RADIO CITY PLAYHOUSE

Log

Based Upon Records from the Library of Congress

Researched and Created by

Jim Widner

September 11, 2001

 

 

RADIO CITY PLAYHOUSE premiered over NBC on July 3rd, 1948 as a half-hour dramatic program representing a different drama on each broadcast. The dramas chosen, according to NBC, were because they were considered “good drama” regardless of the name of the author, the fame of the play, etc. In many instances, original radio plays were used on the series. Director of production and author of some of the original radio plays was Harry W. Junkin. The cast varied according to the script needs but New York radio actors and actresses were used, some of them experienced and others chosen from the best in radio acting newcomers. The overall production for the series was under the supervision of Richard McDonagh, NBC Script Manager. Musical bridges were by Roy Shields and his Orchestra. The announcer was Robert Warren.

Note: This log was created after research at the Recorded Sound Archives at the Library of Congress. Please note my name when referencing  information from this log as considerable expense was made to gather it. There has been some question as to its accuracy. The information came from NBC Master Logs with a couple of references to Newspaper reports. Newspaper reports can be misleading as they often reflect the intent and not always the fact.

 

Series One: July 3, 1948 to September 25, 1948.

Broadcast Saturdays from 10:00 – 10:30 pm EST

 

July 3, 1948 Premiere “Long Distance”

                   Writer: Harry W. Junkin. 

A drama of suspense in which a young wife has thirty minutes to get through a long distance telephone call that will save her husband from the electric chair.

Note: Script was originally written for the NBC series The Chase.

                   Cast:

                             Jan Miner

 

July 10, 1948 “Ground Floor Window”

                   Writer: Ernest Kinoy.

                        A boy with cerebral palsy spends twenty-three years of his life just sitting at a window watching the world go by before other boys realize what it meant to be just an “onlooker.”

                   Cast:

                             Bill Redfield (Danny)

 

Broadcast moves to Saturdays from 10:30 – 11:00 pm EST

 

July 17, 1948 “Of Unsound Mind”

                   Writer: Harry W. Junkin.

                        A woman thinks her husband is insane. But gradually we find that she is the one with the “twisted, mouldy little mind.”

                   Cast:

                             Jeanne Tatum (Myra); Casey Allan (Caleb); Phyl Sterling (Jeff)

 

July 24, 1948  Program cancelled due to special broadcast: Progressive Party Acceptance Speeches.

 

July 31, 1948 “Whistle, Daughter, Whistle”

                   Writer: Ernest Kinoy.

                        A comedy about two ever-loving “mamas” who are determined their son and daughter should wed each other.

                   Cast:

                             Lenore Garland (Mrs. Kalat); Mildred Clinton (Mrs Marks); Jeanne Tatum (Peggy

                             Marks); Lamont Johnston (Alan Kalat).

 

August 7, 1948 “Special Delivery”

                   Writer: Harry W. Junkin.

                        A wife is tormented by doubts and jealousy.

                   Cast:

                                  Abby Lewis (Hilda Bradley)

 

August 14, 1948 “Hit – and Run”

                   Writer: Max Schoub.

                        A man strikes a child with his car and drives away. Tormented by guilt from this mistake, he tries to make amends realizing he cannot live with his untold knowledge about the accident.

                   Cast:

                             Casey Allan (Hal Lawrence); Fran Carlon (Ellen Lawrence).

                             Note: Casey Allan and Fran Carlon were married in real life.

 

August 21, 1948 “Fanny”

                   Writer: Harry W. Junkin

                        A comedy about a very rich, very old, very bored, and very funny old woman who decides to adopt a piano player.

                   Cast:

                             Grace Keddy (Fanny)

 

Broadcast moves to Mondays at 10:30 – 11:00 PM EST

 

August 23, 1948 “Long Distance”

                   Writer: Harry W. Junkin.

A drama of suspense in which a young wife has thirty minutes to get through a long distance telephone call that will save her husband from the electric chair.

                   Note: This is a repeat broadcast of the premiere episode due to popular request.

                   Cast:

                             Jan Miner.

 


August 30, 1948 “Betrayal”

                   Writer: Ernest Kinoy

                        A policeman attempts to befriend a “Dead End Kid” who had tried to steal a watch from him. For a while, the policeman’s influence and friendship has its way with the boy but finally a situation arises in which the policeman has to turn in his “friend.” The boy is sent to reformatory school. The policeman, after a struggle with his conscience, accepts the $100 ransom for turning in the boy. “A hundred dollars is a hundred dollars even if it is blood money.”

                   Cast:

                             Bernard Grant (Cop); Edwin Bruce (Boy); Arthur Q. Bryan; Alan Stevenson.

