Some time back, a PR representative was nice enough to send me a promotional copy of a DVD box set entitled Dark Crimes: a collection of fifty films and television episodes centering on the subject of mystery and murder—many of which might be described by film buffs as “film noir.”  A few of the titles […]

Singer-actor Tony Martin, who starred in such films as Ziegfeld Girl and Casbah, left this world for a better one on Friday, July 27 at the age of 98…his career is examined in nice detail in this online obituary at The Los Angeles Times.  Radio Spirits mourns his passing, recognizing Martin’s radio work on such […]

Fans of old-time radio might get a kick out of watching an old Perry Mason rerun, “The Case of the Lover’s Gamble,” which turns up on the classic television cable channel outlet Me-TV every now and then.  At the risk of spoiling the ending, the murderer in this case turns out to be a man […]

A surviving excerpt of radio’s The Fitch Bandwagon from April 23, 1944 features Broadway sensation Celeste Holm singing (complete with Brooklyn accent) the song written by Duffy’s Tavern’s Ed Gardner, “Leave Us Face It, We’re in Love.”  It’s one of the earliest on-the-air showcases for the actress who passed away Sunday, July 15, at the […]

Since the days of the nickelodeons, serials (or “chapter plays,” as they were also called) entertained motion picture audiences by spreading out a story over several installments, generally 20-30 minutes in length.  They were quite popular during the silent era, with crowds flocking to see actresses like Pearl White and Ruth Roland at the mercy […]

  At 7:30am EDT this Saturday morning, July 7th, Turner Classic Movies will show the 1942 WW2 musical comedy Seven Days’ Leave (1942), starring Victor Mature and Lucille Ball   It’s a romantic comedy whose premise seems to have been borrowed from the Buster Keaton classic Seven Chances (1925): Mature is GI Johnny Grey, who stands to inherit $100,000 […]

In 1979, veteran radio producers Fletcher Markle and Elliott Lewis made an attempt to resurrect the lost art of radio drama with The Sears Radio Theater, a program that followed in the footsteps of such 70s offerings as Zero Hour, Earplay and The CBS Radio Mystery Theater.  Five nights a week, offerings of comedy, drama, […]

  Playwright George S. Kaufman once observed: “Satire is what closes on Saturday night.”  Perhaps this famous quote might be able to explain the dismal box-office take of So This is New York (1948), a motion picture that failed to win over audiences despite laudatory reviews.  The satirical comedy, based on Ring Lardner’s novel The […]