In 1935, the DuPont Company began sponsoring a radio program by means of enhancing the company's image and bringing great events in American history to an audience of millions. The best talent in Hollywood starred in lead roles: Basil Rathbone, Agnes Moorehead, Orson Welles, Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, James Stewart, Helen Hayes, Rex Harrison, Bette Davis, and more. Playwrights such as Arthur Miller, Carl Sandburg, Steven Vincent Benet and Arch Oboler wrote scripts exclusively for this program. 
With the co-operation of the DuPont company, this official guide lists each and every radio and television episode, in great deatil (with plots and a who-played-who cast list), memories from the writers, actors and directors, and trivia regarding the broadcasts themselves. You'll get an inside look at the production of how much work went into each and every radio and television drama. This is a must-read for every Hollywood, radio and television fan.

The History of the Cavalcade of America

Grams, Martin

M. Grams

Known as the Barrymore on horseback, Richard Boone created a character that television audiences could relate to. For six seasons, audiences were able to tune in each week and watch their latest adventure of "Have Gun - Will Travel," a western that stepped over the boundries, and told stories that viewers today remember vividly. Broadcast over CBS Radio and Television, "Have Gun - Will Travel" is still remembered by fans as one of the best adult westerns ever made. This book documents the history behind the series, the genesis of the program, and why after six seasons, the show left the air. Memories from writers, actors, directors , producers, stuntmen and many more help give insight and a behind-the-scenes look at the making of each and every television and radio episode. Hal Needham, Frank Pierson, Peggy Rea, Andrew V. McLaglen, Sydney Pollack, Shimon Wincelberg, and hundreds of others contributed. Rare photos, over 150 to be exact, are featured - many never before seen! The authors

The Have Gun: Will Travel Companion

Rayburn, Les

OTR Pub

Ellery Queen, perhaps as famous as any fictional detective after Sherlock Holmes, was created by cousins Frederic Dannay and Manfred Lee over lunch one day in 1929. This led to more than 40 novels, a film series, a long and convoluted run on radio, and various runs on TV. For an initial $350 fee, Dannay and Lee would write one mystery per week, allowing both the guest armchair detective and radio listeners the opportunity to solve the mystery themselves, before the famous sleuth did. This new publication includes a detailed account covering the lives of the creators, the how and why they moved llery Queen into radio, and a detailed history of the series during its long run on the airwaves (1939-48). Included in the chapters are reminiscences taken from interviews and correspondence with the creators themselves; with mystery writer and critic Anthony Boucher, who collaborated on more than 70 of the later radio adventures of the master detective; and with three of the actors who played Ellery over the years. Includes an introduction by Larry Dobkin, who played Ellery Queen for a short time on the radio! Includes a detailed broadcast log with a chart showing various time slots, networks, sponsors, and competition. Brief biographies of cast and production crew. Capsule biographies of more than 350 personalities who appeared on the program as guest armchair detectives. A week-by-week log giving principal actors, announcer, director, composer-conductor, sponsor, script writer(s), plot synopsis, and much more. Appendices covering subjects like the early episodes of The Shadow that Dannay and Lee wrote without credit in order to learn the craft of radio writing, and other Ellery Queen incarnations on the radio.

The Sound of Detection: Ellery Queen's Adventures in Radio

Nevins, Francis M.

OTR Publishing

From 1941 to 1952 INNER SANCTUM MYSTERY scared radio audiences with chilling tales of mystery and horror, using the top talent of Broadway and Hollywood. Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney, Jr., Peter Lorre, Agnes Moorehead, Frank Sinatra and Orson Welles was among the many who played lead roles as a suspected murder, mad scientist and even vampires. INNER SANCTUM MYSTERY spawned a series of low-budget movies, a television series, a mystery magazine, saved a woman's life in Baton Rogue, was the inspiration of many other radio horrors, and is presently among the best-remembered radio series today.

Inner Sanctum Mysteries: Behind the Creaking Door

Mank, Gregory

O T R Publishing

In 1940, a new invitation to learning was on the air. Dr. Stringfellow Barr, president of St. John's College at Annapolis, created an intellectual radio program, extending a bid to those who would listen to learn. Invitation to Learning ran on the major network for twenty-four years and featured such panelists as Norman Corwin, John Houseman, John Carradine, Herbert Hoover, Eva LeGallienne, Hans Conried, Lillian Gish, and many more. This book, "limited to a printing of 500 and hand numbered on the title page" is a wonderful collection of broadcasts, documented by title and date, literature, story origin, plot, guest panelists, and trivia. From Leo Tolstoy, Melville, Austin, Kapak, Wells, and even the Bible, this book is in itself, an invitation to learning.

Invitation to Learning

Longing only for action, adventure and excitement wherever it would lead them, three men fought through vampire-infested jungles, ghost towns of wind-swept Nevada, and defeated mad scientists with werewolf assistants. Jack Packard, Doc Long and Reggie York were those musketeers and from 1939 to 1952, the program gained a cult audience. Young children began their own fan clubs while civic-minded adults protested against the scary stories. This is the official guide to the ultimate of radio thrillers, I LOVE A MYSTERY. Four hundred pages documenting the entire history of the radio program, including a biography of Carlton E. Morse, the creator/producer/director of the series. 
Features memories from cast and crew (Mercedes McCambridge, Tony Randall, etc.), a complete episode guide to each and every broadcast including cast lists and plot descriptions, documentation of the I LOVE A MYSTERY novels, comic strips (panels reprinted in the book) the four motion pictures, a reprint of an unused outline for a ten-chapter serial, USO material reprinted, Morse's correspondence, episode guides for Morse's other radio serials like THE WITCH OF ENDOR and CAPTAIN POST: CRIME SPECIALIST, and much, much more! Includes photos and index.

