Whistler Upgrades

JUST A COUPLE OF MORE THINGS....

lasombra sent me a note asking about the episode "Kaleidoscope." Many of you may have such a recording in your collections. There is no such program -- the secret was revealed to me by researcher Karl Schadow when we were working on the Whistler presentation for MANC in 2019. It's actually Pattern for Terror, but the AFRS version was edited in such a way that it's hard to detect what episode it is. The title was edited out. "Kaleidoscope" was a collector-created name, and it survived for decades. Now we know the secret... it's Pattern for Terror. Here are the two recordings...

Whistler 1945-07-16 164 Pattern for Terror (aka Kaleidoscope) UPGRADE-2.mp3
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Whistler 1945-07-16 164 Pattern for Terror (aka Kaleidoscope) AFRTS#9 UPGRADE.mp3
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Reused titles...

The log is coming along and we can use some help to verify certain titles as to whether they are separate stories or repeat performances. These are the ones we have identified now, but we don't have time to address this at this moment.

So... these files have been posted at WeTransfer and will be available for the next 7 days (posted Sept 14, 2022). It's a 1.13GB file with 50 recordings  https://we.tl/t-sQtn0FFtmz

Can you help us? The best way to identify as to whether they are different is by the Whistler's opening narration where he mentions the main character of the story. Please document that main character's name (and perhaps a brief plotline). RadioGoldindex is not always reliable for these things, but this is the page for The Whistler [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

46-10-28 231 Backfire
55-03-24 667 Backfire

47-11-05 284 Big Prison, The
55-07-07 682 Big Prison, The

46-08-26 222 Brief Pause for Murder
49-09-11 379 Brief Pause for Murder
46-09-08 CHI-32 Brief Pause For Murder, A

42-08-22 15 Death Has a Thirst
43-05-08 51 Death Has a Thirst

51-08-05 478 Design for Murder
55-09-08 690 Design for Murder

49-05-22 363 Fatal Fraud
54-01-10 604 Fatal Fraud

45-05-14 155 Friendly Case of Blackmail aka Hit And Run
46-01-14 190 Hit and Run
50-11-12 440 Friendly Case of Blackmail aka Hit And Run
51-01-07 448 Hit and Run

48-05-05 310 Lady in Waiting
52-05-04 517 Lady in Waiting

47-01-20 243 Last Curtain
49-02-13 349 Last Curtain

52-02-10 505 Little Red Book
55-08-25 689 Little Red Book

48-11-21 337 Lovely Look, The
55-05-05 673 Lovely Look, The

52-03-16 510 Marked Man
55-08-11 687 Marked Man

52-10-12 540 One Dark Night
55-01-23 658 One Dark Night

46-03-25 200 Trigger Man, The
46-04-07 CHI-10 Trigger Man, The
49-08-07 374 Trigger Man, The

50-08-27 429 Undercurrent
55-02-20 662 Undercurrent

45-08-13 168 What Makes a Murderer
48-04-07 306 What Makes a Murderer

48-10-10 331 Whirlpool
52-03-02 508 Whirlpool
55-02-06 660 Whirlpool

44-12-18 134 Windfall
47-05-05 258 Windfall

46-12-09 237 With My Own Eyes
50-07-30 425 With My Own Eyes

47-02-17 247 Woman's Privilege, A
49-10-02 382 Woman's Privilege, A
55-06-09 678 Woman's Privilege, A

###

The program evaluation is complete! A REALLY BIG THANK YOU to four OTRR volunteers including C3DS' own, lasombra!

THESE ARE THE EPISODES FROM THE LIST THAT REUSED TITLES

Last Curtain
   47-01-20 243 Last Curtain
   An actress conspires with a fading actor to kill her rich husband. An ensuing double-cross results in blackmail and subsequent murder.
   49-02-13 349 Last Curtain
   Story of a prima donna who becomes obsessed and intensely jealous of a rival singer. As her rage increases she devises a plan to disfigure her rival, and dire consequences ensue.

