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June 24, 2022
Six new products and Two featured products from Radio Archives in this newsletter!
All new and featured products are discounted 50% for the next two weeks in all three versions.
We are continuing to sell Audio CDs of all of our products, packaged in paper sleeves instead of plastic storage cases. Plus we now offer Wavfiles of all of our Old Time Radio sets and Pulp Audiobooks. For ordering information Click Here.
Featured: previously released
Volume 5
"You're about to be entertained by some of the biggest names in show business..."
November 5, 1950 saw the debut of what many observers at that time considered radio's "last gasp": "The Big Show" - "ninety minutes with the most scintillating personalities in the entertainment world." The National Broadcasting Company mounted the expensive, star-studded extravaganza in an effort to reclaim its former dominance on Sunday nights, decimated by both television's rising popularity and the success of rival CBS in peeling off much of NBC's former talent in the Tiffany network's legendary "talent raids."
With a price tag of nearly $100,000 ($837,000 in 2006 dollars) per broadcast, "The Big Show" presented a weekly mixture of comedy, drama, and music from such guest stars as Jimmy Durante, Ethel Merman, Danny Thomas, Groucho Marx, Fanny Brice, Bob Hope, Eddie Cantor, Judy Holliday, and Fred Allen - the latter graduating to semi-regular/contributing writer status. In fact, each program found the guests introducing themselves by name; the introductions completed with a husky voice intoning "...and my name, dahlings, is Tallulah Bankhead." Bankhead, a celebrated stage veteran renowned for her work in plays like "The Little Foxes" and "The Skin of Our Teeth," served as the show's mistress of ceremonies - proving to be both an apt foil for the program's guests and a self-deprecating good sport for an endless series of "rivalry-with-Bette-Davis" jokes. In explaining her motivation for agreeing to host a weekly radio series, she told Newsweek Magazine "I have to live in the style, dahling, to which I'm really accustomed." The "glamorous, unpredictable" Talloo also added two memorable trademarks to the "Big Show" proceedings: announcing the network's half-hour I.D. as an opportunity to "ring my chimes" and leading the show's guest roster in a rendition of "May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You" at each program's close.
The music for "The Big Show" was supervised by maestro Meredith Willson, who not only oversaw the program's 44-piece orchestra and 16-voice chorus but cheerfully played the part of Bankhead's stooge ("Thank you, Miss Bankhead, sir."). The announcing chores were handled by old pros Jimmy Wallington and Ed Herlihy, and the production-direction was by Devere Joseph (Dee) Englebach, a radio veteran whose credits included "The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street" and "The Hallmark Hall of Fame." The jewel in the crown of "The Big Show" was indisputably the fine, polished writing - supervised by "ace" comedy scribe Goodman Ace (of "Easy Aces" fame) and staffed with the likes of George Foster, Morton Green, Frank Wilson and Selma Diamond.
During its original radio run, "The Big Show" received glowing reviews in the press; author Jim Cox quotes one critic as calling it "a perfectly wonderful show - witty, tuneful, surprisingly sophisticated and brilliantly put together...one of the fastest and funniest ninety minutes in memory." But back then - as it is now - the public had the final say, and even though NBC scheduled the program in a time slot so as not to interfere with the television audience (estimated at about 8,000,000 viewers) it was difficult for "The Big Show" to make a dent in the ratings, being regularly trounced by "The Jack Benny Program" on CBS. In the fall of 1951, the program valiantly attempted to goose its numbers with a lavish publicity stunt that found the cast jetting off to Europe to do broadcasts from London and Paris. Struggling with a monstrously expensive budget and a lack of sponsors to compensate for same, "The Big Show" limped through its second and final season, finally throwing in the towel on April 20, 1952. It was estimated that NBC ultimately lost nearly one million dollars on its ill-fated venture.
"The Big Show" has long been considered one of radio's biggest financial failures but, listening to the program through 21st Century ears, the show will surprise many a radio fan; the program's writing remains top-notch, the performers are at the peak of their craft, and the music remains sprightly and entertaining as ever. What makes "The Big Show" mind-boggling is that it seems inconceivable that a program of its scope could be put across today. Of course, many thought it impossible back then, but host Tallulah Bankhead reassured listeners that "all it takes is courage, vision...and a king-sized bundle of dough." And with that, Radio Archives invites you to listen to a courageous, visionary - and yes, expensive - program from Radio's Golden Age; five celebrity-packed shows that, thanks to expert transfers and complete audio restoration, make a battered-and-bruised contender sound like a genuine champ.
10 hours
Featured: previously released
On a September Thursday in 1939, the world's eyes were on Europe, where a long-feared war moved into its fourth week.
Americans' eyes were on Washington, where a joint session of Congress prepared to convene to hear an address from the President to clarify US neutrality policy. The day was clear, the temperatures mild.
And in Washington, DC, on the top floor of the Earle Building, located at the corner of Thirteenth and E Streets NW, the staff of radio station WJSV went about the business of just another broadcast day. 6:00 AM to 1:00 AM the following day -- a long succession of programs supplied down the line from New York, Chicago, or Hollywood via the Columbia Broadcasting System, supplemented by a handful of locally produced features.
