Saturday, December 27, 2014

25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas: Day 27 - Let George Do It Christmas Episodes

Working on sending out one blog entry each day in December to showcase great Old Time Radio for the Christmas season.  Here is a link to all the entries.  Here is day 27 Let George Do It Christmas Episodes.  Yeah...so it continues.  Why not - these are great episodes from one of my favorite radio actors, Bob Bailey.  I have a few more I'd let to get in before the new year...fingers crossed!

If you have Sirius/XM, you can listen to Greg Bell's Old time radio channel (#82). He has a number of great programs available throughout the month of December on his great show.  You can also get a large number of these programs at a variety or resources on the web. One place to find these shows is the 500 OTR Christmas Shows from the Internet Archive. This is a great resources for many of these wonderful radio shows!

Scenes from Reagan National Airport (Washington, D.C.) - Tuesday November 5, 2013

Not that George...Here is the Washington Monument
View from Reagan National Airport, November 2013.

Let George Do It is a radio drama that played on the West Coast of the United States. It was aired over the Don Lee-Mutual Network and sponsored by Standard Oil of California and later by Chevron Supreme Gasoline.  You might think of it as a poor-man's Whistler...if you can.  The series stared Bob Bailey as George Valentine, a former GI who did odd jobs, but of a special variety.  He was less of a handyman, than a man who was very handy to get you out of a situation.  Most of the messages stated off with Bob Bailey saying "Personal notice: Danger's my stock in trade. If the job's too tough for you to handle, you've got a job for me. George Valentine."  The next thing you heard was the letter that was sent into to George.  It reminded me of Box 13 (staring Alan Ladd), which is one of my favorite series.  George Valentine was accompanied on his work by his secretary, confidant, companion and quasi-partner, Booksie (full name Claire Brooks).  Brooksie was played by a number of actresses, but most my favorite was Virginia Gregg.  When you hear the confidence that Bob Bailey provides George Valentine, you can see why he was the very best Johnny Dollar actor who ever took over that part.

These Christmas episodes are from 1949, 1950 and early 1951.  The series would run from 1946 through 1954, though the last Bob Bailey episode (known) was December 1952.  He would play a variety or roles until starting as Johnny Dollar on October 3rd, 1955.

Follow That Train (December 19, 1949)

Summary:  When George gets a letter, he normally takes it very seriously.  On the week before Christmas, George received a letter from Santa Claus!  They found that it was sent from a department store, and went there to see what was going on.  But in the mix, Brooksie gets kidnapped?  What is happening - is the big guy behind it?  The episode also includes CBS stars Wally Maher, Lawrence Dobkin, Herb Butterfield, and John Dehner.

Santa Claus in Glass (December 25, 1950)

Summary: If you have a job that's too tough to handle, well that is not George Valentine's problem on Christmas!  When he gets roped into a case on Christmas that has jealousy, murder, stolen packages...and just about everything on your naughty Christmas list.

Christmas in January (January 29, 1951)

Summary:  When a famous movie star buys a painting for someone she hates...people like George Valentine begin to wonder.  But when she spends a great deal of money for a counterfeit painting, the intended recipient, the columnist Fracis Xavier Wick who famously celebrates Christmas in January, delights in embarrassing her. And when murder becomes the surprise, someone has to fix it.  Also stars Lawrence Dobkin, John Dehner, Ted de Corsia, Shirley Mitchell, and Lee Patrick.

This is a fun series and I hope you enjoy it!

Here are some links to programs relating to Let George Do It:
25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas:
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