Hi All, Merry Christmas! Hope you’re well. I’ve got family stuff going on today but will be back later this evening...
Thanks, too, to J. David Goldin's RadioGOLDINdex for these brief synopses.
7 PM EST Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. December 22, 1955. Part 4. CBS net. "The Nick Shurn Matter". Sustaining. A little girl who believes in Santa Claus, a big girl who believes in very little, and both of them facing death! Bob Bailey, Roy Rowan (announcer), Les Crutchfield (writer), Jack Johnstone (producer, director), Virginia Gregg, Jack Kruschen, Ken Christy, Amerigo Moreno (musical supervisor), Sam Edwards, Peggy Webber, Don Diamond, Ben Wright, Barney Phillips. 15:12. Audio condition: Excellent. Complete.
7:15 PM Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. December 23, 1955. Part 5. CBS net. "The Nick Shurn Matter". Sustaining. Conclusion of the story. The showdown...victory and then disaster. A visitor turns out to be be death! Bob Bailey, Roy Rowan (announcer), Les Crutchfield (writer), Jack Johnstone (producer, director), Virginia Gregg, Jack Kruschen, Ken Christy, Amerigo Moreno (musical supervisor), Sam Edwards, Peggy Webber, Don Diamond, Ben Wright, Barney Phillips. 15:13. Audio condition: Excellent. Complete.
7:30 PM Dragnet. December 22, 1953. Program #227. NBC net origination, AFRTS rebroadcast. "The Big Little Jesus". A Christmas story. A Los Angeles Mission reports the statue of Jesus has been stolen the day before Christmas. Well written, a good show. Title and date are tentative. Jack Webb, Ben Alexander. 25 minutes. Audio condition: Very good to excellent. Complete.
8 PM Gunsmoke. December 20, 1959. CBS net origination, AFRTS Christmas Show Library. "Beeker's Barn". A young couple take shelter in her estranged father's barn, just before she has a baby! A rebroadcast of the script first used on the program of December 23, 1956 (see cat. #54844). William Conrad, Parley Baer, Georgia Ellis, Howard McNear, Ralph Moody, Vic Perrin, Virginia Gregg, Les Crutchfield (writer), George Walsh (announcer). 24:56. Audio condition: Excellent. Complete.
8:30 PM The Lucky Strike Program Starring Jack Benny. December 24, 1944. Red net origination, AFRS rebroadcast. It's Christmas-time and Jack is having trouble trimming the tree. It seems a set of tree-lights keeps giving him shocks. AFRS program name: "The Jack Benny Program." See cat. #84520 for essentially the same program, dated December 22, 1948 (identified as a CBS show, this was possibly a not-for-broadcast test show, since Jack's first show on CBS wasn't until January 2, 1949). Dennis Day appears instead of Larry Stevens, and Andy Devine doesn't appear. in the 1948 show. Jack Benny, Andy Devine, Mary Livingstone, Don Wilson, Phil Harris, Eddie Anderson, Larry Stevens, Bea Benaderet (doubles), Verna Felton, Joseph Kearns, Wally Maher, Frank Nelson, Mahlon Merrick (conductor), George Balzer (writer), John Tackaberry (writer), Milt Josefsberg (writer), Sam Perrin (writer). 29:49. Audio condition: Excellent. Complete.
9 PM Our Miss Brooks. December 25, 1949. CBS net. Sponsored by: Colgate Tooth Paste, Lustre Creme Shampoo. A party at Miss Brooks', with a magic Christmas tree, or was it all a dream? The script was used previously on the program on December 19, 1948 and subsequently on December 24, 1950 (cat. #88671) and December 25, 1955 (see cat. #45767). There may have been other reptititions as well. Eve Arden, Jane Morgan, Al Lewis (writer, director), Richard Crenna, Gale Gordon, Gloria McMillan, Jeff Chandler, Virginia Gordon, Jeffrey Silver, Wilbur Hatch (music), Bob Lemond (announcer), Verne Smith (announcer), Larry Berns (producer). 29:50. Audio condition: Excellent. Complete.
9:30 PM Father Knows Best. December 24, 1953. NBC net. Sponsored by: Post 40% Bran Flakes, Sanka, Post Wheat Meal. It's Christmas eve and the family has unique ideas to celebrate it. Ted Donaldson, Jean Vander Pyl, Helen Strohm, Jeanette Nolan, Herb Butterfield, Ed James (creator), Paul West (writer), Robert Young, Rhoda Williams, Roz Rogers (writer), Bill Forman (announcer). 29:33. Audio condition: Very good. Complete.
10 PM Broadway Is My Beat. December 24, 1949. CBS net origination, AFRTS rebroadcast. A Christmas show. Nick Norman is just out of Sing Sing after fifteen years and is scheduled to play Santa Claus for the P. A. L. The day before the big day, Santa takes a powder, while a miserly landlord demands his rent! See cat. #79045 for a network version of this broadcast. Howard McNear, Elliott Lewis (producer, director), Gil Stratton, Shepard Menken, Peggy Webber, Larry Thor, Charles Calvert, Alexander Courage (composer), Wilbur Hatch (conductor), Morton Fine (writer), David Friedkin (writer), Hal March, Bert Holland, Estelle Dodge, Joe Walters (announcer). 30:27. Audio condition: Very good. Complete.
10:30 PM Richard Diamond, Private Detective. December 24, 1949. NBC net. "A Christmas Carol". Sustaining. The famous story by Charles Dickens, but done by Richard Diamond, the private detective and his friends. See cat. #24615 for the same script, broadcast two years later. Dick sings, "Mele Kalikimaka," after the story. Dick Powell, Edward King (announcer), Charles Dickens (author), Blake Edwards (writer). 29:36. Audio condition: Very good. Complete.