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Radio Archives Newsletter
 
March 15, 2024
 
1 new Phantom Detective Audiobook, 2 new eBooks, and 4 featured products from Radio Archives this week!
All new and featured products are discounted the first week.
 
Old Time Radio
Featured: previously released
Volume 4


"They tell me at the drugstore that you studied with Swift & Company...did your post-graduate work with Armour’s, and you interned at the packing house..."
 
It’s a scene all-too-familiar to animation fans: a lush cartoon forest that does little to camouflage a figure, shotgun in hand, stealthily making his way through the dense brush as dawn begins to break. Suddenly aware that he’s being watched, the hunter turns to the camera, places a finger to his lips, and declares with smug satisfaction:
 
"Be vew-wy quiet…I’m hunting wabbits."
 
Cartoon devotees will instantly recognize this figure as Elmer J. Fudd, mansion-and-yacht owner and ineffectual adversary to animation legend Bugs Bunny. Serious cartoon devotees know that for nearly twenty years, Fudd’s trademark speech impediment was supplied by one of the greatest (if unsung) character actors in show business: Arthur Q. Bryan. His credits encompass the world of cartoons, movies, television, records, etc...but, of the many pies in which he had a finger, its radio that perhaps showcased his talents best.
 
Born May 8, 1899 in Brooklyn, New York, Arthur Q. Bryan had the fortuitous timing to come of age at the same time as the medium of radio. His ambition was to become a tenor singer, but instead he found ready employment as an announcer, beginning at WEAF in 1923 (where he auditioned for the soon-to-be-legendary Milton Cross). As he moved around from station to station, his announcing talents were in much demand, though he refused to give up his dream of singing, and he gradually obtained work in and around New York for his burgeoning comedic qualities as well, working alongside luminaries like Jack "Vas You Dere, Sharlie?" Pearl. A California vacation in 1938 convinced Bryan to put down permanent stakes in the Golden State and he soon secured work at KFWB, where he became one of the regulars on a show called "The Grouch Club," written by legendary radio scribe Nat Hiken. Future "Today Show" host Jack Lescoulie was the host and co-creator, and the Warner Brothers Studios took such a liking to the program that they produced a series of six one-reel comedies in conjunction with the series, allowing Bryan to gain his first experience in front of the camera.
 
KFWB shared space with the Leon Schlesinger animation studio and Schlesinger’s directors often hired much of the talent (in particular Lescoulie, who did a fabulous Jack Benny imitation) for their Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. Director Tex Avery loved Bryan’s "little man" characterization on "Grouch Club" so much that he adopted it - and Bryan’s voice - for the character of Egghead in shorts like "Dangerous Dan McFoo" (1939) and "The Hardship of Miles Standish" (1940). (Egghead, who was originally patterned on the voice and mannerisms of radio comedian Joe Penner, proved to be just as obnoxious as his namesake and was redesigned with Arthur’s persona in mind.) Over the next few years, Egghead was retooled into Elmer Fudd, who achieved cartoon immortality opposite Bugs Bunny in Avery’s "A Wild Hare" (1940).
 
Bryan soon made the jump from local to network radio, appearing on programs like "The Texaco Star Theater," "The Burns and Allen Show," "Blondie." and "Band Wagon" (with Dick Powell). It was on "Band Wagon" that he introduced a Fudd-like character named Waymond W. Wadcliffe, who soon began to make appearances on other programs as well. Arthur worked alongside a plethora of old-time radio’s most glittering talents: Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Jimmy Durante, Red Skelton, Milton Berle, Al Pearce, and Charlotte Greenwood, just to name a few. He branched out into roles on such varied series as "Red Ryder," "The Lux Radio Theater," "Favorite Story," and "Richard Diamond, Private Detective," where he replaced Ed Begley as Diamond’s friendly cop-nemesis Lt. Walt Levinson. He even achieved what every second banana aspires to: a starring role as the title character on "Major Hoople," a 1942-43 radio sitcom based on the comic strip "Our Boarding House" -- which, interesting enough, co-starred his fellow cartoon-voice actor, Mel Blanc, as the ever-complaining Tiffany Twiggs.
 
But for scores of old-time radio fans, Arthur Q, Bryan will always be best remembered as Dr. George Gamble on "Fibber McGee & Molly." First introduced on an April 6, 1943 broadcast, the Gamble character was brought onto the show to provide Fibber with a suitable nemesis in the mold of Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve, who had long since been spun-off onto his own sitcom, and Mayor LaTrivia, who disappeared from the program after actor Gale Gordon entered the Coast Guard. "McGee" creator Don Quinn cast Bryan in the part of Gamble as a suggestion from his new writing partner Phil Leslie, who had scripted Bryan’s "Major Hoople" series. Doc Gamble was far less bombastic than Gildy or LaTriv, making him the perfect foil for Fibber, but his joviality and quick-wittedness allowed him to get the better of McGee on many occasions. Despite their constant barrage of insults - Fibber referred to the medico as "bone-bender" and "Fatso" while Doc countered with "Marblehead" and "Wobblejaw" - the two men really were the best of friends. (As Gamble himself once observed on a January 6, 1948 broadcast, "Yes, ours is a very warm friendship...on a hot day you can smell it for 50 miles...") At the same time Bryan was emoting as Gamble, he did double duty on "The Great Gildersleeve" as well, voicing fellow "Jolly Boy" Floyd Munson, an acerbic barber whose advice to the Great Man was often best unheeded. (Don Quinn later cast Arthur as Professor Warren on his post-Fibber & Molly sitcom, "The Halls of Ivy.")
 
