I decided to do some research on a fictional character to be a companion to Ron’s Amazing Stories Episode #44. I think I have made it no secret that I love detective dramas. I am especially happy with a “Who Dunn-it” type format. One of the best of these is Raymond Chandler’s Phillip Marlowe. Marlowe first appeared in The Big Sleep published in 1939.

Chandler started out with his detectives in short stories. You would find these published in pulp magazines like Black Mask and Dime Detective. Some of those short stories were later combined and expanded into novels featuring Marlowe, a process Chandler called “cannibalizing”. Philip Marlowe’s character is foremost a wisecracking, hard drinking, tough private eye, Marlowe is quietly contemplative and philosophical and enjoys chess and poetry. While he is not afraid to risk physical harm, he does not dish out violence merely to settle scores. Morally upright, he is not fooled by the genre’s usual femmes’ fatale, such as Carmen Sternwood in The Big Sleep.

Explaining the origin of Marlowe’s character, Chandler commented that “Marlowe just grew out of the pulps. He was no one person.” When creating the character, Chandler had originally intended to call him Mallory; his stories for the Black Mask magazine featured characters that are considered precursors to Marlowe. The emergence of Marlowe coincided with Chandler’s transition from writing short stories to novels. Chandler was said to have taken the name Marlowe from Marlowe House, to which he belonged during his time at Dulwich College. Marlowe House was named for Christopher Marlowe, a hard-drinking Elizabethan writer who graduated in philosophy and worked secretly for the government.

There were a total of 7 Novels that featured Chandler’s creation Philip Marlowe. These were all written between 1939 and 1958. The titles include: The Big Sleep (1939), Farewell, My Lovely (1940), The High Window (1942), The Lady in the Lake (1943), The Little Sister (1949), The Long Goodbye (1953) and Playback (1958). There was an eighth novel published after Chandler’s death called Poodle Springs. It was left unfinished after Chandler’s death in 1959, but was completed by Robert B. Parker in 1989.

I can recommend any of these books to anyone that likes a good detective story. While they were written in the 30-50s and may seemed dated, they are still are best representation of the hardboiled detective available. Raymond Chandler made the genre what is, was and probably will be. I for one appreciate his efforts.

You know, I love to read and today it is made so much easier with devices like the Kindle and Nook. You have access to more books, you pay less for them and you don’t need bookshelves to store your collection. The best thing is that most of the classics that you always wanted to read are available for free! Websites like Project Guttenberg for example offers over 36,000 ebooks for download at no charge. There has never been a time in history where so much is available to us. There was an era in our country’s history, when buying a book was a real treat. The very classics you can now get for free were like diamonds and we cherished our diamonds. Even in the 70’s when I was growing up I can remember being given a copy of Isaac Asimov’s book, I Robot and thinking, “Wow! How cool is this?” I must have read that collection of short stories 15-20 times in the years that followed learning something new each time.

So why am I talking about this? The simple answer is that I got to thinking about some of my favorite classics and was wondering about how many of them are available for free. Here is a partial list of books I found:

Note: Click the title to be taken directly to the download page for that book.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain – If you have never read this book you should make the time. It is a true classic about life along the Mississippi river in the mid 1800s.

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson – Most of us have probably seen the Disney version of this story or perhaps a public broadcasting drama. However, the book is fantastic and should be on everyone’s must read list. The novel opens in a seaside village in south-west England in the mid-18th century and from there follows the travels of Jim Hawkins on the high seas.

Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs – This story has been visited so many times in the movies. Also, it can be found the comics and the serials of the 20’s and 30’s. The tale of Tarzan is still is being told by Dark Horse Comics today. The original story written by Burroughs is so much more rich and inviting than anything in the films or sketched that you owe it to yourself to read this one.

The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells – Yes you can think Tom Cruise if you want to and accept that as H.G. Wells vision of the story. The truth is that the book is VERY different from any of the movies and well worth a read.

I know that this is a very short list and there is much more waiting for you out there. The price is right on these classics and I hope this inspires you to go out and take a look.

