CBS Radio Mystery Theater
Encyclopedia
CBS Radio Mystery Theater (aka Radio Mystery Theater and Mystery Theater, sometimes abbreviated as CBSRMT) was a radio drama
series created by Himan Brown
that was broadcast on CBS
affiliates from 1974 to 1982.
The format was similar to that of classic old time radio shows such as The Mysterious Traveler
and The Whistler
, in that the episodes were introduced by a host (E. G. Marshall
) who provided pithy wisdom and commentary throughout. Unlike the hosts of earlier programs, Marshall is fully mortal, merely someone whose heightened insight and erudition plunge the listener into the world of the macabre.
As with Himan Brown's prior Inner Sanctum Mysteries
, each episode of CBS Radio Mystery Theater opened and closed with the ominous sound of a creaking crypt door, accompanied by Marshall's disturbing utterance, "Come in. Welcome. I am E. G. Marshall." This was followed by one of Marshall's other catchphrases, usually either "The sound of suspense" or "The fear you can hear." At the conclusion, the door would swing shut, preceded by Marshall's classic sign off, "Until next time, pleasant... dreams?" Marshall hosted the program from January, 1974, until February 1982, when actress Tammy Grimes
took over for the series' last season, maintaining the format.
CBSRMT was broadcast each weeknight, with three or four episodes being new originals, and the remainder were reruns. There were 1,399 original episodes. The total number of broadcasts, including reruns, was 2,969. Each episode was allotted a full hour of airtime, but after commercials and news, episodes typically ran for about 45 minutes.
, The Adventures of Nero Wolfe and other shows dating back to the 1930s. Even young characters in early episodes of CBSRMT tended to have names popular a generation earlier, such as Jack, George, Phyllis and Mary. Many scripts, especially those by Ian Martin, showed a tin ear for 1970s youth slang ("Don't let her give you no run-around, dad!"; "I think bein' around here's gonna be kicks!"; "I dig a man who's far out!"). As late as 1981, Sam Dann's scripts included nervous or skeptical references to "women's lib
", a term that was by then a decade out of date. In short, Brown made no attempt to broaden the program's appeal beyond the generation that had been raised on radio.
But the debut of CBSRMT, only a few months after the American Graffiti
phenomenon, coincided with the 1950s nostalgia fad that swept young America between 1972 and 1978. Because radio mystery drama was reminiscent of that era, the program quickly developed a fan base among young listeners in addition to its target audience.
sting and timpani roll, then: "I'm E.G. Marshall." A low, eerie theme played by the bass clarinet
followed as Marshall introduced the program. At the end of each show, Marshall delivered his classic signoff, "... inviting you to return to our Mystery Theater for another adventure in the macabre. Until next time, pleasant... dreams?" The door then creaked and slammed shut, followed by a repeat of the show's ominous theme music.
The opening and closing themes for CBSRMT are derived from an abbreviated form of the music from the classic Twilight Zone
episode "Two", composed by Nathan van Cleeve. Series listeners will immediately recognize the 'RMT Theme' beginning about 1:35 on the "Two" soundtrack selection from the Twilight Zone CD boxed set. Other background tracks from the Twilight Zone music library, to which CBS owned full rights, were featured repeatedly in episodes of CBSRMT.
to include horror
, science fiction
, historical drama
, westerns
and comedy
, along with seasonal dramas at Christmas: A Christmas Carol
, starring host Marshall as Scrooge, aired every Christmas Eve except 1974 and 1982.
In addition to original stories, there were adaptations of classic tales by such writers as O. Henry
, Ambrose Bierce
, Charles Dickens
, Oscar Wilde
and others. Brown typically devoted the first full week of each January to a five- or seven-part series on a common theme. These included a full week of stories by an American writer, (Edgar Allan Poe
in 1975, Mark Twain
in 1976); week-long adaptations of classic novels (The Last Days of Pompeii
in 1980, Les Miserables
in 1982); and original dramas about historical figures (Nefertiti
in 1979, Alexander the Great in 1981).
