Sunday, December 2, 2018

25 More Days of Old Time Radio Christmas - Day 2: A Stable In Bethlehem...Pennsylvania (1944)

I was having a discussion with a friend about these fun types of online advent calendars (you can see Joe's advent calendar here).  We were talking about if it is acceptable to have repeats.  Since he changes the theme every year - he really cant.  But since I do not - I have repeats.  But I will try to keep them limited to my most favorite episodes.

Having written all that - today...I have something new.  Well, new to my 25 More Days of Old Time Radio Christmas.  I love anthology series on radio.  They offer up a completely new story each and every week.  Favorites like Suspense, the Whistler, the Weird Circle (just to name a few) would have offered listeners a completely new adventure or tale each time you turned on the radio.  So that is where we will start today's entry.  There will be many opportunities to catch Christmas and holiday themed episodes from the Golden Age of Radio on the web and on Greg Bell's Old time radio channel (#148).  But these all have the joy of not needing anything other than a web connection to enjoy.  If you want to see all of my previous entries, please click here - OTR Christmas (or drop to the bottom of this message).

Heinz Memorial Chapel at the University of Pittsburgh - June 2018 (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)

Heinz Memorial Chapel at the University of Pittsburgh - June 2018 (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)

I am not sure that I have listened to an episode of Matinee Theater or its predecessor program, Dangerously Yours, before.  From the Old Time Radio Researcher's Group:

Matinee Theater represented a serious attempt by CBS to provide quality dramatic programming for its Sunday afternoon listeners. A continuation of the series Dangerously Yours, it was renamed Matinee Theater with a view towards presenting "a greater range of stories". That broader scope was able to accommodate such episodes as "Beautiful Dreamer" (the Stephen Foster story) and "The Love Story of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning".
Victor Jory and several different female stars paired to bring classics like "Wuthering Heights", "Jane Eyre", and "The Scarlet Pimpernel" to the audience, as well as a number of more contemporary works. The first of these thirty-minute broadcasts aired October 22, 1944 and the final one on April 8, 1945. The Vick Chemical Company sponsored throughout.

So since I think I have the begining of a cold...a little help from Vicks might be just the ticket.  And that takes us to December 24th, 1944 and Matinee Theater.  The program featured a David Victor and Herbert Little Jr. adaptation of a Charles Tawewell story of a "modern miracle play."  The story starts off with two old curmudgeons in a nearly empty Fifth Avenue club on Christmas Eve.  They were complaining about the holidays, lamenting wrapping of gifts, tinsel and the sending of Christmas cards.  So when a new  waiter from the club arrives to serve them hot toddies, he instead delivers a story about the meaning of Christmas that took place just the year before.  He told them a story about how a trucker on his way from New Jersey to Pittsburgh met up with a young soldier and his pregnant bride who were stuck in a storm.  Their names, you guessed it - Joseph and Mary.  The waiter told the two old men about their own miracle that took place just last year on Christmas Eve in a Pennsylvania city between Jersey and Pittsburgh - Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

The sweet story stars Victor Jory, Jackson Beck, & John Brown with Martin Gabel as host.  The story was directed by Richard Sanville.

A Stable in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (December 24th, 1944)






Here are some links to programs relating to Old Time Radio and Matinee Theater:
    25 More Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2018) & Other Links
    Another 25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2017) 
    25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2016) 

    25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2015) & Other Links

    25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2014)
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