Category Archives: Drama

The bloodstained Chicago paper is a clue

Posted on November 2, 2014 by Bob Stepno

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 Bob Stepno

Jane Endicott, Reporter — premiere, January 5, 1942: https://ia600201.us.archive.org/7/items/Singles_And_Doubles_Singles_A-C/42-01-05xxxJaneEndicottReporter.mp3 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 … 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 Bob Stepno

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 Bob Stepno

http://youtu.be/HvGSd4JAdnM 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 … Continue reading →

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

Reporters aren’t always heroes: Ask Laura

Posted on February 23, 2013 by Bob Stepno

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 Bob Stepno

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

An as-told-to tale of blackmail

Posted on January 19, 2013 by Bob Stepno

The best rewrite of a “Lives of Harry Lime” episode that I’ve heard so far, transformed into a “Europe Confidential” episode with the addition of a journalist narrator, is this tale of political blackmail in which a racketeer anti-hero comes … Continue reading →

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

Orson Welles Impersonates a Journalist

Posted on January 13, 2013 by Bob Stepno

No this isn’t about “Citizen Kane.” It’s about one of the famous actor’s returns to radio in the 1950s. (Before his first film, he was famous on radio — for everything from “The Shadow” to that Mercury Theater “War of … Continue reading →

Posted in 1950s, adventure, crime, Drama, reporters | Leave a comment

Reporter stands back in recycled story

Posted on January 9, 2013 by Bob Stepno

This “Europe Confidential” story is a less-satisfying adaptation of a “Lives of Harry Lime” script than the espionage episode mentioned last time, but this one illustrates a very different way journalism can become part of dramatic storytelling. In the previous … Continue reading →

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

Reporter reveals Europe Confidential mysteries

Posted on January 6, 2013 by Bob Stepno

The radio series “Europe Confidential” told mystery tales in the guise of newspaper columns, and is now available as MP3 files with titles like “The Blackmailed Spy Affair.”The “World’s Greatest Mysteries” program is a bit of a mystery itself — … Continue reading →

Posted in 1950s, adventure, Drama, Europe, foreign correspondents, Syndication | Leave a comment