 

September 6, 1948 “King of the Moon”

                   Writer: Joseph Schull

                        A loveable and loving couple, Michael and Margaret, living in Dublin, Ireland have had a pleasant married life, but like to dream. The dream includes a flashback to the days when Michael was courting Margaret. In those days, Michael dreamed of owning plantations and diamond mines – of being “King of the Moon.” Now, he sits in his garden and thinks maybe his son will place his name in the “King of the Moon” category.

                   Cast:

                             Ian Martin (Michael); Andrea Wallace (Margaret); Grace Keddy; Roy Irving.

 

Broadcast moves to Saturdays at 8:00 – 8:30 PM EST.

 

September 11, 1948 “Mother”

                   Writer: Stanley R. Mednick

                        A tense story of a dead mother’s domination over her daughter’s weak mind.

                   Cast:

                             Abby Lewis (Daughter).

 

September 18, 1948 “Soundless”

                   Writer: Harry W. Junkin

                        A story of Constance Blake, a famous musical comedy star loses her hearing. She begins to disintigrate morally and mentally finally allowing herself to become the instrument in the strangling of a baby.

                   Cast:

                             Jan Miner (Constance Blake); John Larkin (Paul); Eve Young (singing sequences).

 

September 25, 1948 “The Dark Hour”

                   Writer: Charles Bennett

                        A War veteran struggles in a fight against blindness.

                   Cast:

                             John Larkin (Paul); Alan Stevenson (the Voice).

                   Note: This is identified as the last show in the current series.

 

 

 

Series Two: November 8, 1948 to August 29, 1949.

Broadcast moves to Mondays at 10:30 – 11:00 PM EST.

 

Series Two now includes both original drama and “adult drama” especially adapted for radio. The NBC records note that “The dramas will be of varied types: comedy, character drama, suspense, psychological drama, mysteries and supernatural dramas.”

Harry Junkin now appears on the programs as “host” at the opening and closing.

 

November 8, 1948 “The Promise”

                   Writer: Harry W. Junkin

                        A gripping drama about an intensely cruel man and his uncomplaining wife has been his victim for many years. She finally poisons him.

                   Cast:

                                    Charlotte Holland (Ellen); Joe de Santis (Herbert).

 

November 15, 1948 “The First and the Last”

                   Writer: John Galsworthy

                        Adapted by: Nelson Olmstead

                        Two brothers, one a judge and the other a murderer, are involved together in a struggle when the weaker brother, the judge, convicts an innocent man to protect his brother. But conscience is a powerful force as the judge struggles to regain his self-respect.

                   Cast:

                                    Ian Martin (Larry Durrant); John Stanley (Keith Durrant).

 

November 22, 1948 “The Door”

                   Writer: Harry W. Junkin

                        The drama concerns the last hours of a young criminal who has always been pushed around and who delights in pushing others around. He refuses to admit his crime of murder and also that the Governer will not save him from going through the little green door at the end of the Death House corridor. The Chaplain brings courage to the boy at the end and even gets him to admit his guilt.

                   Cast:

                             John Larkin (Criminal); Bernard Grant (Chaplain); Luther Johnson (singer).

 

November 29, 1948 “Temporarily Purple”

                   Writer: Ernest Kinoy

                        A comedy involving a young publisher and a lady author.

                   Cast:

                             Anne Pitoniack (Micki Farrell); Lamont Johnson (Herb Barrett).

 

December 6, 1948 “Five Extra Nooses”

                   Writer: Charles Lee Hutchings

                        A magazine writer visits a jail to talk with a “kid who is due to hang in the morning.” The writer prepares a fiction masterpiece in which he envisions a law by which six persons at least, who have been responsible for a murderer’s downfall, must be executed for every murder committed.

                   Cast:

                             John Larkin (Writer).

 

December 13, 1948 “The Heritage of Wimpole Street”

                   Writer: Robert Knipe

                        Adapted by: Ernest Kinoy

                        The story of Elizabeth Barrett’s son who returns home to his grandfather’s house. This is the house that Elizabeth Barrett was driven from when she married Robert Browning.

                   Cast:

                             Butch Cavell (Robert); Alfred Shirley (Papa); Grace Keddy and Betty Harrison (Barrett girls).

 

December 20, 1948 “Three Men”

                   Writer: Willis Cooper

                        Three Allied officers of World War I on their Christmas leave, the first Christmas after the Armistice, December, 1918 by chance share the same compartment in a railway coach. After becoming acquainted and carrying on conversation including definite comments on the spotless, scrubbed look of the floor of the railway coach evidently shined for Christmas, they fall asleep during their Christmas eve journey across Europe. They dream and strangely enough, all dream the same dream – that they are the three Wise men following the star to Bethlehem. When they awake, the impression is so real, they discover the once shiny floor is now covered with hay just like the manger.

                   Cast:

                   Ian Martin (Australian officer); Bill Lipton; Maurice Ellis; Grant Richards; Joe McQuade.

