41 Episodes of this incredibly well written, directed, and acted series known as Fort Laramie. Norman MacDonnell created and produced this series. He insisted on historical accuracy of the names, places, authentic native American practices, military terminology, etc.  I guess you could sum it up in saying the program "payed attention to detail" This is the 17th episode posted in the "Fort Laramie" playlist on this podcast.

Fort Laramie - Epi 17 - Sgt. Gorce's Baby  May 27, 1956  - Western Adventure Series

Do you remember a time when wars were cold and people fought them in the shadows? It was a time of spies and secrets with each side trying to outdo the other using any means necessary. Join us as we drop in on a highly classified meeting at the Pentagon in Washington D.C., where even the uncanny is not off the table, in the play "Spooky"!

Tonight’s episode was written by Josh Horowitz 
Produced by Aimee Pavy
Sound edit and sound design by Josh Horowitz
Heard in tonight’s play were: 
Josh Horowitz as the KGB Scientist and Spy 2
Lena Horowitz as Katya
Bob Telford as Colonel Sweeney
Michael Carnegie as the Military Aide
Brett Stillo as Agent Lansing
Audra Wolfmann as Agent Meadows
Regina Yermus as Vasimovna
Edward Champion as Deputy Director Cartwright
Aaron Seymour as Agent Gusterson and the Doctor
Beth Damiano as Patty
Aimee Pavy as the Room Service Lady
Landon Hood as Spy 1
Dana Kelly Jr. as the President’s Aide
And JFK as the President, courtesy of NVIDIA Natural TTS Synthesis and Tacotron 2

Music and sound effects from FreeSound.org
Additional music arranged and performed by Josh Horowitz 
Episode cover by Peter Wiberg from Pixabay 
Logo design by Michael Dern 
And yours truly Josh Horowitz

Learn more about the show at www.twelvechimesradio.com.

And a shout out to podcast friends of the show: The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society, Breaking Walls: The Podcast on the History of American Radio, The Gray Area, the Narada Radio Company, and our new friend Horror Shop Radio!!  

If you enjoy our plays, please subscribe and leave a review on iTunes or wherever you listen to podcasts. Or drop us a line via email (twelvechimesradio@gmail.com). We’d love to hear from you. Thank you for listening and hope to see you again...at midnight.

25 - Spooky

At 7PM eastern time over Mutual Broadcasting’s flagship WOR, The Mysterious Traveler went on the air. Written and directed by Robert Arthur and David Kogan, The Mysterious Traveler debuted on Mutual December 5th, 1943. 

Maurice Tarplin played the title role with a good-natured malevolence. The traveler mostly narrated from an omniscient perch. 

He rode a phantom train by night. The opening signature was the distant wail of a locomotive whistle, fading in gradually until the rumble of the train could be heard.

David Kogan and Robert Arthur had met in Greenwich Village, New York, partnering on Mutual’s Dark Destiny. 

After it was canceled, they came up with the Mysterious Traveler concept and prepared three sample scripts. Norman Livingston bought it for WOR. 

As independent producers, they were paid a flat rate for the whole package. Any money they saved by using the same actor in multiple roles went into their own pockets, so they used the best character actors in New York. Kogan also directed the series. On Easter Sunday, episode 19, “Beware of Tomorrow,” aired just as a gloomy dusk descended upon New York. 

Opposite The Mysterious Traveler, The Jack Benny Program signed on live, coast-to-coast at 7PM from WEAF in New York and at 4PM from KFI in Los Angeles. By April of 1944, Benny’s writing team consisted of Sam Perrin, Milt Josefsberg, John Tackaberry, and this man, George Balzer.

By the spring of 1944, General Foods had been sponsoring the program for ten years, first with Jell-O and then Grape Nuts Flakes. Benny’s ratings had quietly been slipping since 1941. At the end of this season, his contract with General Foods was up. 

There was tension between the two parties because Benny had helped save Jell-O from going out of business. Benny had full control of his show. NBC also guaranteed his Sunday time slot for as long as he wanted it. This position allowed Benny to sell his program to the highest bidder.

George W. Hill, the President of American Tobacco, wanted Benny’s show. His chief account executive was thirty-six-year-old Pat Weaver, the future president of NBC. Benny’s management team quietly held a sealed auction for sponsorship on February 24th. 

