The Mercury Theatre was an independent repertory company founded in New York City in 1937 by Orson Welles and producer John Houseman, who is best known for his Oscar-winning performance as Professor Charles Kingsfield in the "The Paper Chase." After a series of acclaimed stage productions, Welles and his Mercury Theatre were offered their own weekly hour-long radio program over the CBS radio network. Here Welles along with Agnes Moorehead, Ray Collins, Joseph Cotten, Alice Frost, Martin Gabel, and others presented powerful adaptations of literary classics with Bernard Herrman as composer and conductor.

Considered by many critics as the finest dramatic hour on radio, "The Mercury Theatre on the Air" was without a sponsor until a single broadcast changed all that: "The War of the Worlds.""

A thrilling collection of episodes from the classic radio show "Suspense"

Conceived as a potential radio vehicle for Alfred Hitchcock to direct, "Suspense" was a radio series of epic proportion. It aired on CBS from 1942 to 1962 and is considered by many to be the best mystery series of the golden age. Often referred to as Radio s Outstanding Theater of Thrills, the show focused on suspenseful thrillers starring the biggest names in Hollywood. Early in the run, the episodes were hosted by the Man in Black who, from an omniscient perch, narrated stories of people thrown into dangerous or bizarre situations with plots that, at the very end, usually had an unseen twist or two. Hollywood s finest actors jumped at the chance to appear on "Suspense," including Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, Alan Ladd, Henry Fonda, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, and Orson Welles. Scripts were by John Dickson Carr, Lucille Fletcher, James Poe, Ray Bradbury, and many others.

Episodes include: The Cave of Ali Baba, The Hitchhiker, The Kettler Method, A Passage to Benares, One Hundred in the Dark, The Lord of the Witch Doctors, Will You Make a Bet with Death?, Menace in Wax, The Body Snatchers, The Doctor Prescribed Death, In Fear and Trembling, and Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble.

Raymond Chandler s celebrated hard-boiled private eye, Philip Marlowe, made his radio debut in 1945 on the Lux Radio Theatre with Murder My Sweet, starring Dick Powell. Two years later, NBC brought the character to the air in his own weekly series starring Van Heflin, "The New Adventures of Philip Marlowe." A summer replacement for "The Bob Hope Show," the series was short-lived, ending September 9, 1947. CBS revived it in 1948 with "The Adventures of Philip Marlowe," starring Gerald Mohr. With producer/director Norman MacDonnell at the helm, the series captured the largest audience in radio by 1949. Scripts were by Gene Levitt, Robert Mitchell, Mel Dinelli, and Kathleen Hite. While Chandler s distinctive similes were largely lacking, the strong, dry, sarcastic narration was there, and the way Mohr delivered his lines made you forget they weren t written by Chandler. Supporting Mohr were radio s best, including Howard McNear, Parley Baer, Lawrence Dobkin, Virginia Gregg, and Lou Krugman. One of the best detective shows on the air at the time, it lasted until 1951.

"Our Miss Brooks" was a highly popular radio sitcom that was eventually adapted for both television and film. It starred Hollywood film and New York stage veteran Eve Arden, who specialized in playing the wisecracking friend. She often did it better than anyone else, receiving an Oscar nomination for the 1945 film "Mildred Pierce." Since her skill with the wicked one-liner was beginning to lead to typecasting, Arden signed on for the lead in radio s "Our Miss Brooks "to find a new image.

The series centers on Connie Brooks, a sharp-witted, lovable English teacher at fictional Madison High School. Between gentle wisecracks, Miss Brooks dotes on nerdish student Walter Denton, played by Richard Crenna, and frequently locks horns with crusty, cranky Principal Osgood Conklin, played by Gale Gordon. Many plot lines revolve around Miss Brooks longing for Philip Boynton, the school s bashful biology teacher.

The radio series lasted until 1957, having already made a successful jump to television in 1952 where Arden won a Primetime Emmy for Best Female Star in a Regular Series."