Mercury Month - Week #4

Welles at his craft

This week we focus on the great man himself, the man who brought all the other players of the Mercury together - Orson Welles.

I do not suppose I shall be remembered for anything. But I don't think about my work in those terms. It is just as vulgar to work for the sake of posterity as to work for the sake of money.  - Orson Welles

Welles made his mark on old time radio before flitting off the Hollywood to capture America's imagination on film.  In this broadcast, we have him in a comedic role, guest starring on the Fred Allen Show.  Welles could do comedy just fine, thank you, as he even had a run as fill-in for Jack Benny when Benny was out sick for a 4 week stretch in the 1942-3 season.

I passionately hate the idea of being with it; I think an artist has always to be out of step with his time. - Orson Welles

And out of step he was, as we'll see next week on the Old Time Radio Express, when we play that instant classic - The War of the Worlds.  After the Fred Allen Show, we get you all prepared for everything you'll need next week.

Nobody who takes on anything big and tough can afford to be modest. - Orson Welles

And modest he was not.  As I'm sure he would have told you.

Mercury Month - Week #2

Bea Benaderet and Ray Collins are our featured Mercury players this week on the OTR Express.

Benaderet is featured in an early episode of The Great Gildersleeve on this week's show.  She also had a role as Gertrude Gearshift, a telephone operator who gave Jack Benny fits on The Jack Benny Show.  There, she met her second husband, Eugene Twombly, who was the sound effects man.  Sadly, after Benaderet died in 1968, Twombly died on the day of her funeral - four days after her death. 

Ray Collins was at his best playing the white collar heavy on film - the man whose voice threatened violence, but who would never carry out the dirty work himself.  On this program from Suspense called "Marry for Murder", he plays quite a different role, and one that shows his versatility.  I don't know why, but I had to pick one actor from Mercury who you might call Welles' right hand man, I would pick Ray Collins.

Sit back and enjoy these two greats! 

Show #36 - The Best of Benny and Adventures by Morse, part 1

We've got a good mix of laughs and chills here on the Old Time Radio Express.

What better way to kick off the month of August (or any month for that matter) with Jack Benny?  This week, we get right to the good stuff, with four clips from a collection called "The Best of Benny". 

This was one of my earliest collections and the punchline "DOFRB" is still engrained in my head.  Listen and find out...

Then we follow up with part 1 of "A Coffin for the Lady" on Adventures by Morse.  Adventures by Morse may be only the third or fourth most popular show by writer Carlton E. Morse, but it's perfect for the OTR Express. 

Yes, ideally, we'd love to share a 20 episode serial from I Love a Mystery with you, but it would take us nearly half a year to do so.  That's a long time to keep anyone in suspense.

So we settle (and I use the term loosely) for Adventures by Morse, a 30-minute serial format show, with plots that ran in alternating 3 and 10 episode arcs. 

"A Coffin For the Lady" is a 3 episode storyline, and great adventure like only Morse could do.  The beginning of the story finds our heroes on a desolate island somewhere in remote Canada...

Why "Christmas"?

Not to get into a philosophical discussion, but you may have noticed that  I refer to Christmas on the OTRExpress, rather than 'the holidays' or Hanukkah.  The reason for this is simply that the programs from the golden age of radio, for better or for worse, all center around Christmas this time of year.  There is simply no mention - that I am aware of - of the Jewish holiday. 

The irony is that many of the best comedians of the era were Jewish.  Jack Benny (born Benny Kubelsky), Eddie Cantor, George Burns, the Marx Brothers, Milton Berle are among those that come to mind.    So why not Hanukkah?

It's hard to say.  I don't know whether men like Jack Benny struggled with his heritage as he wrote and performed his annual Christmas shows.  My sense is that men like Benny were first and foremost entertainers - that if Christmas was more relevant to his audience and could draw bigger laughs, then Christmas it would be.  But I don't know... what do you think?

Show #5 of the Old Time Radio Express - Let's Begin Celebrating Christmas!

Sorry for the delay in posting this, the December 13th podcast of the Old Time Radio Express.  Been a busy week here in Brownsburg!

I've packed a lot of good old time radio nuggets into this hour, and of course I hope you'll like all of it.  But if you don't, it won't be a few minutes before something you do like pops up.

We've got some well-known performers, like Jack Benny and Bing Crosby, and then some of lesser renown, like Dick "Two Ton" Baker, the Music Maker.  When you hear Two Ton Baker, you realize that while the national networks certainly captured the top talent, there was a slew of fantastic performers in all of the local markets.  It's a blessing that Two Ton's recordings were pressed onto transcription discs and sent out nationally for syndication, or his talents would have been lost to the airwaves.  Unfortunately, we're not as lucky with many similar performers.

Radio was indeed very regional.  Before coast-to-coast programming, local stations needed to produce their own entertainment, and a lot of them were very good.  One only has to look at WXYZ in Detroit, which locally produced  The Lone Ranger, The Green Hornet and The Challenge of the Yukon - all later became OTR classics, but started locally in Detroit of all places.  Talent and imagination knows no geography.

Well, with all that said, click on the the blog posting title & enjoy this week's show...