The police are called to a domestic disturbance when a neighbor hears a man beating up his wife. When the police arrive they find the man has a gun. The wife is more concerned about her husband going to jail and how she is going to manage. The episode covers a case of domestic violence and also the exact opposite when one of the attending cops almost gets in to trouble for his conduct on the case when his reason was to save his own marriage.

Listen to the music of Freddie Rich and his orchestra, the songs of Connie Haines, Billy Graham’s Little Matilda and tonight’s guest the lovely Paramount star Miss veronica Lakel and of course lots of slapstick comedy from Bud Abbott and Lou Costello.

A mad killer is loose in the city. In every instance he leaves the murder weapon behind but there are no finger prints or clues to the killers identity. Detective Sergeant Joe Friday has been assigned to Homicide and it's his job to get the killer before he strikes again.

The Jack Benny Program was first broadcast on the Blue Network on 2nd May 1932. With his capable cast of supporting players Benny made his show into one of great radio comedy shows. What was so special about this golden-age classic is Benny's ability to come across as a likeable guy despite being vain, argumentative, and a skinflint. People related to Benny and his willingness to often give the best comedy lines in the show to his supporting cast made him popular with listeners, guests and colleagues. This is classic comedy that is still funny sixty years later.

This story was written by Anton Chekhov, a great playwright often referred to as the Russian Shakespeare. Chekhov was a master of the short story. He was a gentle soul with an unusual understanding of the heart of man and in this story you’ll find he proves himself a great searcher after truth.

Two friends are debating over which is better, to be executed by the state or to spend a lifetime in prison. Ivanoff says that it is not the right of the state to take away from a man that which he cannot return and that if he were offered a choice between capitol punishment and life imprisonment he would choose imprisonment for it is better than no life at all.

The rich banker who has wealth beyond belief, and without it would feel like his life was taken away from him, bets his friend two million roubles that he cannot spend five years in confinement. Driven by his greed and a challenge he could not refuse, he accepts the bet stating that for 2 million roubles he will be confined for 15 years.

What does a man think about when a prison door closes behind him when he sees the four walls that will be the boundary of his world what does he think?

He had undertaken this fearful confinement, as a bet. If he could last out 15 years it would bring him 2 million roubles, but what is 2 million roubles…?

Gary and Amanda are happily married and Jerry and Martha are too. However Amanda and Jerry have been having an affair for the last three months meeting each Wednesday afternoon. They love each other but neither one of them wants to leave their spouses or to do anything to hurt them. Then that Wednesday something happens which threatens to jeopardise their relationship and ruin both their lives.

You are isolated on a remote plantation in the crawling Amazon Jungle and an immense army of ravenous ants is closing in on you - swarming in to eat you alive. A deadly black army from which there is no escape.

Author: Carl Stephenson (1938)

This gripping story was also produced by Suspense broadcast on 25th August 1957.

 

The Great Gildersleeve has never plunged in to the sea of matrimony but he does like to dangle his toes in the water once in a while. A few days ago he met a Miss Gloria McKinley manager of the complaint department at Hogan Brothers. He hasn’t had a date with her yet but this afternoon he has persuaded her to let him drive her home from work. Gloria is very impressed with Gildy’s connection with the important Judge Hooker and when he tells her they were just talking about the 4th July she assumes that Gildy is giving the 4th July speech!

In July 1943 Dupont salutes 167 years of American freedom as it presents Listen To The People by Stephen Vincent Benet starring Ethel Barrymore on the Cavalcade of America. Listen to the People sounded a prophetic warning when it was first presented on the 4th July in 1941 and here we hear it in retrospect.

At the end of the program Ethel Barrymore reads a salutation to Stephen Benet by another American poet Carl Sandburg.

Hostess: Gale Storm

Family Theater is pleased to present the story of America’s most beloved composer Stephen Collins Foster who was born on July 4, 1826 (died January 13, 1864).

The evil that men do lives after them in the form of ever higher taxes and human misery. Forty per cent of last years budget was spent on  law enforcement and social agencies for the prevention and control of crime. Dr Alexander Curan claims that he can wipe out crime tomorrow with his  invention of a tranquillizer which he calls Benefactril. It has the power to curb every anti social impulse and tendency toward crime for a period of forty-eight hours. Dr Curan wants to add it to the cities water supply. Seems like a good idea but without the criminals there wont be any need for the law enforcers and lawyers and reporters and the whole economy could be affected. It seems that the world isn't ready to be reformed.

All cars are standing by as federal agents are staking out on John Dillinger and finally rid the nation of its public enemy number one. This is a radio recreation of the Dillinger saga and salutes every police officer who risked his life in the long battle to crush the Dillinger mob.

If you were a loving wife what would be the worst news you could get from a private detective bout your husband? When her husband starts behaving out of character she thinks he is having an affair and hire a private detective to find out. However she doesn't believe him when he tells her that her husband may be planning to have her killed.

This is the story of Sarah Josepha Hale an inspirational woman and famous Editor of Godeys Lady's Book and ardent advocate of feminine education whose memory lives in the welfare and opportunities of women today.

She is also credited with being responsible for making Thanksgiving Day a national holiday.

 

 

 

This episode marks the two year anniversary of Command Performance and begins with the song that opened the very first show of Command Performance, Blues in the Night by Dinah Shore. Then Frank Sinatra sings Speak Low. Other performances are by John Scott Trotter on the piano along with his orchestra. Dinah, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Ken Carpenter perform a parody episode of a the Stella Dallas series. 

Excellent episode!

 

An inspiring story of what one woman accomplished in Europe after the first world war. It is a true story of gallantry and mercy and high courage. 

