Radio Recap: Dark Venture

"Over the minds of mortal men come many shadows; shadows of greed and hate; jealousy and fear. Shadows which fog the minds of men and women which urge them on into their venture in the dark..."

Dark Venture was a mystery anthology program heard over ABC from May 30, 1945 until February 10, 1947. For part of its run it was sponsored by Wildroot Cream Oil. It was produced in ABC's San Francisco studio like other shows of the time such as Pat Novak, for Hire. The series was narrated by John Lake, directed by Leonard Reeg and produced by J. Donald Wilson.

If that last name sounds familiar, it should - J. Donald Wilson was the original producer of the Whistler for CBS and took up Dark Venture after leaving that series. Wilson also produced the 1930s Adventures of Charlie Chan and the New Adventures of Nero Wolfe.

J. Donald Wilson must have had some interest in the idea of getting into the psychology behind crimes, just as the Whistler got inside the heads of each episode's would-be criminal. Dark Venture promoted itself as being interested in secenarios that "solve the outcome by applying psychology." Like the Whistler, there were often surprise endings but the series played pretty fair with the audience, usually relying on a protagonist who lacked a vital piece of information which would lead to his defeat (or, if wrongly accused, vindication).

The series drew from a lot of great California radio talent, with episodes led by the likes of Elliot Lewis, William Conrad, Marvin Miller (who was also the announcer on the Whistler), Howard McNear, Bill Johnstone and Lurene Tuttle. Many episodes were written by Larry Marcus, who also wrote for the Whistler, Suspense and Night Beat.

I rather like Dark Venture - it is, certainly, reminiscent of the Whistler, but that's not a detraction. The focus on characters' psychological torment gives the series a feel that's totally unlike the bulk of mystery/crime anthology shows.

My pick for the best of Dark Venture is "Eclipse," in which Elliot Lewis portrayed an amnesiac man who discovers a small fortune hidden in his clothes and a white-suited man hot on his trail! "The Miser" could have been produced on the Whistler, concerning itself with a clerk who schemes to pocket money from the register following a robbery and the escalating trouble that brings him. "Hideout" is a pretty rote criminal-on-the-run story elevated by William Conrad's terrific performance as the lead character. Easily the least-conventional story is "Ten Dollar Bill," which follows a $10 bill that falls into various hands through both crime and circumstance.

We only have 15 surviving episodes of Dark Venture in circulation, several of them through the Armed Forces' Mystery Playhouse program. Here's a YouTube playlist created by a fan with those 15 episodes.

Another "Lost" Suspense Found!

Once again I am delighted to note that a "lost" episode of Suspense has been found! This time it's the episode from January 3, 1956: "The Eavesdropper." Unlike the last "lost" episode that was found ("The Beetle and Mr. Bottle"), this is a script that was only ever performed once, which makes its discovery all the more terrific!

Now, the premise is a little bit like the Suspense episode "Pigeon in the Cage," in which a man stuck in an elevator became witness to a murder - but this story plays out a bit differently than that episode.

Here's a post on the Suspense Project blog with more details about the broadcast!

Radio Recap: The World's Greatest Short Stories

The World's Greatest Short Stories was a 15-minute program heard on NBC 1939-1942. The series starred Nelson Olmsted, who narrated from short stories both contemporary and classical.

This was one of several shows Olmsted created over the decades in which he read from popular literary sources. He was, in his day, an ancestor to audiobooks. The stories he read on the World's Greatest Short Stories were dramatized only through Olmsted's voice and a bit of musical accompaniment. Fortunately, Olmsted's voice carried itself well even in live radio, his voice deftly moving between narration to spoken dialogue, adopting accents where appropriate and moving a falsetto when he had to speak women's dialogue. Olmsted worked in quite a few radio programs as a dramatic performer, including the Chase and X Minus One but he's best-remembered for his readings of short stories such as heard on this program and in his 1940s series Story for Tonight and his 1950s series Sleep No More.

Olmsted had a particular love for the works of Edgar Allan Poe and among the surviving episodes of the World's Greatest Short Stories he narrated several of his tales: "the Raven," "the Case of Monsieur Valdemar" and "the Tell-Tale Heart."

Olmsted had a terrific knack for finding interesting stories to share. Some of episodes of the World's Greatest Short Stories feature favourites of mine like the Poe stories listed above, or the likes of Fitz-James O'Brien's "What Was It?", Ambrose Bierce's "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" and "the Man and the Snake" or Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Rappacini's Daughter." But several of the stories he presented were previously unknown to me and quite good, especially the story "Quality" by John Galsworthy, the story of an old-fashioned shoemaker who creates quality material but can't compete in a marketplace that values speed above all.

Here's a YouTube playlist of the surviving episodes of the World's Greatest Short Stories, collected by a fan.

