We are featuring actor Vincent Price all through the month of November. Of course, he is well-remembered today for being a spooky character in film, but that reputation began later in his career. Often people forget that he played all sorts of roles before he was typecast in the more grisly roles. Today we are bringing you a comedy show with Price …

We've featured some Norman Corwin dramas here in the past (links in the description). Corwin was particularly noted as one of radio's most literary figures. He was certainly known for some hard-hitters, but did some light scripts, such as this one. Of course, having a reputation to uphold, he could not settle for anything easy, and so you have the …

Author Leslie Charteris had a popular and long-running book series about a suave character named Simon Templar, nicknamed "The Saint." During a time when quirky literary detectives got a treatment on radio, "The Saint" had a brief run starring Vincent Price. Of course, any similarity between the Saint of the novels and radio was purely coincidental…

November is Vincent Price month, featuring the astounding body of radio work from this beloved actor. This is Thursday, and as is our inclination, we feature slightly darker tales on Thursdays, and we don't have to look far to find a great mystery/horror story starring Vincent Price. This is a story of paranoia, as two old friends take a trip to an…

All this month we are celebrating actor Vincent Price, featuring in particular his work on radio. As usual, we have done our best to select programs that show Price's range and versatility as a performer, so you will be hearing everything from horror to comedy to drama. Price's style often felt very classical, leading many to believe he was British…

This is a broadcast we've been avoiding on this podcast, since it's been overdone by just about every old time radio program in history. But there is still so much interest in this historic broadcast, especially among younger listeners, we caved. So here is the famous panic broadcast in which real people really believed that real Martians had lande…

This is the last Halloween-themed comedy show for now. Our Miss Brooks was a late-40s through 1950s classic sitcom that leaned heavily into character comedy. It was led by Eve Arden, who carried her persona of the wise-cracking character she developed in the movies, over to a high school English teacher, who was perpetually broke, ever pining for t…

Well, our Carlton E. Morse series is wrapped up, and we are still one week away from our official Halloween show, so instead of starting something new, we are going to anticipate the dark and stormy night with this creepy little number from Wyllis Cooper. As usual, Quiet Please takes a little bit of figuring out ("are we listening to a comedy or a …

J. Carrol Naish was one of the great dialect performers from vintage film and radio. For a brief period he became known for a well-written radio show from Si Howard, about a number of immigrants struggling to acclimate to American culture. As you might imagine, this gave the writers plenty of fodder to mock modern pop culture. This Halloween show c…

OK, we're here. Somehow we've survived our 10 week excursion through creepy, ghoulish happenings, disappearances, buried pearls, wandering phantoms, and lots and lots of weird noises. In this finale of "City of the Dead," Morse lays out in meticulous detail all of the explanations behind what was seen and heard in his cemetery. We will leave it to …

Our "Creepy Comedies" series continues all through the month of October with "America's Favorite Young Couple" Ozzie and Harriet. This is their 1948 Halloween themed episode, a nostalgic look back at "trick or treat" from the past, with a nod to the future. Ozzie is determined to have a spooky time at Halloween by visiting a neighborhood haunted ho…

We continue with the Carlton E. Morse classic today, The City of the Dead, in Episode 9 titled "The Trail of the Phantom Churchbell." As tensions rise, Captain Friday has mysteriously vanished, leaving Phyllis, Jimmy, and their companions in a harrowing situation. With black pearls, mysterious kidnappings, and a haunting church bell, the group trie…

In this second installment of our October comedy-horror series, we're bringing you a classic Abbott and Costello episode from January 13, 1944. Though not technically a Halloween show, this one features the legendary Peter Lorre. Bud Abbott and Lou Costello deliver their signature slapstick humor and rapid-fire wordplay, a great "flee when flu flie…

We're so close to the end of The City of the Dead, we can smell it. Literally. It's episode 8 of Adventures by Morse, with more weird twists and turns in the old creaky cemetery. "The Kidnapping of Clawfoot" begins with a series of strange occurrences: Captain Friday goes missing, a ghoul is caught digging in Ernie Morton's grave, and tensions rise…

In this special October series, we are going to be presenting comedy programs with a spooky twist. We start by featuring the Jack Benny Program from October 31st, 1948—just before the iconic show moved to CBS during the network talent raids. This is one of Jack's best Halloween themed shows, as he goes trick-or-treating with the "Beavers." Join us …

Nameless unremembered, acts of kindness and love

Step back into the atmospheric world of bony creeps and cobwebs as we continue our trek through City of the Dead, episode 7. In this production from 1944, Captain Friday and Jimmy Parker continue to explore the ancient cemetery for answers. And yep, Captain Friday disappears! Carlton E. Morse's adventure serial is coming to a head! Visit our websit…

