Radio Recap: Jeff Regan, Investigator

"My name's Regan. I get 10 a day and expenses from a detective bureau run by a guy named Anthony J. Lyon. They call me 'the Lyon's Eye.'"

I've previously blogged about Jack Webb's early career on ABC radio in San Francisco. When he moved to Los Angeles at the start of 1947 he quickly found work on shows like Suspense, the Whistler, Escape and the Amazing Mr. Malone but he didn't want to be a character actor - he was looking for leading roles, which led to Johnny Madero, Pier 23 - and some unfortuntate litigation from ABC, who found that show was too similar to Pat Novak, for Hire.

Webb's first big network role became the titular Jeff Regan, Investigator starting in July, 1948. The series was not as sharp as Pat Novak, for Hire had been but Webb injected some familiar wise guy dialogue, some of which was probably not in the original script.

Jeff Regan worked as a private eye in the agency run by Anthony J. Lyon, whom he affectionately (?) dubbed "Fatso." Lyon was always eager to make a dollar and would typically force Regan to start work on a case without making much of an effort to investigate his client's background. Inevitably, the client would turn out to be flat broke or get themselves murdered by the halfway point of the drama, at which point Lyon would want Regan to drop the case but Regan would be unable to step aside.

Webb exited the series at the end of 1948 (to resume Pat Novak, for Hire) and it seems as though CBS were unprepared for his departure. The series went off the air for the rest of the season, then returned in October, 1949 with Frank Graham as Jeff Regan.

The role of Anthony J. Lyon shifted around a little, first portrayed by Wilms Herbert but afterwards usually portrayed by Frank Nelson. Nelson's blustery performance provided a light touch to scenes between Regan and Lyon. Initially there was also a second private eye in Lyon's agency, Joe Canto, portrayed by Barton Yarborough who appeared very seldomly (he's only in one episode from the Jack Webb era, for those who want a preview of their later dynamic on Dragnet).

The series was originally written by E. Jack Neuman, a prolific CBS writer who worked on Suspense, Meet Miss Sherlock, the Whistler, Escape, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar and the Line-Up, among many others. Later it fell into the clutches of writer William Froug (he wrote primarily for Hallmark Hall of Fame); Froug increased the amount of humour on the program, which is evident from the episode titles; early episodes have titles that are fairly generic among detective shows but in the Froug era they all have titles like "The Gorilla That Always Said Yeh-ah" and "If I Knew You Were Coming I'd Have Wrecked a Train."

I didn't know anything about Jeff Regan, Investigator for the longest time; when my local radio station began airing episodes regularly (all from the Jack Webb era) I was astonished to realize there was a Jack Webb detective program I hadn't previously taken notice of. It certainly wasn't up to the quality of Pat Novak, for Hire; I think I was particularly disappointed that after the intro where Webb (as Regan) referred to himself as "the Lyon's Eye" which seemed to be a pretty cool nickname, that Lyon himself was just a buffoon and not usually very helpful at helping Regan solve the cases. Their relationship was a bit like that of Archie Goodwin and Nero Wolfe, expect that unlike Wolfe, Lyon really was fat, lazy and disinterested in solving the cases. Still, the series it not without its charms; it's not hard-boiled by any means but Webb tackled the role with gusto and in time, Graham's performance grew on me.

The series came to a very tragic end on September 3, 1950 when Frank Graham committed suicide; that was the end of Jeff Regan, Investigator. Graham had been recording episodes in advance via transcription and evidently CBS aired their regularly-scheduled broadcast the same day Graham died - but they didn't recast the role with Graham's tragic end, instead the series went off the air for good. The final episode appears to have been entirely transcribed with no acknowledgement of Graham's death - indeed, it closes with the announcer promising they would be back the following week.

You can hear the Old Time Radio Researchers' collection of Jeff Regan, Investigator at the Internet Archive Most of the surviving episodes are from the series' final year on the air with Frank Graham as Jeff Regan.