Marsha Lord's home had always worn an air of friendliness that beckoned over a profusion of garden blossoms and a low neatly trimmed hedge. But recently the garden blooms have had to display their perfumed beauty in a setting of ever encroaching weeds, a reminder that Major Jim Lord was in another country helping to straighten the shambles left by World War II. 

Marsha thought her problems were solved when out of the blue a man called at her door and offered to tend her garden. When she looked at him she thought he must be the ugliest man in the world but his voice was gentle so she decided to let him stay on. However when a neighbor is discovered dead Marsha suspects that her gardener with his ugliness is responsible. This is a tragic story with a thought provoking final.

Lieutenant Guthrie and Sergeant Carter are driving along in cold snowy weather and recall this time last year when a young girl Charlotte Evans was found dead in a snow drift with a slashed throat. Then a call comes over the radio about a missing girl, Dorothy Sheldon. Shortly after Dorothy is found murdered with a slashed throat in the snow in the same vicinity as Charlotte Evans was found murdered last year and there is no apparent motive for either killings but with so many similarities in the m.o. the police could be after a repetitive psychopathic killer and fear he may kill again.

Danger is Steve Mitchell's assignment but he doesn't realise when he walks in to the commissioner's office that this assignment is going to wind up with his life getting saved because he shoots his only friend in the deal.Steve Mitchell is going after a black market operation that's unbalancing the entire mediterranean economy.

The Great Gildersleeve thought it was a good idea this year to persuade Leroy to earn his Christmas money and not take it out of the family budget and before the water commissioner knew what was happening Leroy had him agreeing the same thing!

Here is your chance to act in a jury trial without leaving your living room, the chance to find out what kind of juror you would make. All names and characters used are fictitious. 

In the early morning hours of September the 4th 1937 in the Hollywood home of Rex King, famous picture director, Morton Mayo the butler says he was awakened by the sound of footsteps and peering in to the pitch black vestibule he heard Rex answering the door to people he was expecting.

They were blackmailing him to the tune of $10,000 in exchange for some letters but when he goes for his gun one of them kills him. However is Morton Mayo telling the truth or did he kill Rex King?

You are in the muster room of the 21st Precinct, the nerve center and a call is coming through. You will follow the action taken pursuant to that call from this minute until the final report is written in the 124 room at the 21st precinct.

Two armed men are in the process of robbing a liquor store. The police arrive at the scene and a gun firing chase ensues. One of the holdup men is apprehended after being shot in the shoulder. The second holdup man escapes after shooting a police officer.

The Eisenhower Years is a a chronicle in sound of the Dwight Eisenhower years produced by Extension Radio Television at Kansas State University in 1969 & 1970. This is the introductory episode to this 13-part radio documentary dealing with the life of the 34th President of the United States. As a soldier Dwight Eisenhower commanded the mightiest armada in history during World War II. As the President he guided the nation through eight years of increasingly complex times and as both soldier and statesman he was one of the sculptures of the twentieth century.

What starts out as an innocent little bad dream of Cathy's become's a major neighborhood concern of a prowler in the night, imaginary or perhaps real. There were unexplained noises downstairs and for the head of the Anderson family, aided and abetted by sundry suggestions from lesser members of the family, its time to figure out just how to cope with the problem.

A 1953 Warner Film Production, adapted for radio. An impulsive telephone call leads to an accusation of murder. Telephone operator Nora Larkin should never have gone out with Harry Prebble, she should never have had all them drinks and she should never have gone to Harry's apartment. But what was done was done had and when Harry came toward her with that look in his eye Nora reached out for the only weapon at hand, a fire poker. 
The next day Harry Prebble is discovered dead in his apartment by his cleaning woman who has wiped away any fingerprint evidence. The only clues are a lace handkerchief and a blue gardenia broken off at the stem which are found at the scene. 

This is the story of a girl who is mistaken for a werewolf. A professor is called in to solve the mystery of the werewolf that appears every year at this time. A werewolf is a vampire, a dead human being that leaves its grave at night and takes any form it chooses, usually that of a wolf. Anybody whose throat is slashed and blood drunk by a werewolf will die and turn in to another vampire. 

The story  appeared in The American Weekly under the title, "Lived Like A Little Wild Beast For Seven Years."

When Roseanne's  handsome boyfriend Alan Bruthers came to take her out everyone thought he was a lovely boy. He had perfect manners, a good job, a nice car and seemed like a man with a future. But it seems he'd told Roseanne a different story to the one he told her father. Was he really the person they thought he was or was he a dangerous fake?

In the last month there have been eight robberies of gas stations and all-night markets. The police have been unable to get a positive id from a line up. The only thing to do is stake out as many all-night markets and gas stations as they can. During a stake out a grocery store is held up and the manager's son, Jack Bishop, is shot. His girlfriend Miss Wilson was scared but she got a good view of them and is able to give a good description to the police. 

Its April Fools day and Walter decides to play a practical joke on Madison High School principal Mr Conklin. He calls him up on the telephone pretending to be from a radio program offering him the chance to win a television. He then tells Mr Conklin that he will need to collect it from Sherry's Department store. Walters plan is to send Mr Conklin on a wild goose chase but it is Our Miss Brooks who teaches English at Madison High who turns out to be the goose!

Agent Steve Mitchell is assigned to go to London and set a trap for someone who's putting the finger on certain political refugees that  the intelligence service were interested in bringing to the US. Because of that someone the refugees were winding up back where they started from, behind the iron curtain. 

 

Lum seems to be falling for everyone's April Fool's jokes.

Henry is feeling like the luckiest boy in town when he receives a letter from inviting him to dinner at Loretta’s unaware that it is an April Fool Joke from Agnes.

Dean Martin opens the show by singing Bella Bimba. Next Jerry and Dean sing These Foolish Things giving their impression of a man whose girlfriend has just run out on him. He's trying to forget her but everything he touches recalls another memory. Frank Sinatra sings, I've Got A Crush on You. Dean Martin sings, The Little White Cloud That Cried. In the special extra 15 minutes Carol Richards duets with Dean singing That Old Soft Shoe.

