Premier Collections Sampler
Liner notes written by Harlan Zinck

The Best of Old Time Radio in Outstanding Digitally Restored Sound!

Premier Collections from Radio Archives offer the best of old time radio, conveniently packaged in affordable multiple compact disc sets. Each month, we release a new Premier Collection containing the best and highest quality programs we can find, each show freshly transferred from original recordings and painstakingly restored for outstanding sound quality. These new collections are regularly announced in our newsletter.

To introduce you to the quality and content of our Premier Collections, we've put together a delightful five CD sampler offering sixteen full-length shows selected from our various CD sets. Best of all, we've specially priced this introductory collection at just $9.95 - an incredible value for shows of this caliber and quality. This unique and entertaining set will give you the chance to hear the quality of our work -- at a price so low that anyone can afford it!

And look at the wonderful and diverse selection of shows you'll hear in this special Sampler collection:

THE BING CROSBY SHOW
The Andrews Sisters and The Firehouse Five Plus Two join Bing for some great music in this entry from Crosby's popular post-war series for Chesterfield Cigarettes, originally heard on Wednesday, March 29, 1950. Bing solos on "Wilhelmina," "You're Wonderful," and "Candy and Cake," joins the Andrews Sisters in a delightful number titled "Lock, Stock and Barrel," joins the Firehouse Five in a swinging Dixieland rendition of "Everybody Loves My Baby," and the girls perform a truly marvelous vocal version of the jazz standard "That's a Plenty."

THE KRAFT MUSIC HALL, STARRING AL JOLSON
"The World's Greatest Entertainer" stars in a broadcast from his legendary 1940s series for Kraft Foods, which also features pianist/comedian Oscar Levant. In one of the best shows, first heard on Thursday, October 21, 1948, Jolson takes center stage to reenact his glory days at the Wintergarden Theater and performs a variety of timeless numbers, including such gems as "For Me and My Gal," "More Than You Know," "About a Quarter to Nine," "Toot Toot Tootsie," "You Made Me Love You," and "Without a Song."

LUM AND ABNER
Chester Lauck and Norris Goff are the owners of Arkansas own Jot 'Em Down Store in a rare broadcast of the long-running and beloved comedy serial that put Pine Ridge on the map. In a program first heard on Wednesday, April 12, 1944 and sponsored by Alka Seltzer, an all-knowing Lum Edwards delivers a spirited lecture on the evils of wealth to a dubious and doubtful Abner Peabody.

THE GREAT GILDERSLEEVE
Willard Waterman stars in the title role in a broadcast from this much-loved family situation comedy. In this program, first heard on Wednesday, November 5, 1952, Gildy has been invited by the mayor to play a round of golf. After taking a few practice swings, complete with "constructive" criticism from his nephew Leroy (Walter Tetley), he gets a crick in his neck and must take a trip to his doctor's office.

BIRDSEYE OPEN HOUSE, STARRING DINAH SHORE
Vocalist Dinah Shore stars with announcer Harry Von Zell in this musical comedy series from the mid-1940s. In this episode, first broadcast on Thursday, May 3, 1945, Dinah shares the microphone with guests Jim and Marion Jordan who, as Fibber McGee and Molly, invite the performer to 79 Wistful Vista to present her with a trophy as the outstanding singer of 1945. There's just one problem, though: where did that dad-ratted loving cup get to? Hmmm... Guess Fibber better check that hall closet...

ONE MAN'S FAMILY
Here's a unique and recently discovered episode from radio's longest running family drama, "One Man's Family," created by the legendary Carlton E. Morse. In this program, originally heard on Tuesday, December 23, 1952, the Barbour's son Paul arrives home just in time for the family's traditional Christmas celebration.