Radio historian John Dunning
argued the CBSRMT scripts varied widely in quality and concept. Many of the hour-long scripts were padded with filler, Dunning suggested, and could have been worked better as 30-minute programs, while other episodes suffered due to having been written by scribes unfamiliar with the unique needs of radio drama.
, Kevin McCarthy
, Arnold Moss
, John Beal
, Howard Da Silva
, Keir Dullea
, Morgan Fairchild
, Veleka Gray
, Jack Grimes
, Fred Gwynne
, Larry Haines
, Paul Hecht
, Celeste Holm
, Kim Hunter
, Mercedes McCambridge
, Tony Roberts
, Norman Rose
, Alexander Scourby
, Marian Seldes
and Kristoffer Tabori
, and a then-unknown John Lithgow
.
The series also introduced a new generation of listeners to many of the great old time radio voices, including such distinctive performers as Joan Banks
, Jackson Beck
, Ralph Bell, Roger DeKoven, Robert Dryden (who was heard in more than 240 episodes), Sam Edwards
, Virginia Gregg
, Leon Janney, Victor Jory
, Evelyn "Evie" Juster, Mandel Kramer, Marvin Miller
, Santos Ortega
, Bryna Raeburn, Alan Reed
, Anne Seymour, Ann Sheppard, Les Tremayne
, Lurene Tuttle
and Janet Waldo
.
A number of well-known veteran and future stars made guest appearances, including
Actors were paid union scale at around $73.92 per show. Writers earned a flat rate of $350 per show. Production took place with assembly-line precision. Brown met with actors at 9am for the first script reading. After he assigned roles, recording began. By noon, the recording of the actors was complete, and Brown handed everyone checks. Post-production was done in the afternoon.
, and in 1990 it was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame. On May 6, 1979, Himan Brown was presented a Broadcast Preceptor Award by San Francisco State University
for his contributions with the CBSRMT.
stations, with Himan Brown replacing the opening narrations of E.G. Marshall.
CBSRMT remains perennially popular with collectors to this day, with numerous websites, discussion forums and a Usenet
newsgroup devoted to trading MP3
files of episodes. Some programs were taped with news and commercials embedded, providing an insight into the period when the show first aired. While some may judge CBSRMT as inferior to similar shows from the past, such as Inner Sanctum Mysteries, Suspense
and The Mysterious Traveler, which were produced in a 30-minute format, such comparisons must take into account the sheer prodigiousness of production by Brown and his players. At the rate of one show per day, it would take nearly four years to listen to each of the 1,399 hour-long episodes of CBSRMT.
In 1976, a paperback anthology with three short stories adapted from the series' radio scripts was published by Pocket Library, Strange Tales from the CBS Radio Mystery Theater. Edited by, and with a forward written by Himan Brown.
In January 1999, McFarland & Company, Inc. published The CBS Radio Mystery Theater, a book documenting the history of the program, including an episode guide. Fully indexed, the 475-page book was authored by Gordon Payton and Martin Grams, Jr.
It was published in both hardcover and trade paperback.
In October, 2006 a third book about Mystery Theater was published, examining the series value today in education and instruction: The CBS Radio Mystery Theater as an Educational Degree. The 180-page hardcover was published by Stahl Consolidated Manufacturing Corporation in Huntsville, Alabama
and was selected for inclusion in the University of Georgia
Film and Television Library in Summer, 2009.
All three books were reviewed in an article by Roger Sobin in Old-Time Detection Magazine in the Spring, 2008 issue.
An hour long weekday anthology series on CBS radio which followed CBSRMT during much of its run before it moved to the Mutual Broadcasting System
.
Radio drama
Radio drama is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance, broadcast on radio or published on audio media, such as tape or CD. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story...
series created by Himan Brown
Himan Brown
Himan Brown , also known as Hi Brown and Mende Brown, was an American producer of radio programs. Producing for the major radio networks and also for syndication, Brown worked with such actors as Helen Hayes, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, Gregory Peck, Frank Sinatra and Orson Welles while creating...
that was broadcast on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
affiliates from 1974 to 1982.
