Retro Radio Podcast

Spring has come, and the beautiful weather strikes a different chord in attitudes when it comes to Gildy and Birdie. It’s time for Spring cleaning, but Leroy is more interested in practicing his magic routine. The mail arrives, and has a purple envelope, scented with perfume. He shares briefly about the long lost love of his life, Violet. Poor unkie. Because of her, he has never married. The letter informs him she’ll arrive in town soon, and can be identified by her blue hat. Now, he’s excited, and can barely get to sleep. Thoughts of her voice, and pet names fill his head. A conversation of reunion fills his thoughts, interrupted only when Leila barges in. . Will news of the old flame rock the boat with the fickle Leila? The day arrives, and Gildy gets dressed to meet Violet. As he waits, he hangs out down at Peavey’s drugstore. Judge Hooker is on hand, and gets word of the old flame with violet eyes. We learn that Peavey had an old flame once. The bus arrives, and his friends watch from the window as Gildy races out. Seeing the woman who has aged, and gotten fat causes Gildy to bail, and sneak home. He tells Marjorie that seeing her made him realize how old and fat he has also become, and he couldn’t stand to let her see him that way. His advice to her is to live in the moment, and never look back. Does that mean he’ll still have a date with Leila?

Discussing the bashful biologist over breakfast, Mrs Davis learns about the misadventures of dating Mr Boynton. Before Connie can plan her next moves to advance the relationship, Boynton phones with a proposition. Of course, the dinner date isn’t what Connie thinks it’s going to be. Though Walter knows the truth, he is silenced by Connie. He does know the secret, doesn’t he? Crossed wires make it seem that the teachers eloped. The proposal involves real estate, but will the remote location work for Connie’s purposes? Has the rumor mill worked its powers of gossip to perpetuate the elopement story? When the teachers are late in coming home, the gang worry that something may have happened. Will Connie be greeted as a new bride? The confusion between marriage, and real estate property sets up awkward moments of confusion.

To review, Don teases Jack about his acting lessons with Orson Wells last week. Phil Harris and Dennis Day arrive to hear the review by Ed Sullivan in the newspaper. Attention turns to Phil’s band, and the class of music he plays. Mary Livingstone is back after her cold, and tells about her cute doctor. She tells secrets on Jack showing off after his high class show, and performance last week. Phil and Mary sing, Holy Smoke Can’t You Take a Joke. Don presents a one act play to pitch the sponsor. Jack and Mary are honeymooners, who start their elopement with romance, and marital bliss… until Jello enters the picture. Andy Divine arrives to tell about his diet, and new suit. After jokes on fashion, Andy has to run, and take his ma and pa out on the town. Phil Harris plays, Do I Love You. Jack gets ribbed, then gives it back to Fred Allen, and the eagle that got loose in his studio. In introducing the play for next week, Jack gets himself sidetracked. The phone rings, and Rochester adds to the interruptions. Carmichael the polar bear has been acting up again. Finally, a few highlights of the play are shared.

A dispute over a baby picture of his girlfriend, Helen, is interrupted by a little woman who needs the help of Richard Diamond. She tells about a problem when her daughter Gloria found a package of money. Is Bill involved in something illegal? Is he just a hard worker who sends cash to his mom to help her? Doing his good deeds of the day, Richard returns the picture, and begins investigating for the little woman to get to the bottom of her troubles. At the police station, Walt already has his corpse on his hands, but the aggravation sets in, when its Bill Kirby. To make it worse, the victim’s mother and sister got beat up. Now Richard leads the way, with Walt to get at the core of the matter. The important package doesn’t contain cash, only a shoe. There may be no helping Bill, but Richard is in it for revenge, and justice for Mrs Kirby. A trail of clues is begun, when Richard talks with Gloria. Thugs soon find Richard, and after a thump on the head, Diamond gets back on the trail. Is there progress with the crime lab, and learning the secret of the shoe? Danger is sure to be in store for Richard as he turns up his next step in the case. Secrets explode to the surface about robbing a gold shipment. Will knowing the gang’s operation do any good if Richard ends up dead? Gunplay, chases, and freshly captured thugs to hand over to Walt and the cops. amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "retrootr-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "manual"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_title = "Sam Spade on Amazon"; amzn_assoc_asins = "B00BDR8A9M,B006421JJY,1570196451,1932806229"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "d044d97d5e71edb0df9497c070c428e8";

