In The Corner With Dan Hughes

The Skippy Hollywood Theatre was one of the first radio programs that was NOT aired live in front of a studio audience.  Instead, it was recorded and edited before it went on the air.  And until its final year on the air, it wasn't on a national network.  It was a syndicated program, meaning that individual stations contracted to carry the show.  Skippy Peanut Butter had a good thing going, because in the markets where the Skippy Hollywood Theatre played, Skippy Peanut Butter sales skyrocketed.This episode, Three Strikes Yer Out, first aired on August 13, 1948.

Counterfeit coins have been in the news recently, and this show examines some of the more common types of counterfeits. From making your own from scratch, or altering dates on real coins, or combining two real coins into a third coin that is worth thousands of dollars more than either of the originals.  The latest instance of fakery centers around the 1883-S Morgan dollar.  The photo shows how coins can have their faces shaved off, and then two halves are pressed together to make a "new" coin which is much more valuable than the two coins you started with. You can also read some articles on metal detecting, and check out my ad for my treasure hunting book, at http://treasuremanual.com.

Cartoonist Ed Dodd, who was also a Boy Scout leader and a National Parks guide, created the newspaper comic strip Mark Trail in 1946.  Mark Trail was a wildlife writer and photographer.  The strip started in 45 newspapers, and at its peak it appeared in over 400 markets.The comic strip became a radio show in 1946, first as a half-hour program airing three times a week, and later as a 15-minute show.This episode, Purse Strings of Danger, first aired on September 25, 1950.

J. Donald Wilson produced two radio series:  The Whistler, and Dark Venture.Dark Venture began as a west-coast-only show (as did The Whistler), but after a year it expanded to the nationwide ABC radio network.It was a psychological thriller.  The listener was able to get inside the murder's head, hearing his thoughts as he (or she) rationalized and planned their foul deeds.Dark Venture ran from 1945 to 1947.  This episode, The Last Inhabitant, originally ran on November 18, 1946. 

All because of a bum knee.  Mr. Doe had been collecting coins for over half a century, and he found a good many silver coins in half-dollar coin rolls he bought from banks around his home in New Orleans.But he gave up the hobby a few years ago, when the silver pretty much dried up.A knee replacement operation left him rehabbing in his easy chair, and rather than just vegetate, he took up his old hobby of coin roll hunting again.  And this show tells the story of his unbelievable find. You can also read some articles on metal detecting, and my spiffy book ad, at http://treasuremanual.com.

Husband and wife writing team Frank and Anne Hummert (pictured here) were known as the parents of the radio soap opera.  Among their many creations are Ma Perkins, Just Plain Bill, Mary Noble Backstage Wife, Stella Dallas, Young Widder Brown, Lorenzo Jones, Our Gal Sunday, and the Romance of Helen Trent.   But they also created some nighttime shows, too, like Front Page Farrell, Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons, and Mr. Chameleon.  And Inspector Thorne,  a murder mystery summer replacement series.  It ran on NBC from July to September of 1951.   Inspector Thorne was played by Karl Webber for the first half of the run, and then Staats Cotsworth took over for the rest of the run. This episode, The Defrosted Refrigerator Murder Case, first ran on August 10, 1951.

Author's Playhouse turned the world's finest short stories into half-hour radio shows.  The program aired from 1941 to1945 on the NBC Network.  This episode, The Man Who Woke Up Famous, first aired on July 15, 1944.

In 1857, a ship loaded with gold from the California Gold Rush sank off the coast of South Carolina.  430 passengers and crew members drowned, and the ship ended up a mile and a half down, on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean.In 1980, a scientist from Columbus, Ohio, decided to search for the ship.  He collected a lot of money from investors, and after several years of work, he found the ship and pulled millions of dollars worth of gold from it.  But he made no payouts, and soon his investors began suing for the promised money they never got.  Next thing you know, he disappeared.  And he took his secretary (also his mistress) with him.  Here's the whole sordid story. And if you need a really great book on metal detecting, either for yourself or for a gift, please give mine a look.  It's at http://treasuremanual.com, along with some articles and tips and secrets to help you improve your detecting skills.

Bob Hastings, who died last month, was best-known by old-time radio fans as Archie Andrews, of the Archie-Jughead-Betty-Veronica series.  But before playing Archie, Bob was Jerry, the young mate on Captain Silver's ship, the Seahound.  The Seahound sailed the seven seas in search of adventure.  The program was written by Fran Striker, who also created and wrote scripts for The Lone Ranger.The Seahound had two runs, from 1942 to 1944, and then as a summer replacement show in 1948.  Because the episodes were just 15 minutes each, I've been able to fit two of them into this show.  They are called The Capture and The Escape, and they both aired in October, 1944.

