SONIC SUMMERSTOCK PLAYHOUSE '23:

Lux Radio Theatre's production of Kaufman & Hart's You Can't Take it With You, remade by the Narada Radio Company.

Tom Konkle as YOUR ANNOUNCER

Les Marsden as GRANDPA

Laura Mirsky as PENNY

Noah Diamond as TONY

Amanda Sisk as ALICE

Joe Martinez as CECIL B. DEMILLE

Victoria Fancki as ESSIE

Dana Gonsalves as ED

Debby Ramirez as RITA

Larry Groebe as PAUL 

Scott McKinley AS MR. DEPINNA  

Tre Minor as DONALD

Pete Lutz as KOLENKHOV

Alex Lagase as MR. KIRBY

Stephanie Stearns Dulli as MRS. KIRBY

John Bell as HENDERSON of the IRS

Ian Federgreen as the head J-MAN and

Geri Elliff as GRAND DUCHESS OLGA KATRINKA 

Additional voices performed by Stephanie Stearns Dulli, John Bell, and Pete Lutz

Recorded over Zoom in July 2023, with actors from Texas, California, New Jersey, New York, Alabama and Illinois. Originally released 8/6/23 on the Mutual Audio Network as a feature of the 2023 Sonic Summerstock Playhouse festival.

Project Audion revisits one of the funniest, most beloved radio comedies of the 20th century. Fibber McGee and Molly tickled the radio audience for so long - more than a quarter of a century - that it spawned the very first-ever spinoff shows... and recurring gags like Fibber's hopelessly overstuffed closet, and quips like Molly's "t'ain't funny, McGee", remained part of shared American pop culture long after the series left the airwaves. Part vaudeville act, part sitcom, the series stared real-life couple Jim and Marion Jordan who were indeed former vaudeville comics. Don Quinn's scripts and a large cast of supporting characters who stopped by 79 Wistful Vista kept the laughs rolling.

Now, Robert L. Mills (former comedy writer for Bob Hope) has wonderfully recreated the style of the show at its peak in a new script penned just for Project Audion. In it, Fibber thinks he's come up with a brilliant and practical new invention - for once, does his boasting have merit? Listen to our transcontinental cast and laugh!

Our cast:

Fibber McGee: John Bell, AL

Molly / Teeny: Holly Adams, NY

Harlow Wilcox: Ken Jeffries, CA

Wallace Wimple: Dana Gonsalves, TX

Mayor LaTrivia: Bob Beaumont, CA

Doc Gamble: Frank Guglielmeli, PA

Old Timer: Harry Middlebrooks, CA

Gildersleeve: Larry Groebe, TX

Leroy: Carolyn Threlkeld, KY

Produced, directed, and mixed by Larry Groebe

PROJECT AUDION #41: Life With Luigi - "Luigi's Toothache"

This month Project Audion recreates a classic radio comedy based on a timeless premise. As a nation of immigrants, the clash of old and new cultures in America has offered authors an unending supply of humorous situations. "Life with Luigi" mined this comedic vein from 1948 to 1953. Each week, small-town Italian Luigi Basco struggled to navigate the complexities of his new American life, supported by his friends from Italy, Germany, Eastern Europe, and Scandinavia. It's full of charming stereotypes with broadly entertaining accents, it's-a great, innocent fun. In this episode, Luigi's aching tooth leads him into the unfamiliar world of medical specialists...

Luigi: Jacob Palka, IL

Pasquale: Pete Lutz, TX

Schultz: Larry Groebe, TX

Announcer / Horowitz / Man: Ken Jeffries, CA

Olson / Doctor: Paul Arbisi, IL

Miss Spaulding / Rosa: Donna Patton, TN

Directed by Mr. Palka and produced by Mr. Groebe

THE REASONABLY AMAZING ADVENTURES OF FLASH GORDON Episode 6: Zarkov to the Rescue

A silly take on the original radio series Flash Gordon which is now in public domain. Starting April 22, 1935, and again in May 2022  the strip was adapted into The Amazing Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon, a 26-episode weekly radio serial. The series followed the strip very closely, amounting to a week-by-week adaptation of the Sunday strip for most of its run.

