Category Archives: 1950s

Ghostwriting for equal rights

Posted on March 19, 2018 by

https://archive.org/download/DestinationFreedom/DF_49-06-19_ep050-Ghost_Editor.mp3 “Ghost Editor” is a well-dramatized biography of Roscoe Dunjee, who founded the Black Dispatch, the first African American newspaper in 1915 Oklahoma City. Actor Fred Pinkard narrates the series as Dunjee in this episode of the “Destination Freedom” African … Continue reading →

Posted in 1900s, 1940s, 1950s, civil rights, editors, historical figures, newspaper crusades, newspapers, racial justice, reporting, undercover | Leave a comment

Mann of the Press at Bay

Posted on March 17, 2018 by

https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Suspense_Singles_By_Year_1952/Suspense_521124_488_Man_Alive_128-44_28478_29m41s.mp3 From November 1952, this is no Thanksgiving story… A San Francisco newspaper columnist gets involved with bad Italian accents, puns on his name (“Mann”), a picture postcard and a mystery. Supposedly based on a true story, this episode of … Continue reading →

Posted in 1950s, adventure, suspense, true stories, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Two Reporters Conspire in Moscow

Posted on February 27, 2018 by

Radio’s dramatic adventure series like “Suspense” and “Escape” sometimes relied on journalist characters as narrators, doing what reporters do — telling a story mostly from the outside. In “Two If By Sea,” the derring-do is their own. Even in peacetime, … Continue reading →

Posted in 1950s, adventure, Europe, foreign correspondents, international, reporters, romance, Russia | Leave a comment

Photo-snatching & Gunsmoke

Posted on January 31, 2018 by

https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Gunsmoke_Singles/Gunsmoke_52-04-26_001_Billy_the_Kid.mp3 In 1952, the first episode of the classic adult western “Gunsmoke” began with Marshal Matt Dillon dictating the text for a wanted poster to Mr.Hightower, Dodge City’s printer and newspaper editor. The enterprising editor had already snitched a tintype … Continue reading →

Posted in 1950s, adventure, editors, ethics, westerns | Leave a comment

Agnes Moorehead Reports Again

Posted on February 25, 2017 by

https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Suspense_Singles/Suspense_530323_505_The_Signalman_-128-44-_27177_28m54s.mp3 For the “Suspense” March 23, 1953, production of Charles Dickens’ “The Signal-Man,” one of radio’s leading ladies, Agnes Moorehead, narrates a supernatural story, some 16 years before she played the witch Endora on TV’s “Bewitched.” Her character is a returned resident … Continue reading →

Posted in 1950s, 19th century, adaptations, Drama, reporters, suspense | Leave a comment

Fighting slavery with a newspaper

Posted on May 9, 2016 by

The long-running Jewish Theological Seminary radio series “The Eternal Light” usually drew from an older text, but it did feature a crusading newspaper in at least one episode, “The Rabbi with Ink-Stained Hands,” which the inspirational-drama program broadcast more than … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 19th century, editors, historical figures, publishers | Leave a comment

Calling Clark Kent — not Superman — to the rescue

Posted on October 6, 2015 by

News stories about September 2015 death of Jack Larson — “Jimmy Olsen” on the 1950s Superman television series — often mentioned the actor’s dislike for story-lines that repeatedly had “Jimmy” dripping wet, threatened by rising tides or torture-rooms filling with water. … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, 1950s, adaptations, adventure, Clark Kent, Jimmy Olsen, Perry White, reporters, reporting, Superman, television | 1 Comment