The format was similar to that of classic old time radio shows such as The Mysterious Traveler
The Mysterious Traveler
The Mysterious Traveler was an anthology radio series, a magazine and a comic book. All three featured stories which ran the gamut from fantasy and science fiction to straight crime dramas of mystery and suspense.-Radio:...
and The Whistler
The Whistler
The Whistler was an American radio mystery drama which ran from May 16, 1942 until September 22, 1955. It was sponsored by the Signal Oil Company: "That whistle is your signal for the Signal Oil program, The Whistler." The program was adapted into a film noir series by Columbia Pictures in...
, in that the episodes were introduced by a host (E. G. Marshall
E. G. Marshall
E. G. Marshall was an American actor, best known for his television roles as the lawyer Lawrence Preston on The Defenders in the 1960s, and as neurosurgeon David Craig on The Bold Ones: The New Doctors in the 1970s...
) who provided pithy wisdom and commentary throughout. Unlike the hosts of earlier programs, Marshall is fully mortal, merely someone whose heightened insight and erudition plunge the listener into the world of the macabre.
As with Himan Brown's prior Inner Sanctum Mysteries
Inner Sanctum Mysteries
Inner Sanctum Mysteries, a popular old-time radio program that aired from January 7, 1941 to October 5, 1952, was created by producer Himan Brown. A total of 526 episodes were broadcast.-Horror hosts:...
, each episode of CBS Radio Mystery Theater opened and closed with the ominous sound of a creaking crypt door, accompanied by Marshall's disturbing utterance, "Come in. Welcome. I am E. G. Marshall." This was followed by one of Marshall's other catchphrases, usually either "The sound of suspense" or "The fear you can hear." At the conclusion, the door would swing shut, preceded by Marshall's classic sign off, "Until next time, pleasant... dreams?" Marshall hosted the program from January, 1974, until February 1982, when actress Tammy Grimes
Tammy Grimes
-Early life:Grimes was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, the daughter of Eola Willard , a naturalist and spiritualist, and Nicholas Luther Grimes, an innkeeper, country-club manager, and farmer. She attended high school at the then-all girls school, Beaver Country Day School, in Chestnut Hill,...
took over for the series' last season, maintaining the format.
CBSRMT was broadcast each weeknight, with three or four episodes being new originals, and the remainder were reruns. There were 1,399 original episodes. The total number of broadcasts, including reruns, was 2,969. Each episode was allotted a full hour of airtime, but after commercials and news, episodes typically ran for about 45 minutes.
Target audience
The program was pitched, at least initially, to an audience old enough to remember classic radio; Brown was a legend amongst radio drama enthusiasts for his work on Inner Sanctum MysteriesInner Sanctum Mysteries
Inner Sanctum Mysteries, a popular old-time radio program that aired from January 7, 1941 to October 5, 1952, was created by producer Himan Brown. A total of 526 episodes were broadcast.-Horror hosts:...
, The Adventures of Nero Wolfe and other shows dating back to the 1930s. Even young characters in early episodes of CBSRMT tended to have names popular a generation earlier, such as Jack, George, Phyllis and Mary. Many scripts, especially those by Ian Martin, showed a tin ear for 1970s youth slang ("Don't let her give you no run-around, dad!"; "I think bein' around here's gonna be kicks!"; "I dig a man who's far out!"). As late as 1981, Sam Dann's scripts included nervous or skeptical references to "women's lib
Feminist movement
The feminist movement refers to a series of campaigns for reforms on issues such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, women's suffrage, sexual harassment and sexual violence...
", a term that was by then a decade out of date. In short, Brown made no attempt to broaden the program's appeal beyond the generation that had been raised on radio.
But the debut of CBSRMT, only a few months after the American Graffiti
American Graffiti
American Graffiti is a 1973 coming of age film co-written/directed by George Lucas starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith, Cindy Williams, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips and Harrison Ford...
phenomenon, coincided with the 1950s nostalgia fad that swept young America between 1972 and 1978. Because radio mystery drama was reminiscent of that era, the program quickly developed a fan base among young listeners in addition to its target audience.
