Quiet, Please: Green Light (Mutual, 1948)
If you seen a fella with one leg it was pretty certain he was a railroader. ‘Cause there wasn’t so many wars, and automobiles, and things like that to cut a fellas leg off then. Pretty near always he left it on a railroad track.
Traveling to reunite with a girl unseen in 42 years, veteran railroad man Philip Conner (Ernest Chappell, who also narrates) recalls a few too many memories—including those of the bizarre work accident that cost him a leg. You can always say this series improved each time out, but episodes such as this make it a challenge to argue that it got “better.” What isn’t a challenge is saying this series deserves a larger audience in its time than it actually receives, but its following among the next century’s old-time radio discoverers atones for that to a certain extent.
Addie: Anne Seymour. Engineer: Jeff Gordon. Singer: Bill Hudgins. Music: Albert Buhrmann. Writer/director: Wyllis Cooper.
FURTHER CHANNEL SURFING . . .
Comedy
The Aldrich Family: Pen Pal (NBC, 1941)—A misinterpreted newspaper ad moves a female pen pal to congratulate Hen-reeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! (Ezra Stone) on his nonexistent marriage, while he fears answering the letter—as Alice (Kathleen Raht) and (especially) Sam (House Jameson) insist he do—will cause even more complications . . . with his actual girl friend. Additional cast: Unidentified. Announcer: Harry Von Zell. Music: Jack Miller. Director: Possibly Harry Ackerman. Writer: Clifford Goldsmith.
The Abbott & Costello Show: The Matrimonial Agency (NBC, 1944)—Which is what Lou’s (Costello) rhapsodising over his cousin Hugo’s wedding (“Just think: his ration book . . . her ration book . . . side by side . . . “) inspires Bud (Abbott) to suggest as an investment for Lou’s $75 in savings. Announcer: Ken Niles. Music: Freddy Rich and His Orchestra. Writers: Pat Costello, Martin Ragaway.
Fibber McGee & Molly: McGee the Author (NBC, 1943)—The Scribe of 79 Wistful Vista (Jim Jordan) is feeling literary enough to have a crack at writing a book, which may inspire even ever-loving, ever-patient Molly (Marian Jordan, who also plays Teeny) to throw the book at him—until a literary agent (possibly Bea Benaderet) rings the bell . . . and his wallet, that is. Mrs. Uppington: Isabel Randolph. The Old-Timer/Wimpole: Bill Thompson. Announcer: Harlow Wilcox. Music: Billy Mills Orchestra, the King’s Men. Writer: Don Quinn.
The Great Gildersleeve: New Man in the Water Department (NBC, 1949)—Gildersleeve (Harold Peary) seems to be the only one not worried about the mayor’s leaning particularly heavily upon his office—until he learns the mayor wants him to train a young man for future water department service . . . as his potential replacement, he thinks. Floyd: Arthur Q. Bryan. Hooker: Earle Ross. Peavey: Richard LeGrand. Birdie: Lillian Randolph. Marjorie: Mary Lee Robb. Leroy: Walter Tetley. Additional cast: Unidentified. Announcer: John Wald. Music: Jack Meakin. Writers: John Whedon, Sam Moore.
Fibber McGee & Molly: Tight Lipped McGee (NBC, 1954)—Molly (Marian Jordan) revels in her glory as Citizen X and what it did for local business, while her loving spouse (Jim Jordan) fears the town thinks him its biggest sap for not having known who she was. The Old-Timer/Wimpole: Bill Thompson. Doc: Arthur Q. Bryan. Announcer: John Wald. Director: Max Hutto. Writers: Phil Leslie, Ralph Goodman.
Crime Drama
Broadway is My Beat: The Russ Warner Murder Case (CBS, 1952)—A tavern owner (Jack Moyles) shows Clover (Larry Thor) the unconscious Warner (Hal March), a Chicago hood shot in the tavern’s cribbage room, who comes to trying to remember who might have shot him before he dies—with a Chicago enforcer (Herb Butterfield) admitting to shooting Warner in the shoulder but denying he finished the job, and Warner’s former wife (Mary Jane Croft) in town with the former hood (Anthony Barrett) for whom she dumped Warner. Muggavan: Jack Kruschen. Tartaglia: Charles Calvert. Announcer: . Music: Alexander Courage. Director: Elliott Lewis. Writers: Morton Fine, David Friedkin.
Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar: The Duke Red Matter (Part Four; CBS, 1956)—Dollar (Bob Bailey) now has a missing former trainer on his hands; a curious lack of litigation over the stopped Duke Red insurance claim from the Abbott operation; and, a revelation about Terry Abbott (Barbara Eiler), the missing trainer, and the atmosphere on the stable grounds since Abbott’s wife and son were killed in an air crash. Announcer: Roy Rowan. Music: Amerigo Moreno. Director: Jack Johnstone. Writer: John Dawson.
Mystery/Thriller
The Hall of Fantasy: The Black Figurine of Death (Mutual, 1953)—The figurine figures disturbingly, after a neglected old man (Richard Thone, who also wrote the script)—who thinks his niece and nephew care nothing about him—dies after warning them inheriting his estate is something they’ll regret . . . which they might, when they learn the condition of their inheritance and discover a corpse whose murder was unsolved. Additional cast: Eloise Kummer. Music: Harold Turner. Director: Richard Thorne.
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