Old Time Radio

OTR Wednesday – The Rocket Ship

April 18, 2018 by Cheryl Honigford Leave a Comment

I am a child of the 80s, and like most children of that time one fear overrode all others for me – nuclear war. It probably sounds strange to anyone born after 1985 or so, but I assure you, the threat was very real during that days of the Cold War. I distinctly remember the Fallout Shelter signs on the walls of basement classrooms in elementary school – as if hiding under a little desk with my hands over my head would have helped at all if it had come to that…

One day I’ll do into just how deep this fear ran, but if you don’t know who Samantha Smith is – read up on her. She made a big impression on me. (Also The Day After and War Games – if those things don’t ring a bell and you have a few extra minutes)

I didn’t hear this episode of Lights Out until a few years ago (thank goodness). It aired on July 28, 1945 – only 12 days after the first atomic bomb was tested (near Alamogordo, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945, during the Manhattan Project) and a little over a week before those bombs were used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 6 and 9, 1945). I didn’t realize the significance of this until I looked up the dates just now.

Maybe leave the lights on for this one?

OTR Wednesday – Big Town (with an Edward G. Robinson tangent)

April 4, 2018 by Cheryl Honigford Leave a Comment

Today I’m sharing another old radio show that influenced my fictional detective serial “The Darkness Knows”. This is Big Town starring Edward G. Robinson (“See?”) and Claire Trevor. Robinson plays Steve Wilson, the crusading editor of the Illustrated Press. Trevor plays his sidekick who also happens to be the society editor of the paper. This episode is from 1937 right about the time Vivian was breaking into the radio biz.

Edward G. Robinson is probably one of the stars of the golden age of Hollywood that you recognize (even if you aren’t a fan) due to his reputation for playing gangsters and his distinctive tough guy way of speaking. He’s also parodied in a that Merrie Melodies cartoon that I’ve featured before on the blog called “Hollywood Steps Out” from 1941.

And as an added bonus I’m including this episode of Suspense called “The Man who Wanted to be Edward G. Robinson” from 1946. If you think the whole pop culture meta thing is a recent invention… you have to listen to this. It’s about a henpecked husband who meets the real Edward G. Robinson and wants him to help him kill his wife because he believes he is exactly like the heartless gangsters he plays on the screen.

OTR Wednesday – Dark Journey

March 7, 2018 by Cheryl Honigford Leave a Comment

I’m sharing another Suspense episode today – one I hadn’t heard before this week. But thanks to a new to me podcast (The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society) I found this gem. And it is a gem. It was written by the master radio scribe, Lucille Fletcher who also wrote my favorite Suspense episode “Sorry, Wrong Number”.

What makes Dark Journey so special, you ask? Well, it’s an entire dramatic program that stars two women – just women. Which was rare in the 1940s – and rare still in 2018, unfortunately. It also goes in an unexpected direction that I should have seen coming, but didn’t. That’s how good Lucille Fletcher was. This episode of The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society has a great discussion on it.

If you haven’t seen this chart about women’s speaking time in Oscar-winning films that’s been going around Twitter have a look.

Disheartening, isn’t it? It comes from a BBC article which also states women were better represented in films in the 1930s vs. today. As a classic film fan, I could have told you this, but it’s really starkly represented in this article. Give it a read after you listen to Dark Journey.

OTR Wednesday – “And the Moon be Still as Bright”

January 31, 2018 by Cheryl Honigford Leave a Comment

In honor of today’s #superbluebloodmoon (that I couldn’t see because of cloud cover… grr…) I’m sharing another unsettling adaptation of a Ray Bradbury short story. This one’s from the short-lived sci-fi program Dimension X (1950-51) and is adapted from one of the stories in Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles.

“And the Moon be Still as Bright” is about the 4th attempt at Mars colonization, and well, things don’t go great (with direct allusions to the European colonization of the US).

OTR Wednesday – The Mercury Theater’s A Christmas Carol

December 20, 2017 by Cheryl Honigford Leave a Comment

If you’ve read HOMICIDE FOR THE HOLIDAYS, then this is the rendition of A Christmas Carol that’s mentioned in the first chapter (although not by name). This version aired December 23, 1938 – the night of the Witchell’s Christmas party.

A movie version of A Christmas Carol had just come out starring Reginald Owen. That was a bit of casting blasphemy at the time since Lionel Barrymore was famous for his portrayal of Scrooge on the radio. He’d reprise the leading role (on radio at least) in 1939.

By the way, if Lionel Barrymore sounds familiar to you it’s probably because you know him as nasty old Mr. Potter in It’s a Wonderful Life. (That character isn’t far off Ebenezer Scrooge – except that Mr. Potter never has an epiphany and never becomes a better person…)

OTR Wednesday – The Pepsodent Show Starring Bob Hope

December 13, 2017 by Cheryl Honigford Leave a Comment

I grew up with Bob Hope Christmas shows on TV, so just hearing his voice is nostalgic for me. His show biz career spanned almost 80 years.

