Rare Adventure Old Time Radio Shows

The advice we usually expect to hear from those we consider wise is to be careful, live a quiet and healthy life, raise kids, make money, and die contented in bed. If this is wisdom, why is it so difficult to ignore the call of adventure? Careful and quiet might be the formula for a long and prosperous life, but many would argue without the heart-pounding thrills of adventure, we do not really know what it is to live.

Adventure can take many forms, but a common factor is that it will involve some physical danger for the participant Travel is usually a part of adventure. In medieval times, a knight errant would wander the kingdoms in search of adventure, whether on a quest or simply to prove his chivalric virtues. The story of many legendary figures in classic and modern literature is built around "the hero's journey" where the protagonist undergoes a series of adventures which lead not only to his ultimate goal but symbolize his growing wisdom.

Not all adventurers are willing participants in the adventures they find themselves in. Warriors of all sorts can find themselves in a fight which they do not seek but answer the call of duty. In fact, the virtue of duty is often what gives them the strength to survive their adventure.

It can be argued that true adventure can only be found by those who seek it. The important thing is to accept risk. This should not be a foolhardy quest to seek self-harm. The wise adventurer will do everything that he can to minimize the risk, short of letting the chance for adventure pass by. The fact is that the element of risk is always with us, but by embracing the thrill of adventure we can learn what it truly means to live.

