Halloween Week, Day 4: "Dead Man's Holiday"

A man narrowly survives an accident aboard a train. Awakening from the crash, he soon finds the whole world seems to be involved in a conspiracy against him; his wife is missing; his name and his face have been changed; he seems to be a wanted criminal. Such is the premise of "Dead Man's Holiday."

It's such a good premise that Inner Sanctum Mysteries told this story twice. Four years after "Dead Man's Holiday," someone had the idea of recycling the script but altering the protagonist from a man to a woman. There were a few other changes made to the plot, but for the most part the result, "The Unburied Dead," is the same story, just gender-swapped.

"Dead Man's Holiday" aired on Inner Sanctum Mysteries on June 19, 1945. You can download it from the Internet Archive here. "The Unburied Dead" aired May 16, 1949. You can download it from the Internet Archive here.

Tomorrow: "A noise came from its throat that was more that of an animal than a human being."

Inner Sanctum: Front Page Murder (lost episode)

Before I first got on the internet in 1998 I had already compiled a list of all the websites I wanted to visit - most of them fan pages, several of them related to old-time radio. I was amazed at all the information available for free online detailing so much data on old-time radio shows. At that time it seemed as though there were definitive authorities on old-time radio; it seemed as though everyone in the hobby agreed on what existed and that the logs provided by Jerry Haendiges were the best measurement of what programs were originally broadcast and what still existed.

Of course, much has changed in the following decades; the hobby is very decentralized now. Haendiges basically hasn't updated his logs since I first got online, meaning his logs are not an accurate representation of what currently exists, nor supplies updated data that researchers have uncovered in the last two decades. The Radio Goldindex is a pretty good authority on what is out there, but when a new program is discovered you have no way of knowing it. Even archives that attempt to be all-inclusive like the Old-Time Radio Researchers' Group don't have everything that's out there - you can find all kinds of programs on YouTube, the Internet Archive and elsewhere that are not in the OTRR vault.

It's a shame, because when a so-called "lost" episode of a popular show is discovered that should be celebrated - but fans like myself only figure out that a lost show has been found by digging around in back chatter. Such as my recent discovery that last month, a missing episode of Inner Sanctum Mysteries titled "Front Page Murder" was uploaded on the Internet Archive.

It's a great little episode with crisp audio and absolutely representative of what we fans of Inner Sanctum Mysteries expect from the program. It concerns a reporter who begins receiving mysterious psychic messages from a woman that lead him to the scenes of crimes committed by "the Claw Man."

If you're a fan of Inner Sanctum Mysteries, you should be aware this episode is available and it's very good! Take a listen and enjoy!

Old-Time Radio Retrieved, Part 1: Inner Sanctum Mysteries

I have been an old-time radio fan since around the early 1990s but it was only around 1998 when I first got on the internet that I began to understand just how vast the hobby was - and what the limits were. There are simply many, many shows without even a single surviving episode and few indeed are the programs who have a complete run of episodes still available.

Certainly missing programs turn up from time to time but my interests aren't that broad. For instance, Suspense is one of my favourite old-time radio programs and has been since I began to be an OTR fan. And how many recovered episodes of Suspense have turned up in the last 25 years?

So... about that. Recently I noticed collector Jerry Haendiges was posting rare programs from his collection online. He was posting a lot. He had "missing" episodes from many popular OTR shows, some of them of major historical significance, others merely fascinating curios.

Among them I found three episodes from my favourite series. I'm going to look at those three episodes here over the next 3 days. After all, how often do I have something "new" to say about these programs?

We'll begin with Inner Sanctum Mysteries' October 19, 1941 episode "Hell Is Where You Find It," starring Burgess Meredith. I had it in my mind that the Lipton Tea era was the point where Hollywood really came calling on the old creaking door, but here's an episode to prove me wrong - Meredith was considered a major up-and-coming actor at the time - he'd already starred in Of Mice and Men, probably the biggest film he earned starring credit for. And here he is on the Inner Sanctum!