Excellent show!

The Mutual Broadcasting System in cooperation with Family Theater Incorporated presents Miss Ethel Barrymore in a dramatic narration of the greatest love story the world has known, the story of God’s love for men.

Host: Guy Madison

Over the garden of Chester A Riley’s bungalow darkness has fallen, darkness and silence. In the blackness of the back yard our hero Riley stands a solitary figure, alert and watchful; waiting, waiting – ah what’s that? Footstep on the gravel path and now the fearless Riley grows tense as the footsteps come closer and closer. Suddenly Riley leaps forward…

Chester A Riley, father of thirteen year old Junior Riley, is very proud of his son, although his pride is often deflated by his friend Jim Gillis who is also the father of a teenage boy called Egbert. Right now we find the two fathers admiring the special window display in Witherspoon's drug store.

The makers of Alka Seltzer are proud to bring you those two lovable old radio friends of yours, Lum & Abner.

Today is Memorial Day and Lum and Abner are taking a holiday from their duties at the Jot ‘Em Down Store. The old fellows spent the morning over at the old school house where Lum was the principle speaker at the Memorial Day services.

My fellow Americans: Last night, when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our allies were crossing the Channel in another and greater operation. It has come to pass with success thus far.

And so, in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer:

Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity...

Dinah Shore is the Mistress of Ceremonies and opens this special Mother's Day show by singing Great Day for the Firehouse Gang, officially known as Swede, Termite, Ted, Baldy and Yid. Next up is Pee Wee Hunt singing Little Man On The Hammer before Fay Mckenzie sings Strip Poker.

The second president of the United States, John Adams, once said "The world will never forget the noble daring of Crispus Attucks in the holy cause of liberty. At the site of the Boston Massacre, on Boston Common, there stands a monument to his deed. Today, Destination Freedom tells the story of Crispus Attucks, the first man to give his life for American Independence - striking a blow for freedom in the American colonies.

A fine, patriotic 4th of July drama! It is the night of July 1st, 1776. In a small, stuffy anteroom of the Pennsylvania State House, at Philadelphia, five weary men, working by candlelight, are gathered about a writing desk littered with crumpled sheets of paper. They're tired, their nerves are on edge and their patience is at the breaking point. John Adams addresses the men, feeling that he needs to again explain the brutal truth. They are struggling to draft the wording of the Declaration of Independence, as no two of the five committee members are in agreement, much less all five! 

Running out of gas on a foggy back road in Maine, a couple become frightened by news reports of a murderous woman who's escaped from an asylum. Searching for help, the two take refuge in an abandoned shack. When an hysterical woman appears at the window wanting refuge, they're convinced she's the lunatic that's on the loose.

Candid Microphone brings you the secretly recorded conversations of all kinds of people as they react in real life to all kinds of situations. No one ever knows when he's talking on to the candid microphone!

I remember reading Markheim as a child and then being introduced to it by accident once more as a young man when I bought an anthology of short stories called "Ghosts for Christmas."

As with many supernatural thrillers or tales with a twist it is difficult to adequately write a review without giving away the plot. I could for instance tell you that the original story might have been a potential precursor for "A Christmas Carol" if it were not for the fact that the Dickensian novella predated it by 41 years. We can be safe to say though, that although the literary Markheim may not be the parent of the better known "Scrooge" he is very much the sibling.

In this radio version (which departs considerably from the original text), Markheim is a man who discovers the truth of his soul and the strange force that has been propelling him ever forward. A voice from the darkness within him holds the key to his deceit and will not easily let him escape.

A story dedicated to one of American journalisms historic crusades, it is based on the life of the great American political cartoonist, Thomas Nast who, during the 1870s and 1880s, fought to secure decent civil government by the means of his celebrated drawings, and the power of the American free press. #JeSuisCharlie

The host is Jim Ameche, and the first tune is "Guatemala" played by the talented orchestra and sung by Patricia Gilmore. Jim then introduces the schedule for the evening. Luise Rainer later brings to life the telephone scene from "The Great Ziegfeld," which won the first of her two consecutive Academy Awards.

Written in the 19th century by English author Charles Dickens, it is one of his greatest works, and one of the most intriguing. A rags to riches story of a young orphaned boy named Pip, who is living with his sister and her husband, a blacksmith in the South of England. The story begins with Pip's first meeting with a terrifying escaped convict when he is visiting his mother and father's graves. 

Set in the early nineteenth century, the novel tells the story of Silas Marner, a simple, honest and kindhearted weaver, who falls asleep one night whilst he is supposed to be watching over the seriously ill deacon of the congregation. When he wakes, he finds that the deacon has already passed away. Not only that, but the congregation's funds have been stolen whilst he was sleeping.

Universally acclaimed as one of the greatest seafaring tales ever told, it is the story of a great white whale and of Captain Aheb's obsession with pursuing it. The story begins with Ishmael, who, intent upon sailing a whalers' ship, makes his way to the nearest whaling inn. There are no beds available, so he ends up bunking with a harpooner from the South Pacific named Queequeg...

Since the times of the bards and the troubadours, many tales have been told about King Arthur and his round table. Those days of old when knighthood was in flower. One of the finest stories is not a legend from the dim past, but a tale first told little more than a century ago, by the most typical of American writers, Samuel Clemens.

The story begins at the funeral of Dr Henry Jekyll. Well-respected, prosperous, and one of the greatest scientists of the nineteenth century, his belief had been that every man is truly two beings, cursed with the struggle of good and evil within him, and so to explore this theory, he creates a chemical compound to separate this duality.

With no consideration of the potentially horrible consequences, he tests his theory by drinking the potion himself.

