Category Archives: adaptations

A gentleman of the press vs. ungentlemanly gentiles

Posted on June 28, 2018 by Bob Stepno

A Facebook conversation just led me to check back and see if I had ever posted a blog item about the radio adaptations of the movie Gentleman’s Agreement, and it looks like I hadn’t, other than a paragraph in my … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, 1950s, adaptations, civil rights, reporters, stereotypes, undercover | Leave a comment

A Gentleman and Lady of the Press

Posted on March 16, 2018 by Bob Stepno

http://otrrlibrary.org/OTRRLib/Library%20Files/F%20Series/Forecast/Forecast%2040-07-16%20(02)%20The%20American%20Theater%20-%20The%20Gentleman%20From%20Indiana%20(Actually%20400715).mp3 The 1940 CBS radio series “Forecast” was a summer showcase for ideas for new series… what television later called “pilots,” and a drama about an Indiana newspaperman was part of the series’ first edition. However the newspaperman story wasn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adaptations, editors, newspaper crusades, novels, romance, women | Leave a comment

Agnes Moorehead Reports Again

Posted on February 25, 2017 by Bob Stepno

https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Suspense_Singles_By_Year_1953/Suspense%20530323%20505%20The%20Signalman%20%28128-44%29%2027657%2028m49s.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 … Continue reading →

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

The reporter and “The Signalman”

Posted on February 6, 2017 by Bob Stepno

Sorting out a stack of CDs of podcasts I downloaded more than a decade ago, I discovered this reporter-centric episode of “Lights Out,” a suspenseful 1940s series. http://otrrlibrary.org/OTRRLib/Library%20Files/L%20Series/Lights%20Out/Lights%20Out%2046-08-24%20(008)%20The%20Signal%20Man.mp3 This copy is playable or downloadable from the Old Time Radio Researchers … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adaptations, Drama, podcast, reporters, suspense | Leave a comment

Fighting drugs with a radio-comicbook crossover

Posted on March 28, 2016 by Bob Stepno

Radio and movie star Frank Lovejoy would have been 104 today. Better known as the leading man reporter on Night Beat,  Lovejoy also took a turn as The Blue Beetle, a radio and comic book superhero who appeared to borrow … Continue reading →

Posted in 1930s, 1940s, adaptations, adventure, comics, detectives, reporters, science fiction | Leave a comment

Calling Clark Kent — not Superman — to the rescue

Posted on October 6, 2015 by Bob Stepno

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

Hey Lucky, get me rewrite!

Posted on January 12, 2015 by Bob Stepno

My cousin in Memphis just told me she heard an episode of the classic series called “Night Beat” recently on a satellite radio show made up of golden age broadcasts. I told her she’d found one of my favorites, and … Continue reading →

Posted in 1950s, adaptations, Chicago, columnists, Drama, ethics, reporters, writing | Leave a comment

More on radio-film adaptations – and a bit of Libel

Posted on March 11, 2014 by Bob Stepno

Just when I thought I had a nice round figure — 50 radio adaptations of Hollywood films about journalists — I discovered that two movies I had already written about weren’t on the master list, which includes quite a few I … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adaptations, Europe, television | Leave a comment

It Happened More Than One Night — on radio

Posted on December 17, 2013 by Bob Stepno

by Bob Stepno“It’s a Wonderful Life” had no newspaper characters to give me an excuse to include the seasonal favorite here, so I’ll make a holiday present of another Frank Capra classic: It Happened One Night appeared on the silver screen … Continue reading →

Posted in 1930s, 1940s, adaptations, Capra, comedy, reporters, romance, stereotypes | Leave a comment

A dark “Christmas Holiday” on radio

Posted on November 29, 2013 by Bob Stepno

Despite the title, “Christmas Holiday” is no Santa-and-sleighbells yule feature, but a “film noir” drama with a newspaper reporter as a pivotal character: He starts out on the shady side, does a couple of favors for the lead characters, and … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adaptations, crime, holidays, movies, reporters | Leave a comment