Flash Gordon was played by Tom Konkle, starring Stephanie Stearns Dulli as Dale Arden and Witch Queen Azora, Gino C. Vianelli as Captain Thune,  Bob Clendenin as Dr. Zarkov, Pete Lutz as Saul (Pete Lutz heads the Narada Radio Company), Kurtis Bedford as Vultan, and David Beeler as the announcer and the Lieutenant. The original radio series broke with the strip continuity in the last two episodes, when Flash, Dale and Zarkov returned to Earth. We broke it completely.

Edit and  Sound effects by Tom Konkle.

Directed by Tom Konkle.       

Music by Bryan Arata and Tom Konkle.  

The show comedy version script by Tom Konkle and Kurtis Bedford. 

Producers Kurtis Bedford and Tom Konkle created the Mindstream Players.

THE MUTUAL STAGE: Charade

Hearkening back to such classic series as Lux Radio Theatre and Mercury Theatre On the Air, The Mutual Stage presents all-new adaptations of films and stage plays, sourced from the public domain. In our inaugural effort, director/producer Pete Lutz has assembled an Oscar-worthy cast to bring you his adaptation of the hit 1963 film, CHARADE. Get set for comedy, adventure, and romance, as we tell the story of a recent widow whose husband stole a quarter of a million dollars -- and now his partners want that money back! NARADA RADIO COMPANY

CAST:

Darren Rockhold as THE ANNOUNCER

Jack Ward as THE HOST

Greg McAfee as GRANDPIERRE, BARTHOLOMEW, MARINE

Karim C. Kronfli as PETER JOSHUA

Rhiannon McAfee as REGGIE

Gwendolyn Lim as JEAN-LOUIS

Lisa Michaud as SYLVIE

Dana Gonsalves as GIDEON and BRITISH DELEGATE

Pete Lutz as TEX, GENDARME, EMBASSY TELEPHONE OPERATOR, MONSIEUR FELIX

Ian Federgreen as "BARTHOLOMEW"

Chuck Wilson as SCOBIE

Tanja Milojevic as ITALIAN DELEGATE

Carole Krohn as FRENCH DELEGATE

Geri Elliff as FUNERAL ATTENDANT, WAITER, VENDOR, CRUIKSHANK'S SECRETARY

MUSIC BY Dr. Ross Bernhardt

Adapted, produced & directed by PETE LUTZ

PROJECT AUDION 39 - Little Ham from Harlem, by Langston Hughes

Project Audion presents a world premiere of an unrealized radio play by the famed Black poet Langston Hughes. What might radio drama's Golden Age of the 1930s, '40s and '50s have sounded like had Black creators been allowed time on the airwaves? Back then, radio was almost exclusively a stage for White entertainers, with only a handful of secondary roles and occasional guest appearances offered to people of color. In 1943, Langston Hughes took the lead characters from a successful theatrical comedy he had written eight years earlier - "Little Ham from Harlem" - and proposed creating a daily soap opera around them. Hamlet Jones of the Singing Shoe Shine Parlor, and Tiny Lee, his "stout but beautiful" lady friend, would have been the main focus of radio's first Black soap opera. It would have taken the radio audience around Harlem life as Hughes knew it, encompassing everything from numbers-running to local night spots. But "Little Ham" would have not been just a soap opera. It was also full of comedy, and each episode was deliberately scripted to feature songs from the cast worked into the action. Langston Hughes wrote the show's first two 15 minute episodes, then shopped his concept to networks, syndicators, and advertising agencies. But in the 1940s, no one would take a chance on such a progressive idea. As Hughes noted some years later, 'My Agents stated flatly "It is just abut impossible to sell a Negro writer to Hollywood or radio, and they use Negro subject matter very rarely."' His two completed scripts for "Little Ham" were filed away, unproduced and unheard. Now Project Audion brings the show to life for the first time.

