Angola Bound

Today I depart for Angola to begin a 1-year term as an associate missionary with SIM Canada, as I've occasionally mentioned on this blog. My departure has been delayed due to COVID, but now it's finally come together!

This blog will continue to update over the next year. There will still be some blogging about comics, film & radio, but likely a lot of posts about what I'm doing in Angola. If that's not to your liking, you can always filter this blog by clicking on the tags. On the other hand, if you only want to see posts about Angola, click the 'Angola' tag!

A Cracked Look at Cracked

Cracked magazine was a satirical publication which was published 1958-2004. It was very much an imitator of Mad, but proved to be the most successful of all the imitators, enduring far past the initial 'Mad fad.'

I didn't pay much attention to Cracked when it was being published but recently I've been indexing many of the issues for the Grand Comics Database. The most interesting thing I discovered about Cracked was that it originated under the guidance of Sol Brodsky. Cracked was born in the wake of Marvel Comics' late 50s implosion, which put a lot of Marvel staffers like Brodsky out of work. Although Brodsky only edited the first few issues of the magazine (Marvel rehired him), those early issues are full of unusual creators who were more commonly seen in 1950s Marvel comics: Joe Maneely, Bill Everett, Carl Burgos, Jack Davis. There was genuine talent behind the launch of the magazine.

Above all else, the magazine had John Severin. Severin was with Cracked from 1958-2000. He drew more covers than anyone else and for much of the 70s he was the title's go-to person for satirical stories. As the magazine delved more into satirizing film and television programs in the 70s, Severin's ability to caricature famous faces was invaluable to the magazine. Severin's art was far and away the best thing in the magazine. Up until the late 80s, he and Bill Ward were probably the two artists most associated with the magazine. In time other notables stayed for long durations like Vic Martin, Don Orehek and Mike Ricigliano.

Cracked's parodies came in two flavours: "barely trying" and "trying too hard." In the former, many of their satirical stories maintained the actual name of the product they were mocking. Properties like Mork and Mindy and The Simpsons appeared under their own names. Surely Cracked would have been sued out of existence if anyone had been paying attention. In the latter, they would alter so many words in the property's original title that it only vaguely suggested what they were satirizing. For instance, 'Third Rock from the Sun' became 'Tired Crock Far from Fun.'

From around 1985-1990, Cracked had an interesting renaissance spearheaded by their new editor Mort Todd. Todd was perhaps the magazine's best editor - he continued to employ many of the Cracked veterans and would give them special recognition (Cracked's writers were usually unidentified prior to Todd). He also hired unusual creators for Cracked such as Peter Bagge, Daniel Clowes, Milton Knight and Steve Ditko! It was also under his reign that Don Martin was hired away from Mad magazine. I have no idea how that was accomplished since Cracked apparently paid quite a bit less than Mad; Martin's Cracked work looked identical to his Mad work and I'm sure it helped the magazine's profile.

But after Todd left the magazine just seemed to be marking time. There was a sense in Mad and the other imitators of the 1950s that - even though surely the vast majority of their readers were little kids - that they were attempting to write for a sophisticated audience. By the 1990s Cracked was pretty much done with 'sophistication.' The magazine seemed to narrow its focus on its junior high readers with plenty of fart and booger jokes. The magazine switched owners and became the property of the people publishing Weekly World News, which seemed to accelerate its demise. Severin quit when they tried to slash his salary. Many of the rank of file artists who had been at Cracked for a decade or more left, replaced mainly by nobodies. Barry Dutter, best-known as the man who was so obsessed with She-Hulk that even John Byrne thought he needed to chill, took over most of the magazine's writing.

But in the end it wasn't the lowbrow humour, the exit of all the talented creators or even Dutter who drove Cracked out of business. In 2001, the offices of American Media - Cracked's owners - were hit by an anthrax attack. The magazine never really recovered from that and petered to a slow end.

Yet in an outcome so original that no satirical writer could have conceived of it, Cracked left the comics business to become a popular humour website and is today arguably much better respected than the dwindling Mad!

20 Great Years of Radio, Part 20: 1957

1. The Stan Freberg Show (CBS): Just as radio seemed to be getting out comedy, along came Freberg! Freberg was the last great radio comedian. I love this short-lived show which is chock full of sketches, my favourite being his werewolf satire.
2. X Minus One (NBC): Another good year for radio's best sci-fi series which included unusual episodes like the disquieting Drop Dead, the heartfelt Saucer of Loneliness and disturbing Caretaker.
3. The CBS Radio Workshop (CBS): This year saw another elaborate sci-fi two-parter with The Space Merchants and a great surreal episode called Nightmare. There's also a fun adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's Never Bet the Devil Your Head.
4. Suspense (CBS): Another good year of Suspense, the best being Shooting Star and Flesh Peddler.
5. Sleep No More (NBC): Another good year of Nelson Ohmstead's program, the best being the horror story A Suspicious Gift. He also read the original version of Three Skeleton Key. Other good stories are To Build a Fire and Woman in Gray.
6. You Bet Your Life (NBC): This fun radio game show continued to be good fun under Groucho Marx's guidance.
7. Bob and Ray (CBS): Another good bunch of comedy programs by this duo.
8. Gunsmoke (CBS): More from the best western on radio.
9. Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar (CBS): Another fine year for this, which was practically the only radio detective show left on the air.
10. The Great Gildersleeve (NBC): This long-running sitcom came to its end this year. I was never much of a fan of this series, but it could be charming at times.

...And that's the end of my list. 1957 was the last year of old-time radio where I felt I could assemble a top 10 list. The number of shows was quite small by 1958. By splitting up these 20 years into 20 top ten lists, I hope I've identified some shows you might have otherwise passed over. If so, enjoy!

