May 9, 2021
Without Edith Meiser, Sherlock Holmes might never have found enduring success and popularity in the United States. It was Meiser, a writer and Broadway actress, who persuaded a network and a sponsor that Holmes could be a viable radio property and she singlehandedly wrote his radio adventures for years. Along with...
Master of Other People's Minds
May 6, 2021
Orson Welles was already a celebrated theatrical producer, director, and star by the late 1930s. He financed his productions in part from his earnings as a radio character actor. But he became a household name when he stepped into the spotlight - or, to be more precise into the shadows when he was cast as Lamont...
May 5, 2021
When Jack Benny came down with pneumonia in the spring of 1943 and he had to miss a month of shows, an unlikely guest host stepped in to fill his shoes. For four episodes, Orson Welles poked fun at himself and joined in the jokes with Benny's gang - Mary, Phil, Dennis, Don, and Rochester - and showed off his comedy...
A long time ago, on a radio far, far away...
May 4, 2021
May the Fourth Be With You!
It's one of the biggest Star Wars days in recent memory, with the success of The Mandalorian and the promise of even more stories from the galaxy on Disney Plus. When this date rolls around each year, I fire up my 4Ks (formerly Blu-rays, formerly DVDs, formerly multiple incarnations on VHS)...
May 2, 2021
In the first part of a birthday salute to the great Orson Welles, we'll hear him co-star with My Friend Irma leading lady Marie Wilson in a screwball comedy-murder mystery from The Campbell Playhouse. They star as husband and wife private eyes in "There's Always a Woman" (originally aired on CBS on December 17, 1939)....