General Electric Theater was an American anthology series that was broadcast on CBS radio. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations Services.
Following a January 18, 1953 audition show, The Token, with Dana Andrews, the radio series, a summer replacement for The Bing Crosby Program, debuted on CBS on July 9, 1953 with Ronald Colman in Random Harvest. With such guest stars as Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, Van Johnson, Jane Wyman, William Holden, Alan Young, Dorothy McGuire, John Hodiak, Ann Blyth, James Mason, Joan Fontaine and Judy Garland the series continued until October 1, 1953. Jaime del Valle produced and directed. Ken Carpenter was the host and announcer. Wilbur Hatch supplied the music.
The Fabulous Dr. Tweedy came after the breakup of the Maxwell House Coffee Time when its stars Frank Morgan and Fanny Brice, went into separate sitcoms. In Tweedy, Morgan played an absent-minded professor who lived with his adopted son Sidney and a ex-hobo manservant named Welby. The broadcast began June 2, 1946 and ended on March 26, 1947 on NBC.
Frank Morgan (June 1, 1890 – September 18, 1949) was an American actor best remembered for his portrayal of the title character in the film The Wizard of Oz in which he played the carnival huckster "Professor Marvel", the gatekeeper of the Emerald City, the driver of the carriage drawn by "The Horse of a Different Color", the armed guard leading to the Wizard's hall, and the Wizard himself.
Dr. Christian was a long-running radio series with Jean Hersholt in the title role. It aired on CBS from 1937 to 1954.
After Hersholt portrayed a character based on Dr. Allan Roy Dafoe in the 20th Century Fox movie The Country Doctor (1936), he wanted to do the same role on radio but could not get the rights. He decided to create his own doctor character for radio, and since he was a Hans Christian Andersen enthusiast, he borrowed that name for his character of philosophical Dr. Paul Christian.
Dr. Christian practiced in the Midwest town of River's End with the assistance of Nurse Judy Price (Rosemary DeCamp, Lurene Tuttle, Kathleen Fitz, Helen Claire). With the opening theme music of "Rainbow on the River," Dr. Christian was introduced on CBS November 7, 1937 on The Vaseline Program, aka Dr. Christian's Office and later Dr. Christian, sponsored by Chesebrough Manufacturing Company's Vaseline [Petroleum Jelly, Hair Tonic, Lip Ice, etc.].
The small-town physician's good humor, innate common sense and scientific training helped drive off a series of villainous types who tried to interfere with the peaceful lifestyle of River's End, as well as dealing with personal problems among his many patients and the majority of those who lived in town. The program was also unique in that, by the mid-1940's, listeners contributed the majority of the scripts (some were "professionally polished" before they were used), and an annual script-writing competition introduced in 1942 was the highlight of every season- top prize: the $2,000 "Dr. Christian Award" {with several $500 "runner-up" prizes}; among the later winners were Rod Serling and Earl Hamner, Jr.. Produced by Dorothy McCann, the radio series became a popular success, continuing on CBS until January 6, 1954.
Hersholt was so strongly identified with the role that he received mail asking for medical advice. There were various spin-offs as Hersholt co-wrote a Dr, Christian novel and made a series of six family films as Christian for RKO from 1939 to 1941.
Meet Dr. Christian (1939)
Remedy for Riches (1940)
The Courageous Dr. Christian (1940)
Dr. Christian Meets the Women (1940)
Melody for Three (1941)
They Meet Again (1941)
In 1956, his Dr. Christian character made the transition to television in a 39 episode syndicated Ziv Television series, scripted by Gene Roddenberry, with Macdonald Carey as his nephew Dr. Mark Christian. Jean Hersholt appeared for the last time as Dr. Christian in the first episode, officially turning his medical practice over to his nephew. Shortly after filming the episode, Hersholt died on June 2, 1956.
Les Mitchell hosted, directed, and produced Your Movietown Radio Theater, a ZIV syndicated drama series from 1947-48. The shows are 30 minutes and feature a variety of content from drama to comedy with top Hollywood stars from the time period.
Mayor of the Town was a comedy-drama radio series that aired from 1942 to 1949 on CBS and NBC radio, and starred noted actor Lionel Barrymore as the mayor of the fictional town of Springdale. Agnes Moorehead was the voice of his housekeeper Marilly.
The program was sponsored by Rinso and later Noxzema. Barrymore is said to have written the program's theme song.
The Adventures of Frank Race was an American radio adventure serial syndicated by Bruce Eells Productions. The 30-minute program's first East Coast broadcast was 1949, and the show ran 43 episodes. Because it was syndicated, it aired on different stations on different days. For instance, in New York City, the first episode ran on WINS on April 9, 1949.[1] The series was broadcast on the West Coast from 1951-52.
Each episode opened with a one-minute organ theme and then the following from announcer Art Gilmore:
Many things were changed during the war; the face of the earth was altered and the people of the Earth changed. Before the war, Frank Race was an attorney, but he traded his law books for the cloak-and-dagger of the OSS. When it was over, his former life was over, too... adventure had become his business!
Frank Race mainly investigated international insurance scams around the globe in various exotic locations, making him something of a cross between James Bond and Johnny Dollar. After Tom Collins played the title role for the first 22 episodes, Paul Dubov took over the lead role. Tony Barnett portrayed Race's sidekick, Mark Donovan. Other actors included Jack Kruschen, Wilms Herbert, Lillian Buyeff and Harry Lang.
The series was written and directed by Joel Murcott and Buckley Angel. Ivan Ditmars provided the background organ music.
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References: Old Time Radio Researchers Group, Wikipedia, Frank Passage & Others OTR Logs, Archive.org, Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio by John Dunning, Australian Old Time Radio Group