Music
Each show began with Host E. G. Marshall intoning, "The CBS Radio Mystery Theater presents...", followed by the sound of a creaking door slowly opening, seeming to invite listeners in for the evening's adventure. Three descending notes from the double basses introduced Marshall's sinister intonation, "Come in... Welcome." A muted tromboneTrombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
sting and timpani roll, then: "I'm E.G. Marshall." A low, eerie theme played by the bass clarinet
Bass clarinet
The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B , but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B clarinet...
followed as Marshall introduced the program. At the end of each show, Marshall delivered his classic signoff, "... inviting you to return to our Mystery Theater for another adventure in the macabre. Until next time, pleasant... dreams?" The door then creaked and slammed shut, followed by a repeat of the show's ominous theme music.
The opening and closing themes for CBSRMT are derived from an abbreviated form of the music from the classic Twilight Zone
Twilight zone
-Television series and spinoffs:*The Twilight Zone, the anthology television series and its franchise:**The Twilight Zone , the 1959–1964 original television series***Twilight Zone: The Movie, a 1983 film based on the original series...
episode "Two", composed by Nathan van Cleeve. Series listeners will immediately recognize the 'RMT Theme' beginning about 1:35 on the "Two" soundtrack selection from the Twilight Zone CD boxed set. Other background tracks from the Twilight Zone music library, to which CBS owned full rights, were featured repeatedly in episodes of CBSRMT.
Scope
Despite the show's title, Brown expanded its scope beyond mysteriesMystery fiction
Mystery fiction is a loosely-defined term.1.It is often used as a synonym for detective fiction or crime fiction— in other words a novel or short story in which a detective investigates and solves a crime mystery. Sometimes mystery books are nonfiction...
to include horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
, science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
, historical drama
Historical fiction
Historical fiction tells a story that is set in the past. That setting is usually real and drawn from history, and often contains actual historical persons, but the principal characters tend to be fictional...
, westerns
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
and comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
, along with seasonal dramas at Christmas: A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol is a novella by English author Charles Dickens first published by Chapman & Hall on 17 December 1843. The story tells of sour and stingy Ebenezer Scrooge's ideological, ethical, and emotional transformation after the supernatural visits of Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of...
, starring host Marshall as Scrooge, aired every Christmas Eve except 1974 and 1982.
In addition to original stories, there were adaptations of classic tales by such writers as O. Henry
O. Henry
O. Henry was the pen name of the American writer William Sydney Porter . O. Henry's short stories are well known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization and clever twist endings.-Early life:...
, Ambrose Bierce
Ambrose Bierce
Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist and satirist...
, Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
, Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
and others. Brown typically devoted the first full week of each January to a five- or seven-part series on a common theme. These included a full week of stories by an American writer, (Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
in 1975, Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
in 1976); week-long adaptations of classic novels (The Last Days of Pompeii
The Last Days of Pompeii
The Last Days of Pompeii is a novel written by the baron Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1834. Once a very widely read book and now relatively neglected, it culminates in the cataclysmic destruction of the city of Pompeii by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.The novel uses its characters to contrast...
in 1980, Les Miserables
Les Misérables
Les Misérables , translated variously from the French as The Miserable Ones, The Wretched, The Poor Ones, The Wretched Poor, or The Victims), is an 1862 French novel by author Victor Hugo and is widely considered one of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century...
in 1982); and original dramas about historical figures (Nefertiti
Nefertiti
Nefertiti was the Great Royal Wife of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten. Nefertiti and her husband were known for a religious revolution, in which they started to worship one god only...
in 1979, Alexander the Great in 1981).
Radio historian John Dunning
John Dunning (writer)
John Dunning is an American writer of non-fiction and detective fiction. He is known for his reference books on old-time radio and his series of mysteries featuring Denver bookseller and ex-policeman Cliff Janeway.- Life :...
argued the CBSRMT scripts varied widely in quality and concept. Many of the hour-long scripts were padded with filler, Dunning suggested, and could have been worked better as 30-minute programs, while other episodes suffered due to having been written by scribes unfamiliar with the unique needs of radio drama.