Bryan continued to work on "Gildersleeve" and "Fibber" well into the 1950s; he was with Jim and Marian Jordan to the very end when their program was canceled on March 23, 1956. By that time, he began to branch out into television, often appearing on shows like "I Love Lucy," "Our Miss Brooks," and "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet," in addition to theatre work and, yes, continuing to pronounce L’s and R’s as W’s as Elmer Fudd. Bryan never really received the recognition that Mel Blanc did in the field of cartoon voices — though, admittedly, the fact that Mel Blanc signed an exclusive contract with Warner Brothers might have had a lot to do with that. But it’s a testament to Bryan’s talents that, with his passing on November 30, 1959, not even Blanc could duplicate Bryan’s Fudd...nor could the other actors hired to do so. Old-time radio fans, of course, know and revere Arthur Q. Bryan’s work; all they have to hear is Doc Gamble’s familiar admonishment "Take off your shirt, McGee!" and they know hilarity is not far behind.
 
You’ll have the chance to find this out for yourself in this fourth volume of a new series of collections transferred from the long-lost original NBC Reference Recordings of the series. Radio Archives invites you to listen to forty more full-length programs that, for the most part, have not been heard since they originally aired over fifty years ago. An additional bonus is their sparkling audio quality; thanks to the innovations of the digital age, these classic shows can now be heard at a level of clear and crisp high fidelity that far exceeds what was available to the average listener in 1954. The result is shows that sound - and are - just as bright, fresh, and entertaining as they were when first heard, a real tribute to the time, talent, and devotion to quality that went into their production.
 
10 hours - MP3 regular price $19.99
Discounted for the next week - $9.99
 
 
Featured: previously released
Volume 79
 
 
Radio Preservation has always been at the core of Radio Archives. This exciting series is derived from our massive collection of thirty thousand radio shows from 16" transcription discs.
 
This 20 hour collection includes shows from the classic days of Radio. You'll find rare and obscure as well as mainstream radio shows from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s in the Radio Archives Treasures sets.
 
These shows have all been restored with state-of-the-art CEDAR technology - the audio processing system used by major recording companies to restore older recordings. We expect the shows to be the best sounding copies available anywhere. Radio Archives Treasures are restored to sparkling digital quality.
 
Volume 79 includes shows from these series.
The Fred Allen Show,Forecast,The Man in The Iron Mask,You Bet Your Life,Hallmark Playhouse,Biography in Sound,The Henry Morgan Show,Command Performance,Unit 99,Philco Radio Time,Hear It Now,The Harold Peary Show,The Palmolive Beauty Box Theatre,In the Crimelight,The Sons of the Pioneers Show, and Greek War Relief Fund.
 
20 hours - MP3 regular price $39.99
Discounted for the next week - $19.99
 
 
 
Audiobooks
The Case of the Murdered Mendicant
by Robert Wallace
Read by Milton Bagby
 
 
Forged in war, The Phantom Detective wages a one-man battle on crime! Solving impossible mysteries and delivering his own justice, he is the underworld’s masked nightmare!
 
When innocent victims are struck down in a fiendish campaign for millions in loot, the Phantom, man of a thousand faces, takes the trail and battles against perilous criminal odds! Follow Richard Curtis Van Loan as he goes into action when mysterious terror stalks!
 
Oftentimes readers of Pulp magazines in their Golden Age of publication read the wild, over the top stories for one reason - escape. Looking to get out of the humdrum of the Great Depression or War era America, fans of all ages marveled to the adventures of larger than life heroes and insane villains. The Phantom Detective met this qualification to be a Pulp Hero, but also stood out in his own unique way as a relatable character to fans of all ages. Though born into wealth, Richard Curtis Van Loan became a self-made man when he decided to become The Phantom Detective. Undertaking to train himself in every aspect of crimefighting, including disguises and escape techniques, Van Loan crafted his own destiny. He also did this without a super scientist father, a likely mystical training in a far-off land, or any other such devices. Granted, he had wealth that many of his readers did not have at his disposal, but still, Van Loan was in many ways a regular joe who saw a need and came up with a very unique way of helping fill it. Yes, he is introduced in the earliest stories as a world renowned detective, but later tales fill out how he came to be such by his own dedication and sheer will, why law enforcement around the world respects a masked man so much, something that many of his counterparts before, during, and after his series did not enjoy.
 
The Case of the Murdered Mendicant was originally published in the June 1946 issue of The Phantom Detective Magazine and is read with pulse pounding intensity by award winning voice actor Milton Bagby.
 