Welcome back to The Good Old Days of Radio Show! This week, we're diving into a classic comedy episode featuring Henry Morgan and his sidekick Arnold Stang, broadcast on May 7th, 1947. In this episode Morgan skewers the absurdities of 1940s vacation planning with his own fictitious travel agency, pitching 'Lovely Camp Schmo.' Also a spoof on the wo…

Join us for episode six of our trek through Carlton E. Morse's classic radio series, The City of the Dead (1944). In this episode, titled "The Ghoul in the Grave," Captain Friday and his companions uncover more about the elusive black pearls and the unsettling skeleton that seems to have a mind of its own. It's 1940s pulp adventure/mystery/horror a…

In this episode of The Good Old Days of Radio Show, host John Tefteller takes you back to November 4, 1945, with a twist on a classic pairing. Featuring an episode of Request Performance, the American version of Command Performance, you'll hear Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce—famous for their portrayals of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson—swap roles i…

In this episode, we're back into the creepy world of Carlton E. Morse, one of the great writers of Mystery Radio. We feature Adventures by Morse from 1944, a 10-part cliffhanger series titled The City of the Dead. The story follows Captain Friday as he uncovers chilling mysteries in an old cemetery where the dead may not rest in peace. High adventu…

In this episode of "The Good Old Days of Radio Show," host John Tefteller takes a break from our usual programming to delve into the oft overlooked world of old-time radio preservation. John shares his personal journey as a collector, starting in 1972, and the challenges he faces in saving these historical treasures. With a growing collection that …

In this thrilling episode of The Good Old Days of Radio Show, we continue our journey through Carlton E. Morse's gripping horror series, Adventures by Morse. Join us for Episode 4 of The City of the Dead, titled "Old Claw Foot," where we once again encounter phantom figure, and three bodies in a secret cellar. Visit our website: https://goodolddays…

Today grab your cup of Joe, we're feet first into a classic period of the George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, originally broadcast on January 3, 1946. This episode deals with the post-war housing shortage as George and Gracie decide to repurpose their den to help a returning serviceman. Their neighbor, Meredith Willson (famed writer of "The Music M…

Today we dive into another chilling installment of our special action-packed radio serial from 1944, featuring the suspenseful third episode of "Adventures by Morse: The City of the Dead," titled "The Body That Walked Off." Captain Friday and his crew face a chilling discovery as a grave is reopened, and a dead man’s body mysteriously vanishes. Vis…

This week, we shine the spotlight on the legendary W.C. Fields, a comedic genius whose biting wit and unique persona left an indelible mark on the entertainment world. In this episode, we explore one of WC Fields' final performances from October 1945, featuring his famous "Temperance Lecture." Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subs…

We bring you chapter two in Carlton E. Morse's "City of the Dead" radio serial. This week's chapter, "I've Dug Up Something Ghastly" continues the atmospheric mystery tale as the mayor is shot in an old church, leading to the involvement of Captain Friday (played by Elliot Lewis), the mayor's son and a private investigator. Visit our website: https…

It's been awhile since we've brought Red Skelton to the show. Skelton's humor is energetic and fun to listen to, revolving around his wild and eccentric characters. This episode is all about "People Celebrating," featuring sketches with Clem Kadiddlehopper and "The Mean Widdle Mean Kid." Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe …

Ghosts cry, a phantom bell tolls, and a claw-footed monster roams around at night in "The City of the Dead." Today we begin a 10-Part Carlton E. Morse mystery/thriller from his brief syndicated series "Adventures By Morse." This is "I Love A Mystery" on steroids. A dark, foggy mystery set in a graveyard, with Morse at his imaginative best. Visit ou…

It's episode number 12 of a series. And now we are counting down to the last few episodes in this late radio comedy, "The Stan Freberg Show." In this episode, we get an interview with a test-pilot while on a high-speed rocket sled, how to fix a kitchen faucet, and a live version of Freberg's popular Capitol Record parody of "Sh-Boom." Visit our web…

It's the last in our series of "10 More Great Sci-Fi Stories" as presented on vintage radio. Today, we depart from Dimension X and X Minus One to present a post-apocalyptic story by George R. Stewart, a best-selling author who was the great granddaddy of the "disaster" genre. His story The Earth Abides imagines what it might be like to be the last …

Today the feature is once again Groucho Marx. This is Groucho from 1946 on a funny "Mail Call" program. "Mail Call" was Armed Forces-only popular entertainment show generally recorded in front of military camps, and sent by transcription to be aired overseas. Groucho does a lot of adlibbing here, and sings a wartime version of one of his famous son…

Today we are nearing the conclusion of "10 More Great Sci-Fi Stories." This story is just too weird and wildly imaginative to not include in this list. A man repeatedly relives the same day, waking up every morning screaming. This Frederik Pohl story manages to be both highly original and explore popular themes of media paranoia of the era. Visit o…

