This clip, from early in the 1950s during Edward R. Murrow's This I Believe CBS Radio program takes aim at Senator Joseph McCarthy during the height of McCarthyism. It was Murrow's work that would help undue some of the harm the Senator caused to people in the entertainment industry during the Red Scare of the mid-1950s.
At a SPERDVAC meeting on March 14th, 1992 which featured Jeanette Nolan, Mary Jane Croft, and Sam Edwards, radio legend Jeanette Nolan explained how she got involved in radio during the 1930s.
On the August 4th, 1949 episode of CBS' Escape, "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." This is the third broadcast of "Leiningen Versus The Ants" broadcast on Escape. This version features Gerald Mohr and Tudor Owen.
In the early 1990s, Red Skelton was a guest of Canadian television host Dini Petty's talk show. They spoke about his life and career. In this clip, Red Skelton explains how comedian Ed Wynn got him started in show-biz when he was just a kid.
Breaking Walls is the podcast on the history of American network radio broadcasting. It focuses on people, places, stories, and events from the Golden Age of American Radio. Find us and subscribe everywhere you get your podcasts and at TheWallBreakers.com
In Breaking Walls episode 118 we hit the road with part one of an Americana mini-series. We’ll gas up with some of radio’s best and examine shows taking place at America’s filling stations. —————————— Highlights: • Al Hodge and The Green Hornet • Getting a Checkup at Doctor Christian’s • Lux Presents: They Drive By Night with Lana Turner and Lucille Ball • Orson Welles and The Hitchhiker • ABC competes with NBC and CBS • Dragnet leads to The Lineup • Stacey Keach and The Last Tales of the Texas ...
On October 7th, 1971 Chuck Schaden interviewed famous host and emcee Ralph Edwards about his life and career (full interview here - http://www.speakingofradio.com/interviews/edwards-ralph/). During the course of the conversation Mr. Edwards explained how he found himself at CBS in New York very early in his career after giving radio up on the West Coast.
In the July 23rd, 1956 episode of Yours Truly Johnny Dollar starring Bob Bailey, Dollar receives a telephone call from Ralph Kearns of Great Plains Guarantee. The company is investigating a fifty-two-year-old man who married a twenty-seven-year-old woman eight months ago. The man is the Chief of Police in Greensport, Missouri. One month after they were married an insurance policy was taken out for $50,000 on his life, with his wife as the beneficiary. Three days ago, the man was shot to death. T...
In the July 19th, 1952 episode of Gunsmoke, Doc Holiday comes to Dodge City. Holiday is a gunman, but on the right side of the law and a friend of Matt Dillon's. In this episode, Big Jack Finley, self-made "King of Southern Kansas" has a son named Thorne Finley. Thorne is a rotten apple. That rotten apple and Doc Holiday have a problem. It's Matt's job to intervene before Big Jack has his way.
On May 10th, 1986, SPERDVAC (https://www.sperdvac.com/) was host to a This is Your FBI Panel and show recreation which featured creator Jerry Devine and several actors, including Parley Baer, Peggy Webber, and Lou Krugman. During the course of the afternoon Jerry Devine answered several questions, including this one, on how the show originated.
In August of 1982 SPERDVAC (http://www.sperdvac.com) hosted a CBS panel at the Thousand Oaks Library in California. The panel featured some of the best known radio character actors of the 1940s and 1950s. One of them, Virginia Gregg, told a funny story of a joke John Dehner played on her while they were on the air together.
On August 9th, 1986, Lawrence Dobkin, Don Diamond, and Lilian Buyeff were guests of SPERDVAC (http://sperdvac.com/) for a conversation about their lives and acting careers. During the chat, the conversation swung around to working for Jack Webb, which was something Lawrence Dobkin struggled to do. Here he explained why.
On the July 12th, 1951 episode of Dragnet, Detective Sergeant Joe Friday is assigned to burglary detail. A gang of clever thieves has been at work for three months. They've looted fashionable homes to the tune of $100,000 in furs and Jewels. There are no clues to their identity. It’s Friday’s job to get them.
In 2010 Walden Hughes of SPERDVAC and YesterdayUSA Radio interviewed longtime NBC Staff Writer Ernest Kinoy on his radio experiences. It wasn't long before the conversation got around to X-Minus-One, a program Kinoy adapted and wrote many original scripts for between 1955 and 1958.
By the summer of 1951, Martin and Lewis had become the biggest act in show business, with both blockbuster film roles and a touring act selling out venues everywhere. After previously failing, the duo were ready to jump back into radio. NBC hired Ed Simmons and Norman Lear—Martin & Lewis’ comedy writers—to write the new program. Dick Mack was the director. NBC offered it as part of their new multi-sponsor Tandem Plan. Chesterfield Cigarettes, Anacin Tablets, and the makers of Chiclets gum si...
On March 12th, 1983, SPERDVAC (https://www.sperdvac.com/) hosted a conversation with actors Herb Ellis and Herb Vigran. During the course of their chat, Herb Ellis spoke about his friendship and working relationship with hollywood character actor Gerald Mohr, who starred as Philip Marlowe for CBS.
On the Independence Day, 1948 episode of CBS' high-adventure drama, Escape, "you are spurring a lathered horse through darkened streets, trapped by two hostile armies, with a kit of magic in your pocket, and the American revolution in the balance." "A Tooth for Paul Revere" is a short story written in 1942 by Stephen Vincent Benét, who was born on 22nd July 1898 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. It's a humorous look at a Yankee farmer's point of view of how the American Revolution really started. Esca...
Actor Parley Baer was interviewed in the mid 1970s for a Gunsmoke radio documentary by WAMU's John Hickman. During one of their conversations Baer told a funny story about a running gag the Gunsmoke radio cast shared during their recording days.
On the July 2nd, 1955 episode of Gunsmoke, Marshall Matt Dillon arrives back in Dodge to discover a new bank has opened in town. The owner is Drew Holt (voiced by Vic Perrin), a man he has never heard of. Shortly thereafter, a General Parsley Smith (voiced by John Dehner) of the third Illinois Cavalry comes to see Dillon. Smith tells Dillon that the new bank owner, Drew Holt is a thief and a former double agent from during the Civil War. Smith wants Dillon to look into the matter.
On the June 30th, 1957 episode of Yours Truly Johnny Dollar, George Reed from Floyd's of England (like Lloyd's of London) calls Johnny to investigate a client. This client has paid his latest premium, $4500 USD ($43,109.52 today). The problem is, every single one of the hundred dollar bills used for payment is counterfeit. Sounds like the perfect job for the man with the action packed expense account! This episode originally aired on Sunday 6/30/1957 at 5:30PM Eastern Daylight Time. It features ...
