Visitor Comments

Your memories and comments about OTR horror & hosts

Public comments welcome.

 

Hello-
I recently did a little digging from your website and discovered over 150 episodes of the "Strange Adventure" radio show located on the Old Time Radio Downloads website. Here is the link- https://www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com/drama/strange-adventure?display=200
Thank you! I must say, I'm an avid fan of your website! I'm only 16 but I'm a huge listener to old radio shows (I have 25 shows downloaded on discs) and I love your site!
-Shawn Mulligan

Thanks Shawn,

I'll add the link to the page so others can enjoy it too. I'm also glad to hear you're enjoying the site (it was quite an investment in time and research). I wasn't much older than you when I first discovered old radio shows while at college. I couldn't believe so many cool programs were unknown and/or forgotten by mainstream culture. Virtually none of my fellow teenagers knew anything about them, except for some passing reference to "The Shadow". I ended up creating an entire college radio series devoted to old radio horror programs to help get out the word. That series, Mystery Playhouse, ran for 235 episodes and was a lot of fun to produce. But it died when my good friend and host to the program (Rick Kabrich) passed away in 1993. I would like to rebroadcast it eventually as a podcast as part of a bigger plan to promote OTR (if I can I manage the time and resources). If I do, I'll be sure to post about it here. -Kurt

Hi,

I didn't see any mention of this show or its creator, since it's probably not in the public domain. I asked at the OTRR list, but no responses yet. I've blanked on the name of the guy who made these at home, by himself, back in the 1960s, doing all the voices and scripts, and adding in sound effects records from the library...? There were some commercial CDs, maybe two during the past decade, and some tentative connection to WFMU, which broadcasts out-there material. Ring any bells for you? I was thinking, for no real reason since my OTRR query, that Justin might be guy's first name?

thanks. chris beneke

I'm sorry Chris, I'm unfamiliar with that one but would love to hear more about it. The closest match I know of would be Black Mass from KPFA and Macabre from Armed Forces Radio. One of the great things about radio drama is the quality that can be established with good acting and a good script, despite the lack of a good budget.

bingo!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judson_Fountain
I haven't begun looking for the actual recordings online.

Hi there,

You seem to know everything, or close to everything about OTR. I was wondering if you can help me identify "Mary Bennett, the Lipton Tea Lady" on Inner Sanctum. The host(s) are easy and technically she was a "spokeswoman". I have NEVER been able to ascertain whether or not this was a true name or the name used by some other actress.

Thank you in advance, Evan T. (Atlanta)

Thanks you for your confidence, Evan, but only a small portion of OTR was recorded, and most of all I know is based on that small fraction, since I wasn't born yet when it aired "live". So I can assure you, there's plenty I don't know! I've read any OTR books I ccould get my hands on, but there haven't been that many published (which is one of the reasons I published mine.) I don't recall that actress being named in any of those books, but if it was, it would probably have been in the Inner Sanctum Mysteries book by Martin Grams. You may be able to find it at your local library, or have it loaned to them via inner-library loan, or by it from Amazon.

I'm sorry I couldn't be more help, but if you find our her name, let me know so I can include it. Thanks!

Good afternoon

First let me say how much I love your site, being a fan of old radio myself it is an absolute joy reading your site.

The reason I am writing today is to see if you could help me find a show that I head many years ago...sad to say I do not know the title or even what show it was on but the plot is a boxing manager kills his fighter by drugging him during a fight...and the boxers mother tells the manager she knows and he will be haunted the rest of his life..and no matter where he goes from then on he is haunted by the fighter (by hearing a song he would sing)..
At the end it turns out the mother was doing this to drive him mad.

If this sounds familiar....or you know what show I am talking about I would be so appreciative...I have been trying to find this for a long time.

Thank you so much and again thank you for your amazing site...and for helping to keep old time radio alive.

--Brian Young

Hey Brian,

I'm glad you enjoy the site. As to your question, I have not heard that show, but it sounds like something from Inner Sanctum Mysteries. Perhaps if you checked their titles you might see something your recognize. Does anyone else recognize it? If so, email Brian.