 

December 27, 1948 “Strange Identity”

                   Writer: Harry W. Junkin.

                        A woman, whose husband was supposed to have been killed in Egypt in 1941, thinks she has seen him seven years later in New York City. When she reunites with him she discovers he did die, but has asked to come back for one month so he might see her again.

                   Cast:

                             Jan Miner (Janet Wood); Bernard Grant (Clinton Wood).

 

January 3, 1949 Program cancelled due to “Plans for the New Congress” broadcast.

 

January 10, 1949 “Correction”

                   Writer: Charles Lee Hutchings

                   A careless item in the newspaper ruins the career of Dr. Roger Lumsden leading to his suicide.

                   Cast:

                                    John Larkin (Dr. Lumsden)

 

January 17, 1949 “Portrait of Lenore”

                   Writer: Milton Geiger

                        A woman whose portrait shows her beauty is scarred horribly in an accident. A writer searches for the portrait which goes missing from a museum. The search leads Lenore to her artist-husband from whom she had fled to prevent him from seeing her disfigurement.

                   Cast:

                             Jan Miner (Lenore); Bernard Grant (Hillary Drake).

 

January 24, 1949 “The Wisdom of Eve”

                   Writer: Mary Orr

                        A young actress, at the suggestion of the wife of the playwright, in whose play she is appearing, supplants the leading lady because the wife thinks the leading lady is having an affair with her playwright-husband. The young actress, however, turns out to be the husband snatcher.

                   Cast:

                             Claudia Morgan (Wife & Narrator); Marilyn Erskine (Actress).

 

January 31, 1949 Program cancelled due to March of Dimes broadcast.

 

February 7, 1949 “Machine”

                   Writer: Harry W. Junkin

                        Portrays the life story of Mary Hillman, an overweight, poor-complexioned, ungainly girl whose gallantry and true spirit have been suppressed and hidden because of her exterior handicaps of unattractiveness. Mary Hillman’s conflict is with the world – she knows why she is unhappy but seems powerless to do anything about it. By the end she is still doing her factory job at the side of the “machine,” something that is as unsympathetic and as incapable of human understanding as her life.

                   Cast:

                             Elspeth Eric (Mary Hillman); Adelaide Klein (Mrs. Hillman).

 

February 14, 1949 “Elementals”

                   Writer: Stephen Vincent Benet.

                        The story concerns Sherwood Latimer, a young University professor, who is idealistic enough to believe that love is stronger than hunger. This ideology results in a wager between Latimer and John Slake, who believes that after seven days of starvation for Latimer and his fiancée, Katherine, they will forget their love for each other and will fight over a crust of bread like animals.

                   Cast:

                   Hal Studer (Sherwood); James Van Dyke (Slake); Marilyn Erskine (Katherine); Leonard Vito plays the harp.

                   Note: The music played by the character John Slake is from the Third movement of the Brahm’s Third Symphony.         

 

February 21, 1949 “One from Three Leaves Two”

                   Writer: Kerry Shaw and Emil Zubryn

                        Two men and a woman are stranded on a mountaintop with only enough rope for two to descend safely. The woman is a wastrel and a burden to society; the guide, one of the men, is needed to lead the way back to safety; the other man has an entire future to give to society in wonderful service that very few others have to offer. Who is to be saved? The struggle between chivalry and reality takes a remarkable turn toward its conclusion.

                   Cast:

                             Jan Miner; John Larkin; Stephen Schnabel (Guide).

 

February 28, 1949 “Deadline”

                   Writer: John Bethune

                        Marcia Robbins, a secretary to a hardened, selfish drama critic tells the story of how for five years, she has watched him write scathing reviews of Broadway plays with giving the play or the actors a chance to “play out” their performances. Benson Todd, the critic, never stays beyond the first act. His latest review is printed in all of its falseness and cruelty despite others trying to tell him what happened - that the leading star collapsed and died from a burst appendix during the third act.

                   Cast:

                             Paul Nugent (Benson Todd); Claudia Morgan (Marcia Robbins); Bernard Grant (Jerry).

                   Note: This episode was not broadcast locally over WNBC, which broadcast a speech by New York State Senator Mahoney concerning Governor Dewey’s budget recommendations.

 

March 7, 1949 “Passion in the Desert” and “The Story of Ming Y”

                   Writer: (“Passion in the Desert”) Honore de Balzac

                        Writer: (“The Story of Ming Y”) traditional Chinese story translated by Lafcadio Hearn

                        Adapted by: Harry W. Junkin (Both stories)

                        “Passion in the Desert” – Story of a panther that loves a man lost on the desert. The man in mistaken fear kills the panther.

                   Cast:

                             John Larkin (Pierre Martin)

                   “The Story of Ming Y” – A story told by Little Sister about a goddess who fell in love with Little Sister’s renowned brother.