Announcers Joe King, Hugh Conover, and John Charles Daly went thru their shifts as always -- reading news copy torn directly from a clattering United Press ticker, dropping in spot announcements for Zlotnick the Furrier and Sanitary Food Stores and Bulova Watches and other local clients, reading canned continuity designed to accompany musical selections from the World Transcription Library -- and standing by, always standing by, to hit that next scheduled station break. "This is Columbia's station for the nation's capital: WJSV, Washington."
And as the day rolled on, local personalities Arthur Godfrey and Jean Abbey and Walter Johnson and Harry McTighe and staff organist John Salb all turned in their usual performances. Chief engineer Clyde Hunt and sales manager Bill Murdock and program director Lloyd Dennis, and general manager A. D. Willard, and station vice president Harry Butcher all went about their regular daily routines.
Just another day. Just another broadcast day evaporating into the ether, like all the days that came before and all the days that followed.
Except for one difference.
This one was recorded.
In its entirety.
On thirty-eight 16" double-sided lacquer discs.
The recordings were made after discussions between Harry Butcher of WJSV and R. D. W. Connor of the National Archives, following up on a series of discussions between Connor and John Bradley of the Archives' Division of Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings -- discussions which, in turn, were sparked by conversations between Bradley and WJSV's Special Events Director Ann Gillis nearly a year earlier about the value of preserving radio broadcast recordings. On October 30, 1939, the discs were turned over to the National Archives, and remain in the custody of that institution to the present day.
But now, Radio Archives is proud to release a newly restored version of this historically essential set of broadcasts -- including EVERY recorded moment of EVERY hour broadcast that day. Each hour has been time corrected, and each hour of the broadcast day runs as a single continuous unit of time -- allowing the listener to finally experience September 21, 1939 just as a listener might have done at home. In addition, each of the various programs in this collection have been assigned a separate track, allowing listeners to skip directly to any of the individual programs contained in this set.
It's a once in a lifetime trip back to Radio's Golden Age. And Radio Archives is proud to present this definitive edition of this fascinating set of recordings..
The Lying Killer
by G. Wayman Jones
Out of the night comes a menacing winged figure! Blind district attorney Tony Quinn takes his battle for justice from the courtrooms to the streets, battling evil as The Black Bat!
Because he was the eyewitness to a murder, Paul Sinclair must see his family slain one by one — until the Nemesis of Crime comes to his aid! Tony Quinn pits himself against the mysterious chieftain of a hijacking combine of criminals!
When the Thrilling Group wanted to lead the third wave of Hero Pulps, it tapped its most reliable author to create new characters to headline magazines and stories. Norman A. Daniels was the writer responsible for The Black Bat in terms of concept and description, although the name was derived from both previous characters and to match up better with the title of the magazine, Black Book Detective, that would feature Quinn’s masked exploits. Writing as G. Wayman Jones, Daniels wrote the majority of the over sixty Black Bat stories published over fourteen years. According to some sources, Daniels’ job was to make The Black Bat every bit as good as The Shadow and he received a raise each time The Shadow’s creator did.
Even with Daniels being the creative force behind The Black Bat, he was not the sole author of Quinn’s adventures. At least three adventures even remain in which authors have not been identified. Some experts believe that Pulp author Whit Elsworth may have been the writer behind the first non-Daniels tale, published in 1940, while others maintain that it was author Prentice Winchell, known to most pulp fans by the pen name Stewart Sterling. Regardless of the identity of the author, most fans recall the Daniels written stories as the best Black Bat tales told, due in large part to his distinctive style and creative voice breathing a different sort of life into the masked hero.
Thrill to The Lying Killer, originally published in Black Book Detective #81 September 1948 and read with two fisted excitement by award winning voice actor Milton Bagby.
5 hours
by Fred Adams Jr
Read by Joe Formichella
Seas of Hell
At the height of the Spanish Inquisition, a large number of the faithful fled Spain and the corrupted church to find haven and new lives on a chain of small islands south of Cuba. There, under the guidance of their priest, Father Beppo, they established peaceful fishing villages that would sustain them in both body and soul. It was their small piece of an earthly heaven.
Then black sails appeared on the horizon, furled from the masts of an unholy ship called Votrelec and captained by Varleck, a vampire pirate. Ever on the hunt for fresh bodies to man his crew of the undead, the blood hungry monster is delighted when discovering the unprotected islands. He is overconfident in his dark powers. Soon he realizes the villagers, under the guidance of the old cleric, have no intention of succumbing to his monstrous will. And so the endless battle of good versus evil is joined. But who will emerge victorious and who will fall when the seas run red with blood? Read with stirring excitement by Joe Formichella.
6 hours
Radio Archives Pulp Classics
Total Pulp Experience. These exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading as an eBook and features every story, every editorial, and every column of the original pulp magazine.
