The Adventures of Leonidas Witherall
Encyclopedia
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...
in the mid-1940s.
Based on the novels of Phoebe Atwood Taylor
Phoebe Atwood Taylor
Phoebe Atwood Taylor was an American mystery author.Phoebe Atwood Taylor wrote mystery novels under her own name, and as Freeman Dana and Alice Tilton. Her first novel, The Cape Cod Mystery, introduced the "Codfish Sherlock", Asey Mayo, who became a series character appearing in 24 novels...
(writing as Alice Tilton), the 30-minute dramas were produced by Roger Bower and starred Walter Hampden
Walter Hampden
Walter Hampden is the artist name of Walter Hampden Dougherty was a U.S. actor and theatre manager. He was the younger brother of the American painter Paul Dougherty ....
as Leonidas Witherall, a New England boys' school instructor in Dalton, Massachusetts, a fictional Boston suburb. Witherall, who resembled William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
, is an amateur detective and the accomplished author of the "popular Lieutenant Hazeltine stories."
His housekeeper Mrs. Mollett, who in the novels is constantly offering her "candied opinion", was played by Ethel Remey
Ethel Remey
Ethel Remey was an American actress.Her most famous role was her portrayal of Alma Miller, mother of Lisa Miller on the soap opera As the World Turns. She played the role from 1963 to 1977....
(1895-1979) and Agnes Moorehead
Agnes Moorehead
Agnes 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...
and Jack MacBryde appeared as Police Sgt. McCloud. The announcer was Carl Caruso. Milton Kane supplied the music. The series began June 4, 1944 and continued until May 6, 1945.