• The Adventurer's Club, February 1947, WBBM Chicago, the adventures of Count Byron de Prorok in the Sahara. Sounding like something from the pages of Indiana Jones, this three-part story follows Prorok's team in search for the tomb of ancient Tuareg Queen Tin Hanan. The story begins with a slow-motion airplane near-crash and a truck expedition across the desert in specially built eight-wheeled trucks.
• The Flying Hutchinsons, 1939(?), Pepsi Syndication(?). George Hutchinson took his wife and two daughters for an airplane ride in 1927 and the family fell in love with aviation. They helped finance and ran an airport near Philadelphia before embarking on a flight in their Sikorsky S-38 "Air Yacht" to the capitals of all 48 States, gathering the signatures of all 48 governors. In the adventure of this broadcast, their intention is to fly to the capitols of 68 nations around the world, but the adventure would be interrupted by WWII.
• All Aboard for Adventure, 1947(?), "The Boy that Didn’t Belong", Red is the son of American Missionaries who run a school on the island of Ceylon, where he befriends David, whose father is from the Untouchables' Caste. The other boys at the school refuse to attend classes with an untouchable, but they find that the other schools are not as good, and they don't play football. They accept David who becomes the best footballer in school.
• Deadline Mystery, August 1947, "The Apartment Racket". Reporter Lucky Larson, played by Steve Dunne, reports on the nationwide housing shortage, but in this story, he gets wrapped up in a murder case. The town heavyweights will do whatever it takes to squeeze every dime they can form the real estate market.
• Foreign Assignment, January 8, 1944, Mutual. Reporters travel the world to bring stories of the War to your local newspaper. The French Resistance in Marseilles is badly demoralized by pressure from the Gestapo. Reporters and Allied intelligence agents land to investigate and become the target of the Gestapo themselves.
• The Hunters, November 29, 1948, CBS, "You Take Ballistics". Audition program. The format and content are similar to Escape, although this show will focus on literature's great chase stories. Victor Jory stars as Inspector Harvey of Scotland Yard matching wits with outlaw Clarence Coleman.
• I Cover the Waterfront, August 29, 1955(?), CBS Audition, "Brother's Keeper". Based on the book and 1933 film of the same title, the story follows the recollections of reporter Max Miller whose beat includes the wharves and piers of old San Diego. This two-part episode is the story of an impoverished Portuguese fisherman accused of murdering his wife.
• I Fly Anything, 1955, ABC, Dockery Crane, voiced by Dick Haymes, was a cargo pilot during the War. Now he has an old plane, a rough and tumble but lovable crew, and a willingness to take any job and any cargo which will pay. This might be diving equipment for a pearling expedition in Tahiti or delivering typhoid vaccine to "Bajorca". Things go Okay in the air, but somehow, there is always trouble on the ground.
• Leatherneck Legends, USMC Syndication, possibly pre-War recruiting material. Tales of Marines protecting American interests in foreign lands, including finding the murderer of the mate on an American merchant ship, fighting the Moros in the Philippines, and heroic action at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
• Log of the Black Parrot, 1950, Audition program, starring Elliot Lewis. Engaging sea story about the master of a trading schooner in the South Pacific after the War. Dangerous cargo and pretty Polynesian princesses become Captain Kincaid's daily fare.
• A Man Named Jordan, 1945, CBS Pacific Net. A precursor to Rocky Jordan, although in this version the Café' Tambourine is set in Istanbul rather than Cairo. Rocky is a similar character to Rick Blaine in Casablanca (1942) and gets involved with all sorts of underworld and Nazi-aligned characters.
• Married for Life, 1945-46, Mutual. A prize show where letter writers send in the stories of young couples, the winning couple will receive prizes to help them to get started on being Married for Life, and marriage is the ultimate adventure.
• Modern Adventures of Casanova, 1952, Mutual. Errol Flynn plays Christopher Casanova, a descendant of the famous Italian lover and a secret agent of the World Criminal Police Commission, "Worldpol".
• Night Cap Yarns, 1939-43, CBS/Cardinal Syndication. Manly stories of auto racing, foreign agents, pirates, and other hairy-chested tales.
• The Notorious Tariq, ABC, audition program. Francois Tariq is a dashing figure whose business is "finding things". This leads him to many exotic locales and desperate situations, not to mention the arms of many beautiful women!
• Prince Valiant Wins his Spurs, possibly a 1947 phonographic recording. Viking Prince Valiant sails with his father to Britain where he is determined to become a Knight at Arthur's Round Table and eventually win back his father's kingdom.
• Ranch House Jim, 1943, syndicated for Ranch House Pancake Mix. Jim presents plenty of cowboy songs before working up an appetite for pancakes and waffles with a Western adventure story of life in the High Lonesome.
• The Road to Danger, 1944, NBC, sustained. Stumpy and Cottonseed are "two American truck drivers on the unmarked highways of the world". Hauling a load of 75mm shells to the front through the mountains of Italy, our heroes get tasked with carrying a USO troupe to their show in the front lines.
• Steve Canyon, 1948, CBS audition, "The Rubies of Kali". During the War, Canyon flew with the Air Transport Command, now he travels the mysterious East, working wherever he can find a paying cargo. In this adventure, he hauls a fortune in jewels and "107 pounds of brunette dynamite".
• Secret Missions, March 13, 1949, Mutual Network, "The Battle of Heavy Water". Based on the recollections of Admiral Zacharias, Deputy Chief of Naval Intelligence. This is the story of how American intelligence operatives helped a scientist escape Nazi Germany. The scientist is carrying a beer bottle which contains a major portion of the world's supply of heavy water, an important component for the atomic bomb.
• The Silent Service, a documentary program from Armed Forces Radio and Television Service. William Conrad narrates this post-War salute to the US Navy's Submarine Service. He shares several amusing, recently declassified stories of submariners in the early days of the War, and a report of USS Flasher's fifth War Patrol.
• Tom Powers' Original Life Studies, December 23, 1936, NBC, sponsored by Johnson's Wax. Mr. Powers has stories from the early days of aviation, including using his airplane to court an English girl while he was serving in WWI, and radio controller dealing with a hotshot pilot in New Mexico.
• Trobriand the Adventurer, Radioart Guild of America Syndication. An engaging serial of adventure and romance in the South Seas. Mr. Campbell, a rich American, has brought his schooner to Tahiti and is in a waterfront bar in Papeete, looking for a guide. He learns that his best bet will be Captain Trobriand, a wily pearl trader who knows every port and hurricane hole in the South Seas.
• Wings of Dragon, 1937(?), Syndication Serial. Before America enters WWII, Yankee flyers are working in China to battle the Japanese in the air. Our heroes have to face a Jap airman known as the Black Ghost. He sounds like a local legend until he bombs the airfield the Yanks are flying from.