What emerges from the experiment is a personality which is the polar opposite of the warm, kind and friendly Dr Jekyll. This new personality is a dark, evil and violent, alter ego whose name is Mr Edward Hyde.

Written by Joseph Conrad in 1899, the story is loosely based upon his own experiences as the captain of a steamer on the Congo River in Africa.

Whilst not really an adventure story as such, it is a story of greed and insanity, full of hidden meanings and complex twists in the plot. It is widely considered to be one of the most intricate works of literature ever written.

The tale begins with the introduction of a steamer captain called Marlowe who is employed by an English trading company, and who is sent to the Congo to travel up river, visiting the traders and bartering for ivory with the locals. 

He soon begins to hear stories about another trader employed by the same Company as himself, named Kurtz, and is given the order to find and recover the man, and secure the inner trading post.

President’s Lady is about Andrew Jackson who was one of our greatest presidents. It begins in the year 1789 and is the tender story of his deep love for his wife Rachel. Charlton Heston stars in the lead recreating his role from the original 1953 20th Century Fox production.

 

Child actress Margaret O’Brien plays her original screen role in Metro Goldwyn Mayer’s Our Vines Have Tender Grapes. Frances Gifford also takes on her original screen role in this delightful story of a little girl who brings faith and sunshine in to the lives of a community typically American although its people come from distant Norway.

Let's go back to a significant chapter in our American history, the creation of probably the most iconic symbol of American independence - the Liberty Bell. It wasn't the largest of bells, nor was it the heaviest - but it has certainly proven to be one of the most famous. Its long and colorful history began in the year 1752 in the bell casting foundry of Thomas Lester in London, England...

The Tennessee Valley Authority are going to be building some dams in the area, and so their company representative, Mr Davis, has been visiting some of the mountain property owners in the area, to give the bad news that their home is lying in the valley earmarked to be flooded and turned into a lake. At the home of the next family, the farm has been in the family for generations, and the elderly lady who lives there will be devastated to learn their fate...

World War 1 drama taken from Ernest Hemingway's best selling novel of the same name. It begins in the thick of the action in an ambulance on it’s way to the field hospital. Clark Gable is up front with the driver and on arrival at the hospital he comes face to face with the brunette of his dreams. Love and war, the two special ingredients any writer needs to put together a best seller.

Starring Robert Young. In Springfield in the white-framed house on Maple Street the Andersons have their own conception of Father’s day. Betty wants to buy father a necktie, Bud wants to just polish the car but Margaret wants them all to spend the day together. Father on the other hand has an idea of his own, that’s when the fun begins.

The wireless is interrupted by a special bulletin. "Professor Farrell of the Mount Jennings Observatory reports observing several explosions of incandescent gas occurring at regular intervals on the planet Mars. The spectroscope indicates the gas to be hydrogen which is moving towards the earth at enormous velocity". What is this unexplained phenomena? Most definitely the most famous radio drama ever broadcast and still as gripping today as ever.

Thomas "Tom" Sawyer is the title character of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by acclaimed author Mark Twain. This first part of two adapted radio shows follows the adventures of Tom and his friend Huckleberry (Huck) Finn.

This story revolves round the murder of Dr. Robertson who lies dead in a graveyard in the dark of night and the framing of an innocent man. Huck and Tom who witness it all from the darkness know that Indian 'injun' Joe is framing his drunken friend Muff Potter for the murder he himself committed. Scared of retribution from Joe, will Tom tell what he knows or will he 'keep mum' as he swore he would to Huck that fateful night?

If you were in a position of knowing without a shadow of a doubt the dreadful thing that was to happen on this day what would you do and how? That’s the question that faces Peg Andrews and Steve MacDonald, two time travellers who are transported back in time to April 14th 1865 the day John Wilkes Booth assassinated Presidents Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theater. They are shocked to realise that they are in Mary Surratt’s boarding house the spot where the whole plot was hatched. They have it in their power to change history but what can they do?

This is a true story taken from an actual medical file. It tells the story of an epidemic, which counted its victims in thousands before the outbreak was identified and brought under control.

One of the greatest love stories of all time, Pride and Prejudice is ageless, for it's hard to imagine a brave new world in which a mother with several daughters will not attempt to find husbands for them. The play is best remembered for the romance of its outspoken heroine, Elizabeth Bennett, whose love for the handsome Mr Darcy hurdles all obstacles.

Jo, Amy, Beth and Meg March are the principle characters in this classic story. Their shy romances and courage in adversity have endeared them to generations of Americans. Little Women is classified as fiction but it is pretty common knowledge that Miss Alcott was writing about her own family and of course in the case of the resolute auburn haired Jo she was writing about herself. This is a very fitting play for Christmas because in tender fashion it’s a simple and eloquent argument for kindness and goodwill. Katherine Hepburn plays the part of Jo reprising her 1933 film role.

A short thirty years was spent in almost cloistered simplicity on the moorlands of Yorkshire, England, yet Emily Brontë's rich and sombre imagination created its own world, and one of the most compelling novels in the English language. The story begins with Mr Lockwood, a rich man from the south of England who is renting a neighbouring property, who decides to call upon his closest neighbour and landlord, Mr Heathcliff.

A long time ago, in a far away, strange little land, filled with giants and unicorns, and kings and queens, a little tailor was sitting by his window sewing away with all his might on a bright summer morning. He was sewing some buttons on a coat and he sang to himself as he worked. Soon later, a peasant woman came along who was selling some jelly, so he went along purchased a little, looking forward to a break after he'd finished his sewing. He spread the jelly onto some bread, and continued with his sewing. But he'd forgotten about the pesky flies, so when they land on his jam, he kills seven on them with one swipe of his hand, and makes himself a belt describing the deed saying "Seven at one blow." Inspired, he sets out into the world to seek his fortune...