Tales of Tomorrow was a short-lived radio show wherein short stories from Galaxy science fiction magazine were adapted into half-hour radio dramas.  Host of the series was the famous "Raymond" - Raymond Edward Johnson.  The series started on ABC and then moved to CBS.  It was on the air from New Year's Day to April 9, 1953.  Galaxy editor H.L. Gold, who also wrote for the magazine, bought stories that had a psychological, sociological, or satirical bend, rather than the "earth vs. aliens" stories that were popular in other magazines.    This story, Gold's own The Old Die Rich, appeared in the March 1953 issue  of Galaxy, and was broadcast on Tales of Tomorrow on March 26, 1953. 

Remember your first detector?  Your first find?  Your first GOOD find?  This week's show is a look at my beginning, and the find that hooked me into this wonderful hobby forever.  I'd love to hear about your first good find; just click below to leave a COMMENT.  And if you need a really great book on metal detecting, either for yourself or for a gift, please give mine a look.  It's at http://treasuremanual.com, along with some articles and tips and secrets to help you improve your detecting skills.

The radio sitcom The Magnificent Montague was created by Nat Hiken, who was a comedy writer for Fred Allen and Milton Berle.  He later created You'll Never Get Rich (The Phil Silvers Show) and Car 54, Where Are You.  The star of The Magnificent Montague was Monty Wooley, a college professor turned actor.  He starred in both the Broadway production and movie version of The Man Who Came to Dinner before he went into radio.Montague was a Shakespearean actor who had fallen on hard times and had to take a job as - gasp! - a RADIO actor!This is the first episode.  It aired on November 10, 1950.

College credits by radio!  Sounds great for those enrolled in the class, but who else would want to listen to "educational programs" on the radio, when all the fun stuff was on the other stations?That was the dilemma the NBC University Theater faced.  People were afraid they might be educated if they listened to the show!  And we all know how boring THAT is.Nonetheless, this show, which was on the air from 1948 to 1951, more than held its own with the other radio programs that adapted books and short stories to the air.  Big name stars appeared, and the scripts were outstanding.  If the program had been given a more enticing name, it might well have garnered a much larger audience.This episode, Mark Twain's The Man That Corrupted Hadleyville, first aired on January 24, 1951.

The rare 1903-O (for New Orleans) silver dollar was worth a lot of money in the early 1960s.  Then several thousand of them were found, stored uncirculated in bags of a thousand each, in a vault at the Philadelphia mint.  Suddenly, their value dropped by two-thirds.This show explains why the mint made more silver dollars than they needed for half a century, and why silver dollars are suddenly in demand every November.  And how, in November 1962, the Philadelphia mint sold millions of uncirculated old silver dollars that had been hidden away in its vaults. If you need a really great book on metal detecting, either for yourself or for a gift, please give mine a look.  It's at http://treasuremanual.com, along with some articles and tips and secrets to help you improve your detecting skills.

The Lineup was probably inspired by the success of Dragnet on the radio.  The Lineup ran on CBS from 1950 to 1953, and it had an impressive cast presenting well-written stories.Bill Johnstone, who had played the Shadow for five years (between Orson Welles and Bret Morrison) starred as Police Lieutenant Ben Guthrie in "a great American city."This episode, The Silk Stocking Bandit, originally aired on March 25, 1952.

Poor Gregory Hood.  He got no respect from Mutual or ABC, the two networks that carried him.  Six different actors in five years played Hood, and his time slot changed (both day AND time) seven times during its run.Gregory Hood was an importer and amateur detective who lived in San Francisco.  The scripts were written by the same team who scripted the Sherlock Holmes radio series.  (Gregory Hood began as a summer replacement for Sherlock.)This episode, Gregory Hood, Suspect, first aired on September 30, 1946.

Do you use Google to research for metal detecting honeyholes and treasure leads?  Do you know how to winnow over three million poor leads into a few dozen good ones?  (Look at the two different Google searches in the graphic).Herewith, with bigtime thanks to Dick Stout, are some tips on keywords you should be using for your area, and some secrets of eliminating the hits you don't want.  Dick writes a treasure hunting blog you should be reading:  http://stoutstandards.wordpress.com.  He's fun, he's controversial, and he's knowledgeable.  (And he's cute, too!) You can also read some of my articles on metal detecting, and my spiffy book ad, at http://treasuremanual.com.

The House of Mystery ran on Mutual from 1945 to 1949.  Narrator Roger Elliott (played by John Griggs) told ghost stories to kids.  The show started as a 15-minute strip, but soon expanded to a half-hour.  This episode, A Gift from the Dead, first aired on August 3, 1947.

"One of the most outstanding programs in radio" - Variety."The boldest and hardest-hitting program of 1944" - New York Times.Words at War ran just two years, from June 1943 to June 1945.  Its theme was World War II.  Novels and short stories were featured, as were non-fiction war correspondents like Ernie Pyle.  In this episode, host Carl Van Doren presents Fair Stood the Wind for France, which is both a war story and a love story, and is considered one of the very best shows of the series.  It first aired on June 27, 1944.