                   Cast:

                             Jan Miner (Little Sister)

                   Note: At the opening Harry Junkin asks listeners to write in if they like this type of adaptation on Radio City Playhouse. Opening and closing numbers by Roy Shields and his Orchestra. Mood music performed by Edward Vito on harp and Arlo Hults on organ.

 

March 14, 1949 “Weather Ahead”

                   Writer: Bill Devlin

                        Two Aircraft Control Tower operators get into conflict because one is a falsely accused murder fugitive from justice and an airplane containing an FBI agent wants to land and is requesting landing instructions during a dense tropical storm. The fugitive has to decide if he should give his instructions.

                   Cast:

                             Joe de Santis (Luke).

 

March 21, 1949 “Blind Vengence”

                   Writer: George Bellack

                        A psychological study in blindness about a couple who are both blinded in an automobile accident following the husband’s speeding in a new car. First, the husband finds difficulty in adjusting to his blindness; then the wife, who is regaining her sight but is not telling her husband, grows bitter and distorted in her mind as she seeks to try to kill her husband.

                   Cast:

                             John Larkin (Emmett); Elspeth Eric (Helen).

 

March 28, 1949 “Luck”

                   Writer: Wilbur Daniel Steele

                        Adapted by: Charles Bennett

                   Jennison, a slightly crippled 40-year old man of unprepossessing personality is deeply in love with Judge Proal’s daughter, Betty. Jennison’s rival for Betty is a younger and more handsome man, Will Yard. Jennison in a depressed state decides to take his own life but to make the blame fall on Will Yard. But by sheer “luck” the blame attempt is foiled.

                   Cast:

                             Bill Lipton (Narrator and Conscience); John McGovern (Jennison).

 

April 4, 1949 “Wardrobe Trunk”

                   Writer: William Irish from his story, “Dilemma of the Dead Lady”

                        Adapted by: Harry W. Junkin

                        A man accidentally kills a woman, Therese Germain, and panics. He attempts to cover up the accident by committing another deliberate murder.

                   Cast:

                             David Gothard (Babe Sherman).

 

April 11, 1949 “Treasure Trove”

                   Writer: Harry W. Junkin

                        Based on an idea from a short story by F. Tennyson Jesse called “Treasure Trove.” Hilda and Bob Devinish are a young couple who live at Hilda’s country home in England. Tony Lawrence, their friend, is a frequent houseguest. None of the three have known much wealth though they have been happy. Tony finds some old Roman coins on Hilda’s  property which are found to be extremely valuable. The three become jealous and quarrel over the coins. One night Tony is caught trying to steal them, but Hilda has replaced them with pennies. As the two men struggle, Hilda tosses the real coins at their feet and command them to grovel for them. As the clock strikes, Hilda realizes that it is Good Friday and that the coins, thirty of them, represent the thirty pieces of silver of betrayal.

                   Cast:

                             Claudia Morgan (Hilda); Luis Van Rooten (Bob); Bernard Grant (Tony).

 

April 18, 1949 “Only Unto Him”

                   Writer: Kathleen Norris

                        Adapted by: Agnes Eckhardt

                        Will and Fanny Evans’ daughter Rosamond has recently eloped with a young man to their disapproval. They refuse to see their daughter again. This decision so unhinges the parents that Will thinks his wife is insane. He says he has to carry a gun to keep her from killing him. Finally, he has her taken to Pleasant Vale Sanitarium but are things what they seem to be?

                   Cast:

                             Cameron Prud’homme (Will Evans); Grace Keddy (Fanny Evans).

 

April 25, 1949 “Witness for the Prosecution”

                   Writer: Agatha Christie

                        Adapted by: Agnes Eckhardt

                        Leonard Vole is a penniless young man who is befriended by a wealthy older woman, Miss Emily French, for whose murder Vole is tried. Although Vole is truly guilty, the woman who loves him turns into a “witness for the prosecution” and allows her own life and reputation to be torn asunder to make her testimony worthless. The prisoner is pronounced innocent, but as he leaves the court he is struck by a car and killed. Then the woman tells her story to the lawyer who until that minute believed in his client’s innocence.

                   Cast:

                             Arnold Moss (Mr. Mayherne); David Gothard (Leonard Vole).

                   Note: Harry Junkin, who normally introduces the episode, is on vacation. Frank Papp is the producer this time and introduces the play.

 

May 2, 1949 “The Hands of Mr. Ottermole”

                   Writer: Thomas Burke

                        Adapted by: George Lefferts

                        A mystery to be solved. A murderer stalks the fog-laden streets, picks out a victim and strangles him. Never is there a trace of the murderer near the scene of the crime although the police or other witnesses are there almost the minute the murder is perpetrated. A reporter, Richard Charles, finally solves the mystery but does not dare write about it because he has killed the murderer.

                   Cast:

                             John Larkin (Richard Charles); Dellie Ellis (Hazel).