In "Hell Is Where You Find It," Meredith portrays a wealthy cad who toys with women's affections, not caring if they kill themselves. One day he meets a fascinating "prince" who encourages his caddish behaviour and steers him towards murder. Could this be the prince of... Hell?

If you're a typical internet Inner Sanctum naysayer then you'll assume the Devil is not a character in this show and that there'll be a cop-out ending. In that case, you'd better listen... you might be surprised.

You can find "Hell Is Where You Find It" here!

Tomorrow: A folktale.

OTR Halloween Day 13: Inner Sanctum Mysteries

Inner Sanctum Mysteries is arguably the best-known radio horror series of them all. The signature creaking door accompanied by the giggling Raymond (or 'Mr. Host') who introduces the tales with his bad puns. Many earlier shows such as the Witch's Tale and the Hermit's Cave are displaced by Inner Sanctum purely through the force the host's personality.

The tale I've chosen is "The Silent Hands" from May 13, 1944 and stars Mary Astor (I should note that Inner Sanctum didn't usually feature big stars, outside of a handful starring Boris Karloff or Peter Lorre). The story concerns a detective investigating a "Woman in White" who has been strangling people to death. Astor portrays one of the suspects but the mystery has a surprising conclusion (well, surprising if you're not familiar with Inner Sanctum Mysteries).

You can listen to "The Silent Hands" at the Internet Archive!

Inner Sanctum Halloween Month, day 31 of 31: "The Corpse Nobody Loved"

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

To conclude my month-long look at hightlights from the series Inner Sanctum, I'm featuring "The Corpse Nobody Loved," an episode originally broadcast on September 21th, 1952. This was among the earliest episodes of the series I heard and it has a strange dream-like quality to it. A young woman catches a taxi, then finds herself seated next to a corpse!

"The Corpse Nobody Loved" was hosted by Paul McGrath.

You can listen to this episode at archive.org by clicking here.

Thank you for joining me during this month's theme! I hope you enjoyed it!

Inner Sanctum Halloween Month, day 30 of 31: "The Meek Die Slowly"

Today I'm looking at the Inner Sanctum episode "The Meek Die Slowly," which was originally broadcast on September 7th, 1952. Many episodes of Inner Sanctum attempt to conceal the show's murderer -- this is not such an episode. Our anti-hero is a gardener who finds himself tortured by what seem to be the ghost of a young woman he murdered.

"The Meek Die Slowly" was hosted by Paul McGrath and starred Arnold Moss. You can listen to this episode at archive.org by clicking here.

Tomorrow I wrap up this year's Halloween theme!

Inner Sanctum Halloween Month, day 29 of 31: "Strange Passenger"

Earlier I looked at the Inner Sanctum episode "The Hitch-Hiking Corpse" and disputed it having any connection to Lucille Fletcher's "The Hitchhiker." Today I'm looking at "Strange Passenger" which was first broadcast on August 31, 1952, and it has much more in common with Fletcher's play than the former program! This episode features another lonely driver on the highway at night; he keeps seeing a woman hitchhiker at the side of the road... and his radio doesn't seem to stop playing "Star Dust."

"Strange Passenger" was hosted by Paul McGrath and featured Joan Lorring and Leon Janney. You can listen to this episode at archive.org by clicking here.

Inner Sanctum Halloween Month, day 28 of 31: "Murder Off the Record"

Today I'm looking at the Inner Sanctum episode "Murder Off the Record," which was originally broadcast on August 3rd, 1952. At this point, Inner Sanctum had been on the air for 11 years but, as this episode demonstrates, their quality remained consistent. This was one of the first episode I heard of the series. It opens with a man entering a record store and beginning to record a confession of the strange events which had recently transpired in his life. It seems a weighing machine predicted fortune for him -- and very quickly the prediction came through!

"Murder Off the Record" was hosted by Paul McGrath and featured Ken Lynch, Lawson Zerbe, Lesley Woods and Santos Ortega. You can listen to this episode at archive.org by clicking here.