"Little Ham from Harlem" features the talents of Black actors from across America, and is preceded by an interview with Dr. Vanessa Valdez, Director of City College of New York's annual Langston Hughes festival, who offers insights into Langston Hughes' work and impact.

Our cast features:

LITTLE HAM: Lee J. Green, NE

BUSTER: Robert Stevenson, IN

SHINGLE: Willie Macon, FL

PAPA MACK: Carl Thomas, TX

TINY LEE: Yle Blackburn, CT

SUGAR LOU: Tabetha McNeal, VA

LAWYER / STRANGER: Sean Massey, TX

ANNOUNCER / CUSTOMER: Norval Soleyn, NY

with production and direction by Larry Groebe in Texas

PROJECT AUDION #38 -- The Jack Benny Program, "Mutiny on the Bounty"

Think you've heard almost every Jack Benny radio show? Try one that was just written! Project Audion presents a recreation newly penned by Robert L. Mills, former staff writer for Bob Hope. Project Audion has gathered the classic Benny gang, guest stars Charlie McCarthy and Edgar Bergen, and a virtual studio audience for a half hour of laughter, including a send-up of "Mutiny on the Bounty." Our transcontinental cast of voice actors even recorded this show live via Zoom on a Sunday night at 7. 

Featuring the talents of...

JACK BENNY: Scott R. McKinley, NJ

CHARLIE MCCARTHY / EFFIE KLINKER / MR. KITZEL: Duane Noch, NJ

EDGAR BERGEN: Larry Groebe, TX

MARY LIVINGSTONE: Denise Cline, KY

PHIL HARRIS: Norman Cline, KY

DENNIS DAY / FRANK NELSON: Bob Beaumont, CA

STAGE HAND / SHELDON LEONARD / MEL BLANC: Pete Lutz, TX 

DON WILSON: Ken Jeffries, CA

...and produced and directed by Larry Groebe

Continuing our special run of Christmas and holiday shows, we proudly present the Narada Radio Company and their solitary holiday offering -- but it's a lulu, kiddies!

Based on the hit stage play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, and adapted for radio several times in the 1940s (and from two of which productions ours is derived), The Man Who Came to Dinner is a rollicking comedy that tells the story of a tyrannical celebrity who gets injured around Christmastime in a small town in Ohio; and of his eventual comeuppance by his friends and loved ones. Filled with colorful characters and comical situations, this is a Holiday Treat that can't be beat.

Adapted from the 1949 Hotpoint Holiday Hour and 1950 Lux Radio Theatre broadcasts, directed and produced by Pete Lutz. For entertainment purposes only, no infringement is intended. Our Narada Radio Company players were...

 Darren Rockhold as Your Announcer

Les Marsden as Sheridan Whiteside

Victoria Fancki as Maggie

Rhiannon McAfee as Lorraine Sheldon

Geri Elliff as Mrs. Stanley

Duane Noch as Mr. Stanley

Rachel Pulliam as Miss Preen

Stephanie Stearns Dulli as Sarah

Bob Beaumont as Dr. Bradley

Jessica Mathews as Harriet Stanley

Dana Gonsalves as Bert Jefferson

Tom Konkle as Beverly Carlton and

Pete Lutz as Banjo, Radio Voice, Michaelson, Expressmen, and Westcott

Music was by Dr. Ross Bernhardt

Old-time Radio Essentials continues its 3rd season with an episode of Birds Eye Open House – "Groucho Brings a Turkey for Thanksgiving Dinner"! This one's Pete's pick, or rather, that of his special guest, Essential Listener Noah Diamond*. Noah's an actor, author, podcaster, Marxian Scholar, and off-Broadway Groucho impersonator, not to mention a very funny guy, so you can imagine the discussion of this episode's merits by Noah and our three co-hosts will be sparkling and rapid-fire and exceptionally funny. But why imagine it? Tune in and find out!

And since we're on the subject of finding things out, while you listen you'll learn if we feel this entry meets the following criteria:

Your feedback means a lot to us! A review at iTunes or at your usual podcatcher would be appreciated.

