy Lewis." Mutual didn't seem to have the budget for big name stars so it does seem significant that they put a lot of promotion around Maher and Lewis, who at that time were very busy on all the networks but it was only on Michael Shayne that they were introduced as stars!

The show's resident friend on the force was Lt. Farraday (Joe Forte), no relation to the Farraday of Boston Blackie, one assumes. Farraday was about the chummiest of all radio police lieutenants as never quibbled with Shayne taking over his investigations. Phyllis was always present to assist Shayne, but she was portrayed as an extremely jealous woman who seemed to resent whenever Shayne's investigation involved another woman, despite the fact that Shayne's relationship to Phyllis was nothing more than professional (obviously she wanted more but boy, she comes off as a shrew).

The strangest aspect of The Adventures of Michael Shayne, Private Detective to me is the music; it's a very pleasant orchestral score that sounds like it could have been used on a sitcom or a soap opera; it clashes with the tone of the series to hear such light music play after a dead body has been discovered.

The New Adventures of Michael Shayne, starring Jeff Chandler, is the version I first heard and which has been circulated pretty freely among collectors (too freely, as some have tried to pass off identical programs under different titles). Each episode began with director Bill Rousseau declaring:

"Another transcribed episode with Michael Shayne, that reckless, redheaded Irishman back in his old haunts in New Orleans."

Since this was my first exposure to the character, I assumed the character's print exploits were normally set in New Orleans-- but no, apparently the earlier series' setting of Florida was closer to Shayne's usual stomping grounds. I suppose Rousseau (who was also director Pat Novak, for Hire, The Amazing Mr. Malone, Dr. Kildare and Richard Diamond, Private Detective) based his series in New Orleans because it was a colorful environment. Indeed, some episodes feature people attempting French accents (not very good French accents, mind) and there's a Mardi Gras episode, which is required by law for any fictional story set in New Orleans.

Jeff Chandler is best-remembered as the bashful biologist Philip Boynton on Our Miss Brooks; it's a testament to his range that he could manage one career as a tough guy, the other as a milquetoast. The opening of "The Case of the Generous Killer" (September 4, 1948) is typical of the gaudy narration Chandler would read:

"It wasn't a pretty picture: His throat had been slit not more than a minute ago! I started around the corner of the warehouse after the killer! All of a sudden, I spread-eagled in the air and my head splattered on the pier and a million stars exploded in front of my eyes-- and then, all the lights went out!"

The 1948 series didn't credit its supporting players but I recognized familiar voices including Paul Frees, Virginia Gregg, Hans Conreid and Larry Dobkin among the cast. But the biggest name in the cast was Jack Webb in the recurring role of Lt. LeFevre, Shayne's friend on the force (no, Webb did not attempt a French accent). This was a year before Webb broke out big with Dragnet; in some episodes he played additional characters - in one, I heard him as two other characters besides LeFevre, using a different voice style for each one. Back in 1948, Webb wasn't a recognizable voice and could get away with it; today, it's wicked obvious when he turns up as additional characters!

Supernaturalism abounded on the show; "The Case of Anthony Carrell" (July 15, 1948) concerned voodoo and "The Case of the Bayou Monster" featured a supposed werewolf.

The New Adventures of Michael Shayne was easily as over-the-top as Rousseau's Pat Novak, for Hire but not as deliberately funny or quippy. Still, Chandler's commitment to the lurid dialogue grants it a strength rarely found outside of Gerald Mohr's performance in The Adventures of Philip Marlowe.

ABC's The Adventures of Michael Shayne is yet another ABC program with precious little of its content preserved. Donald Curtis played Shayne for just a few weeks before being replaced by Robert Sterling. A few weeks later, Sterling left and Vinton Hayworth became Shayne for the remaining months. We have just one episode from this version of Michael Shayne: "The Case of the Queen of Narcotics" (April 3, 1953), which features Hayworth. This is actually a pretty interesting program - there's a scene where a heroin addict goes into a monologue about his addiction and it's a very striking scene, maybe the best performance to be found in any version of Michael Shayne.

You can hear 71 episodes of Michael Shayne at the Old Time Radio Researchers' Library.

12 Days of Christmas Radio Shows, Part 12: "Berlin, 1945"

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

For this final day of Christmas I'm featuring a quiet drama from (what else) Quiet, Please. The story features a group of soldiers celebrating Christmas together in Berlin just after the end of World War II. As the soldiers yearn to be home and try to lighten their spirits, they're joined by a man who isn't a soldier, yet seems familiar to everyone in the room.

"Berlin, 1945" originally aired December 26, 1948 and was written by Quiet, Please's creator Wyllis Cooper. The man who spoke to you was Ernest Chappell.

12 Days of Christmas Radio Shows, Part 11: "The Crossroads of Christmas"

Family Theater was an explicitly Christian program. In this tale, they feature the story of the Nativity from the perspective of the innkeeper and his wife; it makes a few additions to the story of the Nativity, primarily by suggesting the innkeeper's family would cross paths with Jesus later in life...

"The Crossroads of Christmas" originally aired December 17, 1952. It was written by John McGreavy.

Tomorrow: Quiet, Please!

12 Days of Christmas Radio Shows, Part 10: "Keeping Faith"

Today's program is an episode of the Armed Forces' program Proudly We Hail. It's the tale of the Wise Men at Epiphany, told virtually entirely from their perspective as they journey to Bethlehem.

"Keeping Faith" originally aired December 21, 1952.

Tomorrow: Family Theater!

12 Days of Christmas Radio Shows, Part 9: "Miracle for Christmas"

Today's program is the story of Dr. Mason, who accompanies an ambulance driver on a night full of crises. The ambulance driver is very cynical about the world, due to what he's seen driving his ambulance. Dr. Mason, however, seems to be something more than a mere man, and offers the driver a glimpse of hope.

"Miracle for Christmas" was written by Jay Bennett and broadcast at least 7 times on Grand Central Station; I'm presenting the version from December 24, 1949.

Tomorrow: Proudly We Hail!

12 Days of Christmas Radio Shows, Part 8: "A Stable in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania"

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Today's program is "A Stable in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania," an episode of Matinee Theater. The story opens on two rich men in a club who both feel cynical about the holidays. A waiter comes to tend on the two men and starts telling them a story about a young married couple who came to the town of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, as something of a contemporary retelling of the Nativity.

"A Stable in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania" originally aired December 24, 1944. It was written by Charles Tazewell, who also authored many Christmas radio plays I've featured before including "The Littlest Angel", "The Lullaby of Christmas", "The Small One" and "The Boy Who Sang for the King."

Tomorrow: Grand Central Station!