Notable performers
Prominent actors from radio and screen performed on the series. Notable regulars included Mason AdamsMason Adams
Mason Adams was an American character actor and voice-over artist.-Early life:Adams was born in Brooklyn, New York. He earned an MA degree from the University of Michigan in Theatre Arts and Speech and also attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison, studying theater arts...
, Kevin McCarthy
Kevin McCarthy (radio)
Kevin McCarthy has been a radio-television personality in north Texas since Gordon McLendon brought him to Dallas as part of the original staff of KNUS/99 in 1972...
, Arnold Moss
Arnold Moss
Arnold Moss was an American character actor.His son is songwriter Jeff Moss....
, John Beal
John Beal (actor)
-Life and career:Beal was born James Alexander Bliedung in Joplin, Missouri. He originally went to New York to study art but a chance to understudy in a play made him change his mind. He began acting in the 1930s, opposite Katharine Hepburn , among others; one of his notable screen appearances was...
, Howard Da Silva
Howard Da Silva
Howard Da Silva was an American actor.-Early life:He was born Howard Silverblatt in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Benjamin and Bertha Silverblatt. His parents were both Yiddish speaking Jews born in Russia. He had a job as a steelworker before beginning his acting career on the stage...
, Keir Dullea
Keir Dullea
Keir Dullea is an American actor best known for the character of astronaut David Bowman, whom he portrayed in the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey and in 1984's 2010: The Year We Make Contact...
, Morgan Fairchild
Morgan Fairchild
Morgan Fairchild is an American actress. She achieved prominence during the late 1970s and early 1980s with continuing roles in several television series, in which she usually conveyed a glamorous image. Fairchild has also performed in live theater and played guest roles in television comedies...
, Veleka Gray
Veleka Gray
Veleka Gray , sometimes credited as Velekka Gray, is an American actress, best known for her roles as department store executive Vicki Paisley Cannell on Somerset, and as Mia Marriott on Love of Life from 1977 - 1980.-Career:...
, Jack Grimes
Jack Grimes (actor)
Jack Grimes was an American voice and radio actor who played Jimmy Olsen in the last three years of The Adventures of Superman radio program, the 1966 Filmation TV series The New Adventures of Superman, and the 1967 anime, Speed Racer.-Biography:Grimes was born in New York City...
, Fred Gwynne
Fred Gwynne
Frederick Hubbard "Fred" Gwynne was an American actor. Gwynne was best known for his roles in the 1960s sitcoms Car 54, Where Are You? and The Munsters, as well as his later roles: Pet Sematary and My Cousin Vinny...
, Larry Haines
Larry Haines
Larry Haines, born Larry Hecht was an American actor. He was born in Mount Vernon, New York.-Biography:He was born on August 3, 1918....
, Paul Hecht
Paul Hecht
Paul Hecht is an English-born Canadian stage, film, and television actor best known for playing radio newsman Ross Buckingham in Howard Stern's Private Parts....
, Celeste Holm
Celeste Holm
Celeste Holm is an American stage, film, and television actress, known for her Academy Award-winning performance in Gentleman's Agreement , as well as for her Oscar-nominated performances in Come to the Stable and All About Eve...
, Kim Hunter
Kim Hunter
Kim Hunter was an American film, theatre, and television actress. She won both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, each as Best Supporting Actress, for her performance as Stella Kowalski in the 1951 film A Streetcar Named Desire...
, Mercedes McCambridge
Mercedes McCambridge
Carlotta Mercedes McCambridge was an American actress. Orson Welles called her "the world's greatest living radio actress."-Early life:...
, Tony Roberts
Tony Roberts (actor)
David Anthony "Tony" Roberts is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in several Woody Allen movies, usually cast as Allen's best friend.-Early life:...
, Norman Rose
Norman Rose
Norman Rose was an actor, film narrator and radio announcer whose velvety baritone was often called "the Voice of God" by colleagues...
, Alexander Scourby
Alexander Scourby
Alexander Scourby was an American film, television, and voice actor known for his deep and resonant voice...