Radio Recap: Forecast

Forecast was an anthology program created by CBS that ran for 2 seasons in the summers of 1940 and 1941. It was a very unusual program for old-time radio in that it was designed to showcase new ideas for programs. Each episode was essentially a proposed pilot for a new series. We have only a few examples of radio auditions and pilots and they're mostly post-war programs. Forecast is interesting, therefore, as a record of "what might have been."

CBS is easily, to my mind, the greatest producer of dramatic radio shows. They were also the network that was most willing to experiment with new ideas. Perhaps that's because until post-World War II, CBS was perenially the 2nd place network behind NBC. NBC didn't have to experiment - their offerings were almost always the most popular programs on the air. CBS then had the freedom to try out different ideas.

Kudos, then, to CBS for making Forecast. One problem, however, is that it is very similar to another CBS program: the Columbia Workshop. That series was already a proving-ground for new and unusual ideas where writers, directors and performers tried out new material; the Columbia Workshop helped influence later programs who took lessons from their innovations.

Forecast, however, was trying to drum up audience interest in new shows. They would invite listeners to tell them what they thought of the program, since as a network-sponsored series, Forecast's ratings weren't being traced.

Forecast was produced simulataneously in New York and Hollywood. During the first season, most episodes featured a half-hour broadcast from each of the two studios. This meant Forecast could draw from the best talents of both coasts.

Let's look at the first season of Forecast:

1. July 15, 1940: "The Battle of Music" and "The American Theatre" (featuring "The Gentleman from Indiana") by director John Houseman
2. July 22, 1940: "When You Were 21" starring Danny Kaye and "Suspense" (featuring "the Lodger") by director Alfred Hitchcock
3. July 29, 1940: "Angel" starring Loretta Young and "Duffy's Tavern" starring Ed Gardner
4. August 5, 1940: "Of Stars and States" directed by Charles Vanda
5. August 12, 1940: "The Life of the Party" and "Leave It to Jeeves" starring Edward Everett Horton
6. August 19, 1940: "Back Where I Come From" starring Woody Guthrie and Burl Ives; "Ever After" starring Edna Best and "To Tim at Twenty" directed by Norman Corwin
7. August 26, 1940: "All God's Children" starring Paul Robeson and "Bethel Merriday" starring Margaret Sullavan.
8. September 2, 1940: "The Birth of a Nation" starring Burgess Meredith

I first learned of Forecast because of the premiere broadcast of Suspense. Although when the series arrived it was a somewhat different program, the pilot is interesting because of Alfred Hitchcock's involvement - but it's ultimately a failure because they couldn't fit their adaptation of "the Lodger" into the half-hour timeslot. If you wanted your pilot to demonstrate what listeners could expect each week, you should have produced a complete broadcast; the lack of a climax to the story leaves the listeners unsatisfied and feeling like they've experienced a preview of the series, not an actual program.

On the other hand, they also featured the debut of Duffy's Tavern in this season and it's a very good example of the series; it's a bit rough around the edges but features the same type of humour the series would have. Otherwise, none of these programs went on to become proper series.

Still, there are interesting ideas among the other episodes of Forecast. "The Battle of Music" featured a classical musician and jazz musician competing against each other with banter between sets. It's breezy and fun but would have probably been tedious as a weekly program. "Leave It to Jeeves" is about as good a radio adaptation of P. G. Wodehouse as you could hope for. "All God's Children" has some great singing by Paul Robeson and "Bethel Merriday" is a charming adaptation of a Sinclair Lewis novel.

Some of the shows are real odd ducks that I can't imagine ever succeeding. "When You Were 21" should have been a hit - Danny Kaye was always game - but the odd concept was to look back in time at a past year (1919 in this instance) in which members of the audience were aged 21... that's too elusive as a concept, it takes too long to explain and makes assumptions about the listening audience that you can't really back up.

Even odder is "The Life of the Party" which features party tricks performed by famous people. It's interesting enough for a half-hour, but there's just no way it could have endured as a series. And the Double Feature program with "Ever After" and "To Tim at Twenty" starts off on the wrong note with a very unfunny sketch about Prince Charming and Snow White having an unhappy marriage - it hits every obvious joke.