Jim Brandon and Fern tune in a radio broadcast to dedicate the opening of a traffic tunnel. A helicopter reports the first car to make the trip is the mayor. The car goes in, but nobody comes out! How did it disappear? It may take some telepathic ability of the Avenger to figure it out. A warning pinned to a guard claims the tunnel is a death trap. After a cost of $15 Million, will the city close the tunnel? Jim looks into the clues, and talks to safety inspectors. Is a model of a gold smelter on the engineer’s desk important to the case? An old property dispute shows up. A steel mill, and a young, new owner add to the picture. The city council thinks all the publicity has been a stunt, or a hoax. But when another threat comes in, Jim and Fern rush to the scene. There isn’t a second to lose, and Jim crashes the tunnel gate. What should Fern look for as they silently cruise the tunnel” back in his lab, Jim studies up on the clues he has found. He shares the connections with Fern, but there’s more to make before the guilty party will show themselves in his trap. Not to mention an appearance by the Avenger.

Guest producer Mick Wood presents classic songs from the 50's and 60's. Many unheard or long forgotten greats.

In the Jot Em Down store, Lum and Abner round up grocery orders. Abner can’t keep his mind on the job, worrying over the little things his poppa does around the house to annoy Lizabeth. He misplaces things, and interfere with Lizabeth in keeping up with her soap operas. Although Abner seems to know the latest happenings on Hearts Aflame. Why can’t Abner just come out flat footed, and tell his poppa how he’s disrupting things? When Phinus enters, Abner figures he’ll let Lum do all those things he has been advising Abner to do. The rambling speech is endless, and goes nowhere from phrase to phrase. He manages to be coherent enough to ask Lum for his honest input. Is Phinus being a burden on Abner and Lizabeth? Well? He tries his best to fit in, and knows he’s old and doesn’t want to be a burden. Will Lum be able to be the go between to patch things up? With Abner back from the post office, its now Lum who can’t keep his mind on the grocery order.

The show takes the military man behind the scenes to the girls dormitory. In playing their roles, Mrs Gushmore is the dorm mother and she wakes up her flock of beauties. The girls talk about their dreams before they start their day. The latest singing sensation, Martha Stewart sings, I Only Have Eyes for You. Marilyn Maxwell sings, Accentuate the Positive. A South American singer named lina Romay sings a romantic tune. Judy Canova, a comedianne known for her hillbilly and homely ways jokes around and sings in the yodeling style that only she could get away with, St Louis Blues. The dean of the school takes us on a geographical comic tour of Africa. Dinah Shore reads a few mailbag requests then sings, For a Little While. All the girls pitch in for a final word to the troops.

Coming across the scene of an ambushed wagon, Bill pieces together how it happened. Valuable cargo is left behind in the wake of explosions and a dead driver. What kind of road agents are our heroes up against? In Pistol Springs, Bill learns about extortion that until now had committed no crimes, other than terrorizing the citizens. Finding a damsel in distress, Bill resorts to gun play to get an apology for Miss Harvey. It turns out that rounding up the bad guys isn’t a problem, but getting people to testify against them is. The protection racket has its ring leaders hanging out in the saloon, and Bill lays down the law to them. He even has a plan to protect his witnesses. In a switch, Bill has the good guys locked in jail, and the bad guys on the loose. Still, the bad guys have a plan to dynamite the jail and do away with their foes. Will Bill outsmart them? Guns blaze, but watch out, explosives have been placed around the jail. Trouble may not be easy to diffuse. Will Bill manage to swap the situation to end up with a jail full of bad guys?

A first time traveller to Mars, who also happens to be an astronomer, meets and talks to a veteran traveller and and old hand about Mars. Turns out Mars is a big vacation resort like Las Vegas, with all the vice and cheesy tourist glitter. Can the astronomer get any work done observing celestial beings with the glitter and light shows going on? The stars have been there for billions of years, they’ll still be there, so why not enjoy the glitzy attractions instead? The egghead, scientific intellectuals have so far lost to the superstitious slobs of humanity, but they have a plan to beat the gamblers at their own game. When things work themselves out, Harvey the casino owner has a comet named for him, and the scientists have a poker chip named for them.

