Retro Radio Podcast

On Hit and Run Felony Detail, a body has been found, and the only clue are a set of skid marks. Joe Friday and Ben Romero report into traffic investigations, but Joe is having his own problems with a wisdom tooth. Joe isn’t encouraged by Ben on his wife’s experience with her wisdom tooth, and more bad news comes when the skid marks seem older than the reported time of the hit and run. Word from the morgue brings more news to verify it wasn’t a hit and run. The victim has been identified, and the trail takes Joe to Eddie Stokes ex-wife. Will she know any of Eddie’s current circle of friends? Back to the local tavern, Joe pinpoints a timeline of events with Eddie and his drinking buddies. Always on the go, Joe checks in with his mom who wishes he would take it easy with his toothache. Clues have begun to pour in, and Joe is off to the bar scene. Has Joe found his man? Fake stories and cover ups are exposed. All that remains is to nab the drunken killer… but what about Joe’s tooth?

Edmund O’Brian is Johnny Dollar, and today he’s off to Brasil to investigate an insurance matter with the railroad. Mr Haley is dealing with a ruthless competitor, who has resorted to sabotage to get the upper hand. What might Johnny learn about the engine crashes from the competitor? Next, Johnny uncovers evidence of tampering with safety equipment on the engines. Will the rail yard workers overcome their fear of losing their jobs, and come through with the goods for Johnny? It only serves to introduce murder into the picture. Confronting the rival, Johnny pushes for answers while bribes and threats are tossed back at him. Who is going to blink first? The situation turns explosive, and Johnny has to fight for his life. Has he found the weak spot in the armor? Will he live long enough to report his finddings to the officials? The body count rises before answers to the mystery are revealed.

Vic is at it again when he tries to drag Sade into helping him with lodge ritual practices. She just can’t get on board with the sacred nature of the rituals. An especially important ritual is locked away, but the keys are missing. Russel had been playing with them in an act of feeling important. When Russel quotes a snippet of the sacred ritual, Vic cuts him off, and swears him to secracy. How did the lad learn the forbidden words? Though the sacred ritual is held in high regard by Vic, he leaves it laying on the table, where Sade uses it to take a grocery list down when Mrs Applerot phones her. Poor Vic, but hhe needs to keep important things like that picked up better.

The show opens with something rarely seen since the days of Horlick’s malted milk. A short drama to pitch the need for the sponsor is presented. With Lum out of town, Mary has been helping around the store. Today, Mousey Gray enters to tell how his new job at the defense plant is just like a mother to him. Abner takes phone calls from grandpap, and fills Mousey in on how Mary is doing in making new friends. More phone calls are from Lum, but the connection is a little rough in getting through. Lum reports his progress in convincing the state home, a girl’s reformatory, in paroling Ellie, now known in town as Mary, so he can be her guardian. Squire pops in to ask questions about Mary. He knows people from Wisconsin, and has been asking into who she is related to, and who she may know. Will her guise as Lum’s niece from Wisconsin hold up under Squire’s scrutiny? Lum is to return on Monday, let’s hope all goes well for Mary.

For some bonus tracks, check out: (retro413) The Halls are getting ready for fun with a ladies group on campus. Although it’s considered a stuffy and boring affair to Doc Hall. Braced up by Vickie’s encouragement, he faces the ordeal bravely. The duties and obligations of a college dean has no end, and Toddy finds himself giving a man to man talk to Phillip. The large athletic student has the nickname of Moose. Could he have some woman troubles? What qualifications does Doc Hall have for dispensing advise on the matters of love? After telling of his reliable relationship with Vicky, Doc Hall discovers that she forgot her usual note of encouragement. It’s just one of those little things, almost a superstitious ritual that Doc Hall has come to expect before facing down that stodgy ladies group. Is Vicky becoming absent minded? Doc Hall talks with his colleague, Heathcliff about his concerns. The ritual of presenting his annual poem to the ladies is disrupted, but the encouragement Toddy finds comes from another source.

News alert from the past: The deteriorating political situation in South Korea has troops standing by to move in at a moments notice. LynnRussel is an old flame who needs Phil’s protection from a killer. Rushing to her beauty shop, there’s nothing to learn, but a thump on the head waits for him back at his office. Heading to her bungalow, Marlowe discovers Palmer Sloane. What connection does he have with Lynn, or the killer? The search leads to a small time bandleader, and Maxine. How will the dame tie into Marlowe’s next target, Ward Erling? The rising body count won’t shake our hardboiled hero. Which of our shady characters is going to be Marlowe’s man? The water front is the next stop in untangling the mess, and revengful motives. Stand by, the head thumping action isn’t over yet. Good thing Marlowe has a skull like a helmet. His options are running slim, and in a scene with the remaining characters present, justice finds its own way to solve the mystery. PS: Guest voist of note today is Arthur Q Brian.

