Show #31 (June 13th) Famous Jury Trials & Perry Mason

I spent the weekend in Ithaca, New York, celebrating my law reunion, and to celebrate, have chosen two law-related old time radio shows for your listening enjoyment - Famous Jury Trials and Perry Mason.

The former, though less well-known, probably has more factual basis in the law than the latter.  Alas, Perry Mason on radio was a mix of a soap opera male lead and private detective.  The shows had neither the substance nor the flash of the famed TV series.

Nonetheless, I think you'll get a kick out of both series.

Duffy's Tavern & The Strange Dr. Weird

Picture Cheers, except set in a dingy bar somewhere in New York City with an absentee owner and a manager whose grammatical skills, or lack thereof, were a weekly source of comedy.  Toss in a dash of funny character actors and the occasional Hollywood guest star, and you've got Duffy's Tavern. 

The show was the brainchild of Ed Gardner, who played the lead character of Archie, the manager of Duffy's Tavern (pictured right).  As the story goes, Gardner was a producer on another show, and trying to get his actors to hit the perfect New York accent.  None could, so Gardner stepped up to the mike and showed them just what he wanted.  Within seconds, the cast was in stitches, and the voice of Archie was born.

This episode from December 18, 1946 guest stars Joan Bennett, who, in this author's humble opinion is underrated in terms of both looks and acting ability.  Check out this photo of Bennett to judge the former, and the film "Scarlet Street" for the latter.

We top this edition of the Old Time Radio Express off with The Strange Dr. Weird.  Because you can never go wrong with the writing team of Robert A. Arthur and David Kogan.

Interesting World War II era posters...

In the spirit of our last show, and in keeping with the WWII theme, I thought you might enjoy these posters from an era gone by....