20 Great Years of Radio, Part 19: 1956

1. X Minus One (NBC): This show produced many fine sci-fi tales this year, from the funny satirical program Skulking Permit to the oddball Junkyard. I'm also very fond of Bad Medince, The Lifeboat Mutiny and Pictures Don't Lie.
2. The CBS Radio Workshop (CBS): CBS' willingness to invest in a new version of Workshop this late in radio is a real treat as the series does its best to show how versatile radio can be. The two-part adaptation of Brave New World which opens the show is an obvious stand-out, but episodes like Ray Bradbury's Season of Disbelief, Stan Freberg's Analysis of Satire and the true crime I Was the Duke are all great radio!
3. Suspense (CBS): This year William N. Robson took over the program as producers. The number of commercials is annoyingly large but Robson brought back big-name performers and had some strong scripts. William Conrad gave it his best in The Waxwork and some other good episodes are Two Platinum Capsules, Game Hunt and The Prophecy of Bertha Abbott.
4. Bob and Ray (Mutual): Another good year for this fun, semi-improv comedy duo.
5. Sleep No More (NBC): This program is very low budget with little more than just Nelson Ohmstead reading stories over the radio. But Ohmstead was an amazing dramatic reader and he had a knack for finding unusual prose stories that virtually no one else was championing. His best episode is The Storm but I also loved Mr. Mergenthwirker's Loblies and The Man in the Black Hat.
6. Our Miss Brooks (CBS): The final year for this fun sitcom.
7. You Bet Your Life (NBC): Another good year for Groucho Marx's game show.
8. Gunsmoke (CBS): This year the series had some good episodes like The Photographer. I'm also fond of The New Hotel - or rather, the very funny rehearsal version!
9. Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar (CBS): Another good year for this series which was mostly still being done in serial format.
10. Fort Laramie (CBS): This was another western series from the creator of Gunsmoke and starring Raymond Burr. It was nowhere near as good as Gunsmoke but still a good radio drama.

20 Great Years of Radio, Part 18: 1955

1. X Minus One (NBC): Basically a revival of Dimension X with many recycled scripts, this was a huge shot in the arm for radio drama in the later 50's. All of the great episodes this year had been heard before on Dimension X but there were new stories coming!
2. Suspense (CBS): Antony Ellis took over this series as it produced some good scripts such as Ray Bradbury's Kaleidoscope, Zero Hour and The Whole Town's Sleeping.
3. The Jack Benny Program (CBS): This was the final year for Jack Benny on the radio (although the Best of Benny rebroadcast many earlier episodes). He carried on via television but it was a testament to his loyalty to radio that he remained on the air long after many other comedy shows had ended.
4. The Whistler (CBS): This was the final year for The Whistler. Although most of its episodes were stories which had been told before, it went to the end very consistent and strong, a quality radio crime program.
5. Lux Radio Theater (NBC): This was the final year for Lux, which had a great adaptation of The War of the Worlds in this year.
6. Our Miss Brooks (CBS): Another good year for this sitcom.
7. You Bet Your Life (NBC): This quiz show hosted by Groucho Marx brought some new content to radio. The real reason to listen wasn't the game show, of course, but Groucho's funny one-liners as he interviewed contestants.
8. Gunsmoke (CBS): Another great year for radio's best western series.
9. Dragnet (NBC): And this was the end of Dragnet, which would carry on in its television version.
10. Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar (CBS): This detective program was at this time a serial program with Bob Bailey as the hero. This was its best incarnation.

20 Great Years of Radio, Part 17: 1954

1. Escape (CBS): This was the final year for this great program and featured tough episodes like Judgement Day at Crippled Deer, an adaptation of The Birds and the psychological drama The Dark Wall.
2. Suspense (CBS): Auto-Lite ended their sponsorship of Suspense this year. A few great episodes snuck in like Murder by Jury, Weekend Special: Death and The Shelter.
3. The Jack Benny Program (CBS): This year saw many cast members depart as Bob Crosby left and Mary Livingstone was mostly-gone. Still, it was the best comedy of its time. This year's Christmas shopping episode had Jack buying paint for Don Wilson.
4. The Whistler (CBS): Another good year for this mystery series.
5. Lux Radio Theater (CBS/NBC): Lux actually switched networks this year, despite being a long-time hit at CBS. Their production of The Day the Earth Stood Still is one of the series' best productions. There were also great adaptations of The Blue Gardenia and Detective Story.
6. The Phil Harris/Alice Faye Show (NBC): This great sitcom was also winding down at this time.
7. Our Miss Brooks (CBS): This sitcom, on the other hand, had several more years ago and was as strong as ever!
8. The Shadow (Mutual): This was the end of the Shadow; there are only two surviving episodes from this year: Death in the Deep and The Vengeance of Angel Nolan. The show's quality was pretty consistent during its post-war years; it was easily the best adventure hero series on radio.
9. Gunsmoke (CBS): Another great year for this, the best of all radio westerns.
10. Dragnet (NBC): Another good year of the best procedural series.

20 Great Years of Radio, Part 16: 1953

1. Escape (CBS): This was an amazing year for Escape with many strong original scripts like the nightmarish I Saw Myself Running, the terrifying cabin fever story A Study in Wax and the spy drama Classified Secret. But there was so much more, from Stephen Crane's Open Boat to an adaptation of The Voyages of Sinbad! Escape had a pretty loose theme yet somehow it felt consistently great despite the differences in content.
2. Suspense (CBS): This period is not my favourite of Suspense as I feel producer Elliott Lewis was trying too hard to prove himself. Still, some episodes in the classic Suspense format broke through like Pigeon in a Cage, the story of a man caught in an elevator. And Jack Benny made another good appearance with the funny sci-fi story Plan X.
3. The Jack Benny Program (CBS): Benny had a pretty funny year with a funny parody of Road to Bali with Bob Hope. This year's Christmas shopping episode had Jack buying dates for Don Wilson.
4. The Whistler (CBS): Anther good year for this venerable mystery program.
5. The Hall of Fantasy (Mutual): This series has a reputation for being a horror program with many dark endings in which the protagonists fail. By this time the other horror shows were all off the air and The Hall of Fantasy pushed the supernatural a bit stronger than its predecessors had. Some good episodes include The Dance of the Devil Dolls, The Night the Fog Came and The Marquise of Death.
6. Lux Radio Theater (CBS): By this time Lux was beginning to wind down but there were still good film adaptations here and there such as The Bishop's Wife. There were also more episodes which weren't based on films, such as The Birds, a decade before Hitchcock's film!
7. Our Miss Brooks (CBS): This was another fun year for this light-hearted sitcom.
8. Gunsmoke (CBS): This year had one of my favourite episodes, The Round-Up, in which Marshall Dillon makes a tragic mistake. The program willingness to have the hero fail makes it much more interesting than any other western program.
9. The Six-Shooter (NBC): Speaking of other western programs, here's James Stewart's western show. This was a very well-written and well-performed show that would have gone a long way if only it had started a few years earlier, before advertisers moved their money into television.
10. Dragnet (NBC): And this was a good year for Dragnet with one of their best Christmas epides, The Big Little Jesus.