Inner Sanctum Halloween Month, day 27 of 31: "Death Pays the Freight"

There are so, so many stories in old-time radio wherein a character meets a random stranger who is their exact double. Such a story is "Death Pays the Freight," an Inner Sanctum episode which was originally broadcast on July 6th, 1952. This story concerns a hobo on a boxcar who kills a man in self-defense. Realizing the dead man is practically his twin he decides to adopt the dead man's identity, then finds out the dead man was a hitman!

"Death Pays the Freight" was hosted by Paul McGrath and featured Everett Sloane, Leon Janney and Ralph Bell. You can listen to this episode at archive.org by clicking here.

Inner Sanctum Halloween Month, day 26 of 31: "Terror by Night"

Compared to the likes of Suspense, Inner Sanctum seldom had many big-name talents starring in their programs, but "Terror by Night" is one of the happy exceptions. This episode, first broadcast on June 29th, 1952, stars one of Suspense's top stars, Agnes Moorehead! Like yesterday's episode, we have a plot in which a lone driver travelling at night runs into a dangerous situation. In this instance, Moorehead ends up meeting a man who has a body in the trunk of his car. It has a great pay-off at the climax!

"Terror by Night" was hosted by Paul McGrath and starred Agnes Moorehead. You can listen to this episode at archive.org by clicking here.

Inner Sanctum Halloween Month, day 25 of 31: "The Hitch-Hiking Corpse"

"The Hitch-Hiking Corpse" is an episode of Inner Sanctum which was originally broadcast on January 23, 1950. Strangely, the RadioGold Index refers to this as an 'adaptation' of Lucille Fletcher's play "The Hitchhiker" (best known as an episode of Suspense). The Index even lists Lucille Fletcher as the author but it's a pretty dubious connection: the two plays have nothing in common other than the presence of a hitchhiker.

In the Fletcher play, a man driving across country keeps seeing the same ghostly hitchhiker everywhere he goes. In this, "The Hitch-Hiking Corpse," a trucker picks up a hitch-hiking woman who claims to have supernatural powers and might be a murderer.

"The Hitch-Hiking Corpse" was hosted by Paul McGrath and featured Ken Lynch, Mercedes McCambridge and Everett Sloane. You can listen to this episode at archive.org by clicking here.

Inner Sanctum Halloween Month, day 24 of 31: "A Corpse for Halloween"

"A Corpse for Halloween." There's a title to get you in the Halloween spirit! This story concerns a man who once went on a treasure hunt with two other men, then left them to die in the jaws of a tiger. Now, one of the two supposedly dead men has returned, badly disfigured and vowing revenge on his former ally. The marked man must run through streets of costumed Halloween revelers with no idea where the next attempt on his life will be held.

"A Corpse for Halloween" was, appropriately, originally broadcast on October 31st, 1949. This episode was hosted by Paul McGrath and featured Berry Kroeger, Larry Haines and Mercedes McCambridge. You can listen to this episode at archive.org by clicking here.

Inner Sanctum Halloween Month, day 23 of 31: "The Devil's Workshop"

I have no problem with Inner Sanctum getting a little weird and creepy. This outing, "The Devil's Workshop," is one with a very strong supernatural concept -- a wax dummy seems to have come to life -- and unlike the perceived Inner Sanctum trope, there's no real cop-out ending. There's not much in the way of answers no matter how you look at it and the episode is better for it. I think this is one of the series' best programs.

"The Devil's Workshop" was originally broadcast on October 10th, 1949. It was hosted by Paul McGrath and featured Mason Adams, Joan Banks, Martin Gabel and Lawson Zerbe. You can listen to this episode at archive.org by clicking here.

Inner Sanctum Halloween Month, day 22 of 31: "Deadly Fare"

Yesterday I looked at a hearse driver in Inner Sanctum's "Only the Dead Die Twice." Today the protagonist is a cab driver in "Deadly Fare," which was originally broadcast on July 18th, 1949. The concept is a strong one -- a taxi driver finds himself at the mercy of his latest fare, a murderer. In the hands of Suspense, it would have been a strong half hour. Come to think of it, it has a little in common with the film Collateral, doesn't it?