On to season 2:

1. July 14, 1941: "Arabian Nights" starring Marlene Dietrich
2. July 21, 1941: "51 East 51" starring Kay Thompson and "Memoirs of Mischa the Magnificent" starring Mischa Auer
3. July 28, 1941: "Pibby and the Houlihans" starring Dudley Digges and "Deductions Deluxe" starring Adolphe Menjou and Verree Teasdale
4. August 4, 1941: "Song without End" starring Burgess Meredith
5. August 11, 1941: "Class of '41" and "Hopalong Cassidy" starring Lou Merrill
6. August 18, 1941: "Country Lawyer" starring Knox Manning
7. August 25, 1941: "Three Wishes" starring Alexander Woolcott and "A Tour of Hollywood" starring Tony Martin and Bert Lahr.
8. September 1, 1941: "Tree of Hope" and "Jubilee" starring Ethel Waters and Duke Ellington.

The big hit of this season was Jubilee, which went on to a successful run this preview is very much representative of the show (for that matter, "Tree of Hope" fits in very well as both programs feature all-black casts). Hopalong Cassidy eventually became a radio show, but not on CBS and not with the cast used on Forecast.

Otherwise, Marlene Dietrich was very entertaining in "Arabian Nights." "Country Lawyer" was a strong dramatic program and "The Memoirs of Mischa the Magnificent" was pretty funny. "A Tour of Hollywood" is a mix of stand-up comedy and music that holds up fine, although it's not really any different than any other comedy-music show of the time.

But a few episodes of the 2nd season really did not impress me. "Pibby and the Houlihans" is a blue collar Irish comedy that hits every Irish stereotype you can imagine; it's embarrassing. "Deductions Deluxe" was an attempt to create a Thin Man-style detective comedy with a romantic couple who solve crimes but the humour is too obvious. And my single least-favourite episode of Forecast is "Song without End," a biography of Claude Debussy; it uses a repeated high-pitched note that very quickly irritated my eardrums. I don't plan to revisit that one any time soon!

Forecast is an oddity; there are dramatic programs, comedy programs, variety programs; it's an interesting example of what radio sounded like at the start of World War II; it would be very different post-war.

You can hear Forecast at the Old-Time Radio Researchers' Library.

"The name's Gambit, mon ami. Remember it." X-Men thoughts, related to X-Men '97

There are spoilers for X-Men '97 in this post.

I was skeptical of the X-Men '97 program when I heard about it; I certainly didn't intend to watch it. Still, I was aware that buzz was growing online after its debut a few weeks ago and I thought... after all... what harm could it do?

X-Men '97 is a continuation of the X-Men animated program that aired on Fox Kids in the 1990s. I enjoyed the 1990s program for the most part - I found the animation a bit crude (especially after I started watching the Bruce Timm Batman series) but I won't deny I was thrilled to see a major Marvel super hero in animated adventures that were helping raise the X-Men's profile around the world.

Still, why bring it back? Why not put that passion into a new animated X-Men program that kids in the 2020s might be interested in, rather than appeal to old guys who should have better things to do than watch a continuation of a favoured kids' show from their youth? Haven't comics themselves suffered greatly from fans' unwillingness to age out of the hobby? I mean, the comics themselves already produced a sequel to the 1990s cartoon that was written by Chris Sims... and that's all you needed to hear about that.

Going in, I was prepared for a nostalgia fest (and it is; they indulge in a recreation of the 90s X-Men arcade game for no good reason other than nostalgia). I was prepared to cringe. I don't think I was prepared to like it.

There's a moment in the first episode that cemented it for me. The X-Men's Blackbird jet is destroyed mid-air by a Sentinel. The X-Men must then use their powers to save each other from falling to their deaths. That's a pretty standard set-up for a super hero comic action set piece (in fact, the all-new all-different X-Men team faced that scenario way back in their 2nd adventure, X-Men #95). It climaxes with Cyclops using his optic blasts to slow his descent, an unusual means of demonstrating his power and control.

