Rare Drama, Music, Comedy, Suspense, Mystery, Detective, Crime, Adventure and a spiteful literary critic (1920s-1950s)

Whether you seek farce, handcuffing, soapy stories, lilting melodies, exotic adventure or spiteful literary criticism, Random Rarities Three is sure to entertain and delight. This varied collection includes some hilarious comedians. There are two nuts in particular you will want to meet, Millie and Mr. McNutley. Meet Millie, the dimwitted Brooklyn secretary who woos the boss’ son. Reminiscent of the humor on My Friend Irma, Meet Millie became a television program in 1952. Then step on over and Meet Mr. McNutley, a General Electric situation comedy starring Ray Milland as a dreamy English professor at an all-girls college.

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Hang onto yor handbag, because daring dramas abound. There’s Manhattan Mother, a soap opera sponsored by Chipso Soap, broadcast in 1938-1940 with only two surviving episodes. Or stay up late for Manhattan at Midnight, a romantic drama from 1940 sponsored by Sterling Drugs. Perhaps you are in the mood for The Man from Homicide, a 1951 police drama directed by Dick Powell . It stars Dan Duryea as copper Lou Dana who comes down tough on criminals, “I don’t like killers.” And who does? Except for maybe The Man Named Jordan, the adventure serial that eventually became Rocky Jordan. Full of mystery and intrigue, the show began in 1945, when Rocky owned Café Tambourine “in the narrow street off Instanbul’s Grand Bazaar.”

If your feet can’t stop dancing or your puckered lips can’t quit blowing a whistley melodic tune, then lend an ear to The Mildred Bailey Show, starring theinfamous jazz singer. Or tap on over to The Standard Hour, a concert music program from 1926 through 1950s. Later programs included more varied music, including jazz, folk and ballads with such guests as Louis Armstrong, Jack Teagarden and Jerome Hines.

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Then there’s such novel programs as Town Crier, a show created by Alexander Woollcott, the snobbish theater and literary critic who hailed from the Round Table (a cleverly hateful literary group that met at the Algonquin Hotel during the 1920s). Woollcott could make or break a book, and was pompously responsible for championing Goodbye, Mr. Chips, thrusting it into every popular American parlor. He was said to have the worst voice on radio, yet had a very popular program. Take a listen and see why!

See also Random Rarities 1, Random Rarities 2, Random Rarities 4, and Random Rarities 5.