"Deadly Fare" was hosted by Paul McGrath and featured Larry Haines, Everett Sloane, Lawson Zerbe and Berry Kroeger. You can listen to this episode at archive.org by clicking here

Inner Sanctum Halloween Month, day 21 of 31: "Only the Dead Die Twice"

Today I'm looking back on "Only the Dead Die Twice," an episode of Inner Sanctum which was originally broadcast March 21, 1949. The story concerns a hearse driver who is hired by a woman to collect the body of her dead husband. It's a bad idea, but the driver agrees -- then finds out the dead man isn't even her husband...

"Only the Dead Die Twice" was hosted by Paul McGrath and featured Larry Haines, Alice Reinheart, Everett Sloane and Joseph Julian. You can listen to this episode at archive.org by clicking here.

Inner Sanctum Halloween Month, day 20 of 31: "Fearful Voyage"

Today I'm featuring the Inner Sanctum episode titled "Fearful Voyage," originally broadcast on January 3rd, 1949. Our story concerns the crew of a ship and it's seemingly-mad captain who insists that he's married to a ghost.

"Fearful Voyage" was hosted by Paul McGrath and featured Arnold Moss, Eslpeth Eric, Santos Ortega and Joseph Julian. You can listen to this episode at archive.org by clicking here.

Inner Sanctum Halloween Month: day 19 of 31 "Murder by Prophecy"

Here's one of my favourite episodes of Inner Sanctum: "Murder by Prophecy," which was originally broadcast September 27, 1948. Our story concerns an heir who discovers a prophecy which seems to promise him access to immense wealth which has been hidden somewhere. The man attempts to follow the prophecy to the letter, even though it means he must commit several murders!

"Murder by Prophecy" was hosted by Paul McGrath and featured Joseph Julian, Santos Ortega, Alice Reinheart and Alan Devitt. You can listen to this episode at archive.org by clicking here.

Inner Sanctum Halloween Month: day 18 of 31: "Death Demon"

For today's episode of Inner Sanctum, let's delve into something a little more original than most. Here's a story about a melodramatic young man whose father is dead; his uncle has married his widowed mother. Then the son makes contact with his father's ghost and learns his uncle is the one who killed him--- wait a minute, you're saying this has been done before?

Oh, well. Please enjoy "Death Demon," originally broadcast July 5, 1948. This episode was hosted by Paul McGrath and starred Everett Sloane. You can listen to this episode at archive.org by clicking here.

Inner Sanctum Halloween Month: day 17 of 31: "Elixir Number Four"

Aw, yeah! Richard Widmark! This episode of Inner Sanctum is sometimes called "Elixir Number Four" and sometimes called "The Man Who Couldn't Die," depending on whom you ask. I first heard the story introduced as "Elixir Number Four," so that's the title I'm sticking with. Whatever you call it, it was originally broadcast February 12, 1946.

Richard Widmark -- who could always be counted on for a playing a great smarmy character (as in The Colorblind Formula) -- portrays a young man who learns his girlfriend's father has invented a formula which grants eternal life to the one who uses it. But really, the formula is merely a MacGuffin to get the plot rolling -- really the story is about Widmark's growing interest in the formula, plot to murder the professor and then how his scheme comes undone.

This episode was hosted by Paul McGrath and starred Richard Widmark. This marks the last episode of Inner Sanctum Mystery I'll be featuring in this series which includes Lipton commercials with Mary Bennett. "Good riddance," say most listeners. You can listen to this episode at archive.org by clicking here.

Inner Sanctum Halloween Month: day 16 of 31: "Skeleton Bay"

Today's episode of Inner Sanctum is "Skeleton Bay", which was originally broadcast February 5, 1946 and produced again on January 30, 1950. The story features a mystery writer on vacation who witnesses a murder. She then extends a helping hand to the killer to help him conceal the crime. Having been the author of crime stories, she thrills to the idea of becoming involvved in an actual crime -- but perhaps a murderer isn't the best person you could have for a friend.

"Skeleton Bay" was hosted by Paul McGrath and starred Mercedes McCambridge. You can listen to this episode at archive.org by clicking here. The 1950 version is available here.