One of the methods enemy spies have been using recently to enter the country is to try and fly over our borders at night and drop by parachute in some wild section of the border state. In old Mexico way back in the sandy hills is a ranch well hidden in the hill on which was a modern aeroplane. Tonight a Gestapo agent has arrived at the Mexican ranch from where he will be flown over the border and dropped in to Texas.

This is an adaptation of the story, written by Mark Twain, of Huckleberry Finn. Following his adventures including; the death of Saga, and, of course, the voyage down the Mississippi on probably the most celebrated raft the world has ever known.

What is satire? How does it differ from wit, from humor, from criticism? Is it all of these or none of these? To help us answer this question the CBS Radio Workshop is proud to present one of the most penetrating young satirists of the time, the Capitol recording star Stan Freberg.

Jack B Brewster has just inherited a cool million from his uncle Ned and recovers from the shock to discover that his late grandfather has also left him six million dollars! However there are certain terms and conditions to the will devised to spite his uncle Ned whom his Grandfather despised. Brewster has to spend the entire million by the end of the year, have no worldly possessions whatsoever, no cash in his pocket and no more than one suit of clothes. No one must know why he is spending his uncle’s money, he must not spend it recklessly and he must remain single - and to break any of the conditions will be to invalidate his Grandfathers will.

A musical written by Walter Kerr based wholly upon popular American folk songs. The hero of the show is a young man named Barnaby Goodchild, a legendary figure who never grows old. Barnaby is a singer with a roving eye and a restless foot, and a hankering to have a good time. He first finds himself in hot water, (or should I say the Puritan stocks) in the first scene, locked up as a public example by Parson Killjoy, condemning him to go on wandering the desolate roads singing and dancing forever.

This is the story of how radio first came in to being and includes the story of the first scheduled radio broadcast of the presidential election returns on November 2, 1920, which continued intermittently throughout the night as the results were received. The nominees were Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge for the Republicans, and James M. Cox and Franklin D. Roosevelt for the Democrats.

Today's story is about a man named Davy Crockett, part history and part legend. He, and men like him, gave their lives to build this nation where once the winds were lonely, and the earth silent. Tucked away in a pleasant corner of space. Away where time has no meaning, there's a part of the promised land, reserved for Americans, where all comers are allowed to wander where they want. Everywhere that is, except this one cloud, on which there is a sign which says 'Reserved', and another saying 'Only Legends Allowed Here'. That's the cloud where John Henry lives, and Paul Bunyan, Huckleberry Finn and Pecos Bill and Daniel Boone, and recently, Davy Crockett climbed aboard this cloud. He had a hard job getting there though!

Gerald and Alex Martin are on their honeymoon in love and married after only a week knowing each other. They move into a beautiful English country cottage called Philomel Cottage. When Mrs Martin is talking to the gardener George he comments that the previous owner had got £2000 for the cottage but Mrs Martin tells him they paid £3000, she gave her husband £2000 and he added £1000. He also told her that her husband had told them that they were going to London tomorrow for a long time but she knew nothing about it. It seems there is a lot that Alex Martin doesn’t know about her husband and only her wits save her from being murdered.

A mans disguise at a masquerade ball is usually the key to his honest opinion of himself. So naturally how would Andy Hardy go to a masquerade? He tells his mum that naturally he’s going to the masquerade as the greatest lover in history!

The west has always been noted for great deeds of prowess. Everything was said to be a little bit bigger, a little bit better, men could ride better, shoot straighter and boast louder than anywhere else in the world, or so they said. But the thing they had the least of, and therefore valued the most in this great frontier land, was romance. Love could prove the undoing of the strongest hero and a kiss could start a chain of reaction that could put the atomic bomb to shame. As proof of this, Family Theater is happy to present Ronald Reagan as Jack Dart and Jeanne Cagney as Salomy Jane in this gay classic.

Today is St Valentine's Day in America, and Luigi is going to go out on a date - and it's not with Pasquale's daughter Rosa! The girl he's taking out is called Shirley, and she works on a hamburger stall a few blocks away. Luigi is convinced that Shirley really likes him - but first, he needs to go to his night class...

Whit had been sent to see Shannon by Mr Chainey because they had knowledge that on an island in Flamingo Quay there is Spanish gold. They were confident that Shannon’s boat could make it easily. Unsure whether to make the trip they toss a nickel, Heads – they go. But are they making a big mistake…

Gracie is writing a murder mystery which takes place in an expensive night club and is called Slay it with Music or Death Begins at 8040 Cents. Gracie wants to tell us all about it but George is not interested in hearing how a murder is committed right under the head waiters nose or how the pearls were stolen or why the detective had to eat 500 oysters before they found the pearls!

Probably Will Rogers's most famous radio talk was Bacon and Beans and Limousines, a piece he was asked to write on Unemployment Releif for President Hoover's Organization in 1931.

Welcome to Kraft Music Hall! A half hour of music and fun starring Al Jolson with pianist Oscar Levante, Lou Bring and his orchestra and chorus and special guest Groucho Marx.

Songs include, Al Jolson singing Look Out For The Robert E Lee.

It's the first show of the season, and Sealtest presents Sealtest Variety Theater starring singing hostess Dorothy Lamour, Henry Russell and his Orchestra, and those truly fine actors Ozzie Nelson and Harriet Hilliard. Gregory Peck opens the show, welcoming the hostess Dorothy Lamour, who begins by performing Sweetie Pie.

Death Went Along For The Ride is a suspense play that tells of fear, suspicion and dangerous adventure on a long highway from California to New York.

This is the true and tender story of a girl and a boy and a golden shamrock starring Miss Dorothy McGuire as an Irish girl in love.​

This is a romantic comedy about the ladies naval corps but rather than focusing on the seriousness of being in the navy and all that it entails, it is about their romantic lives and the more amusing episodes in their lives!