                   Note: Frank Papp introduces and produced this episode for a vacationing Harry Junkin. Joseph Gorner conducts the orchestra in the absence of Dr. Roy Shield.

 

May 9, 1949 “No Shoes”

                   Writer: Lawrence DuPont

                        Mike Cassidy is a warm-hearted truck driver who is in the waiting room of a hospital maternity ward. His wife is giving birth to their first born and Mike desperately wants a son. But to Mike’s dismay his wife gives birth to a daughter. His dismay turns to embarrassment when he meets John Norman, is also in the maternity ward to see his week-old son. Mike is jealous until he finds out that Norman’s wife died giving birth. Mike’s humility is driven home by a sign on the wall which says “I complained because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.”

                   Cast:

                             Bernard Grant (Mike); Ivor Francis (John).

                   Note: Harry Junkin is back introducing the episode and producing.

 

May 16, 1949 Program cancelled for a special broadcast: Opportunity US Savings Bond Program.

 

May 23, 1949 “Murder Is a Matter of Opinion”

                   Writer: Jules Archer

                        A young law student is in prison for the murder of his brother, also a law student. The man has only eleven days before he is to be executed. He says he did not intend to kill his brother and explains it was to be a mock murder for his law class. The brothers decided to make it all seem real by faking arguments and a killing in public with a gun loaded with blanks. But the gun turns out to be loaded and all records of the fakery had been destroyed. At the last minute a notary public comes forth with a document from the convicted law student’s dead brother which states he had inserted a real bullet in order to be killed as an act of suicide because of a fatal heart disease. The dead brother also wanted to prove his point that “Murder is a Matter of Opinion.”

                   Cast:

                             Michael O’Day (Bryan); Bill Lipton (Frank).

 

May 30, 1949 “The Promise”

                   Writer: Harry W. Junkin

                        A repeat performance of this original play previously done on November 8, 1948. This is a remake.

                   Cast:

                             Jan Miner (wife).

 

June 6, 1949 “Danger B” (aka "Note on Danger B" First title is listed first in NBC Logs)

                   Writer: Gerald Kersh (his original story appeared in Saturday Evening Post)

                        Adapted by: Harry W. Junkin

                        A scientist, Dr. George Sant, discovers that when the human body travels in excess of 2000 miles per hour moving through the air, it is possible to hit one of the grooves along which time travels so that the human body exposed to what the scientist calls “Danger B” may go backwards in time and become the body of a child again. Dr. Mayo, a young flyer decides to expose himself to Danger B in order to record the changes which take place as the body travels in a special jet plane.

                   Cast:

                             Bill Lipton (Dr. Mayo); John Larkin (Dr. George Sant);

                   Note: Fred Collins is the announcer tonight.

 

June 13, 1949 “How Love Came to Professor Guildea”

                   Writer: Robert Hichens

                        Adapted by: Harry W. Junkin

                        A brilliant 45 year-old chemist has shut out all love and human companionship from his life. Then one night he calls the one person he might call a friend, Father Murchison, to come to his apartment. He tells the priest of his awareness of a presence that has been felt not only by him, but his pet parrot, Napoleon. He tells the priest that one night he saw a strange figure seated on a park bench across from his apartment and was drawn to it. But when he got to the bench, no one was there. The professor had left the door to his apartment open and now felt the presence was in the room with him. The presence seemed to brush against the professor fawning for love. The parrot begins to imitate what appears to be the presence. When the professor dies suddenly in the presence of the priest, the priest finally feels the presence as it brushes by him and appears to return to the park bench once more.

                   Cast:

                             Luis Van Rooten (Professor Guildea); David Gothard (Fr. Murchison); Frank Milano (parrot).

 

June 20, 1949 “Motive for Murder”

                   Writer: Harry W. Junkin

                        A member of the police force tracks down a murderer and a “motive for the murder” in order to free his wife, who has been accused of the murder on circumstantial evidence. Valuable rings hidden in a vacuum cleaner are the motive.

                   Cast:

                             Bernard Grant (David Murphy); Mitzi Gould (Mary Murphy); Bryna Raeburn (Landlady and the Aunt).

                   Note: Harry Junkin mentions that tonight is the first time that both Gould and Raeburn have appeared on this series. He says they will be returning next week.

 

June 27, 1949 “Legend of Teresa”

                   Writer: True Boardman

                        A beautiful Mexican girl comes to a strange young widow to tell her that she has been sent by the Patron Saint of Mexico to care for the widow’s coming baby. Everyone is drawn to Teresa, the Mexican girl, but her only focus is the child. She tells Jill, the widow that someday she will save the young boy, Juanito. One day an earthquake destroys the house and Juanito is badly injured, but Teresa is able to breath life back into the child. After that, Teresa disappears, but every holiday and on his birthday, Juanito receives notes and gifts from Teresa.