I was reminded of the scene in the film Iron Man 3 where Iron Man rescued people falling from an aircraft. Not just because of the similarity of the scenario, but because it called upon the hero to be resourceful (and for the film to demonstrate clear visual storytelling). As I say, scenarios like these were pretty typical in the comic books I grew up with; I see a lot fewer of them now - action scenes where the characters use their powers in ways that are creative and make sense according to the situation they find themselves in; opportunities to test characters and demonstrate something of their capabilities and even personalities; a situation that calls for a good command of visual storytelling rather than characters posing at each other while talking.

In which Michael imagines a typical X-Men comic book storytelling conference:

Writer: "Ugh, an action scene. I don't want to write an action scene."
Artist: "Nor do I care to draw one."
Writer: "Path of least resistance: they pose at each other in a double-page spread. Reader assumes the fight happened between panels."
Artist: "Whatever fills the pages works for me."
Writer: "That reminds me, I need to fill a data page. Maybe I'll quote Orwell. Or present nothing but redacted text."

I don't wish to join the chorus saying that the X-Men comics haven't been very good since Grant Morrison left 20 years ago - there have been outliers. It's just, they were outliers - not usually the main X-Men title. For the last 20 years the comic book counterparts have been trapped in their own storytelling engine. Usually the X-Men seem to be either fighting each other, fighting a faceless army or fighting someone so powerful they're practically a deity. The franchise has felt unmoored to me - ungrounded. Claremont's X-Men comics set up a template many other writers could use; when he was shown the door, his successors proved they could keep the books going through imitating his formula. But after Morrison broke the engine (or perhaps, after "M-Day" broke the engine) the massive cast of characters seem to have meandered, trapped in a shrinking universe with fewer and fewer new stories to tell, instead going through worn out tropes (an X-Man betrays the team! but they're a popular character so the team will get over it eventually; an X-Man dies! but so what, no one stays dead; the team breaks into factions with different philosophies and even fight each other! big whoop, they'll all be friends again when the next writer arrives).

X-Men '97 reminded me that, yeah, the X-Men are fun. They're interesting characters to spend time with. They have unique personalities, they clash over particular matters, they have different fighting styles... and they have a colorful rogue's gallery of enemies who have an interesting set of personalities too (Mojo maybe not so much). X-Men '97 reminded me... man, it's not that hard to tell a X-Men story that feels like a proper X-Men story. They made me feel for these characters again; even killing Gambit stirred me, despite all the comics have done to treat death with indifference (the present Krakoa age in the comics abolished death as any other than temporary inconvenience).

Many performers from the 1990s X-Men have reprised their voices, which is a little surprising. Cal Dodd's Wolverine sounds mostly the same, albeit weathered by age - although that kinda suits the character. I found Alison Sealy-Smith's imperious performance of Storm on the 1990s program off-putting (I think it drove me to dislike the comics version of Storm as well) but she seems to have a better balance now, less of the faux-Thor speech helps. The sheer number of returning performers is impressive considering more than 25 years have passed; even those who've aged out of their old roles have been recast into other characters for the new show.

For all that X-Men '97 is nostalgia bait for old men, I think new viewers might like it too; they'll probably have to watch the 1990s show first, though, and that might not appeal to them.

Radio Recap: Lady Esther Presents Orson Welles

As many of my "Radio Recaps" have indicated, I've been immersed in the old-time radio hobby for many years now. I'm still amazed when I discover a program that I didn't know about but feel that I should have known about. Such a program is Lady Esther Presents Orson Welles.

When I first heard an episode of Lady Esther Presents Orson Welles I was dumbfounded; I love Orson Welles' work and this came out during a particularly strong peak of his radio talent. How had I missed this series before? The answer is... we old-time radio hobbyists can be a little inconsistent. Depending on which radio log or archive you turned to, Lady Esther Presents Orson Welles was either categorized as Screen Guild Theater, Orson Welles Theater, Mercury Theatre or even Orson Welles Alamanac! But Lady Esther Presents Orson Welles is truly its own series that needs to be separated out from other (related) programs.