Esther Williams stars as Whitney Young and Barry Sullivan as Lieutenant Commander Dr. Paul Elcott in a reprisal of their 1952 Metro Goldwyn Meyer screen roles.

You Can’t Take It With You written by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart is a great American Comedy but it is also a love story for there can be humor in romance. It won a Pulitzer Prize on the Broadway stage and in 1938 was made in to a motion picture by Columbia Pictures Corporation.

NBC University Theater brings you a seasonal play in the holiday spirit, a story beloved by the young at heart in every generation. This classic tale of Alice In Wonderland includes music, singing and wonderful sound effects.

This is a warm human story of the most famous pin-up girl in the world, the Statue of Liberty given to America by the French in 1886. This is the story about her and a crusty old man named Monaghan, played by Charles Laughton, and how from his early scepticism and refusal to contribute $1 towards her he learned to love her.

Clay Richards is wanted for robbing a bank and for murdering an old cashier and a Chinese cook and the Marshall of Dodge City is on his trail, only to find that Zeigler the Dutchman has already found Clay's dead body. To add to Dillon's troubles he has a young runaway boy from Cottonwood to sort out, a boy by the name of William, otherwise known as Billy the Kid.

Well it’s almost here; only one more day and there isn’t a kid in the whole country that looks forward to it with more eagerness than the great Gildersleeve. Here he comes now plodding up the front walk to his home. He’s a little weary and a little out of breath but his eyes how they twinkle, his dimples how merry and what a load of parcels he’s got right up to his chin…

Tonight we escape to a lonely lighthouse off the steaming jungle coast of French Guyana, and a nightmare world of terror and violence...

Edmund Gwenn recreates his original role as the real Santa Clause in this delightful 1947 Twentieth Century Fox motion picture success which has become a modern classic.

This is one of my very favorite Christmas films along with It’s A Wonderful Life! Joy

Produced, directed and introduced by: Irving Cummings

When young Maggie was sent on an errand to her auntie’s house before Thanksgiving dinner she took a short cut through Mr Kelly’s Lot. It was a place where she and her friends often played but today she notices that their “fort” had been covered up and whilst investigating hears a Screaming Woman seemingly buried alive. Desperately she hurries home to tell her parents but they do not believe her dismissing her claims to her over zealous imagination and reading too many comics. Maggie doesn’t know what to do but knows that she is the only one who can do something to help the screaming woman.

On their way to California to seek their fortune, Michael 'Midge' Kelly and his brother Connie are robbed and thrown off the train. Deciding to hitchhike, they get a lift from the famous boxer, Johnny Dunne, who is traveling with his mistress to Kansas City for a fight. However, once they arrive, Midge gets in trouble, and is hustled unprepared into a boxing match. He takes a beating, but a manager at the fight feels he may have potential, and invites him to Los Angeles to train. Seduced by the cheering crowds, money and a succession of blondes, how far will he go to become a champion?

Spring is here, and with it, the romantic season we all hold dear... Bob Hope, is introduced here as the man and mascot of the Cleveland Indians, who are in the audience. With Doris Day, Jack Kirkwood and Irene Ryan, not to mention Bing Crosby as Bob's special guest. Bob attempts to romance Doris Day, and Bing sings 'My Foolish Heart'.

To the people of South Fort Dan Parcher was more than just a newspaper editor he was a kind of community conscience. Businessmen would read his column carefully before deciding whether the new bond issue was right or wrong. Housewives looked to his editorial first then made up their minds about divorce and juvenile delinquency so it was natural that when Cara Wentworth was brought to trial for the murder of her husband the people of South Fort quoted Dan Parcher in the discussions taking place everywhere in town while the issue was being decided in the courtroom. Dan had placed himself and the paper solidly behind Mrs Wentworth, a fact that didn’t set too well with the publisher of his paper…

Screen Guild Theater presents a radio adaptation of Warner Brother’s 1941 screen success High Sierra. Humphrey Bogart stars as Roy Earle and Ida Lupino as Marie Garson the roles the played in the 1941 film.

It’s a long way from a life in prison to the high peaks of the Californian Sierras. The first step on the journey was accomplished by Big Mac who spent a lot of money arranging for Roy Earle’s release from jail. Big Mac needs Roy Earle to return the favor by taking part in a hotel robbery. When the robbery goes wrong Earle finds him self on the run along with Marie the girl he met along the way.

Original story by: W.R. Burnett

There are men whose pages are not prominently recorded in the pages of history men who helped establish well-known traditions in our name. Such a man is John A. Logan, this is his story which ends on May 5th 1868 as Commander John A. Logan issues his general orders #11 stating, The 30th of May is designated as a day of memorial to those who died in defence of our country. Let no ravages of time testify to the present or to coming generations that we as a people have forgotten the cost of a free and undivided republic…

Mobs of frantic people in the streets and stores, Santa Claus, the Christmas tree, the family dinner, makes it easy to forget just what it is we are celebrating at this time of year, and why. But today we bring you a special feature of the Christmas story, brought to the Family Theater by the Catholic Daughters of the Americas, and broadcast on 24th December 1952.

Once upon a time, when eagles built their nests in the beards of giants, a green-coated lad with a stick in his hand and a bundle of bannocks over his shoulder, went out on the rocky roads of the world to push his fortune. Along the way, he saw the fairy queen Una in his dreams, and as is the custom, she granted him three wishes... A wonderful story which has all of the wayward charm of which Irish literature is so full. 

Today's Hallmark Playhouse brings to you the Autobiography of Will Rogers. In this special broadcast, James Hilton and his guests, along with Will Rogers' son, will share with you the pleasure of hearing again some of the wisest and wittiest words that have been spoken in our lifetime. This is the story of the cowboy and entertainer of whom it was said, "he never met a man he didn't like."