Windfall
   44-12-18 134 Windfall
   Robert Bradley becomes the heir to his uncle Michael's estate after his son and Robert's cousin, Gerald, is killed in a car crash.
   47-05-05 258 Windfall
   A man named Ted is seemingly about to commit suicide when he finds a man's body. Taking his checkbook, he finds that the unidentified man has a bank balance of over $104,000 dollars

UNRAVELING THE "Friendly Case of Blackmail" AND "Hit and Run" CONFUSION
There have been recordings with both of these titles in the file name. This has now been straightened out AND a "faked" recording has been exposed.
They are two separate programs, each on the series twice.

   45-05-14 155 Friendly Case of Blackmail aka Hit And Run
   THIS IS A MISSING EPISODE AND IS NOT "Hit and Run" - someone took the AFRS Mystery Playhouse version and cut it to drama only and gave it this date. Jerry Haendiges log lists this date as the first, but missing, performance of "Friendly Case of Blackmail." I have not been able to find any newspaper verification
   50-11-12 440 Friendly Case of Blackmail aka Hit And Run
   THIS IS "Friendly Case of Blackmail" SECOND PERFORMANCE AND EPISODE #1 FOR THE TV SERIES
   From here on out the file names will be
   45-05-14 155 Friendly Case of Blackmail
   50-11-12 440 Friendly Case of Blackmail

   46-01-14 190 Hit and Run
   51-01-07 448 Hit and Run
   In San Francisco Hilary and Mildred are running away together. One problem Mildred’s married. She leaves her husband a note on the dining room table but isn’t sure she’s doing the right thing. Mildred changes her mind and in a rush to get her back home Hilary accidentally hits her husband with the car…and kills him.
   THIS IS THE SAME SCRIPT, PERFORMED TWICE

THESE ARE THE RECORDINGS THAT ARE REPEATED SCRIPTS WITH THE SAME TITLES (aka "re-performances")

   46-10-28 231 Backfire
   55-03-24 667 Backfire
   BOTH ARE THE SAME SCRIPT
   Ex-con Carl is hired by Arnold Pearson as a chauffeur for his wife Amy. When Arnold goes travelling Amy and Carl begin an affair, three months later Arnold returns and Carl returns to his role as chauffeur. Arnold tells Carl he’s heard rumors of his wife having an affair with the orchestra leader at the Club Madrid. Adapted for the TV episode of the same name starring Lon Chaney Jr.


   47-11-05 284 Big Prison, The
   55-07-07 682 Big Prison, The
   BOTH ARE THE SAME SCRIPT
   John Emerson goes hunting with Willard Crofton in Alaska but the two argue and it seems that Emerson killed Crofton. Emerson comes to in a hotel with Crofton’s money and belongings strewn around him. Story by Joel Malone and Harold Swanton


   46-08-26 222 Brief Pause for Murder
   49-09-11 379 Brief Pause for Murder
   46-09-08 CHI-32 Brief Pause For Murder, A
   ALL THREE ARE THE SAME SCRIPT
   Roger Wickson, who works in radio, plans to kill his wife Tisha, who’s being seen around town with Trent Crandell.Tisha tells Roger she loves Trent and wants a divorce.


   42-08-22 15 Death Has a Thirst
   43-05-08 51 Death Has a Thirst
   BOTH ARE THE SAME SCRIPT
   Harvey Davis and Mrs Donna Jackson drop off her husband Victor at the sanitarium. He is an alcoholic and they’ve dropped him off for treatment. They get back to the Jackson mansion to discover Dr Saunders is waiting for them. The Doctor thinks Victor is in a cheap drive at a rooming house downtown…because he was called an hour ago and told Victor has escaped. Written and directed by J Donald Wilson


   51-08-05 478 Design for Murder
   55-09-08 690 Design for Murder
   BOTH ARE SAME SCRIPT
   Both involve Charles and Edna Gilbert and their friend Myreen


   49-05-22 363 Fatal Fraud
   54-01-10 604 Fatal Fraud
   BOTH ARE SAME SCRIPT
   At a party in Hong Kong Chris Holmes does a passable imitation of Winston Churchill. He’s introduced to Katherine Dorn who’s there with her employer. Holmes does a good impersonation of her employer which gives Katherine an idea…Episodes features Paul Frees, Kathy Lewis and Gerald Mohr. Story by Joel Malone and Adrian Gendot. Produced and directed by George W Allen.


