Old Time Radio Obscurities...

This week on the Old Time Radio Express, your host brings you a couple of old time radio related obscurities.

First is Words With Music, a show with words...and music.  In this episode, we hear "The Gift of the Magi".  It's an interesting story and presentation, and you'll learn a little about the story's author as well as confectionary history on the program.



The next obscurity is A Voice in the Night starring an "internationally famous stage, screen and supper club star".  I'll leaving you guessing as to who it is. 



Here's a hint of who your "Voice in the Night" star is...
What, still no idea?



It's a night of old time radio that even the most ardent OTR fan might not have heard before.  So click on the title above, and enjoy!

Criminals Beware...

For tonight, on the Old Time Radio Express, they will feel the sting of The Green Hornet...and be outsmarted by gentleman detective Philo Vance.

Just click on the title of this blog posting, for an hour's worth of old time radio.

The Green Hornet was once billed as the crime fighter who took down criminals that "even the G-Men couldn't catch".  G-Men, a forerunner of the FBI, didn't take too kindly to the perception that there were criminals that would elude them, so the intro changed.  However, the Hornet's effectiveness was not diminished.

This week, we have "The Hornet Does It", in which the Hornet is framed for a hijacking he didn't commit.

On Philo Vance, the organist gets a workout, as this program lives up to all the cliches of an old radio detective show (sharp organ interludes, a detective whose every deduction is spot on, cops that are incredibly daft, and the obvious suspects never being guilty).   And yet, "The Green Girls Murder Case" is just as enjoyable as it must have been when it was broadcast back in 1949.  Enjoy, and check back next week for more great old time radio...

The War of the Worlds - A Halloween Classic

No, it's not the 2005 Spielberg movie starring Tom Cruise.  Nor is it the 1953 version starring Ray Bradbury.  Nor is it even a very faithful adaptation of the 1898 H.G. Wells novel.

No, this is the Mercury Theatre on the Air's original vision of "The War of the Worlds".  To understand the impact it had on American society, take a listen to last week's show after you hear this one. 

So, in what has become tradition - we celebrate Halloween by playing "The War of the Worlds", starring Orson Welles and his Mercury players, on the Old Time Radio Express.