Random Rarities 8

This Random Rarity collection features shows that have been hidden is archives for decades, a few audition shows that never took off, and more than a few "orphans" that defy classification.

Some of the rarities are network products which may not have found a sponsor, others had corporate backing, but the other episodes from the series are simply lost. We have a few entertaining dramas that were obviously a work of love for their actors and producers, but any information about the show is simply guess and conjecture.

They are a lot of fun for those listening sessions when you are not really sure what you are in the mood for.

• Adventures of Admiral Byrd, While in the Antarctic, Byrd's men received messages from home over a radio broadcast called The Mailbag. This sets up an interesting practical joke.
• Allen Prescott Show, local talk show in NY starring Allen Prescott from June 1946.
• Big City Serenade, 1951, NBC sustaining salute to various cities, mostly in the US, but Mexico City, Quebec, Havana, and Rio de Janeiro are featured later in the series. The salute includes historical facts along with music.
• Campana Serenade, 1943, Dick Powell sings and hosts this Saturday music program advertising Campana make-up.
• Campbell's Short Short Story, On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon there were complete short story dramas for Campbell's Tomato Juice.
• Captain Stubby and the Buccaneers, 1951, any 9 piece band with three accordion players is bound to be interesting! Billed as a country/novelty band, the group first came together at Indiana Central University in 1938. The band joined the Navy during the war and was assigned to the Entertainment Division, singing for the Sailors in the Pacific Theater.
• Carolyn Day, Detective, six short audition episodes for a soap opera about a girl whose father has left her a detective agency.
• Case History 493, The Purple Planet. SciFi story about a Space Liner pilot who has suffered a nervous breakdown.
• The Cases of Mr. Ace, 1947, Eddie Ace is a private detective who tells the stories of his cases to a lady psychoanalyst who is writing a book about the "criminal mind".
• Cass Daley Show, 1950, Situation comedy with music and comic actress/singer Cass Daley.
• Cats n' Jammers, 1941, Boogie Woogie Jazz with Erskine Butterfield.
• Cavalcade of 1948, The 10 biggest headlines of 1948, selected by the editors of the United Press.
• Cavalcade of Hits, summer replacement series for Your Hit Parade.
• Chamber of Horrors- The Wax Works, William Conrad narrates this gruesome tale of a journalist challenged to spend the night in The Murderer's Den of the Wax Museum.
• Cities Services- Highways in Melody, Aug 10, 1945, Paul LaValle presents his usual musical magic. This broadcast is significant because it was broadcast the day after the second atomic bomb was dropped. The program is buoyed by news of a 'false VJ Day'. Hostilities would officially cease on Aug 14.
• The City-Airport, the CBS Sustaining program is "an impression for radio", poetic interpretations of The City's arrivals and departures.
• Cloud Nine, 1950, a fantasy of time and space travel. The hero meets a man in a bar who takes him to Cloud Nine, and Cloud Nine takes him to his dreams.
• Club 930, November 1949, Recorded popular music from Los Angeles sponsored by a mail order toy company.
• CoStar, famous short scenes from theater, Don Ameche plays one part, allowing the listener to fill in the lines for the other.
• Eden Shamboo Sorority Dance, like Sunday Serenade, features soft dance tunes for a pleasant listening experience. You are at a co-ed's dance party, "nice looking youngsters, aren't they? And lots of energy. Would they mind if we dance? Not at all, the monre the merrier with them." Freddie Martin's band keeps the beat and the co-ed shoes spinning on the floor. What do co-eds talk about? Between music sets, we'll listen in their conversation on the dramas of hair washing and the magic of Eden Liquid-Dry hair shampoo. Using Eden, looks like she just went to the salon for a finger wave. Excuse the co-ed, her "big football man" is looking for her followed by the song, "You've got to be a football hero to get with a beautiful girl."
• Life History Plays, a series of biographical plays presenting the lives of Great Americans.
• Radio Guild, 1939-1940, a series of dramatic plays adapted for radio on the Blue Network.

See also Random Rarities 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23.