Robert Bainter Bailey (June 13, 1913 – August 13, 1983)
Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar is a radio drama that aired on
CBS Radio from February 18, 1949 to September 30, 1962.
Dick Powell starred in the audition show, recorded in 1948,
but withdrew from the role in favor of other detective
programs, Rogue’s Gallery and Richard Diamond, Private Detective.
Bob Bailey with Frances Robinson who played Brooksie.
Arch Oboler and Boris Karloff on Lights Out.
Lights Out is an old-time radio program devoted mostly to
horror and the supernatural.
Created by Wyllis Cooper and then eventually taken over by
Arch Oboler, versions of Lights Out aired on different networks,
at various times, from January 3, 1934 to the summer of 1947
and the series eventually made the transition to television.
Lights Out was one of the earliest radio horror programs,
predating Suspense and Inner Sanctum.
Wyllis Oswald Cooper
(January 26, 1899 – June 22, 1955)
William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901 – November 16, 1960)
Clark Gable for CBS Radio program, Silver Theater, and
the performance of ‘For Richer, For Richer,’ December
1939. The sponsor was the International Silver Company.
Silver Theater was a radio dramatic anthology series. Originating
in Hollywood, California, carried on CBS and on the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation.
First broadcast October 3, 1937, its last broadcast was August 17,
1947.
Rosalind Russell and James Stewart for their performance
on Sunday Afternoon Silver Theater.
Orson Welles was only 23 years old when his Mercury Theater
company decided to update H.G. Wells’s 19th-century science
fiction novel The War of the Worlds for national radio. Despite
his age, Welles had been in radio for several years, most notably
as the voice of “The Shadow” in the hit mystery program of the
same name. “War of the Worlds” was not planned as a radio
hoax, and Welles had little idea of how legendary it would
eventually become.
The show began on Sunday, October 30, at 8 p.m. A voice
announced: “The Columbia Broadcasting System and its
affiliated stations present Orson Welles and the Mercury
Theater on the air in ‘War of the Worlds’ by H.G. Wells.”
Sunday evening in 1938 was prime-time in the golden age of
radio, and millions of Americans had their radios turned on.
But most of these Americans were listening to ventriloquist
Edgar Bergen and his dummy “Charlie McCarthy” on NBC
and only turned to CBS at 8:12 p.m. after the comedy sketch
ended and a little-known singer went on. By then, the story
of the Martian invasion was well underway.
The radio play was extremely realistic, with Welles employing sophisticated sound effects and his actors doing an excellent
job portraying terrified announcers and other characters. An
announcer reported that widespread panic had broken out in
the vicinity of the landing sites, with thousands desperately
trying to flee.
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985)
