Ellery Queen 44-01-20 The Scarecrow and the snowman

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The Adventures of Ellery Queen: Famous for his mystery books, Ellery invites listeners to solve his radio mysteries. The show was heard on various networks between 1939 and 1948 (except for the 1941-1942 season, when it was off the air). Most of its sponsors still exist, except for Kolynos toothpaste.

Even on radio Marion Shockley (1911-1981) was the first actress to portray Nikki Porter , Ellery's secretary and low-key love interest. In the "Gum-Chewing Millionaire" she's a blonde professional typist who gets asked to work on Ellery's manuscripts. She then applies for the job of personal secretary.

On radio, The Adventures of Ellery Queen was heard on all three networks from 1939 to 1948. During the 1970s, syndicated radio fillers, Ellery Queen's Minute Mysteries, began with an announcer saying, "This is Ellery Queen..." and would go on to describe a case in one minute. The radio station would then encourage callers to try to solve the mystery and win a sponsor's prize. Once they got a winner, the solution part of the spot would be played as confirmation.

Helene Hanff, best-known for her book 84 Charing Cross Road, was a scripter for the television series version of The Adventures of Ellery Queen (1950-52), which began on the DuMont Television Network but soon moved to ABC. Shortly after the series began, Lee Hart, who played Queen, died and was replaced in the lead role by Lee Bowman. The series returned to DuMont in 1954 with Hugh Marlowe in the title role. George Nader then played Queen in The Further Adventures of Ellery Queen (1958-59), but he was replaced with Lee Philips in the final episodes.

Peter Lawford starred in the television movie Ellery Queen: Don't Look Behind You (1971). The 1975 television movie Ellery Queen led into the 1975-76 television series starring Jim Hutton in the title role (with David Wayne as his widowed father). Each episode would end with Queen breaking the fourth wall to go over the facts of the case and invite the audience to solve the mystery on their own.

The cousins, under their collective pseudonym, were given the Grand Master Award for achievements in the field of the mystery story by the Mystery Writers of America in 1961.

Ellery Queen

Ozzie & Harriet 48-10-24 Halloween

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HARRIET NELSON (Harriet Hilliard). Born Peggy Lou Snyder in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S.A., 18 July 1914. Attended St. Agnes Academy. Married: Ozzie Nelson, 1935; children: David Ozzie and Eric Hilliard. Beauty queen hired as vocalist for Ozzie Nelson's Orchestra, 1932; recording artist for Brunswick, Vocalian, Victor and Blue Bird; as Harriet Hilliard, was a leading lady in film from 1936; various radio appearances on Red Skelton's radio program in the 1940s, co-starred with husband Ozzie in radio series The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, 1944; star of television version of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet 1952-66. Recipient: National Family Week Radio citation by the International Council on Chistian Family Life, 1947; Radio and TV Women of Southern California Genii Award, 1960; Los Angeles Times Woman of the Year; TV-Radio Mirror Reader's Poll Best Husband-Wife Team in TV, seven consecutive years. Died in Laguna Beach, California, 2 October 1994.

Superman - Clark Kent Reporter

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Superman on Radio
Superman on Radio The Adventures of Superman

"Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings at a single bound!"

"Look! Up in the sky!"
"It's a bird!"
"It's a plane!"
"It's Superman!"

"Yes, it's Superman - strange visitor from another planet who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Superman - defender of law and order. champion of equal rights, valiant, courageous fighter against the forces of hate and prejudice, who disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice and the American way."

The above signature was heard in many variations over the airwaves, and has become as much a part of the public's perception of Superman as his blue, red and yellow costume. What most people don't know, is that this widely recognised opening did not originate from the 4-color pages of Superman comics, but rather on the long-running adventures serial that was one of the hallmarks of the Golden Age of Radio.

We all know that Superman first appeared in 1938 within the pages of Action Comics #1, but much of the mythology associated with Superman and many of the supporting cast of characters originated in his radio adventures. Daily Planet characters such as Perry White and Jimmy Olsen, along with Inspector Bill Henderson, were originally created for the radio series. Superman first discovered his greatest weakness, Kryptonite, in his radio adventures long before it appeared within the pages of the Superman comics. He also regularly teamed up with Batman and Robin on radio before the trio joined forces in the comic books. The radio series' influence also extended to the big screen. The Fleischer Superman movie-cartoons were nominated for Academy Awards, and featured voices from the cast of the radio series, while the screenplays of Columbia's 1948 and 1950 Superman movie serials were adapted from the radio program rather than from the stories within the comic books.

Up, Up and Away!

Superman first flew onto the radio airwaves on Monday, 12 February, 1940 as a transcribed series for Hecker's H-O Oats. DC's press agent Allen Ducovny and former pulp fiction author Robert Joffe Maxwell developed the new series. The two were quick to realise that Superman's popularity could be boosted by the vast radio audiences.

In 1939, Maxwell and Ducovny prepared several sample audition disks to sell the idea to prospective sponsors, co-writing the first version of Superman's famous opening signature: "Faster than an airplane, more powerful than a locomotive, impervious to bullets. 'Up in the sky - look!' 'It's a giant bird.' 'It's a plane.' 'It's SUPERMAN!' And now, Superman - A being no larger than an ordinary man but possessed of powers and abilities never before realised on Earth: able to leap into the air an eigth of a mile at a single bound, hurtle a 20-story building with ease, race a high-powered bullet to its target, lift tremendous weights and rend solid steel in his bare hands as though it were paper. Superman - a strange visitor from a distant planet: champion of the oppressed, physical marvel extraordinary who has sworn to devote his existence on Earth to helping those in need." "We had a lot of fun writing that opening," Ducovny once said. "It was a typical radio action piece that fully utilized sound effects."

The new show was purchased by Hecker's H-O Oats, who tried to buy time on the networks but were turned down. Nevertheless, Hecker's bought airtime on ten stations and distributed the prerecorded series on 16-inch "electrical transcription" disks. Superman achieved a Crossley rating of 5.6 ten weeks after its debut, the highest rating of any thrice-weekly juvenile program on the air. Frank Chase produced the early episodes of Superman, George Ludlum scripted, and a repertory of the finest actors in New York radio was assembled. Ned Wever (CBS's Bulldog Drummond) and Agnes Moorehead (The Shadow's "lovely Margot Lane") portrayed Jor-L and Lara, Superman's Kryptonian parents in the premier broadcast, with Jay Josten (Mr. District Attorney) as Rozan. Other early episodes featured the versatile Santos Ortega (Nero Wolfe) and future movie star Frank Lovejoy (radio's Blue Beetle). The success or failure of the series would largely rest upon the actor chosen to portray the dual leads. Bob Maxwell was afraid he might have to hire an actor to play both of Superman's personalities, unless he could obtain the services of a particular who initially wanted nothing to do with Superman.

Calling all Cars - Steele 34-01-17

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Calling All Cars!" was one of radios first crime dramas. It is widely recognized as being the forerunner to Dragnet, although the emphasis was on solving thecrimes themselves and the methods employed by the Los Angeles Police Department to solve them, as opposed to thepeople who

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