Lady Esther Presents Orson Welles ran just a few months on CBS - September 15, 1941 to February 2, 1942. This came after CBS' fruitful partnerships with Welles on the Mercury Theatre on the Air and the Campbell Playhouse, but shifted him from an hour-long format to a half-hour one (which became the typical length for his radio shows thereon). Like those earlier programs, the series featured adaptations of popular works, particularly a few to which Welles was very warm towards ("I'm a Fool" was one he'd done before; "the Apple Tree" and "the Happy Prince" would both be dramatized again). However, the series also looked ahead to the format he'd adopt in the Orson Welles Radio Almanac where he would recite poetry and randomly share odd facts from an almanac.

The first few Lady Esther Presents Orson Welles programs are particulary odd as they feature Cliff Edwards reprising his character of Jiminy Cricket from Disney's Pinocchio, appearing on the program as Welles' conscience, reminding him of things he should share with the listening audience. They're very bizarre asides and I don't think they're successful, but at least they demonstrate the playful side of Orson Welles.

Welles was joined by a lot of familiar voices such as Joseph Cotten, Ray Collins, Dolores Del Rio and the music of Bernard Herrmann. Some of the programs featured original stories, such as the very good "That's Why I Left You" by John Nesbitt concerning a man's fable as to why he left his wife. There's a terrific adaptation of Saki's "the Interlopers" and the very funny "Maysville Minstrel" by Ring Lardner. Fans of Escape will notice there's an adaptation of "Wild Oranges"; I'm not particularly wild about that story to begin with and I find Welles' adaptation a bit tedious - the Escape was at least trying to be a fast-paced action story, while the Welles adaptation is concerned with despair and heartbreak.

But the most historically interesting episode of Lady Esther Presents Orson Welles is one we don't currently have: the debut broadcast of Lucille Fletcher's story "The Hitchhiker" aired on November 17, 1941. Welles later performed in the famed Suspense version but it would be great to hear that missing broadcast.

Truly, though, as an Orson Welles and Mercury Theatre fan, I would be very happy to hear more from this series. The few fragments we do possess demonstrate Welles and his contributors at their best.

We have only a few full episodes of this program, although various short excerpts from episodes are in circulation which suggests full copies of those episodes might yet emerge. There's a very good collection of Lady Esther Presents Orson Welles at the Internet Archive.

Radio Recap: The World Adventurers Club

The World Adventurers Club was a 15-minute syndicated program released in 1932. It was an anthology program in which the premise was that a group of world travelers would meet together at their club. Soon after the episode start (and some barbershop quartet singing around a piano) the club members would prompt one of their number to share a story about their adventures, whereupon the drama would begin in earnest.

The stories related in the World Adventurers Club were set around the world - in Africa, Russia, Europe, sometimes in the United States itself. The cast were never identified but you can recognize a lot of familiar early radio performers in the recordings, such as Hanley Stafford, Gale Gordon and Frank Nelson.

The program is hampered by being an early program, made before sound effects were fully utilized. Exotic locales on radio really depend on audio effects to bring them to life, but World Adventurers Club seemed only able to create the sound of wind or gunshots, precious little else.

But the program's biggest drawback is its very premise. The adventurers have an unmistakably colonialist air about them. The people in the places they visit are very much "the other." And there's plenty of stinky racism to be found all over the series. In the episode indicated as #1, "the Headhunters of Papua," the protagonist-narrator of the story declares early on, "We didn't have to depend upon natives and that was a blessing as I never can get black boys to work hard for me." In another episode the protagonist distrusts his guide because the man is only half-white and therefore treacherous - which, indeed, he is. Another episode is centered on how all Chinese men want to kidnap and control white women. It's noxious, even for its time. There are only a few episodes where the adventurers are pit against nature and the elements - usually they fight with whoever the locals happen to be. In one episode a black man sacrifices his life to save the protagonist, who goes on and on about how noble he was; the only way a non-white character gets any props in the series is by dying for his "betters."

I wanted to like The World Adventurers Club because I have a love for world-spanning adventure tales (Escape being radio's best such program). But I can't simply say the World Adventurers Club is a show "of its time." Even in 1932, it would have been recognized as encouraging racist old tropes.

You can hear the Old Time Radio Researchers' collection of the World Adventurers Club at the Internet Archive.

SIM Canada Page Has Resumed!

