Bill Cosby Himself "On Stage" 05-20-83 **Three Days Only
Cosby was born on July 12, 1937, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is one of four sons of Anna Pearl (née Hite),and William Henry Cosby Sr., who served as a mess steward in the U.S. Navy. Cosby was the class president as well as captain of both the baseball and track and field teams at Mary Channing Wister Public School in Philadelphia. Teachers noted his propensity for joking around instead of studying, and he described himself as the class clown. At FitzSimons Junior High School, Cosby acted in plays and continued to compete in sports. Cosby attended Philadelphia's Central High School, a magnet school and academically rigorous college prep school, where he ran track and played baseball, football, and basketball. He transferred to Germantown High School but failed the tenth grade. In 1956, Cosby enlisted in the Navy and served as a hospital corpsman at the Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia.He worked in physical therapy with Navy and Marine Corps personnel who were injured during the Korean War. THIS MOVIE: May 20, 1983. Filmed before a live audience at the First Ontario Concert Hall, in Hamilton, Ontario, Cosby gives the audience his views ranging from marriage to parenthood. The film also showcases Cosby's trademark conversational style of stand up comedy. For most of the performance, Cosby is seated at the centre of the stage, only getting up to emphasise a joke. Many of the comedic routines presented in the film were precursors to Cosby's most popular sitcom, The Cosby Show. An album of the same name was also released on Motown Records. The film is regarded by some as "the greatest stand up concert movie ever".

Wedding Invitation Mixup (Aired December 9, 1951)
Amos Jones and Andy Brown worked on a farm near Atlanta, Georgia, and during the episodes of the first week, they made plans to find a better life in Chicago, despite warnings from a friend. With four ham and cheese sandwiches and $24, they bought train tickets and headed for Chicago where they lived in a State Street rooming house and experienced some rough times before launching their own business, the Fresh Air Taxi Company. With the listening audience increasing in the spring and summer of 1928, the show's success prompted the Pepsodent Company to bring it to the NBC Blue Network on August 19, 1929. THIS EPISODE: December 9, 1951. CBS network. "Wedding Invitation Mixup" AKA: Andy's Wedding Plans Sponsored by: Rexall. Andy meets Theresa Thompkins at night school and soon becomes engaged. Lightnin' mixes up the wedding invitations and all of Andy's old girlfriends get invited! Even Miss Blue appears to have a chat with Theresa. Abigail Thompson and Madame Queen complicate the situation. Madeline Lee, Ruby Dandridge, Freeman Gosden, Lillian Randolph, Charles Correll, Griff Barnett (commercial spokesman), Millie Bruce, Horace Stewart, Harlow Wilcox (announcer), Corny Anderson, Joe Connelly (writer), Bob Mosher (writer), Johnny Lee, Jeff Alexander and His Orchestra (music). 29:47. Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index.

The Adventure Of The Mormon Country (Aired October 23, 1949 )
The Adventures of Frank Race was a syndicated show, out of Bruce Ells Productions in Hollywood, and began airing on radio in the spring of 1949. A total of 43 episodes were produced, broadcast first on the East coast 1949-50, and then on the West coast 1951-52. The title hero was described in the introduction by announcer Art Gilmore with these words: "Before the war, FRANK RACE worked as an attorney, but he traded his law books for the cloak-and-dagger of the OSS. When the war was over, his former life was over too....adventure became his business!" Starring "Chandu The Magician" Star Tom Collins. THIS EPISODE: October 23, 1949. Program #27. Broadcasters Program Syndicate syndication. "The Adventure Of The Mormon Country". Commercials added locally. A wealthy playboy named Sonny Krueger has been kidnapped and held for $50,000 ransom. Paul Dubov, Tony Barrett, Buckley Angel (writer, director), Joel Murcott (writer, director), Bruce Eells (producer), Ivan Ditmars (organist), Michael Roy (announcer), Wilms Herbert, Bert Holland, William Johnstone, Michael Ann Barrett, Inga Yolis. 26:44. Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index.