Black Book Detective magazine was probably best known for its long-running series of adventure stories featuring the crimefighter known as The Black Bat. But The Black Bat didn't appear until six years into the magazine's run with the July 1939 issue. The magazine first hit the newsstands with the June 1933 issue. For the next six years, it tried different approaches. Issue one began with a featured novel and several backup short stories. The following year it started promoting "three new complete novels" in each magazine, but abandoned that approach after four issues. It then tried shorter novelets, combined with short stories. In 1935 and 1936, it tried the "weird menace" approach, featuring scantily-clad women in peril on the covers, then switched back to hard crime. In 1938 they tried featuring recurring characters in their main novel. Gentleman thief Raffles appeared in two consecutive issues. Jonathan Drake, Ace Manhunter appeared in three issues.
The editors struck gold with The Black Bat, who first appeared in the July 1939 issue. Supposedly blind District Attorney Tony Quinn was secretly the master crime fighter known as The Black Bat. The stories were credited to the house name of G. Wayman Jones, but in actuality were written mainly by Norman A. Daniels. The Black Bat stories ran exclusively in the bi-monthly Black Book Detective magazine until it finally printed its last issue in the Winter of 1953. Black Book Detective returns in these vintage pulp tales, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format.
Radio Archives Pulp Classics
Total Pulp Experience. These exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading as an eBook and features every story, every editorial, and every column of the original pulp magazine.
Best Detective. (Not to be confused with Best Detective Magazine.) This pulp showed great promise, but sadly only lasted a single issue. The publisher was listed as Exclusive Detective Stories, Inc., however it was actually part of Martin Goodman's Magazine Management empire. Other imprints of Magazine Management were Stadium Publications, Western Fiction Publishers and Manvis Publications. They specialized in Detective, Western and Sports magazines. This one-shot issue of Best Detective featured some top-notch pulp writers including Robert C. Dennis, Norman A. Daniels and Robert Turner. It featured fast action that kept readers turning those pages... all 132 of them! Best Detective returns in these vintage pulp tales, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format.
Radio Archives Pulp Classics
Total Pulp Experience. These exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading as an eBook and features every story, every editorial, and every column of the original pulp magazine.
The western was a staple of the newsstands. Every pulp reader had fond memories of playing cowboys as a child. Imagining bucking broncos, cold desert nights, and dirty hombres who scoffed at the law of the west. Westerns were one of the most popular genres with every magazine publisher having several western titles in its stable. And one of the longest running of these was Thrilling Western, from the same publisher who gave readers The Masked Rider, The Rio Kid, Range Rider Western, Rodeo Romances, Thrilling Ranch and West. All these from a single publisher, which gave proof to the claim that westerns were one of the most popular types of magazines. The first issue of Thrilling Western was dated February 1934. It lasted an amazing 174 issues of rip-roaring, gun-toting excitement, ending with the Fall 1953 issue. Thrilling Western returns in these vintage pulp tales, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format.
Radio Archives Pulp Classics
Total Pulp Experience. These exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading as an eBook and features every story, every editorial, and every column of the original pulp magazine.
Weird menace combined with detective tales... that was what Star Detective Magazine offered. And boy did it deliver! Beginning with the inaugural May 1935 issue, readers were treated to ghouls and gats, magic and mayhem, manhunting and machine-gunning, crime and coffins. These were smashing two-fisted action stories that were published on a quarterly basis until 1939. At that time, the name was changed to Uncanny Tales and the magazine continued for a little over a year... five issues to be exact. At that point, the genre seemed to lose steam, and the magazine folded, as did many of the other shudder pulps that saturated the newsstands. There were 16 issues published in all. Star Detective Magazine returns in these vintage pulp tales, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format.
Radio Archives Pulp Classics line of eBooks are of the highest quality and feature the great Pulp Fiction stories of the 1930s-1950s. All eBooks produced by Radio Archives are available in ePub and Mobi formats for the ultimate in compatibility. If you have a Kindle, the Mobi version is what you want. If you have an iPad/iPhone, Android, or Nook, then the ePub version is what you want.
Check out all the bargains in the Bargain Basement!
Comments From Our Customers!
Charles from Canada writes:
As a fan of Operator 5 I have been very impressed with Emile Tepperman's work on the series. I wonder if this particular story played a role in coming up with the idea for the upcoming Purple Wars storyline? The final chapters had a similar operating behind enemy lines flavor that he would use so masterfully in his eventual Purple Wars epic.
Robert Curtis writes:
Why Buy Less Than The Best? I just finished listening to another purchase from Radio Archives and thought about the radio shows I'd purchased in the past from other vendors that brought with them total disappointment in content, selection and most of all quality. That never happens with Radio Archives. Not only do they offer an extensive library of nearly complete series, but the quality is unparalleled among the multitude of available OTR sources. The programs are carefully restored to a clarity that is most likely better than the original broadcasts that were heard over the air what with the problems of bad tuners and weather anomalies like static. And all this for a reasonable price that is far better than most, coupled with excellent customer service. So, why would anyone ever consider buying anything less than the best -- which are certainly the wonderful shows from Radio Archives.
If you'd like to share a comment with us or if you have a question or a suggestion send an email to Service@RadioArchives.com. We'd love to hear from you!
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