On a calm Summer day, Sade and Russel share some lazy conversation. Topics meander from Christmas to their sleeping neighbor, Mr Donahue. Vic arrives in a burst of energy with important lodge news. Visiting dignitaries are coming to town, and Vic recruits Russel in memorizing opassages of greeting from his lodge manuals. Sade gathers Vics robe, and he has to rush off to manage the rest on his own. Will they be able to return to their lazy front porch swing again? Especially after all that excitement?

Contestants team up to play for prizes, while hoping to say the secret word for a bonus cash prize. A couple about to be married. The traffic cop and text book clerk in a high school talk about their marital plans together. Groucho gets a lesson on modern police procedure. How well with the couple do in answering questions about comic strips. A furniture salesman and a housewife. The puns fly, and words are played with, as Groucho learns a little about the furniture trade. What about the Norse native from Minnesota, who met her husband in a Chinese laundry in Honolulu? They guess tools of the trade of various occupations. A Boy Scout and a doctor are paired up. The 17 year old scout tells about an unusual camp demonstration that turned into a first aid lesson, and though he’s an Eagle, he doesn’t fly around the studio for Groucho. The doctor explains his job as an intern, and role plays with Groucho. Their topic is the names of college teams. Who will win the $1000 that’s on the line in the final round? Will someone say the secret word? Stay tuned, and learn for yourself.

As Vic and Russel are in the middle of a tournament of playing Rummy, Sade enters with a dose of neighborhood gossip and wants to be dealt in on their game. A little reluctantly, the guys deal her a hand, but her gossip keeps her distracted, and she can’t seem to get started playing her hand. Sade is too preoccupied by the news of her day, and keeps thinking that she has played already, she rearranges the cards in her hand, but never actually plays her cards. The guys quietly wait, and try to politely urge her to make her play. Sade doesn’t want to be rushed, and begins to take offense when the guys aren’t taking much interest in her flood of juicy news. To add agony to the delayed card game, a phone call comes in, which Sade is quick to answer. It’s a wrong number, but the gossipping keeps on when Sade returns to the game. Is it still her turn? Was it ever not hers?

Lum is still gone, and a postcard arrives with a word on his travels. Mary is sure the trip is about her, and fears she’ll be sent back to the state home. Abner assures her that isn’t the case, knowing what she doesn’t, that Lum is trying to win custody of her. Meanwhile, Mary tells that she needs to study up on Wisconsin. Her cover story is that she is Lum’s niece from Wisconsin, and friends in town keep asking her about her home. A phone call from a tired Cedric interrupts the study of the almanac. Will Abner have tips on curing insomnia? It’s one thing to know statistics, but there’s more to know to answer questions about where a girl has lived. Squire Skimp arrives. Can a girl con the accomplished con man? Cedric is still having trouble sleeping, so Abner phones him with a home remedy for curing… hiccups? His insomnia seems to have returned after Abner disturbed his sleep with the remedy, but a new problem has befallen Cedric.