A piece of yellow paper had been delivered to Kim Ravenoe in her dressing room the previous evening. She sat on a train heading south now, the paper in her hand crumpled now from being there all day. The paper begins: " Prosinia Ann Hawkes, died suddenly…"

This is a story by a fine young, Irish novelist about her own country, not only appropriate to the celebration of St Patrick's Day, but a winsome evocation of that land beyond the sea, whose ties with our country are so warm and fond. Her tale comes as a poignant reminder of happy days amidst hills and glens, the blue smoke curling up from the turf fires, a soft rain from the sea, and the lilting voices of people who are surely among the liveliest and most lovable in the world.

This is the first in the five-part series Les Miserables, written by Victor Hugo. In the early 1800s in France, you could get five years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread, and every time you tried to escape, they'd tack on four more years and rivet an iron collar around your neck. The man who suffered so, was a peasant named Jean Val Jean. It's no wonder he hated society when he was finally set free...

Paul Osborn’s play On Borrowed Time was on Broadway in 1938 and was one of the best plays of the season.

Lionel Barrymore recreates his 1939 Metro Goldwyn Meyer film role as Julian Northrup the loving gramps who just pretends to be a cross patch who has to fend off death in the form of Mr Brinks so that he can care for his orphaned grandson Pud.

This is the story of the American correspondent Royal Arch Gunnison who foresaw the war with Japan and warned the world; who escaped the march of death in the Philippines and later in China and who came back to tell his story.

Royal Arch Gunnison appears at the end of the story with a message of hope for those, at the time, still under Japanese domination. 

Philip Armour was born in 1832, on a farm near Stockbridge, New York. He started his long and successful career by walking all the way to California in 1851. For six months he dodged the natives, starved, went through untold hardships, to land finally in the California mining camp with a single companion, broke, hungry, but determined...

The biography of Babe Ruth, which begins when George Herman Ruth was a young boy, running amok in his home town, before he was sent to St Mary's Industrial School for Boys, an orphanage and reformatory. It's there his life was turned around, until he signed for his first baseball team in 1914. The show is a really interesting biography into the life of 'The Sultan of Swat'.

This is the story of the motives of Christopher Columbus rather than of his discovery of America. On the morning of October twelfth 1492 the three ships of Columbus’ dropped anchor before an island resplendent with the brilliant green of mangrove trees. Then with the captains of the other two ships, a range and a scarlet mantle bearing the royal standard with a figure of Christ on the cross he tlanded on the shores of the new world, planted the cross and named the new island in honor of of the holy saviour, San Salvador. 

So it was with the first voyage of Columbus. He made other voyages to and from the new world but his motives remained the same and the only profit he ever gained from the discovery of America were spiritual and the only things he kept in memory of his discovery were his chains and his title - Grand Admiral of the Ocean.

A real toe-tapping episode today from the Screen Guild Players, which is dedicated to the musical pioneers of Memphis and New Orleans - those early jazz men who took American music out of the rut and put it in the groove. One of those pioneers was little Jeff Lambert, a talented clarinetist, who spends his time in New Orleans, eventually forming his own group.

Captain Stephen Sorrell had only one thing to live for, the welfare of his son Kit and to that end he devoted his life. Sorrell And Son is a play dedicated to Father’s everywhere. It is the moving story of a father and his boy adapted from the novel by Warwick Deeping. 

One of the first heroes of World War II was a Texan born mess attendant Dorie Miller, with no combat or weaponry experience, who showed extraordinary courage in the face of the terrifying attack from Japanese forces at Pearl Harbor.

When a crafty reporter uses false pretenses to get a story out of heiress Tony Gateson, she turns the tables on him, telling the press that she's engaged to him and that she's given him a million dollar dowry. Suddenly he's on the front page and every salesman is at his doorstep. He loses his job and a day later asks her to call off the ruse, but she tricks him again and the publicity continues!

There is little change in the current situation facing the old fellows, and as we look in on the little community today, we find Abner having a fairly difficult time concentrating on his worries, because of Cedric's insistent demands for aid in doing his school work.

A college professor is working on a long term experiment when a baseball comes through the window, destroying everything. The spilled fluid causes the baseball to be repelled by wood, which makes the clever chap realize the endless possibilities for a pitcher on the baseball field...

Luigi loves to celebrate Independence Day with a parade, and today he is eagerly writing a letter to his Mama in Italy, telling her that tomorrow is going to be one of the biggest days of his life, because he's going to march, for the first time since he came to America, in the big Fourth of July parade!

George Cooper is a football coach who is having a terrible football season - but he has just as many problems managing his football team, as he has at home dealing with his two daughters, Ellen and Connie!

The strongest point of a dictatorship is that it gets things done. Of course rights are obliterated, property is confiscated, citizen are imprisoned and executed without trial but things get done. A dictatorship exerted over members of the communist party even here in America is no exception to that rule. Two days after they received their orders every member of their the cell had registered as a voter in senator Stewart’s party.

A man died less than a minute ago on dry land two hundred yards from the lake. His clothes aren’t wet, even his hair isn’t wet, but there is water trickling from his mouth. He died by drowning, and there have been four other deaths like this since the fog reappeared…

The light touch of humor in this play is done with the feeling that under the dignity, poise and charm of American womanhood there is the same understanding, tolerance and humor that have become our basic national traits. In this program therefore tribute is paid to the American mothers rich in kindness and faith and unafraid of sentiment.

Host: Gene Kelly

If you want a good laugh then you must listen to this episode, I was doubled up! Peg agrees to look after a friend’s baby but tries to keep it from Riley as she thinks he wouldn’t agree. Riley is attending a First aid class, but the classrooms have been changed and Riley ends up attending a Birthing class unbeknown to him. The following misunderstandings are guaranteed to have you laughing out loud!