The Pepsodent Show Starring Bob Hope debuted in September 1938. On this episode, aired December 20, 1938, he welcomes Blondie and Dagwood Bumstead (which I also grew up with in the Sunday comics – do they even have those anymore?). The first movie based on the comic strip had just come out in November 1938.

And of course, the episode ends with Bob’s rendition of “Thanks for the Memory” – his trademark.

OTR Wednesday – Jonathan Thomas and His Christmas on the Moon

December 6, 2017 by Cheryl Honigford Leave a Comment

In keeping with the theme of shows that Vivian and her friends and family may have listened to during the events of Homicide for the Holidays, today’s show is a children’s program that aired between Thanksgiving and Christmas 1938. It’s in the vein of The Cinnamon Bear (if you’ve heard of that) about two children who find a tiny bear in the attic that takes them on a fantastic adventure. That program is from 1937 so it doesn’t qualify for my 1938 series – though it was repeated every Christmas for years. As a matter of fact, my daughter and I are going to a live stage production of The Cinnamon Bear next weekend.

Jonathan Thomas and His Christmas on the Moon is about a six-year-old that goes on an adventure to the moon to rescue a kidnapped Santa. It’s amazing to me that small children would sit quietly in front of the radio and listen intently to a story like this using only ::gasp:: their imaginations. It was a different time.

Santa’s always been a shill

December 5, 2017 by Cheryl Honigford Leave a Comment

If you’ve read The Darkness Knows or Homicide for the Holidays you know that the detective serial that Viv and Graham star on (also called “The Darkness Knows”) is sponsored by Sultan’s Gold cigarettes – “You’ll be sold on Sultan’s Gold!” Cigarette companies were huge sponsors of radio programs, and later, TV programs. Cigarettes were touted as “healthy” and often used doctors – or images of doctors – in their advertising expressing their love for a certain brand of cigarette.

Here’s a snippet from Homicide for the Holidays (Viv and Charlie #2):

She could picture the ad already: Graham’s face in three-quarter profile, a self-assured half smile on his lips, his dark-brown eyes trained on the reader, a Sultan’s Gold cigarette balanced in fingers held below his chin. The text appearing in a balloon above him would read:

Graham Yarborough, radio’s Harvey Diamond, says, “I smoke nothing but Sultan’s Gold. The mellow taste and smooth fla¬vor of Sultan’s Gold cigarettes calm my throat and assure me of a confident vocal delivery every time.”

And one from Dig Deep My Grave (Viv and Charlie #3):

The national campaign for Sultan’s Gold cigarettes that she’d appeared in with Graham had been a success. “You’ll be sold on Sultan’s Gold,” she thought. It was a catchy slogan. The ad had featured illustrated photos of her and Graham smiling at each other from opposite sides of the page. Speech bubbles came out of each of their mouths. Vivian’s said, “Here, Graham, smoke a Sultan’s Gold. That mellow flavor and cool menthol taste will assure you of a confident vocal delivery every time.” Graham’s said, “Thanks, Viv. Harvey Diamond’s got to be on top of his game, and with Sultan’s Gold, that’s assured.”

Of course, advertisers pulled Santa into their schemes at the holidays as well. It’s weird to think there was a time when this wasn’t weird, isn’t it?

Old Time Radio Wednesday – Jack’s Christmas Open House

November 29, 2017 by Cheryl Honigford Leave a Comment

This episode of the Jack Benny Show aired on December 25, 1938. That’s right in the middle of the events of Homicide for the Holidays, and Vivian would have certainly been listening (along with almost everyone else in the country). If you’re not familiar with Jack Benny, his schtick was that he was a cheapskate and sort of an arrogantly loveable loser. So it’s no surprise that when he invites the celebrity couples of the day (Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Taylor, Carole Lombard and Clark Gable, Ginger Rogers and Ronald Coleman) to his Christmas open house that none of them show up.

Listening to Jack Benny is like getting a big, warm hug for me – especially his Christmas shows. So get yourself some hot chocolate (or a hot toddy), put your feet up, and escape to Christmas 1938 for 30 minutes or so.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

November 4, 2017 by Cheryl Honigford Leave a Comment

And I have a HOMICIDE FOR THE HOLIDAYS Pinterest board! If you’d like to peruse what the holidays looked and sounded like in late 1930s Chicago – go have a look. There’s also some gorgeous 1930s fashion, Chicago locations – and some hints about some pop culture mentioned in the book (I’m lookin at you, Rudolph Valentino).