, Marian Seldes
Marian Seldes
Marian Hall Seldes is an American stage, film, radio, and television actress whose career has spanned six decades and who was elected to the American Theatre Hall of Fame.-Life and career:...
and Kristoffer Tabori
Kristoffer Tabori
Kristoffer Tabori is an American actor and television director.-Early life:Tabori was born in Malibu, California, the son of director Don Siegel and Swedish-American actress Viveca Lindfors. He appeared in one of his mother's films, Weddings and Babies, as a young boy...
, and a then-unknown John Lithgow
John Lithgow
John Arthur Lithgow is an American actor, musician, and author. Presently, he is involved with a wide range of media projects, including stage, television, film, and radio...
.
The series also introduced a new generation of listeners to many of the great old time radio voices, including such distinctive performers as Joan Banks
Joan Banks
Joan Banks was an American film, television, stage and radio actress who often appeared in dramas with her husband, Frank Lovejoy....
, Jackson Beck
Jackson Beck
Jackson Beck was an American actor best known as the announcer on radio's The Adventures of Superman and the voice of Bluto in the Famous era Popeye theatrical shorts.-Career:...
, Ralph Bell, Roger DeKoven, Robert Dryden (who was heard in more than 240 episodes), Sam Edwards
Sam Edwards
Sam Edwards was an American actor. His most famous role on TV was as the banker in the TV series Little House on the Prairie.-Biography:Born into a showbusiness family, his first role was as a baby in his mother's arms...
, Virginia Gregg
Virginia Gregg
Virginia Gregg Burket was an American actress best known for her many roles in radio dramas.Born in Harrisburg, Illinois, Virginia Gregg was the daughter of musician Dewey Alphaleta and businessman Edward William Gregg.-Radio:Gregg was a prolific radio actor, heard on such programs as The...
, Leon Janney, Victor Jory
Victor Jory
Victor Jory was a Canadian actor.-Biography:Born in Dawson City, Yukon, Jory was the boxing and wrestling champion of the Coast Guard during his military service, and he kept his burly physique. He toured with theater troupes and appeared on Broadway, before making his Hollywood debut in 1930...
, Evelyn "Evie" Juster, Mandel Kramer, Marvin Miller
Marvin Miller
Marvin Julian Miller is a former executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association , from 1966 to 1982. Under Miller's direction, the players' union was transformed into one of the strongest unions in the United States...
, Santos Ortega
Santos Ortega
Santos Ortega was an American actor.-Radio:Ortega was active in radio, starring in The Adventures of Nero Wolfe and narrating a popular radio show called Gangbusters as well as Stroke of Fate. Perhaps his most famous and notable radio role was Commissioner Weston on The Shadow...
, Bryna Raeburn, Alan Reed
Alan Reed
Alan Reed was an American actor and voice actor, best known as the original voice of Fred Flintstone on The Flintstones and various spinoff series...
, Anne Seymour, Ann Sheppard, Les Tremayne
Les Tremayne
Les Tremayne was a radio, film, and television actor. Born Lester Tremayne in England, he moved with his family at the age four to Chicago, where he began in community theatre. He danced as a vaudeville performer and worked as amusement park barker...
, Lurene Tuttle
Lurene Tuttle
Lurene Tuttle was a character actress, who made transitions from vaudeville to radio, to films and television. Her most enduring impact was as one of network radio's most versatile actresses...
and Janet Waldo
Janet Waldo
Janet Waldo is an American actress and voice artist with a career encompassing radio, television, animation and live-action films. She is best known in animation for voicing Judy Jetson, Penelope Pitstop and Josie McCoy in Josie and the Pussycats...
.
A number of well-known veteran and future stars made guest appearances, including
- Theodore BikelTheodore BikelTheodore Meir Bikel is a character actor, folk singer and musician. He made his film debut in The African Queen and was nominated for an Academy award for his supporting role as Sheriff Max Muller in The Defiant Ones ....