20 Great Years of Radio, Part 15: 1952

1. Escape (CBS): This was another good year for Escape which had some unusual episodes like Robert of Huntingdon, which seemed to be a pilot for a Robin Hood series.
2. Suspense (CBS): At this stage Suspense was getting pretty deep into the Elliott Lewis era. I get the sense Lewis was desperate to prove his bona fides as a "creative" producer, which is why this year sees the first of his episodes based on songs. There was also an increased emphasis on stories "based on actual fact" which seemed to be a little envious of Dragnet. Still, despite Lewis' many deviations from Suspense's usual format there were still some great episodes in the classic tradition like The Death of Me, How Long Is the Night, Remember Me? and Track of the Cat.
3. The Jack Benny Program (CBS): This year saw the departure of Phil Harris from Benny as Bob Crosby took his place; eventually even Bob would leave as the cast simply dwindled away. Still, the series was still the strongest comedy on radio with a funny parody of Bend in the River and a good Christmas shopping episode where Jack wants to buy Don Wilson a gopher trap.
4. The Whistler (CBS): This was another good year for this strong mystery program.
5. Bob and Ray (NBC): While some comedy programs were beginning to fade at this time as money went away, Bob and Ray never needed much of a budget so their show seemed to get better each year!
6. The Mysterious Traveler (Mutual): This was the end of this long-running horror series, which certainly devoted more time to science fiction in its last years. This year had a good sci-fi story in Strange New World and a somewhat satirical story in The Haunted Trailer.
7. The Phil Harris/Alice Faye Show (NBC): Although I miss Harris on Benny, his own program remained a strong series with a lot of funny sitcom plots.
8. Gunsmoke (CBS): As I've indicated before, I'm not really a western fan, but Gunsmoke is in a class by itself. This is easily the show's best year with one amazing episode called The Cabin in which Marshall Dillon has a chance encounter with two criminals who have invaded a cabin in the dead of winter.
9. Dragnet (NBC): Dragnet has a very steady quality from year to year. Much was made of the show's attempts to promote realism, which has arguably been carried forward into today's television shows. It's not a personal favourite of mine, but I can't deny its excellent production values.
10. The Black Museum (syndication): This is late-stage Orson Welles from his years as a Hollywood-hasbeen. He made a number of shows like this, but I feel The Black Museum is the best - it's a crime show centered around objects in Scotland Yard's Black Museum, with Welles hosting.

20 Great Years of Radio, Part 14: 1951

1. Escape (CBS): This was another good year for Escape with a decent adaptation of Ray Bradbury's The Earthmen. Other good episodes included the mountaineering adventure Conquest and the wartime thriller The Island.
2. Suspense (CBS): This was another good year for Suspense which included the show's first appearance by Jack Benny in Murder in G Flat. There were also some interesting offbeat episodes like the prohibition tale Windy City Six. But the highlight of the year for me is Death on My Hands with Phil Harris, a rare dramatic role for Harris which resulted in its author being snapped up to write for Alfred Hitchcock!
3. The Jack Benny Program (CBS): This was another good year for Benny with the first of his skits surrounding the IRS visiting him (although every IRS skit was basically the same script with slightly different jokes). This was also the year where Jack went shopping for cufflinks for Don Wilson.
4. Dimension X (NBC): This was Dimension X's final year but it continued its high quality with some great Ray Bradbury adaptations like Dwellers in Silence, The Veldt, Marionettes Inc. and Kaleidoscope. I'm also very fond of The Martian Death March, a tale drawn from real historical tragedy.
5. The Whistler (CBS): This was a good year for the Whistler with some strong episodes like Christmas Gift and Man in the Storm.
6. The Mysterious Traveler (Mutual): This year included the Mysterious Traveler's most famous story, Behind the Locked Door, demonstrating that even this late the show was still a strong program. Some other good episodes included Christmas Story, The Planet Zevius and Hideout.
7. Inner Sanctum Mysteries (ABC): This was the end of Inner Sanctum. The series wasn't as sharp here as it had been in the past but there were still some good episodes like The Death Proposal.
8. Bob and Ray (NBC): Bob and Ray are an incredibly oddball comedy duo who are, I think, difficult to appreciate at first. Their amazing ability to parody radio with a great deal of ad-libs makes them a fascinating discovery for radio fans who want some unusual comedy.
9. The Phil Harris/Alice Faye Show (NBC): Another great year for this very likeable sitcom.
10. The Halls of Ivy (NBC): This is an unusual comedy program which places more emphasis on the dramatic plots than the comedic beats. It has a unique flavour that's rather appealing, as are the performances by Ronald & Benita Colman.

20 Great Years of Radio, Part 13: 1950

1. Escape (CBS): This was a great year for Escape, the finest highlight being their 2-part adaptation of Earth Abides. It was also the year of Wild Jack Rhett, a prototype for Gunsmoke. And other great episodes included Present Tense, Sundown, Bloodbath and Poison.
2. Suspense (CBS): This was the year Elliott Lewis took over the series. He'd come up the ranks, performing on the show and writing a few episodes. Eventually I feel his work caused the show to sag, but at this point Suspense was still a very sharp program with great episodes like On a Country Road, Too Hot to Live and Never Steal a Butcher's Wife.
3. The Jack Benny Program (CBS): This year seemed to be most notable for flubs - it was the year Don Wilson said "Drear Pooson" and Mary Livingstone said "grassreek." But beyond that there was a very funny satire of The Whistler and a good multi-episode gag about Jack giving 50 cents to a panhandler.
4. Dimension X (NBC): This was the first great radio science fiction series and it started strong with many episodes adapted from top sci-fi authors. The best of the best were Ray Bradbury's There Will Come Soft Rains and Mars Is Heaven. Other great episodes included The Embassy, A Logic Named Joe and Universe.
5. The Whistler (CBS): Another good year for the Whistler which included Damon Runyon's Three Wise Guys and good episodes like The Wall.
6. Inner Sanctum Mysteries (CBS/ABC): This was another good year for the series with some interesting episodes like the way-out oddity of The Hitchhiking Corpse and a very good chiller Beyond the Grave.
7. I Love a Mystery (Mutual): I am not as interested in I Love a Mystery as some - I find Carlton E. Morse's dialogue to be incredibly stilted. Still, this revival series includes the serial Temple of Vampires, which is pretty good - some good quasi-supernatural moments, but overall just a great adventure program.
8. Screen Directors Playhouse (NBC): Of all the Lux imitators who sprung up after the war, this is one of the best. It was only a half-hour but had great adaptations of popular films with many of the original cast members. This year included: Tomorrow Is Forever, The Dark Mirror, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, Shadow of a Doubt, Lifeboat and Miracle on 34th Street.
9. The Mysterious Traveler (Mutual): This was another good year as the series became increasingly a science fiction program, with episodes like The Man Who Tried to Save Lincoln and Operation Tomorrow.
10. Our Miss Brooks (CBS): This is one of the best latter-day radio sitcoms, with Eve Arden and a great cast of radio players. The series was very formulaic but the jokes were good and the performances were always on the mark.

