Customer Reviews

It's That Time Again

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As an OTR enthusiAst, I recognized all of the shows in this collection and feel that the editor has done an admirable job of pulling together a representative group of series. Though the stories all capture the flavor and typical plots of the series, the writing is wildly uneven (in terms of mechanics, not plot or characterization). The standouts are the Dimension X, Frontier Gentleman, Johnny Dollar, and Pat Novak stories. These are well written stories that capture the programs very well.

The concept is new and exciting. Fans of radio will enjoy reading about charactors one hasn't heard from in awhile. I really enjoyed the "Ma Perkins" story as we don't hear much about this truly great show. This book is a great way for non radio people to be introduced to the lost art of radio soaps.
A must read.

Prior to television, the dominant entertainment medium was Old-Time Radio (OTR). In many bookstores, there are tapes and CDs with recordings of a few of the more famous shows. But to understand what it was like to listen to the shows back then, this volume provides a good insight.

During the course of an evening, listeners would usually tune between stations, getting a variety of different shows, from comedy to mystery, to adventure. The volume provides a sampling of the shows usually heard during an evening or two.

The editor chose for his collection programs that had their origins on radio. Thus, shows like "The Shadow," "The Thin Man," and "Terry and the Pirates" are not represented here, since they were based on pulp magazine, book, and comic-strip characters. But the shows that are included are very representative of the medium at its peak.

For someone who lived through the era, the stories can be treasured for their nostalgic aspect. But to those new to OTR, these stories provide a good introduction to the world of old-time radio.

[N.B. As the author of one of the stories, I'm not going to review that one. However, the rest of the stories were new to me, and I'm commenting on those alone.]

Finding this collection was a total surprise; I had no idea anyone was writing original short stories based on old-time radio series (what was even more surprising is that three more volumes exist). The only caveat to what the writers could tackle was that the stories must be original to radio (so no Sherlock Holmes, Superman, Orphan Annie), etc. To me, some of the stories worked, but a few didn't, mainly the ones where the OTR setting was brought up to date, like the Captain Midnight tale. The "Our Miss Brooks" story was the funniest of the lot, capturing Connie Brooks' narrative style, and I also really enjoyed the "Sergeant Preston" story and the "Frontier Gentleman" piece also matched the kind of story the series did, although I guessed what was going on immediately. Some good fantasy pieces, too, especially in the "Dimension X" story. If you're an OTR fan, definitely a must-have.

I grew up with my dad listening to OTR shows. This book really captured the essence of the shows. I enjoyed the Case of the Bashful Spider (Green Lama) the most. I could hear the characters voices through the words written. I definately would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys OTR.

This is a splendid book for those who love the genre of radio drama that flourished during the Golden Age. The concept is quite simple: present short stories based on some of the shows from that era. I was a bit skeptical about how well Old Time Radio which was heavily dialogue driven and written in script form would transfer over to the short story format. I think this group of writers pulled it off in magnificent fashion.

It does help to know that Jack Webb starred in Pat Novak for Hire or what Bob Bailey sounded like as Johnny Dollar. The remarkable thing about this book is that the authors have managed to capture the essence of the programs so well that I could swear I actually heard the actors delivering their lines. This is a wonderful tribute to the shows that inspired the stories and a darned good read.

If you are hesitating to order this book because you, too, have doubts about how well the shows will translate to short story form, cast those doubts aside and order your copy now.

The concept is new and exciting. Fans of radio will enjoy reading about charactors one hasn't heard from in awhile. I really enjoyed the "Ma Perkins" story as we don't hear much about this truly great show. This book is a great way for non radio people to be introduced to the lost art of radio soaps.
A must read.

Overall, it's an interesting little book. The negatives are that because it is a new concept there is nothing to compare it to and about half of the shows written about are rare shows that even OTR enthusiests have never listened to (Ma Perkins, Tom Mix, Clyde Beatty Show, Candy Matson, Pat Novak). I just say that if you are going to make a book of OTR fiction, they need to make the fiction from shows people have listened to like Suspense, Lone Ranger, The Shadow, Escape, Gunsmoke, etc. The book does have some stories from popular shows like Quiet Please, Inner Sanctum, Johnny Dollar, Dimension X and Our Miss Brooks, but the story quality is a toss up. I did like the Rouge's Gallery story, the Johnny Dollar and the Dimension X ("Willoughby Goes And Gets It" was a gem!). I will also say that the Our Miss Brooks story read more like an episode than any other story.

I liked the author's "The Great Gildersleeve" a little more than this one, but recommend both to the diehard OTR fan.