Next Time: Dave brings us an episode of Let George Do It!

*Noah's body of work (and possibly his body) can be found at noahdiamond.com 

Season Three of Old-Time Radio Essentials continues! This time it's Pete's pick -- but he's invited Essential Listener Rick to choose something for us to enjoy and discuss. (NARADA RADIO COMPANY)

And since we're on the subject of discussion, we hope to determine whether this entry meets the following criteria:

Your feedback means a lot to us! A review at iTunes or at your usual podcatcher would be appreciated.

Next Time: An episode of Mark Trail, and another guest programmer!

The first of two shows, performed at KCAL's annual live dinner theatre, at the First Vineyard Winery in Nicholasville, Kentucky, on Saturday, October 29, 2022. KCAL OLD-TIME RADIO TROUPE

1st episode: Fibber McGee and Molly – “The Flying Saucer”

Cast (in order of appearance):

David Damron (Wilcox and Shriner)

Norman Cline (Fibber)

Denise Cline (Molly)

Steve Watts (Doc Gamble and Sergei)

Doug Fain (Officer, Mayor Latrivia, and General)

Susan Clements (1st woman)

Galisa Watts (2nd woman)

Connie McDonald (Rhoda)

Carolyn Threlkeld (Teeney)

As performed (live) by the KCAL Old Time Radio Troupe from Nicholasville, Kentucky at their fall 2022 "Mixed Nuts" show.

Cast includes:

Norman Cline (Gildersleeve)

David Damron (Leroy)

Connie McDonald (Marjorie)

Denise Cline (Birdie and commercials)

Susan Clements (Leila)

Doug Fain (Peavey)

Steve Watts (Judge Hooker)

Cooper Bartlett (Dr. Hargrave).

Song by Rachel Williams and sound effects by Eddie Clements. www.kcalotr.com

THE DAYCARE DASH (Comedy) Meet Julie, a modern-day urban single mom just trying to pick up her daughter Tina at the daycare center on time. Can Julie make it before the late fees set in? Ka-Ching, Ka-Ching. She has forty minutes to get to the garage and get crosstown. So on your marks, get set, GO...

CAST

GEORGIA LEE SCHULTZ - Julie

KEITH BURNETT - Lou and Cop

BRADY VAN VAERENBERGH - Man in Street and Man in Car

JOHN FRAY - Jeremy

BILL CRAVEN - Truck Driver

EMMA MCDONALD – Tina

Directed by George Zarr

Recording Engineer and Post Production – David Farquhar

Runtime: 11:19

Performance ©2022 Design Sound Productions / Voices in the Wind Audio Theatre

Fred Allen is a name unfamiliar to most people today, but for two decades his radio show set the standard for the best of American humor. His comedy and satirical influence can be seen in everything from Looney Tunes to Saturday Night Live. Robert L. Mills, comedy writer for Bob Hope, has crafted a "new" Fred Allen show for Project Audion which successfully recalls the time Allen had the #1 program on the airwaves (in the late 1940s).

We'll visit "Allen's Alley" with Senator Claghorn, Mrs. Nussbaum, and others; take on "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" in a movie parody, and welcome guest stars Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, thanks to a coast-to-coast cast of sterling vocal talent which includes:

FRED ALLEN: John Bell, AL

MOODY / CASSIDY / BANDITO: Pete Lutz, TX

PORTLAND / MRS. NUSSBAUM: Julie Hoverson, WA

KENNY DELMAR: Ken Jeffries, CA

CLAGHORN / GRIZZY: Harry Middlebrooks, CA

EDGAR BERGEN: Robert L. Mills., CA

CHARLIE MCCARTHY: Scott McKinley, NJ

with Direction & Production by Larry Groebe, TX

(Orig. rel. 8/14/22) The United Artists of Mutual present: More Bob & Ray! Recorded especially for Sonic Summerstock Playhouse 2022, it features Jeff Billard in the roles of Bob Elliott, and Pete Lutz as the many voices of Ray Goulding, in a half-hour of zany sketches. Enjoy!

