Dramatic anthology (1948 - 50)

These half-hours of drama and sometimes comedy were often very exciting and suspenseful. The cast was very good New York veterans of radio and stage, including Jan Minor and John Larkin as featured performers. The director, Harry W. Junkin, also served as the show's host and narrator. Each week the show introduced a new story, often written by well-known writers of fantasy and suspense such as Ray Bradbury, Cornell Woolrich, Agatha Christie and Paul Gallico. They were dramatized with a full orchestral soundtrack and excellent sound effects.

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Although overshadowed by the earlier classics of anthology such as the Lux Radio Theater, the Radio City Playhouse is fondly remembered for its solid dramatic content, and quality radio acting. One of the dramas, "Long Distance," starred Jan Minor as a distraught wife trying to reach a judge on the West Coast to sign an immediate stay of execution that will take her innocent husband's life in a matter of hours. That show is considered as a classic that ranks with Agnes Moorehead's "Sorry, Wrong Number," of Suspense fame.

For more dramatic anthologies, please see Lux Radio Theater, Mercury Theater and Campbell Playhouse (separately, or in the Orson Welles collection.) See also The Corsican Brothers, Scarlet Pimpernel, and Frankenstein for classic adaptations. For anthologies of well-known suspense tales, you should see Escape and Suspense.