The Missing Hotel Room (Aired February 9, 1955) Like Sam Spade, Craig narrated his stories, in addition to being the leading character in this 30 minute show. Nearly sixty episodes are in trading circulation today William Gargan as a Detective (and an actor) If William Gargan brought an air of authenticity to his roles as a private detective, there were some good very reasons. His father was a bookmaker, so Gargan learned a lot about the gambling world and met a lot of interesting characters from across the spectrum of society. The main reason why Gargan was so convincing as a detective was that he was probably the only actor of his time who had actually been a private detective. He first worked as a credit investigator and collection agent for a clothing firm. Once Gargan was shot at when he attempted to get a deadbeat customer to pay his overdue account. THIS EPISODE: February 9, 1955. NBC network. "The Missing Hotel Room". Sustaining. "One nice thing about being a murderer, you don't have to worry about being included in the old age pension fund...you're not going to have an old age." The program opening is slightly upcut. William Gargan, Louis Vittes (writer), Andrew C. Love (director), Jerry Hausner, Joan Banks, Stanley Farrar, Doris Singleton. 22:13. Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index.

My Love Is A Ghost (Aired November 16, 1952)
NBC first envisioned The Chase as a new Television feature. This was not uncommon during the later 1940s and early 1950s. Several Radio features straddled both media, with varying success. Developed as a psychological drama, the premise was that many life situations place their subjects in a 'chase' of one type or another. A chase for fame. A chase from peril. A chase to beat the clock. A chase to escape death. The added twist was the question of who is the hunter or the hunted in these situations. The scripts were faced paced, starred quality east coast talent and were well written. The series' plots and themes focused primarily on predominantly fear inducing pursuits of one form or another. THIS EPISODE: November 16, 1952. NBC network. "My Love Is A Ghost". Sustaining. A man buys an oil painting of a woman, and finds himself being haunted by her spirit. The final public service announcement and system cue has been deleted. Lawrence Klee (creator, writer), Paul McGrath, Anne Seymour, Bryna Raeburn, Edward King (director, transcriber), Fred Collins (announcer), Roger De Koven. 29:21. Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index.

The Idyll Of Miss Sarah Brown (Aired November 7, 1948)
Damon Runyon Theater - Broadcast from January to December 1949, "The Damon Runyon Theater" dramatized 52 of Runyon's short stories for radio. Damon Runyon (October 4, 1884 – December 10, 1946) was a newspaperman and writer. He was best known for his short stories celebrating the world of Broadway in New York City that grew out of the Prohibition era. He spun tales of gamblers, petty thieves, actors and gangsters; few of whom go by "square" names, preferring instead to be known as "Nathan Detroit", "Big Jule", "Harry the Horse", "Good Time Charlie", "Dave the Dude", and so on. These stories were written in a very distinctive vernacular style: a mixture of formal speech and colorful slang, almost always in present tense, and always devoid of contractions. THIS EPISODE: November 7, 1948. Program #6. Mayfair syndication. "The Idyll Of Miss Sarah Brown". Commercials added locally. The story of "Sky," a tin-horn gambler and Sarah Brown, a missionary. The story from which "Guys and Dolls" was taken. Gerald Mohr, John Brown, Damon Runyon (author), Russell Hughes (adaptor), Vern Carstensen (production supervisor), Richard Sanville (director), Frank Gallop (announcer). 26:43. Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index.

Kildare's Old Girlfriend (Aired May 10, 1950)
Dr. James Kildare was a fictional character, the primary character in a series of American theatrical films in the late 1930s and early 1940s, an early 1950s radio series, a 1960s television series of the same name and a comic book based on the TV show. The character was invented by the author Frederick Schiller Faust (aka Max Brand). The character began in the film series as a medical intern; after becoming a doctor he was mentored by an older physician, Dr. Leonard Gillespie. After the first ten films, the series eliminated the character of Kildare and focused instead on Gillespie. In the summer of 1949, MGM reunited Lew Ayres and Lionel Barrymore to record the radio series, The Story of Dr. Kildare, scripted by Les Crutchfield, Jean Holloway and others. After broadcasts on WMGM New York from February 1, 1950 to August 3, 1951, the series was syndicated to other stations during the 1950s. The supporting cast included Ted Osborne as hospital administrator Dr. Carough, Jane Webb as nurse Mary Lamont and Virginia Gregg as Nurse Parker, labeled "Nosy Parker" by Gillespie, with appearances by William Conrad, Stacy Harris, Jay Novello, Isabel Jewell and Jack Webb.

