Monday, November 21, 2005

More Old Time Radio

Yesterday Judy and I drove to the big city of Thornton, Texas, to get Judy's mother and bring her to Alvin for Thanksgiving. Since the drive up takes a little over three hours, we listened to some OTR shows on XM Satellite Radio. The first one we heard was The Green Hornet. This was a big favorite of mine when I was a kid since it was very similar to The Lone Ranger. Only natural since George W. Trendel and Fran Striker were involved with both shows. Kato's dialogue sounds too close to Tonto's for comfort.

We also heard two episodes of The Whistler. I don't remember hearing this show when I was young, but it's pretty entertaining. Judy was a little chapped that The Whistler wasn't a crime-fighter like the Green Hornet. Instead he's the narrator, sort of like Raymond on Inner Sanctum, but without Raymond's bizarre charm.

And speaking of Inner Sanctum, that was the next show that we listened to. I always loved Raymond's little jokes, like the one on this show about the unsuccessful author who was murdered by her husband and buried in the cellar. As Raymond put it, she finally made the "best cellar" list.

After Inner Sanctum we heard Dangerous Assignment with Brian Donlevy, who also played the main character, Steve Mitchell, on TV. I remember seeing the TV show a few times, but I like the radio series better. Hardboiled fans will remember Donlevy best as the heavy in The Glass Key.

All in all, a pretty good morning's listening that made the trip seem a lot shorter.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't exactly call Donlevy the heavy in 'The Glass Key.' He was no better or worse than Alan Ladd. The heavy was William Bendix in one of the scariest performances I've ever seen, equal parts clown and killer, who beats the bejesus out of Ladd. Prior to that I only knew Bendis as the lovable lout Riley in the radio and TV show 'The Life of Riley.' Seeing him laughing and hammering Ladd was quite a revelation.

mybillcrider said...

You're right, Bob. I should have described Donlevy differently, but I couldn't think of a good term. Maybe "Ladd's antagonist" would have been better. I've missed your comments on rara-avis. Are you still lurking around?

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I'm a lurker and a shirker. Been enjoying your blog for a while now. Sometimes I think I should start my own blog, but that sounds almost like work. More fun to just lay back and enjoy the decline of civilization at the hands of our evil masters in Washington.