Radio Recap: Starring Boris Karloff

Starring Boris Karloff was an ABC program that - according to its Wikipedia page - appeared simultaneously on radio and television. It apepars that each performance on the radio was followed the subsequent day with a performance of the same story on television. It appeared from September 21 to December 15, 1949. Apparently during the 2nd month the series changed its title to Mystery Playhouse Starring Boris Karloff.

None of the television performances have turned up; only one episode of the radio version has been unearthed; said program is "the Night Reveals," the final episode. This is an adaptation of the story by Cornell Woolrich and it uses the same script that was heard when that story was adapted on Suspense. It's notable, since the Suspense version took a few liberties with Woolrich's original short story.

Looking at the Wikipedia article, it's interesting to note one of the missing episodes was titled "Mungahara" - which was an Arch Oboler production on Lights Out! So that's at least two episodes that used existing radio scripts, it makes one wonder whether other episodes were adapted from existing stories.

Karloff was a treasure; it's a pity that Starring Boris Karloff wasn't a huge hit. He made regular radio appearances on mystery shows like Lights Out, Creeps by Night and Inner Sanctum Mysteries (plus his terrific quiz show appearances on Information Please) and it's always a pleasure to hear his warm, rich voice. Horror stories were never more heart-warming than when spoken by Karloff.

You can listen to the Starring Boris Karloff production of "the Night Reveals" at the Old-Time Radio Researchers' Library; they have it filed under the series "Mystery Playhouse."