5 hours - MP3 regular price $9.99
Featured: previously released
Rule of the Monster Men
by Norvell W. Page writing as Grant Stockbridge
Read by Nick Santa Maria
 
 
Transformed by an Underworld sadist into a city of man-made, outlaw cripples, New York faces the gravest criminal threat of all time. Can the Spider, already robbed of his most loyal assistant, successfully meet this new menace?
 
By 1939, Richard Wentworth had been operating as the Spider for nearly six harrowing years. He had been through everything a good pulp hero could expect to face. Malevolent master villains. Sinister Asian world conquerors. Mad scientists more diabolical than anything conceived before that point. And of course since the Spider was a wanted criminal, endless police officials, uniformed cops, homicide detectives and other officers of the law had been pursuing him with single-minded fervor.
 
A mere mortal would have succumbed back in 1933. Not the indomitable Richard Wentworth. He seemed to thrive on conditions of continuous peril. Yes, he did put down his mask and guns a time or two, vowing never to become the dreaded Spider again. But the call to battle always made his blood sing, and inevitably the Master of Men returned to battle the underworld in another blazing exploit.
 
Set against the backdrop of the 1939 New York World’s Fair, the Spider tackles the Wreck, a human fiend straight out of Terror Tales, who surgically transforms ordinary New Yorkers into subhuman beasts. That’s just the start of it!
 
We don’t want to give away the twists and turns that make up the deadly duel between the Master of Men and the malevolent Wreck in Rule of the Monster Men, except to warn don’t expect everybody to come out of this one unscathed.....
 
Nick Santa Maria once again brings the Spider to life in this incredible audiobook taken from the June, 1939 issue of The Spider magazine.
 
5 hours - MP3 regular price $9.99
Discounted for the next week - $4.99
 
 
Audiobooks
New eBook
 
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 Phantom Detective! The name alone conjures up action and adventure. From the same publisher that brought you The Black Bat, Captain Danger, The Crimson Mask and The Green Ghost came one of pulpdom's best-known detectives. Scourge of the underworld, The Phantom, as he was called, aided the Law with his sweetheart Muriel Havens. His first adventure was published in February 1933 and they continued for 170 thrilling exploits until the Summer 1953 issue. The Phantom Detective returns in these vintage pulp tales, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format.
 
 
Regular price $3.99
 
 
New eBook
 
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.
 
Thrills, mystery and action! Popular Detective magazine really lived up to its name. It was one of the longest running detective pulps and contained some of the best of detective fiction around. November 1934 saw the inaugural issue, coming from Better Publications, the publisher of all those Thrilling pulps... Thrilling Detective, Thrilling Mystery, Thrilling Western, Thrilling Adventures, Thrilling Wonder Stories and many others without the word "Thrilling" in the title, as well. The Black Bat, Captain Future, The Green Ghost, the Phantom Detective... all these were from Better Publications. Popular Detective was offered monthly until 1938, then bi-monthly. And within those 128 pages, could be found authors like C.K.M. Scanlon, Frederick C. Painton, L. Ron Hubbard, Johnston McCulley, Leslie Charteris, and many others of top-notch talent. The magazine finally folder in the fall of 1953, after an amazing 133 issues of quality detective fiction. Popular Detective returns in these vintage pulp tales, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format.
 
Regular price $3.99
 
 
Featured eBook
 
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. As a special bonus, Will Murray has written an introduction especially for this series of eBooks.
 
Another epic exploit of America’s best-loved pulp-fiction character of the 1930s and 1940s: The Spider — Master of Men! Richard Wentworth — the dread Spider, nemesis of the Underworld, lone wolf anti-crime crusader who always fights in that grim no-man’s land between Law and lawless — returns in vintage pulp tales of the Spider, 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. New Kindle's use ePub. If you have an iPad/iPhone, Android, or Nook, then the ePub version is what you want.
 

 Bargain Basement

 
The Bargain Basement is where you find all the discounted Audio CDs including everything featured in this newsletter.
 

Comments From Our Customers!
 
Marc Brayton writes:
Unbelievable restoration as always. I can always count on the restoration quality provided by Radio Archives. I was playing this at work with my co-workers listening in and they were very impressed.I highly recommend Radio Archives as thee #1 source of Old Time Radio.
 
Ivan G Shreve Jr writes:
Radio Archives Treasures, Volume 37. So many delights await the old-time radio fan who purchases this set: The Doctor Fights, Frank Morgan as The Fabulous Dr. Tweedy, Ed Wynn as The Fire Chief, The First Nighter Program, and The Goldbergs. And this is just the tip of the radio iceberg!
 
If you'd like to share a comment with us or if you have a question or a suggestion send an email to [email protected]. We'd love to hear from you!
 

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Audio CD ordering information
We offer Audio CDs of all of our Old Time Radio sets and Pulp Audiobooks. To order click here for the Audio CD Order Form or by voicemail at 800-886-0551. All discounted Audio CDs are in the Bargain Basement.
 

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The Radio Archives Newsletter is emailed every Friday morning. The products in this newsletter are just a small fraction of what you'll find waiting for you at RadioArchives.com. Whether it's the sparkling audio fidelity of our classic radio collections, or the excitement of our pulp audiobooks and pulp eBooks, you'll find 2,300 intriguing products at RadioArchives.com.
 
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