("Just One More Day," first aired May 29, 1975) - Richard CrennaRichard CrennaRichard Donald Crenna was an American motion picture, television, and radio actor and occasional television director. He starred in such motion pictures as The Sand Pebbles, Wait Until Dark, Body Heat, the first three Rambo movies, Hot Shots! Part Deux, and The Flamingo Kid...
("Ghost Plane," September 12, 1975) - Joan HackettJoan HackettJoan Ann Hackett was an American actress who appeared on stage, in films, and on television.- Early life :She was born in New York City of Irish and Italian extraction...
("The Eye of Death," March 7, 1975) - Margaret HamiltonMargaret HamiltonMargaret Hamilton was an American film actress known for her portrayal of the Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz...
("Triptych for a Witch," October 30, 1975) - Casey KasemCasey KasemKemal Amin "Casey" Kasem is an American radio personality and voice actor who is best known for being the host of the nationally syndicated Top 40 countdown show American Top 40, and for voicing Shaggy in the popular Saturday morning cartoon franchise Scooby-Doo.Kasem, along with Don Bustany and...
("The Headless Hessian," September 23, 1975) - Agnes MooreheadAgnes MooreheadAgnes Robertson Moorehead was an American actress. Although she began with the Mercury Theatre, appeared in more than seventy films beginning with Citizen Kane and on dozens of television shows during a career that spanned more than thirty years, Moorehead is most widely known to modern audiences...
(appeared in the first broadcast, "The Old Ones Are Hard to Kill" and "The Ring of Truth," January 26, 1974) - Jerry OrbachJerry OrbachJerome Bernard "Jerry" Orbach was an American actor and singer. He was well known for his starring role as Detective Lennie Briscoe in the Law & Order television series and as the voice of Lumière in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. As well, Orbach was a noted musical theatre star...
("The Follower," January 25, 1975) - Sarah Jessica ParkerSarah Jessica ParkerSarah Jessica Parker is an American film, television, and theater actress and producer.She is best known for her leading role as Carrie Bradshaw on the HBO television series Sex and the City , for which she won four Golden Globe Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Emmy Awards...
("The Child Cat's Paw", May 17, 1977) - Mandy PatinkinMandy PatinkinMandel Bruce "Mandy" Patinkin is an award-winning American actor of stage and screen and a tenor vocalist. He is a noted interpreter of the musical works of Stephen Sondheim, and is best-known for his work in musical theatre, originating iconic roles such as Georges Seurat in Sunday in the Park...
("Lost Dog," January 9, 1974) - Kathleen QuinlanKathleen QuinlanKathleen Denise Quinlan is an Academy Award and Golden Globe-nominated American actress, mostly seen on television and in motion pictures.-Personal life:...
("Ring of Evil," April 16, 1979) - Jerry StillerJerry StillerGerald Isaac "Jerry" Stiller is an American comedian and actor.He spent many years in the comedy team Stiller and Meara with his wife Anne Meara...
("The Frontiers of Fear," August 13, 1974) - Roy ThinnesRoy ThinnesRoy Thinnes is an American television and film actor best known for his portrayal of lonely hero David Vincent in the ABC 1967-68 television series The Invaders. He also played Alfred Wentworth in the pilot episode of Law & Order...
("Journey Into Terror," August 14, 1974)
Actors were paid union scale at around $73.92 per show. Writers earned a flat rate of $350 per show. Production took place with assembly-line precision. Brown met with actors at 9am for the first script reading. After he assigned roles, recording began. By noon, the recording of the actors was complete, and Brown handed everyone checks. Post-production was done in the afternoon.
Episodes
Below are lists of episodes for each of the nine seasons of CBS Radio Mystery Theater.Awards
In 1974, CBSRMT won a Peabody AwardPeabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
, and in 1990 it was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame. On May 6, 1979, Himan Brown was presented a Broadcast Preceptor Award by San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University is a public university located in San Francisco, California. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers over 100 areas of study from nine academic colleges...
for his contributions with the CBSRMT.