                   Cast:

                             Bryna Raeburn (Teresa); Mitzi Gould (Jill); Ralph Bell (Tom Mclean).

 

July 4, 1949 “Murder Is the Easiest Way”

                   Writer: Jules Archer

                        Adapted by: Harry W. Junkin

                        Frank Wineglass thinks that “murder is the easiest way” to save his son from a designing woman, Diane Rodell. Frank thinks he has created the perfect crime, but only succeeds in getting his son accused of the murder. Meanwhile, he tries to pin the crime on his partner, Harry Feeney, who had also been involved with the girl, but Harry has a perfect alibi.

                   Cast:

                             Karl Swenson (Frank Wineglass); Marilyn Erskine (Diane Rodell); Nelson Olmstead (Harry Feeney).

 

July 11, 1949 “Disintegration”

                   Writer: Luis Van Rooten

                        A radio actor has given so much to his characterizations over the years, that he finds he needs to consult a psychiatrist. He sees the doctor in a darkened room and tells him that he sees his characters in the faces of others and imagines that they are only him in the other characters. The doctor tells him to try to forget all of his roles for a time as he tries to sooth the actor. When the lights come up, he sees that the psychiatrist is himself as he once played a psychiatrist in a radio drama. He returns to the studio only to accuse the microphone of stealing his very soul.

                   Cast:

                             Luis Van Rooten takes on the role of twelve voices.

 

July 18, 1949 “Local Storm”

                   Writer: James Sussex

                        Adapted by: Harry W. Junkin

                        A helpless invalid who makes life disagreeable for everyone around her is finally left alone. A great storm comes up which gets worse by the minute, forcing the “helpless” woman to leave her wheel chair and run into the garden to escape.

                   Cast:

                             Ann Elstner (Mrs. Wentworth); Bernard Grant; Tom Collins; Connie Lempke.

 

July 25, 1949 “The Birthday Party”

                   Writer: Shirl Hendryx

                        A woman and her son work to protect her husband from his own insanity. In order to avoid the social stigma which insanity may bring in its wake, Rosalind takes her husband, Henry, to an isolated cabin on the edge of a lake. When their son, Robert, returns for a visit, the father tries to shoot his son – but is the gun real or does it only exist in the mind of the killer?

                   Cast:

                             Charles Penman (Henry); Sylvia Davis (Rosalind).


August 1, 1949 “Tension in 643”

                   Writer: Allen Sloan

                        A woman whose husband accidentally killed their child when he ran over the child is confined to a sanitarium. Her husband comes to visit her, but always stays in the same room at the same hotel in the small town.  On his latest visit he finds his wife in his hotel room after she has escaped from the sanitarium. She is brandishing a gun with the intent to kill her husband.

                   Cast:

                             Bernard Grant (Allen Clark); Virginia Dwyer (his wife).

 

August 8, 1949 “Level Crossing”

                   Writer: F. Gills Croft

                        Adapted by: Harry W. Junkin

                        Bradley Lane is being blackmailed by John Dunn. Five years before Dunn had stolen $4000 from his firm. But now he has become both a social and financial success and Dunn’s demands become so excessive that Lane decides he has to kill him. He selects a dangerous level crossing, but loses his nerve. Yet Dunn is accidentally killed there later and Lane is accused of the murder.

                   Cast:

                             David Gothard (Bradley Lane); Cathleen Cordell (Jane Lane); Charles Penman (John Dunn); James Monks (Mr. Luck).

 

August 15, 1949 “Blackout”

                   Writer: Harry W. Junkin

                        Jane and Johnny Bermount are a prosperous New York couple, six years married and very much in love. Johnny is a successful magazine writer who has a charming disposition except when he gets a drink – he is a dypsomaniac and in spite of promise after promise to Jane that he will never take another drink, the “next time” always comes. One morning he returns home to his apartment after making a night of it in celebrating a fellow journalist’s promotion. He cannot recall anything of the previous night, but his wife reads in the paper that the friend has been found badly beaten to death. Witnesses said Johnny boasted of “really beating up the guy.” He is arrested, but Jane stands by him after he says he will never drink again.

                   Cast:

                             Jan Miner (Jane); Arnold Moss (Johnny).

 

August 22, 1949 “Joey Was Different”

                   Writer: John Shaw

                        Adapted by: Harry W. Junkin

                        Two young gangsters, Frank, wounded and dying, and Joey, with a gun which he threatens to use, seek refuge in the home of a philosophy professor and his wife. The two juveniles killed a man during an attempted robbery. The professor uses his homey, practical philosophy in dealing with the boys but finds he is too late. When Joey is killed by police, doctors declare he was insane. The professor wonders what made the boy so different and unhappy and makes us feel that early help would have made Joey a good citizen.

                   Cast:

                                    Luis Van Rooten (Professor); Edith Gresham (the wife).

