Encore Theater
Broadcast 23 July 1946. Public-domain transfer from the Old Time Radio Researchers certified set at the Internet Archive.
The run
- Network
- NBC
- Years active
- 1944–1949
- Surviving broadcasts
- 390
- Genre
- detective
BOSTON BLACKIE Boston Blackie is a fictional character who has been on both sides of the law. As originally created by author Jack Boyle, he was a safecracker -- a hardened criminal who had served time in a California prison. Prowling the underworld as a detective in adaptations for films, radio, and television, the detective Boston Blackie was "an enemy to those who make him an enemy, friend to those who have no friend". The Boston Blackie radio series, starring Chester Morris, began June 23, 1944, on NBC as a summer replacement for The Amos 'n' Andy Show . Sponsored by Rinso, the series continued until September 15 of that year. Unlike the concurrent films, Blackie had a steady romantic interest in the radio show -- Lesley Woods appeared as Blackie's girlfriend Mary Wesley. Harlow Wilcox was the show's announcer. Digitised by the Old Time Radio Researchers and streamed from the Internet Archive item “OTRR_Boston_Blackie_Singles”; these recordings are in the public domain.
1949 · 11948 · 21947 · 31946 · 31945 · 21944 · 1
Source collection
Old Time Radio Researchers Group
Rights
Public domain — no renewed US copyright
Cataloguing
Air dates and notes from the Archive item record
Every broadcast below carries its own provenance sheet — transfer quality, file source and rights.Archive record: OTRR_Boston_Blackie_Singles
The shape of the run
What survives, year by year
12 dated broadcasts across 6 years on the air. Brightness is transfer quality; empty cells are months lost to time.
JFMAMJJASOND
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
Clean transferListenableRough but complete No surviving recording
Episodes
Start here
Listen to the run in order
Restored broadcasts from 1944, in original transmission order.
- 1. Boston Blackie 44-06-23 (001) The Jonathan Diamond (aka-The Rockwell Diamond) · 23 Jun 1944
- 2. Boston Blackie 45-07-09 (027) The Worthington Pearls · 9 Jul 1945
- 3. Boston Blackie 45-11-22 (045) Blackie Kidnapped · 22 Nov 1945
- 01
Boston Blackie 44-06-23 (001) The Jonathan Diamond (aka-The Rockwell Diamond)
23 Jun 1944 · 29 min
Broadcast on NBC. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 02
Boston Blackie 45-07-09 (027) The Worthington Pearls
9 Jul 1945 · 26 min
Broadcast on NBC. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 03
Boston Blackie 45-11-22 (045) Blackie Kidnapped
22 Nov 1945 · 26 min
Broadcast on NBC. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 04
Boston Blackie 46-03-26 (063) Pierre, the Designer
26 Mar 1946 · 25 min
Broadcast on NBC. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 05
Boston Blackie 46-07-23 (080) The Murdering Cuckoo Clock
23 Jul 1946 · 26 min
Broadcast on NBC. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 06
Boston Blackie 46-11-12 (096) Only One Way out for Me
12 Nov 1946 · 27 min
Broadcast on NBC. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 07
Boston Blackie 47-03-04 (112) Larry the Kid vs Savinni
4 Mar 1947 · 27 min
Broadcast on NBC. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 08
Boston Blackie 47-06-25 (128) Joe Nelson's Pet Shop Gambling Scheme
25 Jun 1947 · 27 min
Broadcast on NBC. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
Same night on the air
23 Jul 1946
Everything else the archive still holds from the night of 23 Jul 1946.
Myrt & Marge
Originally broadcast on CBS, 23 July 1946. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
Also on NBC
NBC in 1944–1949
Other series the network carried while Boston Blackie was on the air.
Same seasons
detective on the air then
Series in the same genre whose runs overlapped this one.
What it became
The private eye at the microphone
First-person narration, a case that walks in the door, and a city that talks back. Marlowe, Sam Spade and Johnny Dollar turned detection into a listening form.
Lineage is written by our editors, not inferred from listening data.
Descendants
Working in the tradition of Boston Blackie
Modern series carrying this form forward.
If you liked this
More to explore
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