Radio Recap: MGM Theater of the Air

MGM Theater of the Air was an hour-long syndicated program which featured adaptations of MGM films. It ran from October 14, 1949 to December 7, 1951.

MGM came very late to radio. At the same time they syndicated MGM Theater of the Air they were also syndicating Crime Does Not Pay, Dr. Kildare, the Hardy Family and the Adventures of Maisie. I've heard from various radio scribes that the studio saw radio as part of their competition and so didn't normally want their stars or film adaptations to appear on radio. This was supposedly radio's loss because MGM was simply the greatest studio.

...Except I don't buy that; I like MGM's films just fine but I personally feel that MGM only obtained a reputation as the finest studio because they invested so much of their public relations money into convincing people that's what they were.

The MGM Theater of the Air kind of proves my point; by the time it entered the scene, Lux Radio Theater had long since established how to successfully adapt feature films into an hour-long radio drama. Lux Radio Theater featured adaptations of most of the greatest films that were made in the 30s, 40s and early 50. By the time of the MGM Theater of the Air they didn't seem to have that much left in their vaults that radio listeners hadn't heard done elsewhere, what with programs such as Screen Directors' Playhouse and Academy Award Theater appearing.

This is not to say that the MGM Theater of the Air is a bad program, just that you won't find the same verve and energy that the other three aforementioned programs had. Host Howard Dietz is an acceptable voice but lacking the hammy performance Cecil B. DeMille gave as host of Lux Radio Theater.

Most of the stories adapted on the MGM Theater of the Air seemed to be stories of marital troubles and drawing room conversations (ie, Riptide, Vacation from Marriage). It's exactly the sort of stiff, stuffy material I associate with MGM.

However, there are a few comedies, with Charles Laughton returning for an adaptation of the Canterville Ghost and Celeste Holm in an amusing version of Slightly Dangerous.

I'm a bit surprised that only 33 episodes of the show's 78-episode run. As it was a syndicated series, I'd imagine that most of the series must still exist in some OTR collector's vault, neglected and unloved. Perhaps one day they'll appear and I might then have to reassess the series, as the missing episodes include an adaptation of the films Escape with William Holden, the Count of Monte Cristo with Jose Ferrer, High Wall with John Payne and the Man in the Iron Mask with Brian Aherne.

You can hear the MGM Theater of the Air at the Old-Time Radio Researchers' Library.

Radio Recap: A Life in Your Hands

"You never know when you may be called upon to testify to an act of violence to which you have become involved quite innocently. Even now, there may be a crime in the making."

One of the earliest old-time radio shows I recall hearing was an episode of the series a Life in Your Hands but I never knew much about it until I decided to revisit it as a Radio Recap. It's basically a courtroom drama program; it was created by Erle Stanley Gardner, who was best-known as the creator of Perry Mason. It was around the same time that he created the series the Adventures of Christopher London. Apparently Gardner was keen on creating radio programs although it doesn't appear that he actually wrote for them himself.

A Life in Your Hands spent it's entire existence as summer replacement program, on two different networks no less! First it ran on the summer of 1949 as a replacement for People Are Funny on NBC; then it reappeared in 1951 as a replacement for the Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet on ABC; finally it came back to NBC for the summer of 1952 to replace Father Knows Best.

A Life in Your Hands featured as its lead character lawyer Jonathan Kegg (portrayed at various times by Ned LeFevre, Carleton KaDell and Lee Bowman). Kegg was an amicus curiae, which, as every episode explained, was a "friend of the court" who worked for neither the defense nor prosecution. Kegg was always involved in criminal cases on the program and would explain that he could afford to work for free as an amicus curiae because of his wealth. There is something reminiscent of Horatio Alger in Kegg's character.

Now, you might be wondering about the "Your" in the series title. Since we have a lead character, you might think it refers to Kegg. Actually, it refers to the listening audience. The narration in a Life in Your Hands would frequently address the listener and ask them if they could recall the details they heard earlier in the drama. The use of Kegg as protagonist seems to me at odds with the narration, which continually tells the listener to put themselves in the shoes of the cases' witnesses or jurors - but really, it doesn't come down to them so much as it does Kegg.

As neither defense or prosecution, Kegg would basically swing at all sides. When a witness made a guarded response he'd impuign their character, even badger them (apparently an amicus curiae isn't bound by the behaviours expected of regular counsel?). But when witnesses are reluctant to speak he could be quite friendly.

We only have a few episodes of a Life in Your Hands and several of them (including the episode I first heard) lack their musical bridges. Well, at least that means I can't complain about the stock NBC filler music! The lack of music suggests the recordings aren't the broadcast versions of those episodes.

Here's a YouTube playlist of surviving episodes of a Life in Your Hands as compiled by a fan.