1. Show open/Public Service Message

2. Fern Ock Veek, Sickly Whale Oil Processor

3. Einbinder Flypaper commercial

4. Happy Birthday, Ken Vose!

5. Anxiety!

6. Monongahela Metal Foundry commercial

7. Search for Togetherness

8. Mr. Science

9. Closing

Sonic Summerstock 2022: The Campbell Playhouse production of TWENTIETH CENTURY -- this is the full production, available now as a single track!

(Orig. rel. 7/24/22) Please enjoy this special re-enactment of a classic radio play (adapted from a famous film and stage play). Twentieth Century is a screwball comedy, with laughs and situations that come at you as rapidly as the railroad train for which it's named. Listen and enjoy! NARADA RADIO COMPANY.

CAST OF CHARACTERS:

Les Marsden as OSCAR JAFFE

Rhiannon McAfee as LILY GARLAND

Dana Gonsalves as OWEN O'MALLEY

Pete Lutz as OLIVER WEBB and McGONIGLE

Lothar Tuppan as MAX JACOBS, LLOYD, and GERMAN ACTOR 1

John Bell as MR. CLARK and the COP

Rachel Pulliam as SADIE

Tom Konkle as GEORGE SMITH and ANNOUNCER

Carl Thomas as UNCLE RUFUS and THE PORTER

Larry Groebe as THE CONDUCTOR

Jesirae Kesler as ANITA and MISS SCHULTZ

Gino Vinanelli as FLANNAGAN, POP, and GERMAN ACTOR 2

Victoria Fancki as VALERIE and the WOMAN ON THE TRAIN

Jason D. Johnson as FATHER and the MAN ON THE TRAIN and

Jack Ward as STANLEY, the SHERIFF, and the WESTERN UNION MAN

Music by Ross Bernhardt

Special thanks to Rick Tribble for providing the "Rail Sounds" LP that furnished most of the...um...rail sounds. 

In this horror-comedy by Joann Farias, a man makes jewelry out of the teeth of dead people, and the town he lives in experiences a rash of hauntings. Originally broadcast in 1996 on Public Radio.

Performed by the KCAL Old Time Radio Troupe in their downtown Nicholasville, Kentucky theater during the 2022 Summer show, June 24 - 26. This is an episode of "Easy Aces" called "Jane's Mother Comes To Visit".

Performers include Connie McDonald (Ace), Denise Cline (Jane), Susan Clements (Mrs. Bell), Kaitlyn Wesley (Miss Anderson), and Steve Watts (Ken and Mother) Singing the lead song is Rachel Williams. www.kcalotr.com

Performed by the KCAL Old Time Radio Troupe in their downtown Nicholasville, Kentucky theater during the 2022 Summer show, June 24 - 26. This is a combination of two "Lum and Abner" old time radio episode that aired in May of 1943.

Performers include David Damron as the announcer and Cedric, Norman Cline as Lum, and Doug Fain as Abner. Singing the lead song is Rachel Williams. www.kcalotr.com

Premiering on Project Audion, a brand-new episode of "The Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy Show" that sounds just as if an unknown script from 1940 had suddenly turned up. That's just how spot-on is the writing in this tribute penned for Project Audion by former Bob Hope comedy writer Robert L Mills.

Charlie and Edgar come up against W. C. Fields as well as a snarky agent from the IRS who sounds suspiciously like the unmistakable voice of Frank Nelson. It's our tribute to that most improbable of vintage radio's hit shows - a radio comedy starring a ventriloquist. Close your eyes and listen, then rewind to watch how our coast-to-coast cast (pictured here) handled the transcribed-live performance. Delightful summertime entertainment that speaks for itself!

Participants in this show included:

Robert L. Mills in California

Duane Noch in New Jersey

Pete Lutz in Texas

Bob Beaumont in California

Paul Arbisi in Illinois and

JoAnne Kurman in California

Robert L. Mills penned the script, while Larry Groebe produced and handled the audio from Texas.