Captain Rock (Aired February 13, 1950)
Dangerous Assignment stands as one of the most durable programs of its genre and era in the waning days of The Golden Age of Radio. Espionage or foreign intrigue dramas weren't particularly groundbreaking undertakings by the 1950s. Bulldog Drummond was the first of the more successful exemplars of Radio espionage and intrigue, running from 1941 to 1954, most often under the lead of the gifted character actor, George Coulouris. The Counterspy series had been well underway since 1942 and ran in one incarnation or another through 1954. Dangerous Assignment, while airing ahead of The Man Called X, never seemed to get the buildup that The Man Called X invariably received. It may well have been as simple as a lack of sponsorship. For much of 1950 and 1951, both Dangerous Assignment and The Man Called X remained either network sustained or shared the sponsorship of Ford, Anacin, Chesterfield, and RCA Victor. Show Notes From The Digital Deli. THIS EPISODE: February 13, 1950. NBC network. Sustaining. Steve Mitchell is sent to Tangiers to impersonate "Captain Rock," who had just been murdered. Brian Donlevy, Robert Ryf (writer), Bill Cairn (director), Bruce Ashley (music). 29:29. Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index.

The Exurbanites (Aired March 30, 1956)
The CBS Radio Workshop aired from January 27, 1956 through September 22, 1957 and was a revival of the prestigious Columbia Workshop from the 1930s and 1940s. Creator William Froug launched the series with this powerhouse two-part adaptation of "Brave New World" and booked author Aldous Huxley to narrate his famous novel. "We’ll never get a sponsor anyway," CBS vice president Howard Barnes explained to Time, "so we might as well try anything." The CBS Workshop regularly featured the works of the world’s greatest writers. including Ray Bradbury, Archibald MacLeish, William Saroyan, Lord Dunsany and Ambrose Bierce. THIS EPISODE: March 30, 1956. CBS network. "The Exurbanites". Sustaining. A chilling (but true) horror story about the problems of living in the suburbs. Eric Sevareid (narrator). 28:24Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index

Much Too Much (Aired May 2, 1977)
The late E.G. Marshall hosted the program every year but the final one, when actress Tammy Grimes took over. Each episode began with the ominous sound of a creaking door, slowly opening to invite listeners in for the evening's adventure. At the end of each show, the door would swing shut, with Marshall signing off, "Until next time, pleasant...dreams?" Despite the show's title, Brown expanded its scope beyond mysteries to include horror, science fiction, historical drama, and even comedy. In addition to original stories, there were adaptations of classic tales by such writers as Edgar Allan Poe (no fewer than seven Poe stories were adapted in 1975 alone), O. Henry, Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce, Charles Dickens and others. Later in the series Brown even experimented with multi-part, five-episode adaptations of novels such as Les Misérables and The Last Days of Pompeii, as well as an original five-part story about Egyptian queen Nefertiti with Tammy Grimes in the title role. In 1982, Tammy Grimes hosted the final season of The CBS Radio Mystery Theater. THIS EPISODE: May 2, 1977. Program #643. CBS network. "Much Too Much". Sponsored by: Greyhound Package Express, Buick, Contac, Buick, Ex Lax, Minute Maid. Presto Pressure Cookers. An interesting take on the death penalty. E. G. Marshall (host), Gerald Keane (writer), Robert Dryden, Ian Martin, Court Benson, Earl Hammond. 45:30. Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index.