The Whisperer
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
old-time radio
Old-time radio
Old-Time Radio and the Golden Age of Radio refer to a period of radio programming in the United States lasting from the proliferation of radio broadcasting in the early 1920s until television's replacement of radio as the primary home entertainment medium in the 1950s...
program
Radio programming
Radio programming is the Broadcast programming of a Radio format or content that is organized for Commercial broadcasting and Public broadcasting radio stations....
which broadcast 13 episodes on late Sunday afternoons [5:00 p.m. Eastern] as a summer replacement from July 8 to September 30, 1951 on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
.
It was based on stories by Dr. Stetson Humphrey (in collaboration with his wife, Irene).
The tone of the show was often tongue-in-cheek, and satirized the radio crime dramas of the day.
The plot
Lawyer Philip Galt (Carleton G. YoungCarleton G. Young
Carleton G. Young From January 10, 1942 until August, 1943, he had the title role on The Adventures of Ellery Queen, and from 1943 to 1952, he had the role of Edmond Dantes in Mutual's The Count of Monte Cristo. In 1951, he played the leading character on NBC's The Whisperer...
), due to a college football injury, lost his voice and can only speak in an eerie whisper. Galt infiltrates "the syndicate" in his native Central City to bring down organized crime from within; to the underworld, he becomes known as the Whisperer. Later, his voice is restored through surgery, but he continues to lead a double life as the Whisperer, relaying instructions by telephone from the syndicate bosses in New York (who don't know he's a mole) to their lackeys in Central City, whom Galt is actually setting up.
In the prologue to the final episode from September 30, 1951 titled "Strange Bed Fellows", Philip Gault explains his history as follows:
It all began 10 years ago when I was kicked in the throat while playing college football. After the bandages were removed I opened my mouth to speak and all that came out was this rattling hiss. After a bakers dozen of women fainted when I spoke to them and countless babies went into paraclisms [sic] of crying, I disappeared from my usual haunts and went to work for a group which I later discovered were known as the crime syndicate. I decided to stay with them and collect sufficient evidence to help destroy them. Then one day I met Dr. Lee and through a miracle of surgery he restored my voice enabling me to resume my real identity as Philip Gault, Lawyer. This dual identity makes life very interesting. For if the syndicate ever finds out that the Whisper, who passes on their orders, is really Philip Gault, the man who has wrecked so many of their plans, there'll be slow walking and low moaning. But I won't be around to comment on it.
Betty Moran portrayed Galt's girlfriend, Ellen Norris, the only person who knows Galt's double identity, other than Dr. Lee. Paul Frees
Paul Frees
Paul Frees was an American voice actor and character actor.-Biography:He was born Solomon Hersh Frees in Chicago...
occasionally appeared as Galt's "friend on the force", Lt. Charles Denvers. William Conrad
William Conrad
William Conrad was an American actor, producer and director whose career spanned five decades in radio, film and television....
frequently appeared in different supporting roles under his alias, "Julius Krelboyne", as he was under exclusive contract to 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...
radio at the time.
Bill Karn was the producer-director (and occasional writer), and organist Johnny Duffy supplied the background music.
The radio actor Carleton G. Young is sometimes confused with the film actor Carleton Scott Young
Carleton Young
Carleton Scott Young was an American character actor born in New York City, New York and known for his deep voice.-Private life:...
.