Show #24 - Information, Please! & Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, part 2

This week on the Old Time Radio Express, we continue listening to "The Flight Six Matter" on Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, and listen to a 30 minute program of Information, Please!

I can think of no modern equivalent for Information, Please! on television.  It most reminds me of a program like the McLaughlin Group, a PBS show that I can remember my Grandpa Shelley watching regularly, but the only real similarity is that the show consists of a group of highly educated men sitting around discussing important things.  Information, Please! was a game-show of sorts, though, with the public submitting questions designed to stump the experts.  I don't know if the phenomenon of public interest in shows like Information, Please! and Quiz Kids - "high-brow" entertainment - has ever been duplicated.  These men on Information, Please! (Clifton Fadiman, Franklin P. Adams and John Kieran) were celebrities in their day.

On the Information, Please program on the OTR Express, guest Orson Welles joins the group with interesting results.

Our second program is the second installment of the Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar matter, "The Flight Six Matter", with new events that lead Johnny deeper into the rabbit hole...Enjoy! 

Show #23 - The Great Gildersleeve & Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar

This week, we listen to The Great Gildersleeve, one of OTR's best sitcoms, and a different take on the private detective genre, with Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar.

The Great Gildersleeve was bachelor Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve, Water Commissioner of the fictional burg of Summerfield, who lived with his wards, nephew Leroy, niece Marjorie, and maid Birdy.  Birdy figures prominently into the plot of this episode, as Gildy tries to stir up some romance with his latest gal, a nurse. 

Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar is the story of "America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator, the man with the action-packed expense account", Johnny Dollar.  As a freelance insurance investigator, Dollar was called around the globe to investigate phony-looking insurance claims, always getting caught up in some mystery or intrigue (usually with a beautiful woman involved). This week, we start part 1 (of 5) of The Flight Six Matter, with parts 2-5 to follow in the coming weeks.

Show #22 - Escape & Captain Midnight

This week, we escape to the Confederate South on Escape, as Harry Bartell stars in "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" based on the famous short story of the same name by Ambrose Bierce. 

Escape was an anthology program of adventure shows, and is often thought of as the somewhat lesser kin to the long-running program, Suspense.  And though it is true that Escape only ran for 7 years (versus Suspense's 20), bounced around time slots (versus Suspense's fairly standard slot), had sporadic sponsorship (versus Suspense's long-running sponsors) and limited budget and big-name stars (versus Suspense's wealth of both), Escape is still just as good as Suspense. 

Take a listen to this show, and let me know if you don't agree.

By the way, star of this Escape episode, Mr. Harry Bartell, named this particular performance the favorite of his long career.

Captain Midnight is our second program, and was a kiddie serial aimed at young boys.  It told the story of Captain Midnight, secret government agent whose identity was so secret that even his superiors did not know it. 

Like every good hero, he had a backstory.  In WWI, he was fighter pilot who was sent on a mission surely to result in his death, but he piloted his plane back into friendly territory on the stroke of midnight, having completed his mission, and earning the moniker, "Captain Midnight". 

For more on Captain Midnight, check out http://www.otr.com/.  Until then, enjoy this isolated episode from January 10, 1949.