Old Time Radio Show of the Week - The Life of Riley

The Life of Riley
February 11th 1945
Junior gets a new dog and Riley ends up in the doghouse.

Old Time Radio Show of the Week

The Abbott and Costello Show

April 26th 1945

After threatening to sue the boys for having "The Andrews Brothers" on the show, Bud and Lou start to make a movie with the (real) Andrews Sisters.

Golden Age of Radio Christmas - Fibber McGee and Molly

Today we have 5 classic episodes of Fibber McGee and Molly Christmas shows from the War Years

We start off with the first episode after the Pearl Harbor attack that led to the US entry into WWII.  This is a good and sometimes poignant show with comments on the events that fateful December

These shows take us through the end of the war and back to peacetime as the country is trying to resume normal non wartime activities.

The Golden Age of Radio - Halloween #2 (Double Feature)

Tonight we visit 2 different shows with Boris Karloff as guest, from 1945.

First up is "Duffy's Tavern" from January 12th 1945.

Archie tries to enlist Boris Karloff to be in his horror play.

The second show of our double feature is "The Fred Allen Show".

First up is a visit to Allen's Alley, then Fred goes looking for an apartment and meets Boris Karloff who is looking to rent his house.

Airing November 8th 1945

The Golden Age of Radio - Halloween

This year I am going to do a small tribute to Boris Karloff with several days of old time radio shows with and without Boris Karloff.

Mr. Karloff was very popular on radio as a guest because of his tremendous voice and of course at Halloween he was even more popular with his connection to horror movies.

Today:

Inner Sanctum

"Corridor of Doom"

Tuesday, October 23rd 1945

CBS Radio

The Academy Awards for 1945 (original radio broadcast)

The 18th annual Academy Awards was held March 7th 1946 and was hosted by the legendary Bob Hope.

Click here for a complete rundown of the nominees and winners

Thanks to my friend Buck Benny he has posted the ABC radio broadcast of the first post war Oscars and it is great to hear all the legends receive their awards and to hear Bob Hope do what he did best, host the show and make the world laugh at itself.
The big winner of the night was the classic "Lost Weekend" which won Best Picture, Best Director for Billy Wilder and Best Actor for Ray Milland

I have also include a clip from the newsreel coverage of the event.

Golden Age of Radio - Duffy's Tavern

Today I have an episode of the great OTR comedy Duffy's Tavern
thanks to Bob Carmardella's podcast.

Duffy was never heard on the show, we have the tavern manager Archie, played by show creator and head writer Ed Gardner, (who speaks to Mr. Duffy on the phone each episode....but this one)

There was Miss Duffy, daughter of Duffy,  played by different actress' in the 10 run of the show, including Shirley Booth (of Hazel fame and then wife of Ed Gardner) and Selma Diamond who was better know to younger audiences as Selma the baliff on the great 80s sitcom "Night Court".
Eddie the Waiter played by Eddie Green until his passing 1950 and Clifton Finnegan played by Charlie Cantor and later by Sid Raymond.

Archie was the brainchild of series creator Ed Gardner, but when he couldnt find an actor with the right accent he stepped and became Archie.   Famous for his get rich quick schemes and malapropism this was one of the funniest shows on radio and ran on CBS 1941-42 then moved to NBC until the shows end in 1951.
A brief stint on TV did not prove successful in the 50s.