Category Archives: Drama

Hey Lucky, get me rewrite!

Posted on January 12, 2015 by

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

The bloodstained Chicago paper is a clue

Posted on November 2, 2014 by

Juke Box Melodrama Newspapers as an “old media” technology survived the 1950s and struggled into the next century, but this May 1951 episode of Night Beat features an even rarer form of communication — a coin-op juke box with a … Continue reading →

Posted in Chicago, Drama, reporters | Leave a comment

Reporter had spunk, but soup-opera didn’t last long

Posted on April 24, 2014 by

Jane Endicott, Reporter — premiere, January 5, 1942: I’ve had this short-lived series  tucked away on my “Soaps and Romance” page, although these adventures of a young woman reporter are not a typical soap-opera or romance series with cliff-hanger episode endings and … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, Drama, editors, ethics, journalism, women | Leave a comment

Lime with a twist: Violets, Violence and Recycled Radio

Posted on June 10, 2013 by

Here’s a special case of radio recycling, another Orson Welles’ script from “The Lives of Harry Lime,” turned into a “Europe Confidential” journalist-hero script a few years later, part of a pattern I began writing about some months ago. This … Continue reading →

Posted in 1950s, adaptations, Drama, ethics, Europe, foreign correspondents, Orson Welles | Leave a comment

Covering the Waterfront

Posted on February 27, 2013 by

Two of my former Emerson College students have wound up with new jobs back in Massachusetts at the New Bedford Standard-Times on Buzzard’s Bay, which is a fine excuse to post this item about the radio and film stories titled … Continue reading →

Posted in 1930s, 1950s, Drama, reporters | Leave a comment

Reporters aren’t always heroes: Ask Laura

Posted on February 23, 2013 by

Despite the title of this blog, not all newspapermen (or women) in radio’s popular culture portrayals were heroes, although I think they were generally played more favorably on radio than in Hollywood movies. But I’ve just added a 45th title … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adaptations, columnists, crime, detectives, Drama, movies, romance | Leave a comment

A journalist romance for Valentine’s Day

Posted on February 13, 2013 by

The Old Itch (Kit Gaynor) Who better to tell a tale of romance and deadlines than an actor named Frank Lovejoy? (I think he was much more convincing as dusk-to-dawn columnist Randy Stone than he had been as the Blue … Continue reading →

Posted in 1950s, Drama, foreign correspondents, romance | Leave a comment