20 Great Years of Radio, Part 12: 1949

1. Quiet, Please (ABC): This was the final year of this series but it continued strong to the end with the weird sci-fi tale Northern Lights and a rare Easter-themed program called Shadow of the Wings. Other great episodes included The Man Who Knew Everything, Dark Gray Magic and Tanglefoot. This was a one-of-a-kind program.
2. Escape (CBS): Another terrific year of Escape, with some of my favourites including The Lost Special and Red Wine, but it's most famous episode is Three Skeleton Key. Other great episodes are Finger of Doom, The Adaptive Ultimate and Plunder of the Sun.
3. Suspense (CBS): This was a great year for Suspense with plenty of big guest stars and very strong scripts. Bob Hope played against type in Death Has a Shadow; Lucille Ball delivered a weirdly-enjoyable story in The Red Headed Woman. Other great episodes include Chicken Feed, Mission Completed and Three O'Clock.
4. The Jack Benny Program (CBS): At this point Jack's show was suffering a little because his writers were recycling scripts and gags frequently, but Jack remained a great comedian to the end, so this is another good year.
5. The Whistler (CBS): This year produced my personal favourite episode of the series, Letter from Cynthia. The twist ending in this one is immensely satisfying!
6. Inner Sanctum Mysteries (CBS): Another great year for this series which included some geniunely creepy stories like Devil's Workshop. I'm also very fond of Mark My Grave, A Corpse for Halloween and Deadly Fare.
7. The Mysterious Traveler (Mutual): Another good year for this series with episodes like Death Has a Cold Breath and The Last Survivor.
8. The Phil Harris/Alice Faye Show (NBC): Another strong year for this sitcom.
9. Richard Diamond, Private Detective (NBC): This was a fun detective series with Dick Powell as the lead character. It was usually a whimsical series but sometimes could be a intense crime program. Mostly, it's carried by Powell's likeable performance.
10. Candy Matson (NBC): Another detective series which is carried mostly by its dialogue, this show stands out because it's a rare detective show with a female lead. All in all, a witty show.

20 Great Years of Radio, Part 11: 1948

1. Quiet, Please (Mutual/ABC): This was easily this program greatest year - the year in which the legendary episode The Thing on the Fourble Board was aired. Another phenomenal episode Whence Came You also aired this year. But there's so much more, and I think I love this series more than average OTR fan; I love Presto Change-o I'm Sure and I get the feeling it's not a hugely popular episode. But some other great episodes are Symphony in D Minor, My Son John and Let the Lilies Consider.
2. Escape (CBS): Another great year for Escape, with some of their best supernatural stories including Papa Benjamin, Ancient Sorceries and The Grove of Ashtaroth. But there's so much more to say, from legendary episodes like Leiningen vs. the Ants, Action and Snake Doctor. I also feel The Log of the Evening Star and S.S. San Pedro could use a little more love.
3. Suspense (CBS): This was an odd year for this show - William Spier stepped away and Robert Montgomery stepped in when the show switched to a 1-hour format. There was a neat 1-hour episode The Kandy Tooth with Sam Sapde and an adaptation of Crossfire, but it was mostly forgettable. Anton M. Leder took over as producer and eventually Auto-Lite stepped in as the new sponsor. Some great episodes from this year include Yellow Wallpaper, Hitchhike Poker and A Little Piece of Rope.
4. The Jack Benny Program (NBC): This was another good year for Jack Benny with a fun multiple-week story involving Jack borrowing then losing Ronald Colman's Oscar. This was the Christmas where Jack went shopping for a wallet for Don Wilson, thus establishing Don's presents were now an annual tradition.
5. The Whistler (CBS): Another good year for The Whistler with episodes like Delayed Christmas Present and Lady from the Sea.
6. The Damon Runyon Theater (syndication): This series was my introduction to Damon Runyon. Virtually all of his Guys and Dolls stories were adapted in this program and they're certainly different than anything else on radio - the bittersweet tales of The Lemon Drop Kid, mixed with the humourous Tobias the Terrible - it's a nice oddity.
7. Inner Sanctum Mysteries (CBS): Another good year of Inner Sanctum. At times the show was very formulaic but there strong entries such as Between Two Worlds and Death of a Doll.
8. The Mysterious Traveler (Mutual): Another good year of this show with the episodes Murder in Jazz Time and Murder Is My Business.
9. The Phil Harris/Alice Faye Show (NBC): This remains the best Jack Benny spin-off and had some fun situation comedy.
10. The Shadow (Mutual): Another decent year for the Shadow with some very unusual episodes such as The Nursery Rhyme Killer and The Wig Makers of Doom Street.