I'm please to state that I am once again online with a SIM Canada page; going forward, my mission work in Angola will be alongside my wife Bethany and the new page therefore covers both of and discusses our 2023 plans to work in Angola. visit our SIM Canada page here!

Radio Recap: Tales of Tomorrow

Science fiction for adults broke into the mainstream in the 1950s and on the radio, the major networks each made attempts at the genre in early 1950. However, CBS' Beyond Tomorrow lasted only 3 weeks; Mutual's 2000 Plus and NBC's Dimension X each lasted 1 year; it wasn't until NBC's X Minus One arrived in 1955 that at last a science fiction program for adults settled in for a lengthy run.

Yet in the middle of those programs we have Tales of Tomorrow on ABC. Tales of Tomorrow is one of the rare instances of a television program being adapted to radio; the television version ran on ABC from 1951-1953. It was early science fiction, broadcast live. Many episodes still exist and although they're crude, Tales of Tomorrow retains some affection among science fiction fans as a pioneering piece of television science fiction. The radio version of Tales of Tomorrow popped up during the television version's final year. ABC ran the series only briefly from January 1 to April 9, 1953. It was sponsored by Galaxy Magazine, who had previously sponsored NBC's Dimension X (and later X Minus One).

The series was hosted by Raymond Edward Johnson as "Omentor." Johnson was, of course, the original host of Inner Sanctum Mysteries which gives the program a bit of campiness. The frequent use of trombone music also seems to suggest that ABC wanted the show to be received as a light-hearted program. A lot of familiar radio actors such as Leon Janney and Lawson Zerbe appeared in the productions. The list of episodes are (surviving episodes underlined):

1. January 1, 1953: "Made to Measure" by William C. Gault
2. January 8, 1953: "The Biography Project" by Dudley Dell
3. January 15, 1953: "Betelgeuse Bridge" by William Tenn
4. January 22, 1953: "The Other Now" by Murray Leinster
5. January 29, 1953: "The Stars Are the Styx" by Theodore Sturgeon
6. February 5, 1953: "Syndrome Johnny" by Katherine MacLean
7. February 12, 1953: "The Unimars Plot"
8. February 19, 1953: "Watchbird" by Robert Sheckley
9. February 26, 1953: "Inside Earth" by Poul Anderson
10. March 5, 1953: "The Moon Is Green" by Fritz Leiber
11. March 12, 1953: "Martians Never Die" by Lucius Daniel
12. March 19, 1953: "The Girls from Earth" by Frank M. Robinson
13. March 26, 1953: "The Old Die Rich" by H. L. Gold
14. April 2, 1953: "Morrow on Mars"
15. April 9, 1953: "The Drop" by John Christopher

Episodes with authors were adapted from stories in Galaxy Magazine; the two without authors appear to be original works.

If you know X Minus One you'll recognize a few episode titles from that series. I'm afraid those episodes that we can compare don't come off very well for Tales of Tomorrow. For example, "the Old Die Rich" was adapted on both shows; the X Minus One version features a protagonist who is forced to travel into the past to help a scientist amass a fortune through bets and investments. When he's brought back to the present and feels hungry he realizes since food can't be brought through time, the scientist intends to starve him to death. That's a great revelation in the radio drama, but it doesn't play as well in the Tales of Tomorrow version. In that series (which is much more faithful to Gold's original Galaxy story) the protagonist comes back from the past, then agrees to journey into the future to perform a heist. Once in the future, he quickly meets people who know all about the scientist's plans and tell him how to defeat the scientist. It's much less interesting than the X Minus One version because the protagonist lacks agency, requiring other characters to explain the villain's plot and what the stakes are; I much prefer the X Minus One version, where the protagonist surmises the stakes on his own.

But that's not to dismiss Tales of Tomorrow entirely -- "The Other Now" is a particularly good drama about a man whose wife dies in a car accident; the grieving husband soon discovers there's an alternate timeline where he was the one who died and becomes obsessed with piercing the void into the timeline where his wife still lives. I also enjoyed "Watchbird" in which mechanical constructs are built to police crimes but cause all kinds of new problems because they don't understand nuances.

You can hear the 7 surviving episodes of Tales of Tomorrow at the Old-Time Radio Researchers' Library.