Boxcars711 Old Time Radio

Dan Holiday in Box 13 - 2 Episodes From 1948 Box 13 was a syndicated radio series about the escapades of mystery novelist Dan Holiday (Alan Ladd), a former newsman. Created by Mayfair Productions, the series premiered August 22, 1948, on New York's WOR and aired in syndication on the East Coast from August 22, 1948, to August 14. 1949. On the West Coast, Box 13 was heard from March 15, 1948 to March 7, 1949. To seek out new ideas for his fiction, Holiday ran a classified ad in the Star-Times newspaper. "Adventure wanted, will go anywhere, do anything -- Box 13." The stories followed Holiday's adventures when he responded to the letters sent to him by such people as a psycho killer and various victims.

The Mercury Theater - Orson Wells - Count of Monte Cristo The Count of Monte Cristo (1844-45) - The protagonist, Edmond DantÃs, is about to marry his sweetheart and become a captain of a vessel. He is framed by three enemies as a Napoleonic conspirator, shortly before Napoleon's dramatic return from Elba in 1815. DantÃs is imprisoned in the Chateau d'If, by the politician Villefort who is anxious to conceal his own father's machinations on behalf of Bonaparte. DantÃs remains in the French Alcatraz 14 years, before he manages to escape, in a highly dramatic manner. He flees to the island of Monter Cristo, and locates a fabulous treasure, hidden since the time of Renaissance. As the Count of Monte Cristo and with the wealth of the treasure DantÃs destroys his enemies and shows the wrong side of the bourgeois world. - He succeeded in his quest for slow revenge. His enemies suffered for their sins.

The Man Called X - 2 Episodes From 1951 British actor Herbert Marshall was the star of this espionage melodrama, which debuted over CBS on July 10, 1944 as a summer series sponsored by Lockheed Aircraft. It moved to the Blue network in September of that year, and then had two summer runs in 1945 and 1946 as Pepsodentâs replacement for The Bob Hope Show. After an additional season on CBS (1947-48, for Frigidaire) it moved back to NBC in October 1950 and concluded its run May 20, 1952.

The Mercury Theater On The Air - Orson Wells as Dracula (7-11-38) During that first 9-week summer series, it became increasingly apparent to the more perceptive radio listener that The Mercury Theatre was something special. Unlike many anthology series before and since, the stories were chosen because of their suitability to the radio medium. Also, the innovative use of sound-effects and music (by CBS staff composer/conductor Bernard Herrmann), combined with the gripping performances of Mr. Welles, made The Mercury Theatre one of the most compelling programs on the air. The stories presented were also out of the ordinary. Bram Stokerâs Gothic horror tale, Dracula, opened the series, followed by, among others, Treasure Island, A Tale of Two Cities, The 39 Steps, Abraham Lincoln, and The Count of Monte Cristo.

Your's Truly Johnny Dollar - The Mojave Red Matter From 1958 Opening on a Friday night, February 18, 1949 (The Paricoff Policy Matter), right at the start of television's golden age, this radio show brought us a high-powered insurance investigator who worked chiefly for the Universal Adjustment Bureau, a clearinghouse for the many insurance companies. The series starred Charles Russell as Johnny Dollar, the smart and tough detective, whose trademark it was to toss silver dollars as tips to busboys and bellhops. At the start of the 1950 season, Charles Russell was out and veteran film actor Edmund O'Brien stepped in as the second Johnny Dollar. The series during the O'Brien years improved with scripts by expert crime writer such as E. Jack Neumann, John Michael Hayes, Sidney Marshall and Blake Edwards.

The New Adventures of Michael Shayne - 2 Episodes From 1948 Michael Shayne was a fictional sleuth created by Brett Halliday (a pen name for author Davis Dresser) who was first initiated into the fraternity for detectives in the 1939 novel "Dividend of Death". Dresser based the character on a âtall and rangyâ brawler who once saved his life during a braw in a Mexican cantina. The Shayne character would go on to appear in 69 novels, plus a long-running mystery magazineâand in 1941, was brought to the silver screen in Paramountâs Michael Shayne, Private Detective, an adaptation of Dividend of Death that starred Lloyd Nolan, and paved the way for six additional B-mysteries to follow. The New Adventures of Michael Shayneâpremiered on July 15, 1948 starring Jeff Chandler.

The Adventures of Frank Meriwell - 2 Episodes From 1948 Frank Merriwell, the much-loved fictional hero of Street and Smith's Tip Top Weekly, was first introduced to readers on April 18, 1896. Merriwell was the creation of writer Burt L. Standish (real name: Gilbert Patten), and embodied a new type of dime novel hero, one who relied as much upon mental as physical prowess. The Yale-educated Merriwell possessed "a body like Tarzan's and a head like Einstein's," wrote one admiring writer, and thus represented "the perfect union of brain and brawn." First broadcast over NBC from 03/26/34 to 06/22/34 and again, on NBC, from 10/05/46 until 06/04/49. A 1946 Movie was also made.

Nobody Lives Forever - Lux Radio Theater From 11/17/47 This Lux Radio presentation stars Jane Wyman and Ronald Reagan in a 1946 movie of the same name and which starred John Garfield and Geraldine Fitzgerald. Ex-GI Nick Blake gets involved in a scheme to fleece a rich young widow, but finds himself falling for her for real, much to the displeasure of his racketeer cohorts.