ADULT THEMES AND LANGUAGE - not for listeners under age 13

A tongue-in-cheek application of the classic Flash Gordon radio serial. In this hilarious send-up, Flash deals with hawk-men and a strange queen. 

Flash Gordon was played by Tom Konkle, later famous for nothing in particular. The cast also includes Rhiannon McAfee as Dale Arden, Gino C. Vianelli as Captain Thune, Stephanie Stearns Dulli as the Witch Queen Azora, Pete Lutz as Sal. Also starring Kurtis Bedford as Zug and starring Pete Handelman as the announcer and Hawkman with a hose. The original radio series broke with the strip continuity in the last two episodes, when Flash, Dale and Zarkov returned to Earth. (We broke it completely after we did a faithful version of episode one.) Edit and Sound effects by Tom Konkle. Music by Bryan Arata. The comedy version script by Tom Konkle. Producers Kurtis Bedford and Tom Konkle started the Mindstream Players.

In honor of Saint Paddy's day (March 17th), we've sent our intrepid reporter, Philboyd Studge, to New York City, home of the world's largest St. Patrick's Day parade, to interview someone who claims to be a leprechaun. You'll be "Wearin' of the Grin" by the time it's over, don't ye know. Enjoy!

Written and performed by Pete Lutz

NARADA RADIO COMPANY

Did Jack Benny ever have Bing Crosby and W.C. Fields both as guests on his long-running popular network radio show? Not until now! Robert L. Mills, former comedy writer to Bob Hope, has a created a “new” Jack Benny show that is so funny and so much like a vintage Benny show, you can easily be forgiven for thinking we've unearthed a lost episode. It also features appearances by cast regulars like Mary Livingston, Dennis Day, Phil Harris, Rochester and others.

Our talented voice actors include:

JACK BENNY / MR. KITZEL: Duane Noch, NJ

BING CROSBY / W.C. FIELDS: Michael Dees, CA

DENNIS DAY / FRANK NELSON: Bob Beamont, CA

PHIL HARRIS: Norman Cline, KY

DON WILSON: Ken Jeffries, CA MARY LIVINGSTONE: JoAnne Kurman, CA

PORTER / JOHNNY WEISSMULLER: Harry Middlebrooks, CA ROCHESTER: Carl Thomas, TX

Written, directed, and featuring a cameo appearance by Robert L. Mills, CA.

Larry Groebe in Texas handled the Sheldon Leonard role, cued up the virtual audience, and produced this Project Audion episode.

SO WE HAD SOME bandwidth left over for the month, and since one of our curators grew up both poor and Lutheran, he hates to see anything go to waste; so we're posting these comic sketches for your entertainment. It's entirely possible that this material has been released previously, but never before in this combination. ENJOY! NARADA RADIO COMPANY

All material in this segment written by Pete Lutz.

TRANSCONTINENTAL TERROR Presents: 

The Cellar Mini-Series, episode 3: The Second Helping

Originally released on the Mutual Audio Network in October 2021, this is the 3rd of five new episodes produced by 63audio for the month-long Transcontinental Terror audio series. 

In "The Second Helping", we explore the topic of Science Run Amok, a favorite topic of film and old-time radio! This hilarious homage to the likes of Arch Oboler, Wyllis Cooper, Roger Corman and James Whale (among others) will have you running for your life with laughter! Written, directed and produced by Pete Lutz. NARADA RADIO COMPANY

CAST:

ANNOUNCER - Robin Robbins

CADAVERA QUIVRY - Angela Young

DARCY – Dawn Robertson

DERRY – Jackie Ayers

FERGUS – Dana Gonsalves

MOTHER – Riley Lutz

CREATURE – John Bell

TV REPORTER – Pam Pailes

GENERAL M'LAISE – Austin Beach

MAJOR CHIP ERROR – Pete Lutz

SERGEANT TIM PLAITE WHISTLE – Jason D. Johnson

CAPTAIN – John Bell

MR. FLUFFNUGGETS – Lisa Michaud

Music composed and performed by Dr. Ross Bernhardt