We continue through some of the best Jack Benny shows from the year 1947. Today's episode is the Jack Benny Show at his best. It features two interesting guests, the famous singer/songwriter Hoagy Carmichael, and the high-powered movie studio executive, Samuel Goldwyn. Don't miss Jack and Goldwyn trying to hold it together reading the hilarious scr…

Today we imagine a future where the entire transit system is made up of gigantic conveyer belts, where you can have breakfast and a cup of coffee in a café on your way to work. But what happens when the engineers have a labor strike? Robert Heinlein is the author of this famous short story, as we continue our journey exploring the world of great sc…

In this episode, we dive into the world of Bob and Ray, the legendary comedy duo that revolutionized radio and television. Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding's weird improvised characters and satire influenced an entire generation of comedy. Today we listen to a Bob and Ray half-hour show from 1954. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subs…

Today we selected a story that doesn't deal with the unusual aliens and fantastic elements so much, but delves into the psychology of complete human isolation. A man has been alone in an outpost in outer space for six years, and lives side by side with his delusions. Now that the time has come to relieve him of his duties, will he know what is real…

It's our 300th episode! That's important to us, anyway, so we are celebrating with an extra whiz-bang extravaganza. It's a 90-minute episode of "The Big Show," the audio showcase of the most popular entertainers from 1951. We are calling this a tribute to Vaudeville, because this particular episode also features several hilarious comedy teams from …

Its summer, and we are back this week to continue with some of the best science fiction to come from the golden age of radio and sci-fi. Today's imaginative story mixes Nazis and "shrinking" technology. This story by the lesser known writer Villiers Gerson is "Fantastic Voyage" with a unique spin. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ …

Another great Phil Harris and Alice Faye Show. Phil is worried about getting his tonsils removed and is getting no sympathy from anyone. A lot of sitcoms from the time dealt with this topic, but perhaps none of them as uniquely and hilariously as the writers, Ray singer and Dick Chevillat. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscrib…

Happy Independence Day! It's difficult finding great radio specials for July 4th, because all the big shows were on summer break. However, patriotic and historical shows abounded, and this well-written play digs into the backstory of the writing of the Declaration of Independence. It speculates on the wording of the document, and imagines what the …

For the third and final week of our mini-tribute to the early work of Jack Webb, who was most famous for "Dragnet," we are going back to one of his first radio acting performances on the exceptional CBS series "Escape." This is an emotionally dramatic role for Webb, who usually played it cold, as a tightly-wound individual such as Pat Novak or Pete…

This week's great science fiction story is by Murray Leinster. He is most famous for his story on artificial intelligence "A Logic Named Joe," where he uncannily predicted the Internet. This story is a little more thinky, as it wrestles with heady problems of a "first contact" with an alien intelligence. Earth explorers encounter an alien ship in t…

Moving along from last week's grimy waterfront detective Pat Novak, we look at TV and radio actor Jack Webb in a similar role, Pete Kelly, a musician who travelled amongst the seedy world of jazz musicians and crime lords. Learn on this episode how authentic this show was, and how "Pete Kelly's Blues" really had very little to do with "the blues" a…

Today's unusual science fiction story is by Hugo-Award winning writer Mark Clifton, and deals with children who are a step beyond the genius IQ. They are "Brights," and they have figured out how to manipulate the space-time continuum, making the inter-dimensional cosmos their playground. This creates a thorny problem for their parents, the "Tweens"…

We did a Pat Novak last year, and the dialogue writing was so outrageous, we had to go back to hear more. Jack Webb did this series briefly before becoming typecast as 'Joe Friday' on Dragnet. Here he is playing a skeezy private detective on the dirty San Francisco waterfront. Webb's delivery is so earnest and deadpan, it's no wonder this obscure s…

This is a compelling story of a family that survived a cataclysmic event, when a passing meteorite pulls the earth out of Axis and away from the sun. It is a story that is at the same time claustrophobic, about a family clinging to life in "the nest," and vast, as they must go to fetch frozen air in the frozen wastes in order to keep breathing. It'…

It's episode 11 of 15 for the Stan Freberg Show today, the last network comedy show. In this episode, the star sportscaster "Cliff Les Hutley" from the dressing room of Bearcat Panther Tigers, a trombone playing dog, and Bang Gunley, US Marshal. Inventive radio from a time when all eyes were glued to TV. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradi…

Update about Spotify

Another great science fiction story today from one of our favorite writers of the Golden Age and beyond, Ray Bradbury. This is may be his best time travel story, about a couple from the future, who travel back in time to escape the horrors of a world consumed by war. They are being pursued though, by an agent from the future who is attempting to se…