In 1940, actor William Gargan—born in Brooklyn, NY on this date in 1905—received appreciative tribute from his peers when he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his portrayal as a ...
Review: The Phantom Thief (1946)(Post)Horatio “Boston Blackie” Black (Chester Morris…who later explains to a character in the film that he’s “of the Philadelphia Blackies”) returns to his humble bachelor environs to find a note from h ...
Happy Birthday, Herb Butterfield!(Post)Today’s birthday celebrant—born in Providence, Rhode Island on this date in 1895—may not possess the cachet of other character actors from Radio’s Golden Age, as his resume didn’t extend beyond a h ...
Review: One Mysterious Night (1944)(Post)It costs only a dollar—1/100th of a C-note—to gaze at a display of precious gems at the Carleton Plaza Hotel, an event that’s fundraising for the war effort…and that features the Blue Star of the ...
“Wildroot brings to the air the greatest private detective of them all…”(Post)Shamus devotees would no doubt have an engaging discussion as to whether Samuel Spade was the greatest private detective of them all, but old-time radio fans could probably come to a consensus tha ...
Happy Birthday, Lesley Woods!(Post)Actress Lesley Woods is described in author Jim Cox’s compendium The Great Radio Soap Operas as someone who “made a career out of playing mean-spirited first wives” in the world of daytime drama.
Review: Alias Boston Blackie (1942)(Post)It’s Christmas Eve, and reformed safecracker Horatio “Boston Blackie” Black (Chester Morris) has arranged for a vaudeville troupe to entertain the prisoners at his “alma mater” in the spirit of fe ...
Happy Birthday, Joan Banks!(Post)In 1949, at the height of the success of radio’s My Friend Irma, actress Cathy Lewis—who originated the character of roommate Jane Stacy on the popular sitcom—was forced to briefly hand over the r ...
“...the happiest, merriest married couple in radio…”(Post)According to an anecdote in Leonard Maltin’s The Great American Broadcast, director-producer Himan Brown (who would later make his name frightening audiences with the successful radio program Inne ...
“Get this and get it straight…”(Post)In 1932, having been dismissed from his position as a vice-president with the Dabney Oil Syndicate, Raymond Chandler decided to take up writing detective fiction to make a living. Chandler had pr ...
Happy Birthday, Jan Miner!(Post)On radio, one of the rare daytime dramas to stand out from its weepy brethren and sistren was Hilltop House—a series that took place in an orphanage located in the fictional town of Glendale and s ...
Happy Birthday, Larry Thor!(Post)Arnleifur Lawrence Thorsteinson was born on this date in 1916…in an Icelandic village in Lundar, Manitoba, Canada. Fortunately for the radio stations and national networks that would eventually h ...