Barry Craig Confidential Investigator - 2 Episodes From 1951 Barry Craig, Confidential Investigator is one of the few detective radio series that had separate versions of it broadcast from both coasts. Even the spelling changed over the years. It was first "Barry Crane" and then "Barrie Craig". NBC produced it in New York from 1951 to 1954 and then moved it to Hollywood where it aired from 1954 to 1955. William Gargan, who also played the better known television (and radio) detective Martin Kane, was the voice of New York eye BARRY CRAIG while Ralph Bell portrayed his associate, Lt. Travis Rogers.

Our Miss Brooks - 2 Episodes From 1950 Our Miss Brooks was an American situation comedy that started on radio in 1948 and migrated to television in 1952. Miss Brooks was an English teacher in Madison High School and the show centered around her daily relationships with students, other teachers and her principal, Mr Conklin. The radio program starred Eve Arden as Connie Brooks, Jeff Chandler (actor) as biology teacher Philip Boynton, Gale Gordon as Osgood Conklin and Richard Crenna as Walter Denton, Miss Brooks' favorite student.

The Avenger - 2 Episodes From 1945 1945 - 1946 radio series run, staring James Monks as Jim Brandon and Helen Adamson as Fern Collier. The Avenger is a fictional character whose original adventures appeared from 1939 to 1942 in The Avenger magazine, published by Street and Smith Publications. Five additional short stories were published in Clues Detective magazine from 1942 to 1943, and a sixth novelette in The Shadow magazine in 1943. The Avenger is actually Richard Henry Benson, a globe trotting adventurer who decided to settle down and raise a family. In his first adventure, Benson's plans for a peaceful life are shattered when his wife and young daughter are killed by a criminal conspiracy.

The Jack Benny Show - 2 Episodes (1943 1950) Jack Benny appeared on Ed Sullivan's radio show on March 29, 1943 and by May 2 he was the star of his own radio program. The Canada Dry Ginger Ale Program starring Jack as the Canada Dry Humorist. Jack became one of the biggest names in radio. For thirty minutes, each Sunday night at seven o'clock, Jack and his gang of regulars would hit the airwaves with "their version" of current films, with a bit of music, and always with lots of laughter. Jack's television show had a weekly audience of 18 million viewers. He died on December 26, 1974.

Duffy's Tavern - 2 Episodes From 1953 Duffy's Tavern was an American radio situation comedy, that often featured top-name stage and film guest stars when not hooking around the misadventures of the title establishment's manager, Archie, played by the writer/actor who created the show, Ed Gardner.The Show was first heard in 1940 on NBC radio and became a regular feature. It was hailed from the start by critics and whole neighborhoods of working-class listeners alikeÃÂ?ÃÂa duo that doesn't often see eye-to-eye!

Mr. & Mrs. North - 2 Episodes From 1953 Mr. and Mrs. North was a radio mystery series that ran from 1942 to 1954. It originated in New Yorker short stories written by Richard Lockridge in the 1930s. Lockridge's characters found a wider audience when he teamed with his wife Frances for a series of novels, including such best-selling titles as: "The Norths Meet Murder," "Death takes a Bow," "Death on the Aisle," and "The Dishonest Murderer." The sleuths eventually counted as their fans nearly 20 million listeners when the series was finally adapted to radio, where it ran on the CBS network until the mid-1950s.

The Damon Runyon Theater-2 Episodes From 1949 The Damon Runyon Theater was a 52 show series that was syndicated across the USA beginning in early 1949. Damon Runyon was a gifted sports writer in New York City as well as being a great journalist and great short story writer. His stories were humorous ones, written in the "dem" and "dose" vernacular of the city's loveable and not so loveable characters of Broadway, the prize ring and the underworld.

The Life of Riley - 2 Episodes From 1949 The Life of Riley was an American situation comedy, co-developed by the non-performing Marx Brother, Gummo, that appeared on both radio and television in the 1940s and 1950s and helped introduce the so-called "nuclear family" to American broadcasting.The radio version, starring William Bendix, debuted on ABC in 1944; the following year it moved to NBC, where it ran until 1951. Later, the show was adapted for television, with two different versions having been produced.

The Mysterious Traveler - 2 Episodes-1944 Created and written by Arthur and Kogan, this is the radio program for which they are most well-known and it garnered them the prestigious Edgar Award for Best Radio Drama in 1949, 1951 and 1953. This popular half-hour, weekly program consisted of 370 episodes (only about 70 survive today) which aired between 12/5/43 and 9/2/52.

The Amos 'N Andy Show - 2 Episodes From 1944 Amos 'N Andy began in March, 1928 over WMAQ and thirty-eight affiliates stretching from the East Coast to San Francisco. By distributing the series in this method, they invented the syndication market.A year after its debut, Amos 'n' Andy had become a nationwide phenomenon. The show was broadcast nationally over the NBC radio network beginning in August of 1929, sponsored by Pepsodent.

TheAdventures of Charlie Chan - 2 Episodes The portly, impassive oriental sleuth, Charlie Chan, has cast an impressive shadow in the world of fictional mystery since 1925. He was the product of a middle-aged Caucasian journalist, Earl Derr Biggers, whose knowledge of the Eastern Hemisphere, and China in particular, was limited to casual impressions. However the author quickly captured the imagination of most of North America with his deliberative Chinese detective in magazines, books, films, and to a lesser extent, radio and the stage.

Father Knows Best-2 Episodes From 1950 STEREO Father Knows Best was one of a slew of American middle class family sitcoms in which moms were moms, kids were kids, and fathers knew best.The brainchild of producer Eugene Rodney and series star Robert Young (who played insurance salesman Jim Anderson), Father Knows Best debuted as a radio sitcom in 1949. In the radio version the title ended with a question mark, suggesting that father's role as family leader was dubious. The series was transplanted to television in 1954 where it ran until 1963, appearing at various times on each of the three US networks.