-Ron

There are thousands of TV channels available and even more websites on the internet for video content, why would anyone listen to old time radio? Well, the answer is simple. Old time radio(OTR) is just better. You can’t match the story lines and amazing voice acting you find in those great old programs. Shows, such as the Suspense, Ellery Queen, The Whistler and Lux Radio Theater remind us just what they did to bring you in and make you part of the story.

I started following old time radio when I was about 18 years old. I listened to a program called CBS Radio Mystery Theater with E.G. Marshal. After only one episode, I was hooked. It may seem odd to some, but you can enjoy a story that is made up of only audio. Once the show begins and the announcer tells you about the program you realize that something special is going to happen. Your imagination kicks in a fills in all the missing pieces. I like to quote the tag for Sirius XM’s book channel, “Book Radio, where the books come to life and the pictures are in your head”.

OTR provides some of the best stories and greatest adventures known. Think about this, the biggest problem that TV and movies face is that they have to make you believe what you are seeing. Special effects and incredible CGI are required for this. On the other hand OTR only has to tell you and it is up to you and your imagination to make it happen. All of this has to be sold by radio actor and script writer. Make no mistake they were artists at telling you what you see. They knew how to give a great entertainment experience to their audience.

What sets OTR apart from other forms of entertainment is that the amount of material available. Do you like a great comedy? Then try Father Knows Best. Maybe you like a good western? Then listen to Gunsmoke or The Six Shooter. If you like a good mystery story, there are many shows to choose from. Some of my favorites are Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, Box 13 and Nick Carter, Master Detective. There are so many old time radio programs in so many genres that you will never run out of great stuff to listen to. Before television, radio was the way to be entertained. Whole families would sit around the radio, just like we do with TV today.

So why am I telling you this? I guess I just wanted to say something about the benefits to old time radio. You can take it with you anywhere and it makes you use your brain. What more can you ask from an entertainment source.

-Ron

Old-Time Radio (OTR) and the Golden Age of Radio refer to a period of programming in the United States starting in the 1920s and lasted until television replaced it in the late 1950s.  During this period, when radio was dominant the airwaves were filled with a variety of radio formats and genres. In fact, according to a 1947 C. E. Hooper survey, 82 out of 100 Americans were radio listeners.

The Golden Age of Radio had its origins with the Théâtrophone or “Theater Phone”. Broadcasting began at the 1881 World’s Fair with audio recordings of musical acts and other vaudeville. These were sent to people by means of the telephone. Visual elements, such as effects and sight gags, were adapted to have sound equivalents. In addition, objects and scenery were converted to have audio descriptions.

On Christmas Eve 1906, Reginald Fessenden is said to have broadcast the first radio program, consisting of some violin playing and passages from the Bible. While Fessenden’s role as an inventor and early radio experimenter is not in dispute, several contemporary radio researchers have questioned whether the Christmas Eve broadcast took place.  Fessenden’s wife Helen recounts the broadcast in her book Fessenden: Builder of Tomorrows published in 1940, eight years after Fessenden’s death.

It was not until after the Titanic catastrophe in 1912 that radio for mass communication came into its own.  Investors inspired by the work of amateur (or “ham”) radio operators began to use the medium to promote news events. Radio was especially important during World War I as it was vital for air and naval operations. War brought about major developments in the radio, superseding the Morse code of the wireless telegraph with the vocal communication of the early two-way devices.

After the war, numerous radio stations were born in the United States and set the standard for later radio programs. The first radio news program was broadcast on August 31, 1920 on the station 8MK in Detroit, Michigan.  That night the station covered local election results. This was followed up later that year with the first commercial radio station in the United States (KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). Regular entertainment programs began being broadcast in 1922.  The highlight of this time came on January 1, 1923. The Rose Bowl was broadcast on the Los Angeles station KHJ.  Radio went on from there and began to increase in quality and popularity.

During the Golden Age of Radio, it featured just about every genre that was popular in other forms of American entertainment.  These venues include Broadway, traveling road shows and of course Vaudeville.  Some of the genres covered were: Adventure, comedy, drama, horror, mystery, musical variety, romance, thriller, classical music concerts, big band remotes, farm reports, news, panel discussions, quiz shows (beginning with Professor Quiz), sidewalk interviews, talent shows and the all-important weather forecast.  As you can see just about everything that we watch today on our current television.  It all found its start in Old Time Radio.