   48-05-05 310 Lady in Waiting
   52-05-04 517 Lady in Waiting
   BOTH ARE SAME SCRIPT
   Jean Collins is desperate to sever ties with a previous boyfriend who is now in prison. He still sends her money and wants to continue their realationship. A blackmailer threatens to reveal Jean’s relationship with him, and soon ends up dead. With Joan’s check on his body, she becomes the prime suspect in his murder.


   52-02-10 505 Little Red Book
   55-08-25 689 Little Red Book
   BOTH ARE THE SAME SCRIPT
   Characters are Larry Layton and Julie Frazier.


   48-11-21 337 Lovely Look, The
   55-05-05 673 Lovely Look, The
   BOTH ARE SAME SCRIPT
   Charles Beldon falls in love with a housekeeper wanders into his and his wife Helen's house.


   52-03-16 510 Marked Man
   55-08-11 687 Marked Man
   BOTH ARE SAME SCRIPT
   Frank Setto swindles across the border.


   52-10-12 540 One Dark Night
   55-01-23 658 One Dark Night
   BOTH ARE SAME SCRIPT
   Frank Jason and the mysterious disappearance/death of his wife, Cora.


   46-03-25 200 Trigger Man, The
   46-04-07 CHI-10 Trigger Man, The (this is a curious AFRS recording with Pacific Network open and WBBM drama with Everett Clark as The Whistler)
   49-08-07 374 Trigger Man, The
   THREE SCRIPTS, SAME STORY
   Martin Lang is a lawyer who manages to get some very suspicious clients off their charges, including known criminal Branch Malone. One day in court, having got Malone acquitted again, the judge suggests a clean cut young fellow like Lang shouldn’t be getting involved with a criminal like Branch Malone. Produced by George W. Allen. Written by Harold Swanton from an idea by Robert and Beatrice Ruskin.
   NOTE: The TV episode has this as a single word "Triggerman"


   50-08-27 429 Undercurrent
   55-02-20 662 Undercurrent
   BOTH ARE SAME SCRIPT
   Chris Horton, a passenger on the SS Java Queen, tries to figure out the identity of a man on the ship called Ashcroft.


   45-08-13 168 What Makes a Murderer
   48-04-07 306 What Makes a Murderer
   BOTH ARE SAME SCRIPT
   Arthur Winslow, an investment analyst based in Philadelphia but living in New Jersey, wants a change from his monotonous life.


   48-10-10 331 Whirlpool
   52-03-02 508 Whirlpool
   55-02-06 660 Whirlpool
   THREE SCRIPTS, SAME STORY
   A man named Marty is shipwrecked, and wakes up on another ship bound for Singapore. The ship's doctor says his name is Hastings, and his wife, a girl he saved from the shipwreck, comes in. But he has no wife and is not Hastings.


   46-12-09 237 With My Own Eyes
   50-07-30 425 With My Own Eyes
   BOTH ARE THE SAME SCRIPT
   Character is Christine McKay in Florida.


   47-02-17 247 Woman's Privilege, A
   49-10-02 382 Woman's Privilege, A
   55-06-09 678 Woman's Privilege, A
   ALL THREE ARE THE SAME SCRIPT
   The story involves two old oil paintings, homicide and an art dealer named John Williams.

##

The Whistler log has been updated
This link is good for 7 days [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
(posted Sep 23, 2022)

There are significant revisions since the last draft at the end of July

Your assistance in reviewing the information is GREATLY appreciated.

The TV episodes have been added to the log. There are still two episodes that elude their linking to radio episodes. These are the descriptions with links to the videos.

