Radio Recap: The Origins of Superstitions

"I am... superstition. You don't believe, do you? HA HA HA HA!"

The Origins of Superstitions was a syndicated radio series produced in 1933 by Transco. It appears to have had a 39-episode run; each episode runs less than 15 minutes, with quite a bit of music. They syndicated their shows again in 1948 and 1952, which probably helps account for the series remaining intact.

Transco's other syndicated shows included the World Adventurer's Club, which sounds very much like this series. The cast included familiar voices from their other shows, such as Gale Gordon and Hanley Stafford.

The Origins of Superstitions usually opened with a voice intoning, "I am... superstition." It's terrifically cheesy. You might think from the introduction that you're being set up for a horror series but The Origins of Superstitions was pretty firmly against the superstitions it depicted. Usually the dramas involve someone suggesting that a particular act - such as opening one's umbrella indoors - will bring about bad luck. The person's well-informed friend knows the history of that superstition and launches into a story which demonstrates how it's a mere superstition.

Indeed, the vast majority of these superstitions are "doing this is bad luck." There are some other superstitions such as the belief that an itchy palm means someone's coming into good fortune, but it's mostly stories of bad luck. Many of these superstitions I've never heard of - maybe they're very region-specific or have been totally forgotten, but I've never heard of the idea that if you have to immediately turn back from a journey you've started, you need to wait before resuming your journey.

Like the World Adventurer's Club, The Origins of Superstitions has low production values but it's fairly good for early radio (there's also a bit of the same racism found in that other series, such as in the Rabbit's Foot episode). Overall, the superstitions are kind of interesting to learn about; for early 30s radio, it's fine.

You can hear the Old Time Radio Researchers' collection of the Origins of Superstitions through this link to their website.

Radio Recap: Bulldog Drummond

"Out of the fog, out of the night and into his American adventures comes... Bulldog Drummond!"

Bulldog Drummond was a popular adventure hero from books written by H. C. McNeile ("Sapper"). The radio series aired April 13, 1941-January 12, 1949 on Mutual. Mutual revived the series in 1954 but it only lasted from January 3-March 28th. The titular hero was played by many actors over the years, including George Coulouris, Santos Ortega, Ned Wever and Sir Cedric Hardwicke. Captain Drummond's valet, Denny, was portrayed by Everett Sloane, Luis van Rooten and Rod Hendrickson.

Like a lot of heroes who debuted between the wars, Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond was a World War I vet who found himself a bit restless and so plunged himself into adventures, as one does. In the radio version, he tends to just stumble into crimes, making him appear rather passive. He's another of those heroes you just can't go on vacation with.

The show was produced and directed by Himan Brown and had a similar sort of pace and patter as Brown's best-remembered series, Inner Sanctum Mysteries (but without the constant organ stings). The series used a lot of the same supporting talent as Inner Sanctum, such as Mercedes McCambridge and Jackson Beck.

While the series was off the air, Himan Brown's the Private Files of Rex Saunders aired over NBC with a lot of scripts recycled from Bulldog Drummond.

Although Bulldog Drummond featured in many novels, films, television and comic books he's been an unpopular character for decades now, as McNeile's racism (particularly towards Jews) made his works unpalatable. The radio version lacks the racism, thankfully - but Drummond was usually incredibly bland; Denny provided some lightness (he's sometimes a bit of a thick-headed idiot) and the villains usually had energy, but no matter who portrayed Drummond, his lip was far, far too stiff. The best episode I've heard is the early "Axis Submarine" episode (June 22, 1942).

Despite Bulldog Drummond's lengthy run, there's very little of it still circulating today. Many of the recordings we do have lack their music cues, which makes them very talky and hard to listen to.

You can hear the Old Time Radio Researchers' collection of 27 episodes of Bulldog Drummond through this link to their website.