"The Big Broadcast" Live Sunday 3/20 7-11pm est

WAMU ^ | 3/20/11 | Ed Walker

[Vision]

Friends, it's Sunday night again. Warm up the tubes for another 4 hours of classic radio programs.

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[Vision]

"The Big Broadcast is a Sunday night tradition for families throughout the WAMU listening area. Each week, Big Broadcast host Ed Walker offers listeners priceless recordings of popular radio programs from the '30s, '40s and '50s. Priceless, especially, for a man whose first sentence as a child was, 'Turn the radio on.' "

[Vision]

Happy Sunday Night...Classic Radio Time...

[Vision]

• 07:00 p.m. Johnny Dollar
  06/28/59 #645 The Meh-Ling Buddah Matter (CBS)(17:58)
• 07:30 p.m. Dragnet
  07/19/55 #309 Big Bobo (NBC)(25:32)
• 08:00 p.m. Gunsmoke
  07/19/52 #013 Doc Holiday (Sus.)(CBS)(29:52)
• 08:30 p.m. Phil Harris/Alice Faye
  05/01/49 #31 Spring House Cleanning (Rexall)(NBC)(29:30)
• 09:00 p.m. Father Knows Best
  03/04/54 #193 Spring Cleanning (Sus.)(NBC)(29:04)
• 09:30 p.m. Great Gildersleeve
  03/26/47 #242 1st Day of Spring (Kraft)(NBC)(26:59)
• 10:00 p.m. Lux Radio Theater
  10/03/49 It Happens Every Spring (Lux)(CBS)(59:37)

[Invincibly Ignorant]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[steelyourfaith]

Thanx again, Vision !

March 20, 2011 (WARNING: Contains Spoilers)

• 7:00 p.m. Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar
  6/28/59 "The Mei Ling Buddha Matter" Matter #645 Bob Bailey, Virginia Gregg (Mary Haskell), Paul Dubov (Marty Bruce), Will Wright (Howard Bancroft), Forrest Lewis (Le Chat Gris) ; Writer/Producer/Director - Jack Johnstone ; Expense Account Total = $300.00 ; Marty Bruce at World Wide Mutual Insurance Company, Hartford, calls Johnny for help. The Mei Ling Buddha is a 3 inch jade statue, which is the most valuable piece of jade in the world. It is insured for $40,000. It is supposed to be locked up in the estate of the late Daryl Harcourt of Boston and to be inherited by his nephew Charles Curtis upon the latter's graduation from Harvard. However, it has recently been spotted in Paris in a dingy antique shop by an insurance company employee, Ray Connor. However, there has been no reported theft. Johnny calls his French friend "Le Chat Gris", who confirms that the Mei Ling Buddha has been at the shop of Monsieur du Bissac for a couple of weeks. When Johnny goes to Boston to investigate he verifies that the jade is missing. He meets Harcourt's housekeeper, Mrs. Haskell. The dust in the library room where the Buddha had been stored suggests that no one has been in the room for two years. How did someone get into that locked room to steal the Buddha, without leaving marks in the dust? But, how does dust accumulate in a hermetically sealed library? Dollar consults with Harcourt's lawyer Howard Bancroft. It gives Johnny an idea. He figures it was Fuller's earth that was the dust in the Harcourt Library. Fuller's earth is an old method of cleaning tapestries. He gets Mrs. Haskell to admit that she stole the Buddha and sold it for $21,000. (CBS)(17:58)

• 7:30 p.m. Dragnet
  7/19/55 "The Big Bobo" Program #309 Jack Webb (Joe Friday), Ben Alexander (Frank Smith) ; Writer - John Robinson ; NBC ; Script adapted for on television episode first airing on 4/5/56. ; Friday and Smith, working out of internal affairs, are none too pleased when fellow police officer James Sorvell is falsely accused of extortion. While Sorvell is placed on suspension, the two detectives search high and low for the crook who bears a striking resemblance to the accused officer, and who is posing as Sorvell to shake down unsuspecting citizens. (25:32)

• 8:00 p.m. Gunsmoke
  7/19/52 "Doc Holiday" Program #13 William Conrad (Matt Dillon), Parley Baer (Chester Proudfoot), Howard McNear (Doc), Harry Bartell (Doc Holliday), Lee Millar, Nestor Paiva, Ralph Moody, Tom Tully (Moncreif) ; Writer - Herb Purdom ; CBS ; When Thorne Finley is made to back down his father, Big Jack Finley, demands that Matt run Doc Holliday out of Dodge. Doc Holliday has come to Dodge to kill Big Jack Finley. But Big Jack's son, Thorne Finley, is the real problem. (29:52)

• 8:30 p.m. Phil Harris/Alice Faye
  5/1/49 "Spring House Cleanning" Episode #31 Phil Harris & Alice Faye, Elliot Lewis (Frankie Remley), Walter Tetley (Julius Abbrusio), Robert North (Willie Faye), Jeanine Roos (Little Alice), Anne Whitfield (Phyllis), Gale Gordon ; Producer/Director - Paul Phillips ; Writers - Ray Singer & Dick Chevillat ; Music - Walter Scharf and His Music ; Announcer - Bill Forman ; Sponsor - Rexall ; NBC ; Phil sings, "Everybody Dances" ("Silas Lee From Tennessee"). Phil and Remley begin a Spring cleanup project and wind up with Alice's living room looking like a minstrel show!(29:30)