 

August 29, 1949 “The Unguarded Moment”

                   Writer: Ernest Lehman

                        Adapted by: Harry W. Junkin

                        A drama about how a sincere, honest psychiatrist, Dr. Philip Trask, keeps his wife from leaving him and also prevents his most important patient from breaking down completely. The story is a “love story for adults,” suspenseful and moving, based on the idea that one can lead people only “so far” and that from that point on, they must function for themselves.

                   Cast:

                             John Larkin (Dr. Trask); Marilyn Erskine (Paula).

                   Note: Last broadcast of this series.

 

 

Series Three: September 25, 1949 to January 1, 1950.

Broadcast moves to Sundays at 5:00 – 5:30 PM EST.

 

Host is Harry W. Junkin

Musical background and bridges by Arlo Hults, organist

 

September 25, 1949 “Affliction” (NOTE: Some dispute over whether this aired. Here is newspaper listing from Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Aired at 5:00 PM on this day.)

                   Writer: Harry W. Junkin

                        A young girl named Tally is kept in a state of subjection by her sister and mother and is led to believe she suffers from an “affliction” in which she turns red, perspires profusely and stutters or loses her speech entirely whenever she meets people or tries to get on with her life socially. She is deeply in love with a young author but feared to have dates with him because of her “affliction.”

                   Cast:

                             Inge Adams (Tally); Alexander Scourby (Allen).

 

October 2, 1949 “Conqueror’s Isle” (NOTE: This one is also questioned if it aired this day. Note newspaper report at 5:00 PM)

                   Writer: Nelson S. Bond

                        Adapted by: Harry W. Junkin

                        Lt. Brady, Navy veteran returns to civilization with a fantastic story of a strange “Conqueror’s Isle” where the conquering of an entire world is being planned. The doctors and friends of the man think he is the victim of mental hallucination until a twist ending leads everyone to realize that Lt. Brady is telling the truth.

                   Cast:

                             Luis Van Rooten (Dr. Gorham); Bernard Grant (Lt. Brady).

                   Note: Portion of the program is pre-empted for a Sports Bulletin reporting the Yankees and Dodgers to play World Series after beating Phillies this day: run time - 5:29:00 to 5:29:25 PM.

 

October 9, 1949 “The Plotters”

                   Writer: Harry W. Junkin

                        Based on an idea by: Rod Coneybeare

                        Two husbands take a trip with their wives to Niagara Falls with the intention of collecting insurance money by killing their spouses. But things get reversed and the wives survive.

                   Cast:

                             Ian Martin (Porter); Arthur Kohl (Thurston); Bryna Raeburn (Letty); Mildred Clinton (Baby); Eugene Francis (Detective).

 

October 16, 1949 “Duet” (The joint title for two dramas)

                   “The Lake”

                   Writer: Ray Bradbury

                        Adapted by: Harry W. Junkin

                        The story of the chilling aftermath, 18 years later, of the drowning of a 12-year old boy’s playmate. The victim was the boy’s love, Tally. The boy, Harold, grows to manhood cherishing the memory of Tally, knowing he will love her as long as he lives.

                   Cast:

                             Fred Collins (Harold).

                   “Collector’s Item”

                   Writer: Roald Dahl

                        Adapted by: June Thomson

                        The story of a weird and monstrous bet. Carlos, a senile Spaniard bets his Cadillac that a boy’s lighter will not light ten times in succession. The boy who is poor is forced to bet the fifth finger of his left hand.

                   Cast:

                             Leon Janney; Bill Lipton; Bernard Grant.

 

                   Note: Roy Shields and his Orchestra return to do the musical bridges and background from this point on. Arlo Hults no longer is providing the music.

 

October 23, 1949 “Ground Floor Window”

                   Writer: Ernest Kinoy

                        Same story as July 10, 1948 episode with new cast.

                   Cast:

                             Joe Helgeson (Danny); Marilyn Erskine (Ruthie).

 

October 30, 1949 “The Wind”

                   Writer: Ray Bradbury

                        Adapted by: Harry W. Junkin

                        Allin Henderson is a young writer who owns a farm about 30 miles from the farm of Herb Thompson and his attractive wife. The writer fears that the Wind is pursuing him and trying to kill him. During a particular storm, he frantically calls the Thompson’s asking them to come to his rescue, but they ignore him. The next day, they find that a freak hurricane has left death and destruction in its path.

                   Cast:

                             James Monks (Allin); Lyle Sudrow (Herb); Bryna Raeburn (his wife).

 

November 6, 1949 “Malice Domestic”

                   Writer: Philip MacDonald

                        Adapted by: Harry W. Junkin

                        Carl Borden is a successful writer who seems to have a happy marriage with his doting wife, who is beautiful, good company, and an excellent cook. But soon Carl begins to show symptoms of arsenic poisoning. We find that he has actually been poisoning his wife, but is trying to make it look like she is poisoning him. Ironically, he meets with justice after she has later died.

