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.