It's National Dog Week, and it's Fibber's opinion (copied from a poet) that man has no more loyal friend than the noble dog. You may be a failure in the eyes of the world, but you're always a hero to your dog! Molly's opinion of dogs right now is less favorable, since there's a dog in the neigborhood which keeps digging up her tulip bed!

Olivia De Havilland stars as Judith Webster who found herself embarked upon a journey in to darkness. It is 1939 shortly before England and Germany were at war. Judith was in London serving as travelling companion to wealthy American Mrs Prescott. When Mrs Prescott died Judith had promised to arrange her a burial at sea. It was on this journey that she learned of the “Blackout Killer” and feared that he was the man she had befriended and fallen in love with.

Leroy and Marjorie have Gildy a great big easy chair like he’s always wanted for father’s day on account of him being just like a father to them…

A dramatized radio adaptation of the 1938 RKO Radio Pictures production. In New York City at the museum of Natural History, a professor by the name of David Hatcher Huxley, the 'Curator of Fossil Reptiles' is absently wiggling the jaw bone of a reconstructed skeleton, when he is approached by Miss Alice Swallow, who reminds him that he needs to meet a lawyer, Mr Alexander Peabody, to try and secure a $1 million donation for the museum. It's the beginning of a hilarious adventure between him and Mr Peabody's ward, Susan Vance. 

The Origin of Superstition also known as Superstition On The Air is a series of short stories designed to disclose the origins of many of the more popular superstitions. This one deals with the belief that Friday the 13th is an unlucky day.

It's late at night, and on a lonely stretch of deserted waterfront, two men walk cautiously, alone. The men are doctors, and they're searching for the source of a threatened epidemic of the bubonic plague - the black death! Today's show is about those doctors, whose job it is to protect our nation against epidemics of contagious disease.

You are in the gallery overlooking the floor of the House of Representatives in Washington D.C. on the 17th day of February 1801, the members of the house are about to try again to elect a President of the United States. Soon, they will take the 36th ballot, and hope this time to break the six day deadlock between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr. Jefferson is still one state short of the required nine state majority...

Two American tourists get lost in the Scottish highlands and stumble upon a town named Brigadoon. However the town is not on the map and has a story behind it, which means it only, exists for one day every one hundred years.

Beautiful love musical which includes the song it made famous, It’s Almost Like Being In Love.

Written by: Alan Jay Lerner

The Kachin Story tells of an American agent dropped behind Japanese lines in Burma a story suggested by actual incidents recorded in the Washington files of the Office of Strategic Services. A story that can now be told…

This is the true story of General Mark Clark. It begins in London in October1942 a dark hour of World War Two. A small group gathered with General Clark at a secret meting behind guarded doors for a briefing of a secret mission calling for a rendezvous on the French North African coast with the aim to learn the disposition of the French military and naval establishments in North Africa and prevent action by them against the American allies. Some of their top men are on our side but unfortunately there were numerous others who supported the Vichy government. General Clark succeeded in persuading the French to defy the Vichy government and fight alongside the allies. It was one of the decisive factors in beating the enemy and more than that this mission helped save the lives of thousands of Americans who would otherwise have died on the beachhead during our decisive invasion of North Africa in the Second World War.

Based on an episode from the book Calculated Risk by General Mark W. Clark.

Abner is worried about Lum as he is so in love with Trixie that he will tell her anything. Abner is convinced Trixie is involved with the jewel thieves and that Lum talking to her about what the detective has discovered is tipping off the jewel thieves.

Howard Miller's guest today is singer Della Reese and before you hear from her Howard plays a hit record of hers entitled In The Still of the Night. After the interview you will hear her latest record, Time After Time, just beautiful!

This is the story of the Cinnamon Bear and his very marvellous adventures with the twins Judy and Jimmy Barton. Judy and Jimmy are writing to Santa Claus when mother comes in and asks them to go and look in the attic for the silver star for the top of the Christmas tree. The attic is cold and musty, but, in a great big trunk they find the smallest, cutest talking teddy-bear they have ever seen, and their adventures together begin.

"I loved the infantry, because they were the underdogs. They had no comforts, and they learned to live without the necessities. In the end, they were the guys without whom the battle could not have been won."  Those words were written by Ernie Pyle, the famous correspondent, who wrote portraits of the common soldier, called Here's Your War. Today's show highlights some of those stories of the North African campaign.

It is late Saturday afternoon. A short heavy set boy in a dirty trench coat makes his way to the 12th floor suite of Senator Arthur Blake. And when he comes to the door he feels at his left shoulder where the outline of a holster can be seen. Then obviously reassured he hasn't forgotten the tools of his trade, he knocks at the Senator's door. Mr Darling says he is from the FBI and is investigating a phoney company oil company. Their records show that Senator Blake helped a man named Jean Colbert sell eight million dollars of oil to the navy during the war but the oil never got delivered. The next minute Senator Blake commits suicide by leaping twelve stories. Why did he do that and who is Jean Colbert?

Paul Weston and his orchestra open the show. Then Del Sharbut introduces today's special guest, Peggy Lee who sings the wistful Bella Notte. Another song by Peggy Lee is We Are Siamese. Paul Weston and his orchestra closes the show with Love Letters.

Oooh definitely one of the most creepy episodes! The episode begins with a man named Jesse arriving at an old house to rent a room from an elderly man named Mr Heinz. Mr Heinz lives in the house with his daughter, Clarissa, but Jesse never sees her. However, he soon begins to hear strange noises in the house, Clarissa singing, but he never sees her. He also hears her crying, but he can't find her. Jesse soon becomes suspicious of Mr Heinz, and wonders if he is keeping Clarissa locked up somewhere in the house...