husband, college professor Edward M. Cable, George and Brooksie are told that Gloria is going away...for a nice long rest. Ted Osborne, Lurene Tuttle, Robert Griffin, Noreen LET GEORGE DO IT Gammill, and Victor Rodman are heard in this episode. Full Details CD 8B: “Portuguese Cove” - May 22, 1950 The housekeeper who works for a deep-sea tuna boat Program Guide by Ivan G. Shreve, Jr. captain named Lemago writes to George. She describes how her employer -- a notably kind and gentle soul -- decked Actress Virginia Gregg began her show business career as a bass viol virtuoso. a mailman. When George and Brooksie investigate, they But her heart was never really in it, despite her pedigree (her mother, Dewey encounter a peculiar clan of feuding fishermen...and murder! Francis X. Bushman is Todd Alphaleta, was also a musician). What she wanted to do was become an Featured in this broadcast are Walter Burke, Francis X. heard in "Portuguese Cove." actress, and it wouldn’t be long before Radio Mirror described her as “one of the Bushman, Gwen Delano, Elliott Reid, and Harry Bartell. busiest (and prettiest) people in radio.” Her first professional voice work was still grounded in music: a stint with a vocal group known as “The Singing Strings” (which performed over Los Angeles’ KHJ in 1937). Ginny graduated from Singing String to sound effect, developing what she described as “a terrific scream.” Indeed, it was put to excellent use on many of If you enjoyed this CD set, we recommend radio’s horror shows of the period, including Lights Out. “The day I received a Let George Do It: Sweet Poison, available chance to act instead of wield a bow, I sold the bass viol,” she recalled for Radio now at www.RadioSpirits.com. Life in 1946, “and I haven’t been near one since.” With the number of programs on which she emoted, it’s a safe bet she wouldn’t have had the energy to pick up that bow. From the 1940s to the 1960s, Virginia Gregg was on the radio all the time. Show business has often been accused of possessing a strong streak of nepotism, and Virginia’s marriage to director-producer Jaime del www.RadioSpirits.com Valle in 1948 certainly didn’t PO Box 1315, Little Falls, NJ 07424 hurt her where steady work was concerned. Del Valle was © 2018 RSPT LLC. All rights reserved. For home use only. the director of Family Theatre, Unauthorized distribution prohibited. a show on which Gregg appeared frequently…not to Program Guide © 2018 Let George Do It and RSPT LLC. All Rights Reserved. mention Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, The Line-Up, and The 47942 General Electric Theatre. Yet to say that Virginia won these roles solely who’s occupying a silver coffin in his room. Featured in this broadcast are Alan because she had an “in” with the boss (whom Reed, Louise Arthur, Lawrence Dobkin, Walter Burke, and Willis Bouchey. she divorced in 1959) would be libelous. She wasn’t married to Jack Webb, who made her a CD 6A: “The Brothers McIntosh” - April 3, 1950 member of his “stock company” on Dragnet. Mervyn McIntosh is described by his butler as a man so genial “he’d slap the (Ginny would not only graduate to roles on Devil on the back and offer him a cigar.” When Mervyn is murdered, the likely the TV version of that seminal cop show, she suspect would seem to be his “sour apple” brother Bill...but Bill swears that the also made the rounds on the Webb-produced victim had a deadly enemy. Ted de Corsia, Lawrence Dobkin, Ed Begley, Ed Emergency! and Adam-12.) Fields, Pat McGeehan, and Tony Barrett are heard in this episode. In the case of director-producer Norman CD 6B: “Portrait by Priscilla” - April 10, 1950 Macdonnell...whenever Norm had a show on Simpson, the owner of a department store, is attacked at an art studio while the airwaves, it wasn’t long before Virginia examining a portrait. He hires George, who soon finds himself investigating the Virginia Gregg Gregg could be found standing in front of the murder of both the artist and the man depicted in the painting. Featured in this microphone. Gregg’s resume with Macdonnell included The Adventures of broadcast are Rolfe Sedan, Robert Griffin, Pat McGeehan, Lurene Tuttle, Donald Phillip Marlowe, Escape, Fort Laramie, Rogers of the Gazette, and Romance. Buka, and Harold Dryanforth. She wasn’t on Macdonnell’s legendary Gunsmoke every week (even if it often seemed like she was), but when CBS asked Norm to adapt its hit TV series Have CD 7A: “Mix-Up in La Cruza” - April 17, 1950 Gun – Will Travel for radio, Ginny would eventually play the recurring role of George’s assignment: fly to a small coastal town in Mexico and steal $100,000 