                   Cast:

                             Lyle Sudrow (Carl); Marilyn Erskine (Ann).

 

November 13, 1949 “Problem Child”

                   Writer: Joel Hamil (NBC Supervisor of Script Submissions)

                        Gerald, age 11, shows evil intent in his youthful personality. After a series of incredible acts, one of which is the attempted poisoning of his little playmate, Toby, age 10, Gerald’s problems get resolved.

                   Cast:

                             Ivan Curry (Gerald); Butch Cavell (Toby); Bryna Raeburn; Mitzi Gould; Luis Van Rooten; Bernard Grant.

 

November 20, 1949 “Deception”

                   Writer: Harry W. Junkin

                        This broadcast is the first time the series originates from outside of New York. This broadcast originates from WIS, Columbia, South Carolina on the occasion of the opening of their new studio. The play, other than the main star, used local talent for the broadcast, though the music came from New York. The audience takes part in the sound effects by supplying applause and murmurs of “the masses.”

 

                   The drama portrays the story of Reston Harrison, politically ambitious, currently in the race for the U.S. Senate. His wife, Mary, when she was 17, killed her own father with an axe – her father, a drunkard, had struck Mary’s mother a fatal blow and had then pushed Mary against a hot wood stove, burning the girl. She never told her husband about the incident. Now on the eve of the election, reporters have uncovered the incident and plan to report it. Reston loses the election by only 1000 votes but is despondent. When their campaign leader calls to tell them that Reston has indeed won, Mary hears a shot from the office.

                   Cast:

                                    Jan Miner (Mary); Mackie Quabe (Reston – local actor).

 

November 27, 1949 “Interval”

                   Writer: Robert Essen

                        Story of a young businessman named Norman Carroll and how he is sent on a secret mission by his unscrupulous vice-president who promises him a thousand-dollar bonus if he delivers a small black satchel to a certain person in Los Angeles. The satchel contains company funds amounting to $850,000! Although Carroll is almost murdered, he finally succeeds in double-crossing his crooked superior and getting home again to his wife and the baby she is awaiting.

                   Cast:

                             Stephen Gethers (Norman); Tom Collins.

 

December 4, 1949 “Local Storm”

                   Writer: James Sussex

                        Adapted by: Harry W. Junkin

                   A repeat broadcast of the July 18, 1949 program with the same cast.

 

December 11, 1949 “Sibling”

Writer: Richard Seff and Dolores Sutton

The story concerns Ann Ferrar’s book which she is dictating to her brother, John during the nights and evenings.  Suddenly, Ann suffers a stroke and gradually loses her power of speech. Her book is published and turns out a great success, but Ann’s enjoyment of their triumph is marred by her agonized suffering.

Cast:

          Richard Seff (John); Dolores Sutton (Ann).

 

December 18, 1949 “The Wine of Oropalo”

                   Writer: John Hasty

                        An original mystery story about the arrogant and cruel Christopher Faber, managing editor of “This World” magazine hated by his entire staff. Walter Kenyon, his assistant convinces Paul Denning, a young reporter to kill Faber telling Denning that Faber is having an affair with his wife. Meanwhile, Faber, who is in bad health commits suicide because of his health by shooting himself. Denning confesses that he planned to kill Faber by poisoning his expensive brandy, El Vine Del Oropalo. But Kenyon has already taken a taste of this brandy.

                   Cast:

                             Luis Van Rooten (Faber); David Gothard (Kenyon); Alan Stephenson (Denning); Marilyn Erskine (Miss Hilden).

 

December 25, 1949 “’Twas the Night before Christmas”

                    Writer: Paul Galico

                    Adapted by: Harry W. Junkin

                   A reporter seems to spend all of his time acting as a ‘flunky’ for his boss’ wife. On Christmas Eve, he is sent forth to find two goats all over Brooklyn where he stumbles upon numerous scoops: a huge pier fire, a murder, etc. His friends help him get the credit for the stories. Christmas Day provides a new day and a new outlook for the young reporter whose name is Perry Mason.

                        Cast:

                        Lyle Sudrow (Mason); Bernard Grant (Vogel); Connie Lembcke (Rusty); Butch Cavell (Boy).

                    Note: Last time for Roy Shield and his Orchestra on this series.

 

January 1, 1950 “Reflections”

                    Writer: Harry W. Junkin

                   Peter and Ann Stratton at their home on New Years Day remember via flashback other New Year’s Days telling the story of the couple’s 32 years of happy married life.

                        Cast:

                   Jan Miner (Ann); Rob Haig (Peter); John Lazer; Bryna Raeburn; Rosemary Rice; Bill Lipton.

                   Note: Music is by Norman Cloutier and his Orchestra.