CANCELLED FLIGHT [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
IMDb: Pilot Lloyd Adams has a lucrative career as a smuggler but when his partner Matt Bannion gets cold feet, his mind turns to plans of murder; SF Examiner 7/20/55: Two partners live in fear of each other as well as the police; written by Adrian Gendot; Philadelphia Inquirer 11/27/55: There is no honor among theives when $50,000 worth of ill-gotten gains is at stake; Camden NJ Courier Post 12/2/55: A smuggler decides to kill his partner in order to have all the big money to himself but finds he has shot the wrong man.

JUBILEE EARRING [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
IMDb: Fran Gilbert arrives in town for a reunion with an old college friend but the woman isn't there to meet her and Fran begins to suspect her husband may have murdered her; writer is Harold Swanton; Lewiston ME Sun-Journal 9/12/58: a 10-year college reunion meets witha strange disappearance; Portland ME Express 9/12/58 A 10-year college reunion is upset by the strange disappearance of one of the class members

I now have all 39 of the episodes. Some of the video is almost awful -- but for research purposes, they'll do.

I'll start some regular posts again next week -- not sure what series yet.

How about Inner Sanctum Mysteries?

There are at least 2 Inner Sanctum projects going on now -- upgrades sometime next year. I have submitted my set and other files to them. I am hopeful that there will be some nice upgrades and good research behind it. Don't want to get in the way of that long-overdue effort.

I may get back onto Big Story so I have an excuse to finish / update the website, and then get back to Suspense. Still deciding. Not much of a Suspense upgrade backlog yet.

One anniversary we missed was the 80th anniversary of The Whistler. It came onto the air a month before Suspense did.

Next Friday is the 60th anniversary of "the day radio died," September 30, 1962. Recorded an interview with Craig Wichman where we discuss the day, the validity of that monicker, and what's happened since. Will post it "everywhere" on Friday.

I have just learned that the TV episode #15 "Cancelled Flight" is based on Fatal Error 1950-05-07.

Now we just need to figure out Jubilee Earring and we'll have identified all of them!

I'm still trying to find an important date in Whistler history to make a big deal about its 80th anniversary. Still haven't...

... but I did find this web page that goes through the history of Signal Oil [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Then I wondered -- perhaps Signal is the key to it. The show did not have a "bankroller" until Signal stepped up on 1943-12-12 for the (unfortunately missing) Devil Goes to Paradise episode. Prior to that, Signal was just buying time on the stations and not running the show.

Any excuse to celebrate the 80th anniversary of its airing... and even tho Signal was 18 months later, it's just as good an excuse as any.

What say you?

Anything is a good excuse to celebrate The Whistler!

I have been working very hard on my Whistler collection since about mid-June from all of the downloads over the years and believe I have 14 items which are not listed in greybelt's latest log. I have 11 rebroadcasts from Audio Arts, 2 are AFRS, and yes, I do have a Signal Oil network broadcast as well. I'll post 3 episodes today.

490522 363 Fatal Fraud - Rebroadcast
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500122 398 The Go Between - AFRS
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500212 401 Desert Reckoning - open upcut - Rebroadcast
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Gathol -- this is GREAT!!!
I did not have any of these three and have updated the log accordingly!
None of these are "missing episodes" but they are all "missing versions" that I did not have... and the dates all make sense as to where they should be.
Stupendous!

The spreadsheet log for all to see is at
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Many Thanks gathol

Best regards
Art

Everyone is certainly most welcome! Ready for 3 more?

500507 413 Fatal Error - Rebroadcast
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500625 420 Manhunt - Rebroadcast
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500910 431 The Golden Penny - Rebroadcast
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I do have to admit on this Golden Penny rebroadcast the open is upcut and the audio arts credits are also cut off of this copy. I'm deducing it is a rebroadcast from the announcer's statements which seem consistent over the rebroadcast episodes.

Marvelous again!
This Cobaltian Completist is very happy.
Manhunt sounds great, especially.

I always suspected there were a lot more Audio Arts recordings out there. Many of them fell out of circulation when the network recordings started to appear in collections.