Hi,

I well recall the radio series "The Uninvited". At boarding school our dorm master used to tape the serials during the day and play an episode from a different series each night straight after lights out.
That was 1963 and "The Uninvited" was one of the favourites. So, the series was either made in 1963 or before.

I wish I could get some of those episodes now!

Cheers, Graeme

Thanks Graeme,

Those sound like some great memories. People underestimate the value of their own imaginations. As kids (or adults) radio can create much more vivid images than the best Hollywood film directors!

Good day,

Recently I stumbled across your webpage "radiohorrorhosts.com." Quite a nice site. Thanks for all the great information. It's helped expand my growing interest in Horror/SciFi OTR. (Something which until very recently, I didn't know existed in such quantities - and quality!)

I found your 'Visitor's list of top ten Radio Horror Shows' and promptly went out and found the ones I didn't already have. I have managed to find all but one. Which is why I am writing you today. I thought perhaps you may have a line on where to download this one missing show.

The show is: Theater 10:30 - "The Wendygo"

I've had no luck whatsoever finding any THEATRE 10:30 stuff, thus I felt compelled to reach out for help. Any help would be most appreciated,

Warmest regards, Mike

Hey Mike,
I'm sorry to say I haven't heard that series yet, so I don't have any good idea's how to locate it right now. I'll keep it in mind though in case I think of anything or someone writes in with the info. Thanks for your kind words on the site. Let me know if you find those other shows and what your favorite ten are. It's great to hear others comments.

Hi,
Found the site and of course it brought back my boyhood. (Re Inner Sanctum most especially.) I got to meet and briefly know Raymond Edward Johnson, and believe I may have (stored either in Tennessee or Calif.) perhaps the only remaining reel to reel tape of dramatic reading, which he personally gave me all those years ago.

Sad the way our old time radio group found him. I belonged to SAVR, Save American Vintage Radio, in Ct. We found him alone and quite ill, living alone on the second floor of a resident hotel in NH, living in squalor. The group got him out of there and into VA hosp. for treatment. Many months later he was a different man altogether. We also lobbied Hyman Brown to allow Raymond back as the voice of the new program, alas Brown was, still after all those years, unforgiving of Raymond who had decided to try movies where he got an audition. But his illness (in 1940s) couldn't be hidden. He was using a cane but somehow through some sheer force of will or call it by whatever you will, for a brief time managed to hide a limp. The role he was chosen for didn't allow for that and it finally became impossible for him to hide the affliction. He was dropped, and Brown never took him back. - Jay D.

Thanks Jay. It can be assumed that "the new program" that Himan Brown was producing was The CBS Mystery Theater (1970s). About the only voice I can imagine that could have competed with E.G. Marshall would have been Raymond's. Sad to say, although Brown routinely hired former radio stars to appear in his program, I'm unaware that Johnson was invited to be in any of the Mystery Theater shows for the entire 13 years it ran (even as a guest star).

The 1940s papers stated Johnson didn't return to Inner Sanctum after the war because he was afraid of being type-cast, but Himan Brown told me in a phone interview that Johnson "wanted too much money." Either way, Brown apparently felt betrayed and never forgave Johnson.

The affliction Johnson suffered from was Multiple Sclerosis (Digital Deli Too), an autoimmune disease that affects the brain and spinal cord (central nervous system). He attended the old radio revival readings in a portable bed. Some feel his fans were exploiting the infirm actor by asking him to appear in such circumstances, but based on Jay's letter, it's clear his fans were the ones who lined up his hospitalization, and Johnson probably wanted to return the favor the only way he could. Then again, he might have just missed playing Raymond. His fans sure missed hearing him. He died in 2001.

Share your comments, too. Email me with the subject heading of "OTR". I'll post them here.

In the meantime, remember to check back in the future because this site is still under construction. (You can email me and request I profile specific series sooner rather than later.) I hope to provide information on all the shows as time and resources permit. I also hope to include photos or pictures on every page. If you see the Old Time radio picture like the one pictured (above), that usually means an actual photo is coming soon.

If you like the site, tell a friend or link to us! If you don't like it, let me know what I can change to improve it.

Other pubic comments you can post include:

Your "Favorite Five radio horror hosts

- and -

Your Top 10 radio horror shows

 

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