Happy 100th to Gerald Mohr

Today is the 100th Anniversary of the birth of radio actor Gerald Mohr.  Yesterday, I shared this link to his work on the great Adventures of Philip Marlowe on CBS radio.  He was born on June 1, 1914 in New York City.  He would have one of the most impressive radio careers of all the actors to stand behind the mic.  Much of what he did was for CBS radio and came over radios like the antique above (a picture from an exhibit at John Wayne Airport in 2012).

While Gerald Mohr was very well known for Philip Marlowe, he was very acoomplished and showed up on many series.  Here are two that I would like to showcase.  Hopefully, I will get to more later.

Box 13 
Box 13 is a great series that features Alan Ladd as Dan Holiday, a mystery writer who developed stories from the ideas that he unearthed through a simple classified advertisement:  "Adventure wanted, will go anywhere, do anything, Box 13."  This is one of my favorite series and I wish it lasted more than 52 episodes.  

One episode (originally airing on June 26, 1949) was called Speed To Burn. In this story, Dan Holiday is contacted by a young woman whose brother was caught up in a stolen car ring.  Dan infiltrates the gang after posing like a mechanic.  The head of the stolen car ring was Gerald Mohr.  

The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe
For four episodes of this series on NBC based on the great detective created by Rex Stout, Mohr played Nero Wolfe's assistant Archie Goodwin.  Nero Wolfe was played by Sidney Greenstreet.  The others who played Goodwin in this run were also famous radio stars, Lawrence Dobkin and Harry Bartell who appeared before and after Mohr.  Archie's role was that of Nero Wolfe's proxy when the crimes necessitated leaving Wolfe's brownstone.  These are a real delight, even if you are not that familiar with Nero Wolfe and the great characters from the writing of Rex Stout.  Here are the four episodes that feature Gerald Mohr as Archie.

• January 12, 1951 The Killer Cards
• January 19, 1951 The Calculated Risk
• January 26, 1951 The Phantom Fingers
• February 2, 1951 The Vanishing Shells 

Hope you enjoy these great recordings from the Golden Age of Radio!  I will share more of my favorite episodes soon - as well as other those from other series.  I will definitely cover his great work on The Whistler for sure!

Here are some links to share:

• Gerald Mohr's Wikipedia Page
• His IMDB page
• Great fan site at geraldmohr.biz
• Gerald Mohr Radio Biography
• Internet Archive page for recordings from the Adventures of Philip Marlowe
• Digital Deli page for the Adventures of Philip Marlowe (great episode log and information about the series.
• Listing of Gerald Mohr episodes from OTRCAT and from radioGOLDINdex

Adventures of Philip Marlowe - Happy Birthday Gerald Mohr (100th Anniversary Celebration - June 11)

 

Well, it is a day early, but I think I am going add a few blog entries to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the birth of radio actor Gerald Mohr.  He was born on June 1, 1914 in New York City.  He would have one of the most impressive radio careers of all the actors to stand behind the mic.  Much of what he did was for CBS radio and recorded at their Hollywood studios (shown above last year).  

Over the next few days, I am going to share some of my favorite series and episodes over the next few days.  In fact, I might keep this going for a while, as I love his work.  

Getting started, here are some resources to check out:

• Gerald Mohr's Wikipedia Page
• His IMDB page
• Great fan site at geraldmohr.biz
• Gerald Mohr Radio Biography

Probably his most notable role was that of the title character in CBS's Adventures of Philip Marlowe.  This was a great series based on the great Raymond Chandler character.  It is one that I love to listen to in the car, at my desk and in the kitchen.  From the great write up on Internet Archive:

"A year later CBS decided to take a chance on reviving the show. Norman Macdonnell was producer/director; Gene Levitt, Robert Mitchell, Mel Dinelli, and Kathleen Hite wrote the scripts; and Richard Aurandt was responsible for the music. CBS cast Gerald Mohr to star as Philip Marlowe, with Roy Rowan as announcer. Philip Marlowe, being a loner, was really the only regular character, but throughout the three years the series ran a long string of high-quality supporting Hollywood actors appeared on the show. Performing alongside Mohr at various times were Jeff Corey, Howard McNear, Parley Baer, Lawrence Dobkin, Virginia Gregg, Gloria Blondell, and Lou Krugman. The CBS production ran from September 26, 1948 to September 29, 1950 with an additional short summer run from July 7 to September 15, 1951."

Here are some links to get to content and more information:

• Internet Archive page for recordings from the Adventures of Philip Marlowe
• Digital Deli page for the Adventures of Philip Marlowe (great episode log and information about the series.
• Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs
• Featured Episode: Friend from Detroit (Originally aired March 5, 1949) - Nothing but trouble from the Motor City!
• Featured Episode: The Iron Coffin (Originally aired July 12, 1950) - A strange story of murder and a rebuilt Spanish castle on the California coast!

Hope you enjoy these great recordings from the Golden Age of Radio!  I will share more of my favorite episodes soon - as well as other those from other series.