A while ago we did post some AFRTS Whistler that used the Audio Arts recordings.

Keep 'em coming... headed toward the best Whistler set ever!

re: Golden Penny -- I hate when that happens! I listened to it. It could be a collector-edited Audio Arts copy... or it could be a collector-edited AFRS copy... or it could be a collector-edited AFRS release of the Audio Arts syndication! AAARRRRRGH!!!!!  

I'm sorry greybelt - I tried!  Either way for Golden Penny, AFRS or rebroadcast, we would need, but how to categorize?  I need the emoji with the smiley face running into the brick wall!  Anyway, pressing on with 3 more and no such problems with today's rebroadcasts:

500917 432 Deadly Rumor - Rebroadcast
degoo link removed due to problems. See later post for wetransfer link

501001 434 Dear Diary - Rebroadcast
degoo link removed due to problems. See later post for wetransfer link

501210 444 The Clock on the Tower - Rebroadcast
degoo link removed due to problems. See later post for wetransfer link

Gathol -- for "Dear Diary" I am getting this message:

Cannot preview this file
Daily limit reached, upgrade to increase this limit or wait until tomorrow

Can you repost using WeTransfer or another site?
You might want to post all three into the WeTransfer link in case the problem occurs with the others.

I even tried signing into one of my Degoo accounts and it did not help.

This only happens with Degoo when you're posting things that Cobaltians REALLY want

Sorry again greybelt! Ok, I created an account at wetransfer and uploaded all 3 files to it, so the link will expire in 7 days. I hope this works better!

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The WeTransfer link worked great!

The MEGA service has been working well on the Suspense thread -- 20GB free go to [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] if you want to avoid expiration dates on the files.

WeTransfer is fine -- I use it multiple times a day it seems!

Thanks gathol

Best regards

Art

I will post just one file today, but the one is the Signal Oil program. I thought I had another AFRS but as I listened to it and rechecked the log I don't think it is something new. I have it as 510211 Spell in Green - AFRS but it seems just like the 540425 copy. I will post it tomorrow if anyone asks for it for verification. Then, hopefully tomorrow I will post the final 3 rebroadcasts I have. That's my plan at the moment anyway!

First, it's not quite all good news on this Signal Oil file I have. The open is upcut - as best as I can tell from comparing to other Signal shows with the full introductory material - I think the first 37 seconds or so of the announcer talking is missing. This starts out with the whistling just before he says "I am the Whistler" Here is the radiogoldindex entry and the cast list at the end matches.

The Whistler. July 30, 1950. CBS Pacific net. "With My Own Eyes". Signal Oil. A woman sees another woman murdered. The murderer turns out to be the police commissioner. The murdered woman then turns up alive! This is a network, sponsored version of cat. #720. George W. Allen (producer, director), Marvin Miller (announcer), Bill Forman (narrator), Wilbur Hatch (music), John Dehner, Lynn Aynley, Harold Swanton (writer). 29:37. Audio Condition: Very good to excellent. Complete.

500730 425 With My Own Eyes - open upcut

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link expires in 7 days

This is great! I have never been able to find the network recording. Thanks so much for posting it!

Compared to the program of the prior week, it seems that only about 40 seconds of the open is missing -- but other than that, we're good!

I have updated the log accordingly.

Thanks much Gathol!

Thanks gathol
Best regards

Art

Here are the last 3 rebroadcasts I have. The titles are given and all 3 have the audio arts credits at the end, so these should pass inspection!

510225 455 Murder Arrangement - Rebroadcast
520615 523 Last Message - Rebroadcast
520629 525 Night Flight - Rebroadcast

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link expires in 7 days

Enjoy everyone!

I do have a slight favor to ask. As I've gone over the log, I saw I do not have 440730 115 Till Death Do Us Part - AFRS Mystery Playhouse. Would someone be kind enough to post that one for me please? The episodes in the OTRR collection are incorrect Signal Oil versions with that date.

WHISTLER 1944-07-30

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