In celebration of the holidays, (and because I’m a sucker for a good story in front of a crackling fire), here are two vintage classics: “A Holiday Visit” and “Christmas Holiday,” performed by Chesterton Radio. There is a reason why the Golden Age of Radio is still the epitome of storytelling. There was a time when storytelling was a family event, when everyone would gather around the radio to hear the newest audio adventure, the sweet ending to a romantic tale. In times of hardship, radio brought a brief reprieve, in times of joy, additional cheer.
So in honor of those long-gone days, please enjoy a few vintages voices from the past.
A couple is in an accident on their way to visit her parents for Christmas. As they travel on foot through the snow they discover a seemingly deserted village…
The CBS Mystery Theater (a.k.a. Radio Mystery Theater and Mystery Theater, sometimes abbreviated as CBSRMT) is a radio drama series created by Himan Brown that was broadcast on CBS Radio Network affiliates from 1974 to 1982, and later in the early 2000s was repeated by the NPR satellite feed. The format was similar to that of classic old time radio shows like The Mysterious Traveler and The Whistler, in that the episodes were introduced by host E. G. Marshall who provided pithy wisdom and commentary throughout. Unlike the hosts of those earlier programs, Marshall is fully mortal, merely someone whose heightened insight and erudition plunge the listener into the world of the macabre (in a manner similar to that of “The Man in Black” on yet another old time radio program, Suspense). (Wikipedia)
Episode 1140 Broadcast on Christmas Day in 1980 and 1981
Chesterton Radio Works of G.K. Chesterton and Friends
On Christmas Eve in New Orleans, U.S. Army officer Charlie Mason meets beautiful Maison Lafitte hostess “Jackie” (whose real name is Abigail Manette). She tells him, in flashbacks, the story of the decline of her marriage with the charming but unbalanced Robert Manette. When her husband kills a bookie, his controlling mother tries to cover it up.
Christmas Holiday is a 1944 film noir crime film directed by Robert Siodmak starring Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly. Based on the 1939 novel of the same name by W. Somerset Maugham, the film is about a woman who marries a Southern aristocrat who inherited his family’s streak of violence and instability and soon drags the woman into a life of misery. After he is arrested, the woman runs away from her husband’s family, changes her name, and finds work as a singer in a New Orleans dive.
The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Musical Score for Hans J. Salter. The film was based on a novel by W. Somerset Maugham published in 1939. The New York Times called the novel “surprisingly talky.” The book became a best seller.
By the end of the year it had sold over 100,000 copies in America
Originally Broadcast 9/17/1949
Chesterton Radio Works of G.K. Chesterton and Friends
We hope you enjoyed this holiday classics from bygone days. If you wish to hear more audio classics, check out more episodes on their website and YouTube. And if it wasn’t to your taste, feel free to check out our Audio Arts Page. We have new audio adventures every other week, Friday, 7 PM EST. So don’t change that dial!
Perfect. Thank you.