Radio Recap: Candy Matson

"Did you ever know a girl private detective? Perhaps not, they're pretty rare. Well, we've got one: Candy Matson is the name and she's both pretty and rare! Figure? She picks up where Miss America leaves off! Clothes? She makes a pesi dress look like opening night at the opera! Hair? Blonde, of course, and eyes? Just the right shade of blue to match the hair. You're expecting more? All right, let's meet her..."

Candy Matson (also called Candy Matson YUkon 28209) was a private detective series that started on NBC in June 30, 1949 and lasted until April 29, 1951. It was a quirky series and very unlike most of NBC's detective fare; for starters, the leading lady Candy Matson (played by Natalie Masters) was a female private eye which remains a scarce commodity even to this day; and the series was produced in San Francisco, giving a flavour closer to Pat Novak for Hire than any of NBC's usual Hollywood flair.

There were no familiar voices on Candy Matson but the roles were carried out with aplomb, including Candy's pal Rembrandt Watson (Jack Thomas), a somewhat effete photographer who would do a lot of Candy's legwork for her (his temperment and role was very similar to Pat Novak's Jocko Madigan) and police lieutenant Ray Mallard (Henry Leff), who would appear to scoff at Candy's capabilities then ask her out on a date.

The series was written, produced and directed by Monty Masters, who happened to be Natalie Masters' husband. Monty apparently had a love for smart-aleck dialogue and Candy Matson is full of it; sure, there were plenty of private eyes in late 40s radio with a quick wit (Richard Diamond, Private Detective comes to mind) but Candy Matson's dialogue veers nearest to the Adventures of Sam Spade in the way it was willing to break the fourth wall, such as when Candy reacts to one verbal pun by asking, "Who writes this dialogue?" Knowing that Monty was her husband also casts a certain light on the frequent admiring remarks made by most male characters about Candy Matson's beauty.

The series apparently had trouble sticking to a timeslot as NBC shoved it all over the place, which is never a means to build an audience. The show's final episode was dubbed "Candy Matson's Last Case" and it's exactly that; Candy investigates a case that involves Lt. Mallard, who won't explain his strange behaviour. In the climax, Mallard reveals he's been promoted to captain and proposes marriage to Candy, telling her to give up her private detective job and become his wife. The show ends with Candy awkwardly trying to deliver her usual outro but realizing that since her career is coming to an end it doesn't quite fit.

The series made one more attempt at returning in 1952 with a new pilot called "the Allison Gray Case" (also known as "the Fortune Teller"). That episode ignored the events of the final episode but it didn't matter - the pilot wasn't picked up.

I quite like Candy Matson. It helps that it was set in San Francisco, a city dear to my own wife's heart and the episodes frequently mention famous streets, neighbourhoods, the cable cars and the ferry boats. The series also has a great Christmas episode called "Jack Frost" that I recently blogged about.

Unfortunately, there appear to be only 14 surviving episodes of Candy Matson. You can hear the Old-Time Radio Researchers' collection of Candy Matson episodes in this YouTube playlist!

Radio Recap: The Adventures of the Thin Man

I was a bit surprised to discover the Adventures of the Thin Man had a very long run on the radio. I mean, it's one of the most famous properties created by Dashiell Hammett, what with the six movies William Powell and Myrna Loy made from 1934-1947 and a 1957-1959 TV series. Since the set-up of the series involves a witty, urbane couple who indulge in romantic and sarcastic dialogue while solving crimes, it's a perfect scenario for a weekly radio series.

And the series did have a very long run; first it was heard on NBC for Woodbury Soap from July 2, 1941-December 23, 1942; then it motved to CBS for General Foods from January 8, 1943-December 26, 1947, with a brief return to NBC for June 16-September 8, 1944. After that it returned to NBC with Pabst Beer from June 22-September 22, 1948; then to Mutual from October 28, 1948-January 20, 1949 and finally to ABC and sponsor Heinz June 23-September 1, 1950. The series toured all of the networks!

Over that herky-jerky decade Les Damon, Les Tremayne, David Gothard and Joseph Curtin took turns as Nick Charles; Claudia Morgan was usually Nora Charles. Through it all, the series' producer-director was none other than Himan Brown, better-known for Inner Sanctum Mysteries and CBS Radio Mystery Theater among many, many others (such as the Private Files of Rex Saunders).

Yet for all that, there's shockingly little of the Adventures of the Thin Man that exists in circulating collections today and what there is hasn't been well-researched or organized, just kind of thrown out there. Many of the surviving episodes are from the Armed Forces Radio Theater's series Mystery Playhouse with Peter Lorre as host. I've listened to what there is and it sounds pretty good, all the comedy, romance and dead bodies you'd expect from their film counterparts. It's too bad most of it appears to be lost for all time.

The largest collection I've found online of the Adventures of the Thin Man is this YouTube playlist a fan put together; it has 10 full episodes, 3 fragments and 2 Lux Radio Theater film adaptations. It's a surprisingly small selection of episodes from a long-running and popular property!