20 Great Years of Radio, Part 10: 1947

1. Escape (CBS): Here, finally, is a series ready to displace Suspense! Escape is possibly my favourite radio series. The mix of great and unusual adaptations from literature alongside new scripts, all of them centered around simply exotic locales and high adventure - there was nothing just like Escape. During this first year there were more great episodes than I could possibly list! Confession! Casting the Runes! The Country of the Blind! The Most Dangerous Game! The Fourth Man! Escape didn't enjoy a large budget like Suspense but the performances and scripts were always top-notch.
2. Suspense (CBS): Another great year of Suspense which included Ray Bradbury's original story Riaboushinska. Some other great and unusual episodes are Elwood, The Story of Markheim's Death and You Take Ballistics. There's also a second version of The Visitor that I think surpasses the original!
3. The Jack Benny Program (NBC): This year Jack's new singers the Sportsmen Quartet took up a lot of space. Their gimmick was that they were a singing group whose singing annoyed Jack. I've never really been to warm on them - Jack being frustrated by them is fine, but their songs are never interesting. Jack redid last year's "I Stand Condemned" play, this time with Boris Karloff. As much as I like Peter Lorre, I think Karloff's is much funnier. This was also the year Jack performed a parody of Dark Passage, an episode which first made me a Jack Benny fan!
4. Quiet, Please (Mutual): Oh, boy! This is a very unusual series with dark supernatural trappings. Sometimes it was a horror program, sometimes it was a light fantasy series. Frequently it was very funny. Wyllis Cooper's scripts and Ernest Chappell's performances were a fine combination and this year saw great scripts like I Remember Tomorrow, Don't Tell Me About Halloween and Kill Me Again.
5. Mystery in the Air (NBC): And here's another great horror series, albeit very short-lived. This series starred Peter Lorre in all manner of programs which brought out the best of his intense style, never better than in The Horla. Other great episodes included The Mask of Medusa, The Queen of Spades and The Black Cat. The only pity is that was so brief.
6. The Whistler (CBS): Another great year of the Whistler which included great twist endings in scripts such as The Two Lives of Colby Fletcher, The Big Prison and The Girl Next Door.
7. The Mysterious Traveler (Mutual): Another good year of horror scripts, this year included New Year's Nightmare, The Woman in Black and The Man Insects Hated.
8. Inner Sanctum Mysteries (CBS): Another decent year for the Inner Sanctum, the best episode of this year was Death Pays the Freight.
9. The Phil Harris/Alice Faye Show (NBC): This was easily the best of the many Jack Benny spin-offs and this year was particularly great with the first installment of their annual Christmas show guest-starring Jack Benny himself. Elliott Lewis was terrific as Harris' sidekick and the writing was pretty clever.
10. The Shadow (Mutual): Another good year of the Shadow with a stand-out episode titled The Shadow's Revenge. Some other highlights were The Gift of Murder and Spider Boy.

20 Great Years of Radio, Part 9: 1946

1. Suspense (CBS): This was another terrific year for Suspense which included The House in Cypress Canyon, considered to be the one of the series' all-time greatest episodes. Some other great episodes this year included The Pasteboard Box, Return Trip and The Thing in the Window.
2. The Jack Benny Program (NBC): In this season Dennis Day returned and there was a great guest appearance by Danny Kaye. A memorable skit called "I Stand Condemned" was performed for the first time with guest star Peter Lorre, Jack went shopping for shoelaces for Don Wilson and the best of the show's parodies was a satire on The Lost Weekend.
3. The Whistler (CBS): This was a great year for The Whistler which included one of their all-time best episodes, Brief Pause for Murder. Another terrific twist ending is found in Quiet Sunday.
4. Inner Sanctum Mysteries (CBS): This was a pretty great year for Inner Sanctum too, with one of my own favourites, The Man Who Couldn't Die. Other great episodes were Skeleton Bay, Death Is a Double-Crosser and Make Ready My Grave.
5. Academy Award Theater (CBS): This was one of several post-war shows which seemed to be trying to mimick Lux. This one was pretty good - it has an adaptation of Stagecoach that I like, and I don't particularly like westerns! The adaptations of The Maltese Falcon and Shadow of a Doubt are great too.
6. The Mercury Summer Theater (CBS): This was the last of Orson Welles' great ensemble radio cast programs, a brief revival of the original Mercury Theater. This one includes a good redo of The Hitchhiker and a very good play of The Moat Farm Murder.
7. The Adventures of Sam Spade (CBS): There's very little surviving from the start of this series, but this is an incredible show. At a time where it seemed every private eye on radio wanted to sound like Sam Spade, the actual Sam Spade program was something of a parody! The light-hearted humour and sardonic dialogue in this series really sets it apart from the pack.
8. The Mysterious Traveler (Mutual): A pretty good year of this horror series, which included highlights such as Death is the Visitor, No One on the Line and If You Believe.
9. The Life of Riley (NBC): Another good year of this fine family sitcome.
10. The Shadow (Mutual): Another good year for the Shadow with some good episodes such as The White Witchman of Lawaiki and Shadow of Suspicion.

20 Great Years of Radio, Part 8: 1945

1. Suspense (CBS): A typically phenomenal year for Suspense! This year included so many great episodes and, despite Suspense's renown, I fear there are many that still haven't received the attention they're owed. August Heat with Ronald Colman is far and away my favourite of the year but there are all kinds of amazing episodes such as The Visitor, To Find Help and Murder for Myra.
2. The Jack Benny Program (NBC): This was a strong year for Benny which included a fun series of weekly sketches where Jack recounted how he (supposedly) met each of his co-stars (Phil Harris' episode is the best). This was also the year of the "I Can't Stand Jack Benny" contest and of Ronald and Benita Colman becoming recurring characters as Jack's neighbours.
3. The Whistler (CBS): Another great year for the Whistler, which seems to be better and better each year! My favourites among the year's twist endings are: What Makes a Murderer?, Sing a Song of Murder and Death Laughs Last.
4. Inner Sanctum Mysteries (CBS): This was Inner Sanctum's best year as all sorts of strong horror stories were presented, including Boris Karloff in The Wailing Wall and Corridor of Doom. But for me, the best of the year is The Judas Clock, a grisly story about a timepiece which doubles as a death-trap. But some great episodes include: Death Across the Board, Terror By Night and The Lonely Sleep.
5. Information Please (NBC): This turned out to be the venerable quiz show's final year. At least it wrapped up as consistently witty as ever and with another memorable appearance by Fred Allen as guest.
6. The Mysterious Traveler (Mutual): Another good year, albeit with very few episodes surviving! The best of what remains is: They Who Sleep and Death Comes for Adolf Hitler.
7. This Is My Best (CBS): This was the end of the run for this program but it had a great adaptation of Heart of Darkness. This is not the last of Orson Welles on my lists, however.
8. The Life of Riley (Blue/NBC): Another good year for this family sitcom.
9. Arch Oboler's Plays (Mutual): One last run around the block for Arch Oboler; this series was very variable in tone and quality but there are some great scripts, none of them really in the same vein as Lights Out: An Exercise in Horror, Mr. Pyle, Dr. Bluff and Rocket from Manhattan.
10. The Shadow (Mutual): A good year for the Shadow which included a strong episode titled The Case of the Flaming Skull.