Miss Wong (the love interest of Paladin’s trusty manservant “Hey Boy”). worth of diamonds from the client who’s hired him. Tempted by the vacation, he and Brooksie take the gig for a little R-and-R...but someone beats them to the If Virginia Gregg had a “stock-in-trade” in radio, it might have been the role theft! Lawrence Dobkin, Harold Dryanforth, Sandra Gould, Dan O’Herlihy, and of girlfriend to the aural medium’s best-known detective heroes. For example, Jack Kruschen are heard in this episode. during the final season of Ellery Queen (1947-48), Ginny was one of several actresses to portray Ellery’s girl Friday, Nikki Porter. Gregg’s best-remembered CD 7B: “Death Begins at .45” - April 24, 1950 “girlfriend” gig was playing Helen Asher on Richard Diamond, Private Wendell Mason, whose journalistic pursuits Detective. A wealthy socialite, Helen would often be serenaded in her penthouse have rarely gone beyond reporting on gardening, by Diamond (Dick Powell) after he had solved a complicated case. has stumbled onto the scoop of a lifetime in the quiet suburb of River Vista. Racketeer Virginia’s other long-running stint as sounding-board-to-the-sleuth was on a Rocco Bannion has been discovered dead on Mutual-Don Lee series heard exclusively on the West Coast during its original a houseboat! Featured in this broadcast are Pat run: Let George Do It. The “George” of the title was an ex-G.I. named George McGeehan, Doris Singleton, Lawrence Dobkin, Valentine. Concerned about his rapidly depleting bank account, Valentine William Conrad, and Robert Griffin. decided to go into business for himself as sort of a “problem-solving” concierge. To promote his new venture, George took out several newspaper ads declaring: CD 8A: “The Chair of Humanities” - “If the job’s too tough for you to handle, you’ve got a job for me.” May 1, 1950 Gloria Cable writes a letter to Valentine urgently Let George Do It premiered over Mutual on September 20, 1946, starring Robert requesting his help. However, in a follow-up “Bob” Bailey (who would later achieve radio fame as the “fabulous freelance phone call, she insists that nothing is wrong and Dan O'Herlihy is heard in "Go Jump in the Lake" investigator” on Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar). In the series’ early years, the that all should be forgotten. Meeting with her and "Mix-Up in La Cruza." 2 7 CD 3B: “The Floaters” - January 23, 1950 titular hero was more jack-of-all-trades than detective. An October 1946 edition Bernice Hillary wakes Valentine at 2:00am to of Radio Life enthusiastically described George as “radio’s busiest little bee, ask if he’ll meet her in a rundown motel on the proving his salt as the airways’ ablest ‘anything for a price’ guy.” As he gradually Mexican border. When George and Brooksie eased into the sleuthing racket, he solved cases through sheer determination. arrive, they’re accosted by a stranger...and (And it didn’t hurt that he could hold his own in a fight!) His office boy was discover a woman named Helga and her an eager young lad named “Sonny” Brooks (played by That Brewster Boy’s “coughing” companion dead inside Bernice’s Eddie Firestone, Jr.), who suggested that his sister Claire might make a suitable cabin. Featured in this broadcast are Jane Webb, assistant for his boss. Eddie Fields, Joseph Du Val, Ruth Perrott, and Tony Barrett. Claire “Brooksie” Brooks was unforgettably described by old-time radio historian Jack French (in his reference work Private Eyelashes) as “a lady of CD 4A: “The Ugly Duckling” initiative, courage, and foresight, whose efforts made her his partner, in all but - January 30, 1950 name.” Originally played by the talented Frances Robinson, Brooksie had a Jascha Hardwick submits a request for George’s rather cozy relationship with her boss. George affectionately called her “Angel,” services: he’s concerned about Edmund Salter, and Brooksie reciprocated with “Darling.” A 1947 Radio Life article on the series Jane Webb is heard in "The Floaters." a composer-pianist who’s not been well...and joked, “On occasion…she has picked up her office phone and greeted startled whose wife is suffering from the strain of taking care of him. Arriving at the prospective customers with: ‘Hello—Let Darling Do It.’” Salters’, our heroes learn that the man nicknamed “The Ugly Duckling” has passed on, leaving behind a “secret sonata.” Ken Christy, Lawrence Dobkin, The relationship between George and Brooksie had a rather chaste Lamont Irene Tedrow, Lee Patrick, Jay Novello, and Victor Rodman are heard in this Cranston-Margo Lane vibe to it...not that Brooksie didn’t entertain thoughts of episode.