The I Love a Mystery Companion

From 1935 to 1958, GANG BUSTERS established a reputation for presenting authentic case histories from the files of law enforcement, re-enactments of the criminal underworld including "Baby-Face" Nelson, Ma Barker and her boys, John Dillinger, and Willie "The Actor" Sutton. Thrilling escapades such as the Alcatraz Prison Riot and million dollar bank robberies were the subject of GANG BUSTERS broadcasts. Colonel H. Norman Schwarzkopf (father of the same Gulf-War Schwarzkopf) and New York's Lewis J. Valentine were two of the many weekly hosts who introduced each broadcast. Like AMERICA'S MOST WANTED, GANG BUSTERS presented weekly "clues" describing convicts at large, assailants wanted by the F.B.I., and listeners paid close attention to the details, giving local law enforcement the "edge" over evading criminals. Within the program's first eight years, the program was responsible for the apprehension of 277 criminals! This book documents the history of the radio and television series, including documentation covering the 1942 Matinee Serial, two 1956 movies, the comic books, and a detailed broadcast log and episode guide for all 1,008 radio broadcasts and 50+ television broadcasts. Lawsuits from listeners, background production, a biography about the creator, Phillips H. Lord, and much more can be found within these pages.

Gang Busters: The Crime Fighters of American Broadcasting

In the spring of 1961, CBS premiered a short-lived television program hosted by author Roald Dahl, titled WAY OUT. Thecreepy late-night horror program aired right before THE TWILIGHT ZONE, but spun a gruesome tale of horror for horror's sake. With no parables or social commentary, devout fanatics with more than a few qualms about the horror material considered the program a bottom feeder's form of entertainment. Such ghoulish delight included a headless woman at a traveling sideshow who entranced and enticed a skeptic to help her escape from the brutal carnival barker. An unhappy man decides to kill his annoying wife after he discovers there is a funeral home that offers this special service for people like him. A commanding officer of an underground military bunker must decide whether to launch a retaliatory nuclear strike after all communications with the outside world suddenly ceases. The telecasts were quickly condemned by concerned parents who wrote letters to their local CBS affiliates with complaints, causing the program to go off the air prematurely. This book documents the entire history of the program, what specifically led to the creation and the details regarding why the program went off the air after 14 episodes. Scans of archival documents, photographs and production files are reprinted, along with plot summaries for episodes that never went before the cameras. For fans of the television program hoping there would be a one-stop source with tons of material about the television program, this is that book.

Way Out: A History and Episode Guide to Roald Dahl's Spooky 1961 Television Program

Humor & Entertainment

Television

Independently published

The notorious Dr. Fu Manchu was a mad scientist, intent upon conquering the world, but was continually foiled by the British policemen Sir Denis Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie, in thirteen novels (1913-59), written by Sax Rohmer. The first of the Fu Manchu novels was The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu, published in the U.S. as The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu. A master poisoner and chemist, he chose to dispose of his enemies using members of other secret societies, pythons, cobras, poisonous fungi and black spiders. He found guns or explosives to be mundane. And like many blood and thunder devices of literary fiction, he remained more elusive and mysterious, seldom making an appearance. He almost always sends his minions to commit crimes for him.\nThe fictional criminal mastermind was not only depicted in numerous motion-pictures, but also on radio. Documenting an aspect of the Fu Manchu franchise that has rarely been explored, the multiple radio incarnations are documented, both coast-to-coast network productions and the local regional ones dramatized in the 1930s. Other Sax Rohmer stories adapted for radio are documented, along with dozens of photographs and vintage advertisements. On top of all this, the 1944 Molle Mystery Theatre radio script is reprinted in its entirety. (A recording of that broadcast is not known to exist in recorded form.) For fans of both old-time radio and the fictional Fu Manchu, this is a must-have reference guide.

The Radio Adventures Of Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu (hardback)

Radio

BearManor Media

The Big Show was an NBC house-built package and an innovation in show business deriving its name from the fact that the talent roster each week included "the biggest names in show business." Bob Hope, Groucho Marx, Phil Harris, the Andrews Sisters, Milton Berle, Judy Holliday, Jimmy Durante, Eddie Cantor and many others were heard on the program -- along with hostess Tallulah Bankhead. It was not until the rehearsal of the premiere broadcast that Bankhead discovered the program was cleverly scheduled in an effort to kill the radio career of Jack Benny, who jumped networks for a shareholder deal. The Big Show was also a financial loss for NBC beginning from day one. To offset the lack of sponsor interest, the network purposely made the weekly program one lengthy commercial promoting their business interests, from RCA television to RCA recording artists. Ethel Merman, for example, appeared on the program multiple times, reprising a dramatic scene from her current Broadway musical, Call Me Madame, which NBC was fifty percent vested.Since many books already paint a livid portrait of Tallulah Bankhead, this book primarily documents the history of NBC's The Big Show, broadcast from 1950 to 1952, with briefs fosucing on the life and career of Tallulah Bankhead as it pertained to references on the radio program. This book also includes never-before-published photographs, details about the 1952 television rendition, and a reprint of her 1950 talent contract with NBC.

The Big Show: Talulah Bankhead and her Radio Career

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Grams, Martin. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Grams, Martin