Hello and welcome to The Old-Time Radio Hour Blog. I'm your host Justeen Ward and each week we bring you a classic show from Radio's Golden Age. The Columbia Workshop was a radio show unlike all others. Columbia Workshop welcomed new ideas, new radio techniques and new talent. They experimented with every aspect of sound to create a full experience for their listeners. Great playwrights, composers and poets contributed to the effort. This week we have radio plays by two very famous authors, Arthur Miller and Ernest Hemingway. First we have one of the first works of a recent college graduate who would have a seven decade long career as one of the greatest dramatists of the 20th century and he also was married to film star Marilyn Monroe. Arthur Miller had been honored in college with the Avery Hopwood Award for his first play, written as an undergraduate, called No Villain but he was an unknown when this fascinating radio play aired. It examines truth and fiction in the life of William Ireland, famous for his forged Shakespeare plays. Enjoy The Columbia Workshop "William Ireland's Confession" first broadcast October 19, 1939 on CBS. Next we have a story by Ernest Hemingway adapted for radio. Irving Reis was a catalyst in creating the Columbia Workshop. He recognized how important it was to stretch the boundaries of radio beyond simple commercial offerings or information programming. Ernest Hemingway personally handed over several of his short stories for Reis to dramatize. Today we have a Hemingway story about a boxer that will bring the rough and tumble world of boxing to life through sound effects and dialogue. This is the Columbia Workshop "Fifty Grand" first broadcast July 18, 1937 on CBS. The Old-Time Radio Hour broadcasts each week over the World Wide Web. You can subscribe at no charge through Apple Podcast, Podbean or RSS and we're now on YouTube. Thank you so much for listening! We hope you can join us again next week for another hour of entertainment from the golden age of radio.
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Hello and welcome to The Old-Time Radio Hour Blog. I'm your host Justeen Ward and each week we bring you a classic show from Radio's Golden Age. Today we have two Columbia Workshop selections created by Norman Corwin, known as the Poet Laureate of radio. These shows were both created before World War Two. First we have a hilarious Leap Year comedy when everything is backwards. It's Sadie Hawkins day when women can propose to men, a famous composer runs a dramatic theater company, and Burgess Meredith does vaudeville. Lots of well known radio personalities turning into the opposite of their public personas. This is Columbia Radio Workshop "The Great Microphone Mystery" first broadcast February 29, 1940 on CBS. Next we have a dramatic show from Columbia Workshop and Norman Corwin. It's a poetic, surreal exploration of a marriage made miserable by personalities and the economic pressures of the great Depression. Norman Corwin directed the show and augmented the language with unique sound effects. This is Columbia Workshop "Wake up and Die" first broadcast October 12, 1939 on CBS. The Old-Time Radio Hour broadcasts each week over the World Wide Web. You can subscribe at no charge through Apple Podcast, Podbean or RSS and we're now on YouTube.
Hello and welcome to The Old-Time Radio Hour Blog. I'm your host Justeen Ward and each week we bring you a classic show from Radio's Golden Age. Radio made it possible for listeners all over the country to hear the best big bands play in premiere nightclubs through the magic of radio. This week we have an hour of The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra with Frank Sinatra, Jo Stafford and the Pied Pipers from the Meadowbrook in Cedar Grove New Jersey, a wonderful supper club that featured big bands in the years before World War II. The second half of this week's show includes a medley of university fight songs you are sure to enjoy. You can dance to these tunes or enjoy listening. Our big band remote broadcast from New Jersey continues with lots of hit songs of the big band era. Jo Stafford was one of the biggest stars of the big band era and she began her singing career with classical training. She married arranger and band leader Paul Weston. Later in life they created a comedy act called Jonathan and Darlene Edwards in which they mangled popular songs in exquisitely comic ways. Jo Stafford won a Grammy award for best comedy album in 1961 with Jonathan and Darlene Edwards in Paris. Frank Sinatra performs with The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra first broadcast February 24, 1940 on NBC. The Old-Time Radio Hour broadcasts each week over the World Wide Web. You can subscribe at no charge through Apple Podcast, Podbean or RSS and we're now on YouTube. Thank you so much for listening!
Hello and welcome to The Old-Time Radio Hour Blog. I'm your host Justeen Ward and each week we bring you a classic show from Radio's Golden Age. This week we have an emotional musical tribute to Jerome Kern a month after he died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage in November of 1945 at the young age of 60. He was one of the most popular songwriters in history and also much loved by those who knew him professionally or personally. So there were many stars who gladly participated in a tribute to Kern sponsored by ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. We have a transcription of this hour long radio special that is in good sound. I know you will enjoy hearing these songs that remain well loved even now, 66 years after Jerome Kern's untimely death. Starring Nelson Eddy, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Dinah Shore, Bing Crosby and many more it was a great show. New technology made it possible for artists on both coasts to contribute to this Tribute to Jerome Kern presented by ASCAP first broadcast December 9, 1945 on CBS. The Old-Time Radio Hour broadcasts each week over the World Wide Web. You can subscribe at no charge through Apple Podcast, Podbean or RSS and we're now on YouTube. Thank you so much for listening! We hope you can join us again next week for another hour of entertainment from the golden age of radio.
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