20 Great Years of Radio, Part 7: 1944

1. Suspense (CBS): This was another terrific year for Suspense! The two-part adaptation of Donovan's Brain with Orson Welles was a particular highlight. Some other phenomenal episodes included Dime a Dance, Narrative About Clarence and The Man Who Knew How.
2. The Jack Benny Program (NBC): For me, this year represents a turning point for Benny. On the plus side, Dennis Day returned to the show. On the minus, Jack took Lucky Strike as his new sponsor. The Lucky Strike commercials are so irritating and consume so much time from each episode that I find they really drag down the quality of the show. Nevertheless, this was still a great year which included an apperance by Groucho Marx and a memorable parody of Bob Hope's program.
3. Inner Sanctum Mysteries (CBS): At this point, Inner Sanctum had found the style which they would maintain to the end of their series. This year had what I think were the first really good episodes, including The Walking Skull, Death Is a Joker and The Color-Blind Formula.
4. The Whistler (CBS): The Whistler was similarly on a very solid course with perfectly-executed twist endings. My favourite episode of the year is Christmas Bonus, which has an appropriately gentle twist for the holiday season.
5. The Mysterious Traveler (Mutual): The Mysterious Traveler never attained the quality of Inner Sanctum, but it was willing to indulge in plenty of supernatural or science fiction storytelling elements, so it's certainly still an interesting show - unfortunately, most of the series has been lost. The best of this year was Beware of Tomorrow and Queen of the Cats. I realize I might be alone in standing up for Queen of the Cats!
6. Information Please (NBC): Another great year for this quiz show which featured another good guest appearance from Fred Allen.
7. Creeps By Night (ABC): This series' failure is a shame - it was a quality horror series with some stories drawn from contemporary authors and performances from the likes of Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. The only surviving episodes are Those Who Walk in Darkness, The Final Reckoning, The Hunt, The Walking Dead and The Six Who Wouldn't Die.
8. This Is My Best (CBS): This was something of an attempt by Orson Welles to recapture his Mercury heyday but he wasn't in every episode. This year included a great turn by Robert Benchley in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and a new production of Norman Corwin's The Plot to Overthrow Christmas.
9. The Life of Riley (Blue): The Life of Riley practically invented the family sitcom. The show's pacing and format was figured out very quickly. The show can seem rather predictable, but it succeeds for me because of William Bendix's great comedic performance as Chester Riley (not to mention John Brown's great supporting work). For me, this is as good as radio family sitcoms get!
10. The Shadow (Mutual): Another fairly standard year of Shadow programs, my favourite of which is Death to the Shadow.

20 Great Years of Radio, Part 6: 1943

1. Suspense (CBS): This year the show picked up their first sponsor, Roma Wines and saw an increase in the number of high-profile guest stars, such as Cary Grant in The Black Curtain. This was also the year of Sorry Wrong Number with Agnes Moorehead, which would become the show's most frequently-repeated episode. But there was so much more in this year which showed what William Spier and his talented writers and performers could accomplish; the highlights include: The Diary of Sophronia Winters, The White Rose Murders and The After Dinner Story.
2. The Jack Benny Program (NBC): This show struggled a little for the first time as without Phil Harris it lost a lot of verve. Strangely enough, the show's shot in the arm came when Jack himself missed five episodes. First George Burns and Gracie Allen, then Orson Welles stepped in to cover for Jack, during which time Phil Harris returned. It became one of the program's wartime highlights and demonstrated just how strong Benny's writers and performers were, that they could keep the show running without Jack himself!
3. Lights Out (CBS): Another great year of Arch Oboler's horror stories, some of them satires on his own show, such as Murder in the Script Department and The Author and the Thing. My personal favourite is The Spider, but there are plenty of other great outings including The Fast One, The Projective Mr. Drogan and Litle Old Lady. But after this year, Oboler was basically done with Lights Out.
4. Information Please (NBC): Another great year for this series as Fred Allen appeared as a guest panelist and, although he was a little shakey at first, became one of their best guests and would return many more times. There was also another phenomenal appearance by Boris Karloff alongside Jan Struther in which Karloff was answering remotely; rather than ring a bell when he had an answer, he would emit his Frankenstein Monster growl, which was hilarious!
5. The Weird Circle (NBC): This little oddity took public domain stories of the supernatural (and related themes) and adapted them - sometimes really going against the original text. Still, many of these stories weren't being adapted anywhere else on radio and so it did a lot to introduce me to authors I hadn't read before. The most terriying of these episodes is A Terrible Night. But there are many other worthy episodes such as: What Was It?, William Wilson and The Man Without a Country.
6. Screen Guild Theatre (CBS): Another fine year for the Guild, whose best adaptation was a fun recap of Holiday Inn which mostly just repeated the film's songs. Other highlights were: Suspicition, Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon.
7. Inner Sanctum Mysteries (Blue/CBS): At this point, Inner Sanctum was really growing in strength. Highlights from this year include The Black Seagull and The Horla.
8. The Whistler (CBS): This series underwent subtle changes this year as the twist endings were dramatized, instead of being narrated. This small change was a huge improvement to the program and became what the show was known for.
9. Lux Radio Theater (CBS): A decent year for Lux, my favourite episode being This Gun for Hire.
10. The Shadow (Mutual): This was the year where Bret Morrison took over as the Shadow. I don't find him as good as Welles or Johnstone and the writing at this stage has became far too staid, but there were still good episodes such as The Gibbering Things.

