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 This fine high-adventure old time radio show first heard on Mutual
featured the veteran radio talent Elliott Lewis, who,
as Leonard Maltin writes in "The Great American Broadcast,
"…wore every hat imaginable-actor, producer,
and director-also penned a good number of scripts for
series he supervised, including Suspense." And Maltin
says of this show, "On the terrific late-1940s high-adventure
series The Voyage of the Scarlet Queen he held
down both jobs simultaneously as director and star."
Previously, Lewis was featured on The
Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show as the wise guy guitar
player, Frankie Remley. He also did major roles on the
Lux Radio Theatre,
The Whistler, The
Jack Benny Show and many others.
Lewis is a perfect sea captain, as the ketch Scarlet
Queen sails the seas in search of exotic ports where often
the unknown meets the sinister. Ed Max is Mr. Gallagher
on the show, and supporting roles come from the cream
of Hollywood's radio actors, including William Conrad (Escape, Gunsmoke),
Ben Wright, and John Dehner (Have
Gun, Will Travel). When listening to Voyage, the
old time radio show Escape come
to mind in comparison, and that's high praise, indeed.
 Lewis went on in the 1950s to produce and direct three
shows that aired in succession of Sunday nights: Broadway's
My Beat, On Stage (which also starred his
wife and fine radio actress, Kathy Lewis) and
Crime Classics.
Maltin says it all when he writes, "Lewis had the
ability to make you believe whatever he said. Cast as
the skipper on the high-adventure series The Voyage
of the Scarlet Queen, he was completely convincing
as seagoing ship's master Philip Carney-never corny or
overblown." So let a master captain of drama chart
a course to exotic ports of call and thrilling adventures.
All you have to do is step aboard The Scarlet Queen.
High adventure plays a major role on old time radio.
Most of the radio serials for kids could be considered
as high adventure, especially Hop
Harrigan, Speed Gibson of
the International Police, Terry
and the Pirates and Sergeant
Preston of the Yukon. Of course, the recognized
greatest of the high-adventure radio shows is Escape,
which told classic tales of mystery and adventure in near-perfect
manner. Also on the mystery and adventure list would be
Adventures by Morse, Suspense,
Bold Venture, Cloak
and Dagger, The Adventures
of Frank Race, the classic serials: I
Love a Mystery, Jungle Jim,
Moon Over Africa,
and You Are There.
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