Next Item: (3038) Adventures By Morse; City of the Dead Starring Capt. Friday

Summary:

The justly famed Carlton E. Morse had two minds when it came to great old time radio shows…he did a wonderful family drama called One Man's Family (http://www.otrcat.com/onemansfamily-p-1685.html), but also was perhaps the finest adventure writer/director radio had. His great show I Love A Mystery (http://www.otrcat.com/iloveamystery-p-1398.html) was (and still is) one of the most beloved of radio adventure shows. It was easy to see why…the Morse touch was evident in twisting plots, odd but very believable characters, and wonderfully colorful dialogue that was funny, charming and inventive as well as exciting!

Writer/producer/director Morse took the Jack Packard "leader" role and made it Capt. Bart Friday, a San Francisco-based detective and adventurer, as played by radio legend Elliott Lewis, and also David Ellis and Russell Thorson. Plus ILAM's drawling comic character Doc Long was cloned into Skip Turner, played by Jack Edwards. Missing was ILAM's "rather" amused Reggie played by young Tony Randall. Two out of three isn't bad. The show has long adventures of ten episodes along with three-partners to make up a thirteen-week broadcast contract. Thus we get "novel" length high adventures, plus "short story" thrillers that were a match for anything the pulps served up during their golden years. See also I Love Adventure (http://www.otrcat.com/iloveadventure-p-1401.html). />

Elliott Lewis had a long and fruitful career in radio, playing on the Jack Benny Show and then featured as Frankie Remley (later called Elliott) on The Phil Harris and Alice Faye Show. But a great bookend to this series is the wonderful show The Voyage of the Scarlet Queen. Lewis' work on Adventures by Morse was the finishing school that helped make his Scarlet Queen such a great show. Plus Scarlet Queen's writers were right up there with Morse! A high-adventure show list from old time radio should include the wonderful Escape, plus that classic of thrills and mystery, Suspense. Bogie and Bacall make Bold Venture a great deal of fun. You might also consider Cloak and Dagger, The Adventures of Frank Race, Jungle Jim, Moon Over Africa, or for historical adventure, the excellent show You Are There. Orson Welles productions are always wonderful radio, and many make for thrilling listening.

On OTRCat: http://www.otrcat.com/adventuresbymorse-p-1622.html