MEMORIES Old Time Radio Club Of Buffalo I LOVE ADVENTURE Vol. 2 NO.2 - nemor i es (£) 1975 Old Time Radio Club. of 8uffalo t , - CONTENTS "I. L,OVE ADVENTURE" by Peter M. Bellanca••••••••••••••••••••••••••Page ) Atwater Kent ad ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••Page 7 "Cultivated Groaner" reprinted from Ilu, November 20, 1944••••••Page 8 -Radio Premiums. JACK A~~TRONG" by Ted Bronson••••••••••••••••••Page 11 "RadLo Station Call Letters" by Joe Anzalone & Ed Frost••••••••••Page 14 Magnavox ad (1944) •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••Page 18 ) ) ))))) ) )))) ) ))) ) ) ) ))) ) ) )))) )) ) ) ) ) ) ) )))))))) ) ) ) ) )) ) ) ) )) ) )) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) This issue of Memories is dedicated to Al Rockford and Don Rich­ ardson, who have done more than their share in helping to keep OTR alive and well. ) ) ) ) ) )))) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ))) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ))) ) ) ) ) ) ) )) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ))) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )) ) ) )) ) ) ) ) ) The Old Time Radio Club of Buffalo meets on the second Monday of every month at St. Matthew's Church, 1182 Seneca Street, Buffalo, New York. Anyone interested in the old time radio programs of the past is welcome to attend a meeting and observe or participate. Meetings begin at 71)0 PM. The purpose of both the OTRCOB and Memories is the regeneration of interest in old time radio. I.f the contents of this magazine stimu­ lates ~ interest, then we are justified. We welcome any comments, which may be sent to the address given below. Membership in the OTRCOR is $10.00 per year, and runs for 12 consecutive months. Members receive a membership card, Memories, and the club's monthly newsletter, ~ Illustrated Press. Comments, memberships, and contributions to the magazine can be sent to this address. OTReOR P.O. BOX 119 KElfiiORE, NEW YORK 14217 )»))»))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))»))))))))))))))))))))))) Memories staff' Editors' Chuck Seeley & Peter M. Bellanca Production Manager' Mill Dunworth )))))))) ) ) ) ) )) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )))) ) ) ) ) ))) ) ) )) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ))))))) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) Memories is the quarterly publication' of the Old Time Radio Club of Buffalo. Contents, except where noted, are copyright 1977 by the OTRCOB. All rights are hereby reassigned to the contributors. 2 I LOVE -ADVENTURE By Peter M. Bellanca In the first issue of Memories I wrote a short article about Carl­ ton E. Morse's adventure thriller, I LOVE A MYSTERY. ILAK was aired from 1939 to 1944 and from 1949 to 1952. It featured Jack Packard, Doc Long, and Reggie Yorke. What always bothered me was that there was a five year gap in their adventures. What were Jack, Doc, and Reggie doing during this period? (There is an underworld legend that the trio filled in as Doc Savage's assistant. for the cases of the Exploding Lake, Death is a Round B.lack Spot, the Death Lady, and Terror Wears No Shoes.) I hypothe­ sized that they were involved in super-secret undercover work in exotic locations, righting the wrongs of the world. My hypothesis was strength­ ened when I learned that our heroes surfaced for a brief 13 week period on the ABC radio network in a series called I LOVE ADVENTURE. Each program (which they called incidents) was self-sustaining and )0 minutes in length. Although billed as "the further adventures of Jack, Doc, and Reggie," the three heroes were never together in any of the programs. Jack appeared in all 13 incidents, Reggie in 7, and Doc in 5. Mary Kay Jones, "the cutest secretary in HollywoOd,'1 also appeared in 2 programs. In the first 6 incidents, we find Jack and Reggie in the employ of the 21 Old Men of 10 Grammacy Park. We later discover that the 21 Old Men are an' arm of the Federation of Pree Nations (a free world U.N.?). The first incident also gives us some background information on the three heroes. With the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. the A-1 Detective Agency closed and each partner went his separate way. Jack went into the U.S. Army, Intelligence Branch. Doc joined General Chennault's Flying Tigers and when they disbanded became a P-)8 fighter pilot. Reggie returned to England and joined the Royal Air Force. No mention is made of their ad­ ventures from 1941 to 1944 in the ILAM series. This discrepency can be explained that perhaps for security reasons this period is classified and the records of their deeds sealed. I. The !LA series begins with Jack being summoned to London to meet ;l with the 21 Old Men. At 10 Grammacy Park. which escaped all Nazi bombs while the rest of the neighborhood was leveled, Jack enters a