Featuring the first 6 episodes of the Adventures of Superman. Plus extra background from Keith, as gleaned from the web, and other sources. 1940-02-12 The Baby From Krypton. As a planet self destructs, nobody blieves the danger is real. Except for one scientist who only has time to save his infant son in the prototype rocket he made. 1940-02-14 Clark Kent, Mild-Mannered Reporter. A rocket lands, and a man emerges, full grown. Rescuing a man and his son, Clark Kent is born, and he goes to become a reporter at a great metropolitan newspaper to observe humanity. 1940-02-16 Keno’s Landslide. Given his first assignment, Clark Kent ensures the man of steel is conveniently handy as evil master minds set out to sabotage humanity. 1940-02-19 Clark Kent-Captured By The Wolf. Downplaying his full capacity as a hero, Clark allows his mild mannered identity to mislead the criminals so he can get a closer look at the operation. 1940-02-21 Clark Kent-Imprisoned. Sightings of a flying man in a blue suit and cloak seem fabulous. Still held captive, Clark isn’t giving any clues that he knows anything about it, but is ready to spring into action the moment he gets the chance. 1940-02-23 Menace To The Silver Clipper. The safety of the train, the Silver Clipper, is ensured, giving Superman the chance to exercise his strength, speed, and ingenuity. The man of steel’s presence is getting harder to deny, but there’s more in the next thrilling episodes as this chapter ends, and another begins with Superman on the heals of the villains. Bonus Tracks Besides Keith’s long winded introduction, there are tracks in between the episodes from a radio interview in 1966. What Ever Became of Clark Kent and Lois Lane? Here it right from the actors who created the roles, and were linked to them for so long. Bud Collier and Joan Alexander defined the characters for all others to follow. They also share some of their personal lives, and acting experiences. Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster, starting as a science fiction, fantasy story, the characters of Sampson and Hercules were combined to be a bad guy. Rethinking the character to put those super powers to work as a hero instead, a comic book story was developed, and the costumed character was born to put his powers to use for good. Nobody bought it, or thought it would be a good idea, but once a comic book publisher picked it up, for Action Comic 1, where Superman made an appearance in 1938, sales doubled for the publisher in nine months. Soon, millions of comics were sold. Newspapers began picking it up and in two years well over 200 had the strip syndicated, and it was poised to hit the radio airwaves in a big way. . Still in comic form, Superman was outspoken about the growing war in Europe, and against the Nazi’s. Hitler didn’t like the portrayal of Superman defeating German soldiers. He branded the man of steel a Jew. The German dictator went as far as to threatened to kill every comic book writer. The 2 Jewish teenagers built the mild mannered, Clark Kent alter ego on themselves. It was the way the hero could interface with the public and observe the human race in a candid way. Plus it gave the hero time to stand down, and stop being heroic for a while. He wore eye glasses, and was unassuming in nature, just like they were. Also similar to his creators, who had dreams of becoming a newspaper reporter, Clark became a reporter. His name came from combining the names of their favorite movie stars. Clark Gable, and Kent Tailor. Lois Lane was based on a girl they had a crush on, and thought it would be interesting to have her have a crush on the hero, yet never noticing the potential of the alter ego, or the role he played in the heroic deeds. Eventually one of the teens would marry that girl.

How will doing Charles boier impressions help the Home Guard win the war? A propaganda drive is in full affect. A play is rehearsed, a pageant of history to demonstrate the victories of England through the years. Saved by the bell… er… air raid siren, the Home Guard find themselves locked in the cellar. Will they get out in time to take part in the pageant?

Bob jokes about Halloween, and the pranks he pulls on kids. Once Bill Goodwin makes an appearance the party jokes turn to a more grown up slant. Topics also include Fibber McGee, dancing, fashions, and more. Skinny Ennis arrives to join jokes about their costume party. Jerry Colonna enters with jokes about his mustache, and dating mishaps. Skinny Ennis sings, Heart and Soul. Martha Raye is joined by Bob to sing On the Level. After a verse and chorus, jokes about Martha’s recent marriage make the show. Topics turn from Honeymoons, to kissing movie stars in love scenes. Martha sings, Old Man River. Visiting Professor Kolonna’s dancing school, Bob and Bill check out what the noice… and pretty girls are all about. Jerry tells about a duck hunting trip. The dance club has an English butler to screen such riff raft as radio show hosts. Jokes continue on the topic of England, and the culture there. The lesson begins, but the dance steps mean Bob ends up with both feet in mid-air. Taking to the dance floor, Bob jokes his way through foot stepping gags. To close, a pitch for Community Chest, and supporting hospitals is made.

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A young couple have a girl who is deathly sick. The Master is to be in town soon, but he hasn’t arrived yet. Desparate, Jonathan sets out on his own to find the Master, but how will he find him? Mordecai the town elder can’t be found, and where do you find one of the apostles when you need one? Meanwhile on the road, a group of the disciples walk, and wonder if they are doing the right thing. They hear of the man’s sick girl, but debate on which one will present the girl for healing. As they do, Jonathan has left. Back at the rock where the apostles were to meet the Master, he’s gone too. What is this? Hide and seek… Bible style? With all the missed connections, and seeking going on, the girl has died. The disciples are two days late. Or are they? Jonathan’s house is finally found, and the girl is sick, but alive… barely. As they talk to her mother, she tells the disciples they’re late once again, This time, because the girl has suddenly become normal and healthy. What’s going on here? Jonathan enters to tell about his encounter with the Master, and healing from a distance. At the end of the day, the apostles trudge back to tell the Master of their day, and the pride that nearly ruined it for them. It may have little to do with salt and light, but a lot more with debating who is the greater among them. Although the disciples learn how being salt applies to them.