Family Theater is a dramatic anthology radio show which aired on the Mutual Broadcasting System from February 13, 1947 to September 11, 1957. The
show was produced by Family Theater Productions, a film and radio studio 
extension of the Family Rosary Crusade founded by the Holy Cross Priest,
Father Patrick Peyton, CSC, as a way to promote family prayer. The program
featured not only religious stories but half-hour adaptations of literary works
such as A Tale of Two Cities,Moby-Dick and Don Quixote. The program had
no commercial sponsor.

Jimmy Stewart with Don Ameche and Loretta Young for Family
Theatre Radio program.

Father Peyton (right) with Gregory Peck

The serial came to WOR radio as a syndicated show and went to Mutual on
August 31, 1942, airing until March 1, 1951 on ABC.

From left: Jackson Beck (announcer), Joan Alexander
(Lois Lane) and Bud Collyer (Superman) on the air.

 
Bud Collyer

 
James Francis "Jimmy" Durante (February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980)

Durante was a vaudeville comedian, pianist, and actor who was one of
America’s most popular personalities from the 1920s through the 1970s,
well known for his big nose and his composition of the song "Inka Dinka
Doo." He left school in the eight grade to become a ragtime pianist and
joined the Original New Orleans Jazz Band, which later became known
as Jimmy Durante’s Jazz Band. He later became a vaudeville star and
radio personality as a part of the trio, Clayton, Jackson and Durante.

Dangerous Assignment debuted over the NBC airwaves on February 6, 1950
and ran until 1953. It starred Brian Donlevy as Steve Mitchell, a globe-trotting 
agent for an unnamed U.S. government agency who investigates cases of
espionage, sabotage and threats to National Security.

Brian Donlevy