cathedral­ like room, the ceiling of which is lost in the upper gloom. The room is lit by tall, leaded-glass, dome-like windows, and the walls are covered by huge tapestries that depict the history of the civilized world. The furniture is described as "period" and something that an Oriental mon­ arch would have in his palace. The tapestry on the west wall could be drawn back to reveal a giant 40 foot by 60 foot flawless one-way mirror. Behind this mirror were seated the 21 Old Men of 10 Gram­ macy Parkl In this roam Jack, and later Reggie, would receive the THE assignments that would take them PEG· LEG to the far corners of the earth. KILtER! Of all the assignments they received, the one I consider to be the most memorable was in Incident THE 6. They were ordered to go to Del­ PARALYZED hi, India and sit at the sidewalk FIEND! cafe of the Great Western Hotel, where they would be contacted by a one-eyed Greek bandit. You just don't get assignments like that THE BUND anymore. BEGGAR! In the first 6 incidents, Jack has more than his share of darinf escapes and battles with the THE world s international gangsters. In SECRET SOCIETY one incident, he's tied up and is CZARi about to become dinner for some Pirahnas when he cuts his bonds with a razor-blade that he had con­ cealed in the sole of his shoe. In another, he subdues an air pirate, changes places with him, and is transferred to the pirates' plane in mid-air by a rope ladder. Shades of James B.ondl Incident 7 finds Jack and Reggie back at the re-opened A-l Detective Agency "just off Holly­ wood Boulevard, one flight up." We discover that it was Doc's idea to re-open the agency, but Doc himself doesn't appear in the series until Incident 9, and then only for a few minutes. In Incident 10, Doc returns to major status with all the fusto of his !LAM days. The war hasn t dulled Doc's eye for the distaff members of society either, or as he puts it, "Ah'm a number one Texas boy ••••and any man with red blood in his veins between the ages of seven and seventy is girl crazy." 4 Incidents 7 to 1) are the normal run-of-the-mill adventures that you would expect Jack, Doc, and Reggie to be involved ina narcotics, ra­ dium smuggling, hi-jacking, phony ambassadors, secret formulae, and lo­ cating information of such vital importance that if it fell into the wrong hands the world wouldn't be a fit place to liveo After listening to the complete run of 1) programs, you get the feeling that there are two I LOVE ADVENTUREs. Incidents 1 through 6 and 1) comprise one series. In these incidents they are involved in inter­ national intrigues and politics for the 21 Old ~len of 10 Grammacy Park (Incident 1) should have been number 7, but was re-written eliminating the 21 Old N~n). Incidents 7 through 12 comprise the other series, and the thrae heroes are working for themselves in the A-1 Detective Agency, and spend most of their time in California. There was also an I~i (ILA) audition program, "But Grandma, What Big Teeth You Have", that used the same script as Incident 7. The audi­ tion featured Jack and Doc, while Incident 7 featured Jack and Reggie. N~ry Kay Jones also used her ILAbl last name of Brown in the audition program. After thirteen weeks of ILA, Jack, Doc, and Reggie go undercover again until 1949 when they reappear in the lLAM adventure, "The Fear that Creeps Like A Cat." 5 ------- -~ --- -------------------------- ~-~-- -----­ In all the incidents, Jack was played by Michael Raffetto, Doc by Barton Yarborough, and Reggie by Tom Collins. The announcer was Dresser Dahlstead and the organist was Rex Koury. International Incident #1 "The China Coast Incident" 4/25/48, written by Carlton B. Morse and John Paul Scofield International Incident #2 "The Great Air Mail Robbery" 5/2/48, written by Carlton E. Morse International Incident 113 "T-he Devills Sanctuary" 5/9/48, written by Carlton E. Morse and John Paul Scofield International Incident #4 "The Pearl of Great Price (The Lost Sacred City of Sheva)" 5/16/48, written by Carlton E. Morse International Incident #5 "The Hundred Million Ilollar Manhunt" 5/23/48, written by Carlton E. Morse and John Paul Scofield International Incident #6 "'rhe Finishing School Kidnapping" 5/30/48. written by Carlton E. It'lorse Incident #7 "But Grandma, What Big Teeth You Have" 6/6/48, written. by Carlton E. Morse Incident #8 "The Man With the Third Green Eye" 6/13/48, written by Sidney Marshall Incident #9 "The Girl in the Street" 6/20/48, written by Carlton E. Morse Incident #10 "The Kwan Moon Dagger" 6/27/48, written by Sidney Marshall Incident #11 "Assigrunent With A Displaced Person" 7/4/48, written by Carlton• E. Morse Incident #12 "Hearse on the Highway" 7/11/48, written by Thomas J. 0 I Hern International Incident #13 "The Ambassador Ricardo Santos Affair", written by Carlton E. Morse seE WHAT 'lOUR RED HAIR'S 60T US INTO, DOC ~ UNTAPE NER.