• 9:00 p.m. Father Knows Best
  3/4/54 "Spring Cleanning" Episode #193 (Sus.)(NBC)(29:04) Robert Young (Jim Anderson), Ted Donaldson (Bud Anderson), Rhoda Williams (Betty Anderson), Dorothy Lovett/Jean Vander Pyl (Margaret), Helen Strom/Norma Jean Nilsson (Kathleen Louise "Kathy"); Writers - Paul West & Roswell Rogers ; Creator - Ed James ; Announcer - Bill Forman ; Sponsor - Instant Postum, the good-tasting drink that is entirely caffeine free, & Post 40% Bran Flakes ; Transcribed in Hollywood ;

• 9:30 p.m. Great Gildersleeve
  3/26/47 #242 "First Day of Spring" (Kraft)(NBC)(26:59) (part 1 only) Program #248 Hal Peary (Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve), Louise Erickson (Marjorie Forrester), Lillian Randolph (Birdie Lee Coggins), Walter Tetley (Leroy Forrester), Earle Ross (Judge Horace Hooker), Richard Legrand (Peavey the druggist), Janet Waldo (Joanne Piper) ; Writers - John Whedon & Sam Moore ; Music - Jack Meakin ; Announcer/Pitchman - John Laing ; Sponsor - Kraft Foods Company, makers of Kraft American Cheese, Velveeta, Kraft Mustards ; NBC ; Gildersleeve is about to end Leroy's piano lessons, but then meets Joanne Piper, the new music teacher. Gildy gets turned down for a date and then he starts acting strangely .

• 10:00 p.m. Lux Radio Theater
  10/3/49 "It Happens Every Spring" Ray Milland (Prof. Vernon K. Simpson / King Kelly), Colleen Townsend, Ted de Corsia (Manager Jimmy Dolan), Wally Maher, Ed Begley (Edgar Stone), William Johnstone, Eleanor Audley, Ken Peters, Clarke Gordon, George Neise, Cy Kendall, Robert Griffin, Herb Ellis, Gil Stratton, Edward Marr, Howard McNear ; Host - William Keighley (speaking from New York City) ; Announcer - John Milton Kennedy ; Intermission Guest - Jean Ruth : Commercial Spokeswoman "Libby Collins" - Dorothy Lovett :,Author/Screenwriter - Valentine Davies ; Author - Shirley Smith ; Radio Adaptation - Sanford Barnett ; Director - Fred MacKaye ; Musical Director - Louis Silvers ; Sound Effects - Charlie Forsyth ; Sponsor - Lever Brothers, makers of Lux ; CBS ; College professor Vernon K. Simpson is working on a long term experiment when a baseball comes through the laboratory window destroying his chemistry beakers. The resultant fluid causes the baseball to be repelled by wood. Realizing the possibilities, Simpson takes a leave of absence to go to St. Louis to pitch in the big leagues where he becomes a star and propels his team to the World Series. (59:37)

[don-o]

That Phil Harris looks a little politically incorrect, eh?

Minstrel show?? Hmmmm.

[Vision]

Evening. Spring theme tonight.

[don-o]

I see that the Gunsmoke is episode 13. He’s skipped over a few. Still, I like the chronological order to see how the show develops.

[steelyourfaith]

Some baseball too this week, even more next week.

[steelyourfaith]

I know. Amerika is so bad. Further proof that Rev. Wright is right again, “Amerika is the land of the greed and the home of the slave.” /s

[don-o]

Just making an observation. I am old enough to recall amateur minstrel shows put on by local civic clubs. This would have been late 50’s - early 60’s.

It was actually some of the more prominent white men of the town who donned blackface and outrageous costumes and acted the fool. I was just a wee lad, so I don’t know if there was any unease over it. There was still legal segregation of the races.

I’m surprised WAMU is running it, is my point.

[steelyourfaith]

Indeed.

Minstrel shows were once common fare, and I don't consider them to have been intentionally demeaning in the slightest.

Those in the race industry, though are easily offended.

I had warm and loving appreciation for the old "Amos 'n' Andy" TV shows that the NAACP saw fit to have banned from the air decades ago. Many of the episodes are available for purchase.

Shows that stereotype humor at caucasian expense are far more numerous, but no one would ever seriously agitate for them to be banned for fear of looking the fool.

[Vision]

Just a thought, you seem extremely sensitive about it. WAMU is not doing anything here.

[steelyourfaith]

“Le Chat Gris” reminds me of a Peter Lorre character.

[Vision]

I’m not familiar with that.

[WXRGina]

Hello, All! I’m a little late and just walked in on the blackface discussion.

It was a beautiful “super moon” last night.

[Vision]

Hey Gina, I’m hoping the late night lineup is strong even with this spring theme.

[WXRGina]

Yes, me, too! We’ll be listening either way. :-)

[Vision]

Anything new?

[WXRGina]

Yes. My grandmother (82) is about to die. I’m sick in my heart, and my family is, too. My granddad is 84 and by her side with my Mom and her two brothers. Mamaw is at home, has in-home care and hospice, bad breathing problems, body’s shutting down.

I don’t mean to be a downer. When you asked if anything is new, that came to mind, although it’s not “new,” because she’s been kinda bad off for the better part of year, but she is likely to die within the next few days, and that’s new for us.

So, I’m here struggling to write Tuesday’s radio blog, and escaping a little into the Big Broadcast, and thinking I may have to fly to Texas soon (even though I swore off flying, especially because of the naked scanners and groping TSA.)

The Lord is going to make it all work out like it should.