Afternoon Radio Theater: Duffy's Tavern w/guest Mickey Rooney (March 2, 1949)

Afternoon Radio Theater: Lights Out - "It Happened" (May 11, 1938)

Lights Out debuted in 1934 and was radio's premier horror series created by writer/director Wyllis Cooper, who later scripted Boris Karloff's 1939 classic Son of Frankenstein. Wyllis Cooper was a innovative radio writer and worked on other notable shows such as The Empire Builders, Quiet Please, Campbell's Playhouse, The Army Hour, and Whitehall 1212. Lights Out truly set the bar high for other radio dramas in the 1930's due to its gore and strangeness. It was one of the first old time radio shows that developed the medium of radio with distinct sound effects and dramas intended to be heard. 


Adhesive tape, stuck together and pulled apart, simulated the sound of a man's or woman's skin being ripped off. Pulling the leg off a frozen chicken gave the illusion of an arm being torn out of its socket. A raw egg dropped on a plate stood in for an eye being gouged; poured corn syrup for flowing blood; cleavered cabbages and cantalopes for beheadings; snapped pencils and spareribs for broken fingers and bones. The sound of a hand crushed? A lemon, laid on an anvil, smashed with a hammer. 


Cooper was succeeded by Arch Oboler, one of radio's greatest dramatic talents. Oboler had scripted the Mae West's infamous "Garden of Eden" sketch and brought a new level of psychological horror to radio in scripts like "Cat Wife," "Sub-Basement," and "Chicken Heart." Though most famous for his film roles, Karloff was an accomplished radio performer who hosted his own series Boris Karloff's Treasure Chest and narrated Radio Reader's Digest broadcasts during the final two decades of his life.

Afternoon Radio Theater: Jack Benny w/guest Oscar Levant (Jan 17, 1943)

This episode mostly revolves around Jack's upcoming appearance at Carnegie Hall with various other musical luminaries. Pianist and wiseacre Oscar Levant shows up to add to the musical pedigree, and the show then segues into a parody of Levant's regular radio gig, Information Please. Flamboyant man-child Joe Besser also makes one of his occasional appearances.

Afternoon Radio Theater: Mr. and Mrs. Smith - Carole Lombard and Bob Hope (June 9, 1941)

Afternoon Radio Theater: Jack Benny Program - "Dinner With The Colman's" (Oct 24, 1948)

Afternoon Radio Theater: Jack Benny - Train Station (Feb 21, 1954)

Afternoon Radio Theater: On Stage - The String Bow Tie

Premiere episode from January 1, 1953. Elliott played Phil Harris' long-time sidekick, Frankie Remley, on the Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show. He was also a successful producer/director of radio's "Suspense," "Broadway is My Beat," and "Crime Classics."

Afternoon Radio Theater: The Most Dangerous Game - Orson Welles (September 23, 1943)

Afternoon Radio Theater: Abbott and Costello - Costello Is Invited To Join The Yankees (April 17, 1947)

Afternoon Radio Theater: "Suspense" With Bob Hope - Death Has Shadow - (May 5, 1949)

Afternoon Radio Theater: Jack Benny Show - St. Patricks Day (March 16,1947)

Afternoon Radio Theater: How Jack Benny Found Rochester (Dec 3, 1950)

The vid is imprinted with the incorrect original broadcast date.

History Byte: March 9, 1996 - Comedian George Burns dies at age 100

History

On this day in 1996, the legendary cigar-chomping performer George Burns dies at his home in Beverly Hills, California, just weeks after celebrating his 100th birthday.

Born Nathan Birnbaum in New York City, Burns was one of 12 children. As a young child, he sang for pennies on street corners and in saloons, and at age 13, he started a dance academy with a friend. In 1922, Burns was performing the latest in a string of song-and-dance acts in Newark, New Jersey, when he teamed up with a fellow performer, Gracie Allen. Though Allen began as the straight one in their partnership, her natural comedic ability prompted Burns to rewrite their material to give her most of the punch lines. From then on, Burns played the straight man to Allen’s ditz, with hilarious results.

George Burns - Gracie Allen

By the time Burns and Allen married in 1926 (his brief first marriage, to the dancer Hannah Siegel, ended in divorce), they had already become known on the vaudeville circuit. The 1920s were a golden era for vaudeville performers, and Burns and Allen were only two of a number of greats--their peers included Milton Berle, Al Jolson, Fanny Brice, Bert Lahr and Jack Benny (Burns’ close friend)--who successfully made the transition to other forms of entertainment. After making their radio debut in 1929, the pair landed a regular show, The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, which aired from 1932 to 1950 on the NBC network. In the late 1930s, the program’s audience numbered more than 40 million people and NBC paid Burns and Allen $10,000 per week, an enormous sum for the time. The couple also played themselves on the big screen in a number of films, including International House (1933), Many Happy Returns (1934), A Damsel in Distress (1937) and College Swing (1938).

In 1950, The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show made a seamless transition to television, airing on CBS and becoming one of the top-ranked programs for the duration of the decade. The Burns-Allen team remained in the public eye until Allen’s retirement in 1959. She died of a heart attack in 1964, at the age of 58. Though Allen was a Roman Catholic, Burns buried her with Episcopal rites, explaining that as a Jewish man he couldn’t be buried in Catholic-consecrated ground, and he wanted to be buried beside her.

After Burns underwent major heart surgery in 1975 at the age of 79, his career got a second wind. That year, he played a retired vaudevillian in the film adaptation of Neil Simon’s play The Sunshine Boys, co-starring Walter Matthau and Richard Benjamin. Burns won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the role. After that, there was no shortage of movie parts for the octogenarian actor, who played God in Oh God!(1977) and its sequels, Oh God! Book II (1980) and Oh God! You Devil (1984), in which Burns was featured as both God and the Devil. He also starred in Just You and Me, Kid(1979), Going in Style (1979) and Eighteen Again (1988).

In 1988, Burns won an award for lifetime achievement from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He wrote two best-selling autobiographical works, includingGracie: A Love Story (1988) and All My Best Friends (1989), along with eight other books that earned him his well-deserved reputation as an invaluable first-hand observer of the history of 20th century entertainment.

Afternoon Radio Theater: Burns and Allen - Guest -- Alan Ladd (Jan 15, 1945)

Afternoon Radio Theater: Bob Hope Show - Guest -- Jack Webb

Original Air Date: February 4, 1953

Afternoon Radio Theater: Jack Benny Program - The Fiddler (Feb 24, 1952)

Afternoon Radio Theater: THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM -- "THE BEAVERS DO THE SHOW" (4-23-50)

Afternoon Radio Theater: The Jack Benny Program - Thanksgiving Show (Nov 23, 1947)

Afternoon Radio Theater: Phil Harris/Alice Faye Show - Phil Has To Fire Frank Remley

Original Air Date: Feb 6, 1949

Afternoon Radio Theater: Apology

The Philip Morris Playhouse
Apology
Original Air Date: April 1, 1949