Continuing popularity
From June 3 to November 27, 1998, CBSRMT was rebroadcast over CBS affiliates and, in 2000, on some NPRNPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
stations, with Himan Brown replacing the opening narrations of E.G. Marshall.
CBSRMT remains perennially popular with collectors to this day, with numerous websites, discussion forums and a Usenet
Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
newsgroup devoted to trading MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
files of episodes. Some programs were taped with news and commercials embedded, providing an insight into the period when the show first aired. While some may judge CBSRMT as inferior to similar shows from the past, such as Inner Sanctum Mysteries, Suspense
Suspense
Suspense is a feeling of uncertainty and anxiety about the outcome of certain actions, most often referring to an audience's perceptions in a dramatic work. Suspense is not exclusive to fiction, though. Suspense may operate in any situation where there is a lead-up to a big event or dramatic...
and The Mysterious Traveler, which were produced in a 30-minute format, such comparisons must take into account the sheer prodigiousness of production by Brown and his players. At the rate of one show per day, it would take nearly four years to listen to each of the 1,399 hour-long episodes of CBSRMT.
Books
The episode "Children of Death", broadcast February 5, 1976, written by Sam Dann, served as the basis for Dann's 1979 novel, The Third Body, published by Popular Library. Another of his stories for Mystery Theater, "Goodbye Carl Erich" from the 1975 season, was also turned into a novel by the same name, first published in 1985.In 1976, a paperback anthology with three short stories adapted from the series' radio scripts was published by Pocket Library, Strange Tales from the CBS Radio Mystery Theater. Edited by, and with a forward written by Himan Brown.
In January 1999, McFarland & Company, Inc. published The CBS Radio Mystery Theater, a book documenting the history of the program, including an episode guide. Fully indexed, the 475-page book was authored by Gordon Payton and Martin Grams, Jr.
Martin Grams, Jr.
Martin Grams, Jr. is a radio historian who has written extensively on radio, television and films. The son of magician Martin Grams, Sr. and librarian Mary Pat Grams, he was educated at South Eastern School District in York County, Pennsylvania and graduated from Kennard Dale High School in Fawn...
It was published in both hardcover and trade paperback.
In October, 2006 a third book about Mystery Theater was published, examining the series value today in education and instruction: The CBS Radio Mystery Theater as an Educational Degree. The 180-page hardcover was published by Stahl Consolidated Manufacturing Corporation in Huntsville, Alabama
and was selected for inclusion in the University of Georgia
University of Georgia
The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...
Film and Television Library in Summer, 2009.
All three books were reviewed in an article by Roger Sobin in Old-Time Detection Magazine in the Spring, 2008 issue.
Listen to
- ClassicRadioNetwork Click on Channel 03 Mystery Theater player image at lower right of page for 24/7 stream. The stream plays on your player giving you the title and broadcast date of the program.
- CBS Radio Mystery Site Has 3 episodes in a continuous playlist on the bottom left of the homepage. Three episodes can be downloaded on the Listen tab. A Continuous stream can be had by following the instructions on the Radio Station tab.
See also
Sears Radio TheaterSears Radio Theater
Sears Radio Theater was a radio drama anthology series which ran weeknightly on CBS Radio in 1979, sponsored by the Sears chain. Often paired with The CBS Radio Mystery Theater during its first season, the program offered a different genre of drama for each day's broadcast.In 1980, the program...
An hour long weekday anthology series on CBS radio which followed CBSRMT during much of its run before it moved to the Mutual Broadcasting System
Mutual Broadcasting System
The Mutual Broadcasting System was an American radio network, in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the golden age of U.S. radio drama, MBS was best known as the original network home of The Lone Ranger and The Adventures of Superman and as the long-time radio residence of The Shadow...
.
External links
- CBS Radio Mystery Theater Complete collection of 1,399 mp3 episodes including synopsis, actors, and writers
- Dick Judge's CBSRMT log -- text file of titles, broadcast dates and opening-credit actor lists
- Himan Brown's Audio Theater
- CBS Radio Mystery Theater Complete collection posted in internet archive
- CBSRMT forums Per the website "temporarily shut down", retrieved 2011 September 15.