20 Great Years of Radio, Part 5: 1942

1. The Jack Benny Program (NBC): A lot changed for Jack's series this year as he was forced to take Grape Nuts as his sponsor because of sugar rationing and Phil Harris left the show to join the Merchant Marines. Jack even gave away his beloved Maxwell car for scrap metal! Still, there were a lot of great episodes, my favourite being the adaptation of Tales of Manhattan. The 2-part Frightwig Murder Case with Humphrey Bogart was another great highlight!
2. Information Please (NBC): This was the year in which the show's sponsor, Lucky Strike, unleashed their most irritating ad campaign, "Lucky Strike Green Has Gone to War," which would cause the show to end its contract with the sponsor! But this was also the year in which Orson Welles appeared as guest panelist and spent practically the whole program criticizing the questions and showing off his superior intellect. Obviously, it's a highlight!
3. Suspense (CBS): In development since 1940, the series began this year under the eye of William Spier, who would oversee the show's best work. Unfortunately, at this stage author John Dickson Carr wielded the most influence and his work is very dated. Still, a few genius episodes slipped by, including The Hitchhiker, A Passage to Benares and Two Sharp Knives. The show's best years were in its near-future.
4. Lights Out (CBS): With his Plays series done, Oboler returned to Lights Out with what seems to be recreations of earlier scripts of his. But virtually everything this year was perfect radio horror with intense performances (such as in Come to the Bank), gruesome situations (Poltergiest, valse Triste) and that signature Oboler first-person perspective. Other great episodes included Revolt of the Worms, Knock at the Door and Meteor Man.
5. The Columbia Workshop (CBS): This year saw a great production of Norman Corwin's humourous The Plot to Overthrow Christmas and the ghost story Remodeled Brownstone by Lucille Fletcher.
6. Lux Radio Theater (CBS): Another great year of film adaptations, with Ronald Colman in A Tale of Two Cities being my personal favourite. There were also great adaptations of The Lady Eve and Ball of Fire.
7. The Shadow (Mutual): At this point the Shadow was becoming pretty rote but there were still decent outings like Altar of Death and The Lady in Black.
8. Inner Sanctum Mysteries (Blue): This series was still finding its footing and we don't have many examples from this year, but there are good episodes like Dead Recokoning and A Study for Murder.
9. The Whistler (CBS): This series began rather modestly and somewhat stilted as the program struggled to express its twist endings in a compelling fashion, but the show would quickly iron out its kinks.
10. George Burns & Gracie Allen (CBS): This was the year this program became a situation comedy instead of a Benny imitator and was much the better for it! It was with this format that the series would endure into the age of television and this era is the most fun to listen to.

20 Great Years of Radio, Part 4: 1941

1. The Jack Benny Program (NBC): Another great year for Benny with the great episode Jack Is Late with No Script, wherein Jack has to go on the air with an unfinished script. There was also Murder at the Racquet Club and Jack's great battle of wits against the Quiz Kids! Beyond that there were very funny satires of the films City for Conquest and Tobacco Road. Still A-1!
2. Information Please (NBC): This year saw Boris Karloff make his debut as a guest panelist and he was simply delightful, especially as he demonstrated his speciality at nursery rhymes! This year also saw Groucho Marx's appearance, which was a ton of fun.
3. The Shadow (Mutual): Another good year for the Shadow with good programs like The Shadow Challenged, The Man Who Lived Thrice and The Chess Club Murders.
4. The Columbia Workshop (CBS): Another good year for the Workshop with unusual dramas like the all-black cast in Jason Was a Man or the submarine story The Log of the R-77.
5. Lux Radio Theater (CBS): Another good year of Lux with great adaptations of The Shop Around the Corner, Lost Horizon and Rebecca.
6. Screen Guild Theater (CBS): Quality programs on the Guild this year included Orson Welles performing The Happy Prince and an adaptation of His Girl Friday.
7. Forecast (CBS): This was the end of Forecast but they released some more interesting pilots such as Marlene Dietrich's Arabian Nights and the debut of the music program Jubilee.
8. Dark Fantasy (NBC): This is an oddball show even by the standards of horror radio! Many of the episodes don't quite work but they can be rather fascinating simply because of the weird story structures. The highlights this year were the Christmas episode The House of Bread, the micro-world adventure Men Call Me Mad and The Demon Tree.
9. Inner Sanctum Mysteries (Blue): This would become the longest-running radio horror show but it started rather modestly with The Amazing Death of Mrs. Putnam, which was little more than a standard mystery drama. In the years to come, its tone would shift and soon become standardized.
10. We Hold These Truths (Mutual): This was Norman Corwin's salute to the US Constitution, as told by Lionel Barrymore and Orson Welles. Even as a non-American I admire the quality of the performances.

20 Great Years of Radio, Part 3: 1940

1. The Jack Benny Program (NBC): Another phenomenal year for Jack Benny which included the show's only 4-part storyline, centered around the cast's trip to Yosemite. There was also a classic episode where the cast went to meet Don Wilson's new wife, with frustrating results! They had another great football satire (Hold That Line) and satires of Pinocchio, Town Hall Tonight (Clown Hall Tonight) and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Mr. Benny Goes to Washington). Another first-rate year of Benny!
2. The Shadow (Mutual): This year is probably best-remembered for the episode The Voice of Death, which was notoriously weird and tasteless. But there were many other fine episodes including Murder in the Death House, Carnival of Death and House of Horror.
3. Information Please (Blue/NBC): Another fun year of this series, which included a few appearances by Jan Struther as their guest panelist, who was probably the highlight of their guests.
4. Lux Radio Theater (CBS): This was a great year for comedy adaptations on Lux with great productions of Remember the Night, His Girl Friday, Bachelor Mother and True Confession. High quality stuff.
5. Screen Guild Theater (CBS): Obviously my personal highlight is the episode Why Jack Benny Will Not Be Appearing on the Screen Guild, which was written by Jack's writers (and later adapted to his own show). But there were other highlights this year, including adaptations of The Petrified Forest and The Shop Around the Corner.
6. The Columbia Workshop (CBS): Another good year on the Workshop, the best being the oddities Double Exposure and an adaptation of Carmilla.
7. Arch Oboler's Plays (Blue): This year included James Cagney in an adaptation of Johnny Got His Gun, which may well be the finest bit of radio in the entirety of this series.
8. Forecast (CBS): This oddball program was a place for CBS to test out new shows. This year included the pilots for Suspense and Duffy's Tavern. Although Duffy's Tavern became a long-running comedy series which started right away, it took a little more time for Suspense to get ready for broadcast.
9. The Campbell Playhouse (CBS): This was Campbell's last year and, as Jack Benny turned up in June Moon, obviously there was something I liked. Orson Welles would return, but it seemed increasingly difficult for him to recapture the magic of the early Mercury shows.
10. George Burns & Gracie Allen (NBC): At this stage this program was little more than an imitator of Jack Benny. It's decent comedy, but not very remarkable at this stage; still, Gracie Allen was herself such a fine performer that it elevates this series for me.