Distracted by showing his family scrap book to anyone who comes into range, Phinus hasn’t been a bother. Today, Lum enters the Jot Em Down store to learn about the trip Cedric and Phinus are to go on. Has the old man caused all the trouble he can in town, and now he’s branching out? Lum tries to figure it out, but Abner is too busy with making arrangements. They need plenty of coupons for gas and rubber. Lum tries to talk patriotic sense over taking trips that aren’t essential. Thinking he has done an irreversible wrong, Abner thinks he’s on the fast track to the penitentiary. The discussion is designed to outline how the rationing books and coupons work. They can’t be bought, sold, or transferred. The whole while, Abner fields phone calls to be sure the trip can go through. Is there some way Abner can get extra gas for Cedric to make the trip? Just how important is this message that the trip is for?

Announcer: Wendal Niles. Bob “Soldier on the Desert” Hope opens the show from Palm Springs. He jokes about farmers, being greeted by the troops, starlets, bathing beauties, New Years Eve parties, dating, and more. Francis Langford sings, Constantly. Rita Hayworth enters to joke about leading men. How does Bob’s dancing, and acting prowess compare to what she’s used to? Jokes turn to shortages of butter, then Bob is a country boy who meets Rita the city girl. Will he have a good deal on eggs for her? Jerry Kolonna sings, Conchita. The feature, Meet the Army, calls on a private to take the stage with Bob. Curtis shows off his muscles, And tells about his college education. Who has the prettier, more blonde hair, Curtis, or Rita? Will the compliments hold up once Vera Veg enters? The cast go on a double date in a jeep. A breakdown finds them in need of Jerry’s cab services.

The Merrymacks open with a song, Why. Fred’s News Reel topic is on billboards. Merrymacks sing, Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho. The band transitions with a tune, Chan of the Jungle. Portland arrives to joke about her mom, flowers, and introduce the guest. Captain Charles Night is an eagle expert. Amid the facts about eagles, the nervous bird flies up to the rafters, and won’t come down. A classic radio moment for sure. Win Murray sings, When Love Beckoned on 32nd Street. Station break. The band plays a musical interlude. The panelists take the stage to answer the question of the week. A man is a newspaper editor from New York, a housewife from New York, and a man from Grape Nut Washington. Amid the adlibs are jokes about Jack Benny, but when an unexplained audience uproar takes place we learn it’s due to the eagle taking flight. With the eagle’s disruption, there isn’t time for the question. The Merrymaks sing, Johnson Rag. The Mighty Allen Art Players present a spoof of radio’s well known give away show, Pot of Gold. Fred is the frustrated radio exec who deals withthe problem.

Narrating a case he didn’t take part in, Watson recounts the story as told to him by Holmes. Climbing the mountains, weather brings disaster to the expedition, with Holmes its only survivor. In the cold, and fighting delirium, Holmes is discovered, and nursed back to health by a girl. Will she keep his secret, though he has been presumed dead for the past two years? A collection of characters soon gather in the mountain top cottage, a Russian, an Englishman, an American, and Holmes who is posing as a Norwegian named Olaf. What manner of conflict must be worked out in the Tibetan cottage? Murder of a Chinese emissary has come to the monistaary of peace, strongled with his own jewels. Examining all the clues closely, Holmes is determined to bring a killer to light. The whereabouts of the multinational players is reviewed. Who is placed at the scene of the crime? Will serenity return to the monastery, so the monks can continue chanting in peace?

Chief Superintendent John Davidson relates a crime, direct from Scotland Yard’s Black Museum. A dark gray shirt with blood stains is the key to the missing Francesca, girl who had been arguing with her mother. A man who raises chickens and lives in a hut with a dirt floor seems a little wacko, but claims he’s engaged to the missing girl. The cops discuss the man, and how he came to contact them through the local vicar. Is there reason for the cops to smell a rat? Heading out to visit Norman’s chicken farm, what will be learned? Will a confession of murder be forthcoming? Can the man be as looney as he lets on, as he carries on over his missing fiancee? The cops relax over a beer in the local pub. What’s their first impressions? Does the case against Norman have any merit? The local constable shares a few clues that could solidify the case. Things heat up in the sleepy little village of simple citizens. Norman begins to feel trapped, but is he only being paranoid, or is there something to his claim to more than one person, that he killed and buried Francesca? Will there be grounds to dig up his chicken farm, in search of a shallow grave? In epilog, details of the case are shared in regards to the motive, and outcome with the hangman.