THE CINNAMON BEAR
An enduring and memorable radio classic, "The Cinnamon Bear" has entertained children of all ages for well almost seventy years. In the first episode of this timeless series, first broadcast Friday, November 26, 1937, Judy and Jimmy find Paddy O'Cinnamon hiding among the Christmas decorations in their attic. They learn that the Crazy Quilt Dragon has stolen a gleaming silver star, intended for the top of their Christmas tree, and the Cinnamon Bear invites them to go after him.

LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE
Complete with that familiar pipe organ theme music, Orphan Annie takes to the airwaves again in a rare and recently unearthed episode from 1937 -- complete with Ovaltine commercials voiced by Pierre Andre'. In this program, Annie and Joe Corntassel hear the story about the Wright Brothers' historic first flight at Kitty Hawk.

THE SHADOW OF FU MANCHU
Sax Rohmer's sinister Asian mastermind is once again up to his evil tricks in the first of this exciting and long-lost series of highly atmospheric syndicated broadcasts from 1939, meticulously restored by the Archives to excellent audio quality from a series of worn and battered 16" vinyl discs.

THE PLANET MAN
In the second episode of this delightfully campy juvenile science fiction series from 1950, Earth's first rocket expedition into outer space has to be rescued by Dantro, the Planet Man -- intergalactic troubleshooter for the League of Planets, the law enforcement body for peace and justice in the celestial world.

THE STORY OF DR. KILDARE
Lew Ayers and Lionel Barrymore star in the first program from this syndicated radio series, based on the popular and long-running MGM movies and first broadcast on February 1, 1950. A young woman named Angela Kester is a promising young concert pianist, but she is afflicted with obsessive/compulsive disorder and extreme paranoia. After she attempts suicide, Dr. Kildare must consider a risky operation to save her from sinking into insanity.

CRIME CLASSICS
Elliot Lewis' cult radio series is represented here by an entertaining episode, first heard over CBS on Wednesday, November 11, 1953. In "Blackbeard's Fourteenth Wife: Why She Was No Good For Him," William Conrad portrays Edward Teach - better known as Blackbeard the Pirate - who arrives in Nassau in 1714 and marries a sixteen-year-old girl who drives him to his greatest fame...and ultimately to his doom.

THE VICTORY PARADE OF SPOTLIGHT BANDS
Les Brown and his Band of Renown broadcast from Woodrow Wilson General Hospital in Virginia in a swinging wartime program that also features vocals by Doris Day, Gordon Drake and Butch Stone. First heard over the Blue Network on Thursday, May 25, 1944, this fifteen-minute program was later rebroadcast by the Armed Forces Radio Service.

RICHARD DIAMOND, PRIVATE DETECTIVE
Dick Powell stars as the first "Singing Detective" in an engrossing program from this light hearted action/adventure series, originally broadcast on Sunday, February 19, 1950. In this entry, the detective is asked by his old friend Lieutenant Levinson to look into a case involving stolen jewels, a murdered husband, and a beautiful widow who doesn't seem particularly sorry to have found her husband dead.

THE BOB AND RAY SHOW
Bob Elliot and Ray Goulding star in a rare episode from their first NBC network series, originally broadcast on Wednesday, August 8, 1951. In this program, as rebroadcast by the Armed Forces Radio Service, Bob, Ray, and Mary McGoon discuss Steve Bosco's latest attempt to publicize the show, the musicians perform a creative rendition of "I Got Rhythm," and we enjoy another lesson in professional radio writing as "The Bob and Ray Radio Script Writing School" discusses essential plot points for crime shows.

THE CISCO KID
O. Henry's "Robin Hood of the Old West" rides again in a 1953 episode from the popular syndicated series, starring Jack Mather as Cisco and Harry Lang as his sidekick, Pancho. In this program, the Sundance Gang, led by the ruthless and notorious Sundance Kid, is using a cave outside Cimarron, New Mexico as a hideout. One Sunday morning, they ride in to loot the town -- but Sundance is soon talked out of it by a beautiful and fearless newcomer named Milo Normandy.

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