20 Great Years of Radio, Part 2: 1939

1. The Jack Benny Program (NBC): This is one of my favourite years of Jack Benny, and not just because it's the year where Dennis Day replaced Kenny Baker. There are so many compelling episodes, particularly the melancholy New Year's episode where Jack can't get a date. But there were many more highlights, including satires of Jesse James, Gunga Din, Alexander Graham Bell and a gender-swapped version of The Women, plus a fun football two-parter, Murder on the Gridiron. To me, this is the best of Benny!
2. The Shadow of Fu Manchu (syndication): Certainly not a politically-correct series, but I found this show so compelling. It dramatized adventures from Sax Rohmer's original novels and serialized them into what was, for my money, radio's best adventure serial. These episodes, adapating the first novel, were the best of the lot.
3. The Shadow (Mutual): Bill Johnstone continued to do a fine job as the Shadow with some better-than-average episodes with great high concepts, including the sci-fi New Year's story The Man Who Murdered Time. Some other fantastic episodes were Phantom Fingerprints, Mansion of Madness and The Sandhog Murders.
4. The Campbell Playhouse (CBS): This was the Playhouse's best year as they produced their finest version of A Christmas Carol with Lionel Barrymore in what is one of the best adaptations of that story, period. But some other great episodes included The Green Goddess, The Glass Key and The Magnificent Ambersons.
5. The Columbia Workshop (CBS): Another good year for the Workshop which included the sobering drama Nine Prisoners and an under-appreciated crime story, Law Beaters.
6. Arch Oboler's Plays (NBC): I don't find Plays to be anywhere near as strong as Lights Out, but Oboler turned out a number of tales which could have easily appeared on his other program, including Crazytown, Another World and Nobody Died. All great examples of radio horror.
7. Lux Radio Theater (CBS): This was a strong year for Lux with some good comedies like The Perfect Specimen, the crime story Angels with Dirty Faces, and deeply emotional dramas including Goodbye Mr. Chips and Wuthering Heights.
8. Information Please (Blue): This was a great year for Information Please as the series relied more upon guest panelists, the highlight being Gracie Allen who performed against type to demonstrate that she was not, in real life, a dumb blonde!
9. The Silver Theater (CBS): This is series seldom lauded these days but it had some great episodes including my favourite, The Villain Still Pursues Her, a satire of turn-of-the-century plays.
10. The Screen Guild Theater (CBS): The Guild could always be relied on for strong plays. Most of their programming in this year was music-based but they had a few fine dramas.

20 Great Years of Radio Part 1: 1938

As I'm a big fan of old-time radio comedy and drama I thought it would be interesting to take a wider view of my favourite programs. But the programs that I like changed a bit over the years and shows which were strong at one time were weaker at another. So I'm going to run a series of 20 posts looking at the years 1938-1957 in radio and listing my 10 favourite series in each year. This means some programs will come up more than once but I think it will be interesting to discuss how they changed across 2 decades. Therefore...

1. The Mercury Theater on the Air (CBS): Even if their adaptation of The War of the Worlds were their only triumph this series would rank high. But there were so many fine episodes, from the horror of Dracula to the high adventure of Treasure Island. This was an exceptionally well-produced and well-acted series. Utter greatness! Some other great stories featured include: A Tale of Two Cities, the Thirty-Nine Steps, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Man Who Was Thursday, Hell on Ice and Heart of Darkness.
2. The Jack Benny Program (NBC): I'm a big Jack Benny fan so he'll be appearing near the top of the list for most of these 20 articles. In this period Jack had his best sponsor, Jell-o, and the quality of his scripts was at its peak with Ed Beloin and Bill Morrow and the feud with Fred Allen came up a few times. There was also a great Christmas shopping episode this year.
3. The Shadow (Mutual): Orson Welles and later Bill Johnstone helped make this the most exciting era of the Shadow series with plenty of unusual threats for the Shadow to battle and clever uses of the Shadow's power. There are so many great episodes, my favourites being: The Society of The Living Dead, The White Legion and The Power of the Mind.
4. Lights Out (NBC): We have only a few examples of Lights Out dated to this period but they're pretty strong scripts by Arch Oboler - The Dream, Cat Wife and It Happened. Lights Out is one of the best-written horror programs in the history of radio.
5. The Campbell Playhouse (CBS): Late in 1938 the Mercury's series changed its name. I don't find the Campbell Playhouse to be as great as the earlier show, but in this brief period they produced good adaptations of Rebecca and A Christmas Carol.
6. The Columbia Workshop (CBS): This program was experimental and groundbreaking but also uneven. Still, this was a strong year for the Workshop with great scripts like Seven Waves Away, Bury the Dead and Tranga Man Fine Gah.
7. Lux Radio Theater (CBS): This was CBS' most prestigious program for many years as, otherwise, NBC tended to clobber them in the ratings. Lux could always be counted on for high-quality film adaptations but my favourite program from this year is, of course, Jack Benny's appearance in Seven Keys to Baldpate.
8. Information Please (Blue): This series was just getting started at this stage but it remains very fun to listen to as panelists are quizzed by questions from their listeners. It's not so much the answers themselves that make this show fun, but the manner in which the panelists answer. It was the wittiest show on the air.
9. The Witch's Tale (Mutual): It seems appropriate that this series was fading at the time Lights Out was coming in. The Witch's Tale was frequently campy and relied too much on dialogue, not enough on sound effects. Still, I'm granting them a mention because of the place they hold in the history of horror radio.
10. Big Town (CBS): This was a decent enough series, which, at the time, featured Edward G. Robinson as the show's heroic newspaper publisher.

My Story is on YouTube

Today I spoke at my church about my upcoming trip to Angola. If you'd like to see the recording, you can view it on YouTube!