A surprise winner was announced: Ruthrauff & Ryan, agency for American Tobacco’s Pall Mall cigarettes, bid twenty-five thousand dollars per-week for three thirty-five week seasons. The weekly money was payable to Benny for all payroll and production costs. They also included an additional two-hundred-thousand dollars over the three years for marketing and promotion. 

American Tobacco also agreed to pay for any network and carrier line charges. The advertising community was stunned.

The Easter Sunday program was Pall Mall’s audition. In the end, this would be the only Jack Benny episode to have a Pall Mall commercial. 

Pat Weaver and George W. Hill knew no one would take Ruthrauff & Ryan’s bid for Pall Mall seriously. Had Foote, Cone & Belding, American Tobacco’s agency for its top cigarette, Lucky Strike, entered the fray, the attention would have driven up the price. 

The last Benny show sponsored by General Foods was June 4th, 1944. Benny took out a full page ad in Variety thanking General Foods for ten years of sponsorship. In August, he left on a three-week USO tour of Australia and the South Pacific.

On August 28th, American Tobacco announced that Pall Mall’s sales didn’t justify a twenty-five thousand dollar per week expenditure. Lucky Strike would sponsor the show. The following week they announced a comprehensive, multimedia ad campaign. It was estimated to cost over a quarter million dollars. Lucky Strike would sponsor The Jack Benny Program beginning October 1st, 1944.

BW - EP150—008: Easter Sunday 1944—Jack Benny's Only Pall Mall Show & The Mysterious Traveler Rides

Kat Epple's musical description of an Osprey in flight. 

Flight Of The Osprey

Since about the 1830s until today, there has been a tradition of telling ghost stories on Christmas eve. In the spirit, ha ha, of this tradition, regular cast member Crystal Why tells us a ghost story, told on location from a haunted house on Russian Hill in San Francisco. Turn off your lights and bring out the candles. Do you hear a noise? Did that candle move? Tune in and find out what happens! Happy Holidays!

Written/Produced: Aimee Pavy (yep, it's completely scripted!)
Voices: Crystal Why "interviewed" by Aimee Pavy
Holiday Music: “Carol of the Bells” by Jill Tracy from her Christmas album "Silver Smoke, Star of Night."

Thank you for listening and supporting audio drama podcasting!

Find us on iTunes, Podchaser, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify, wherever you find podcasts. If you enjoy our plays, please SUBSCRIBE and leave your review on iTunes or wherever you listen to your podcasts. And please drop us a line via email at twelvechimesradio@gmail.com and check out our website www.twelvechimesradio.com. And thank you for listening!

Twelve Chimes It's Midnight

19 - Christmas Ghost Story

George Hicks D-Day excerpt

Wouldn’t It Be Nice

A demo tape I did in June 1991.  I did this on a hunch in the pre-internet days when I heard there were stirrings in Hollywood to revive the great Jay Ward cartoon characters. It worked!! And I got the job of voicing immortal characters like Bullwinkle J. Moose for 20 wonderful international years. Thanks to Bill Dowling from the old Top Spots studio for recording this nearly 30 years ago.

Keith Scott  Jay Ward Voices Demo DE - BEEPED

This Halloween 1944 episode of the Chase and Sanborn program starring Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy featured Orson Welles. It aired on October 29th, 1944 on NBC. 

Welles was then heavily campaigning for President Franklin D. Rosevelt's third re-election. Election day was the following week.

10/29/44, episode 340

The Charlie McCarthy Show: Guest Orson Welles—10/29/1944

Jay - Z - People Talking (Nas Diss)

When her girlfriend is kidnapped by bandits, Cordelia sets out on a journey to rescue her true love. But when she comes across the town of Oxgate, Cordelia is confronted with an injustice she simply can’t ignore. Will she be able to save the local lesbian saloon from a corrupt Sheriff and his band of thugs, or will she fall short — losing a chance at reuniting with her soulmate in the process?

Out Skirts (Teaser)

Breaking Walls: The Podcast on the History of American Network Radio Broadcasting.

BW - EP150—008: Easter Sunday 1944—Jack Benny's Only Pall Mall Show & The Mysterious Traveler Rides

The WallBreakers

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