High Adventure Serial (1944 - 45)
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,
but also was perhaps the finest adventure writer/director
radio had. His great show I
Love A Mystery 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!
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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.
All text on OTRCAT.com are ©2006 OTRCAT INC - All Rights Reserved. Reproduction is prohibited.
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.
For other excellent Carlton E Morse productions, see also:
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