Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Lizabeth Scott, and Kirk Douglas star in this 1946 film noir about a husband and wife who share a dark secret from the past.

Stanwyck is Martha Ivers, a cold-hearted woman who killed her overbearing aunt years earlier on the night Martha was to run away with her impovershed boyfriend, Sam Masterson.

The aunt’s killing was witnessed by the son of a family employee. The father joins Martha in a lie about what actually transpired. He then uses the knowledge against her, forcing her to allow him to move into the family home. Years later, he coerces her into marrying his son, Walter O’Neil (Kirk Douglas in his motion picture debut), now a district attorney.

Sam Masterson (Van Heflin) reappears in the town setting the stage for doublecross, duplicity and death.

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers is available for full screen viewing on Google Video and can be purchased in DVD format in our OTR Shop.

A woman (Eve Miller) meets an older man while traveling on a train. The stranger, who introduces himself as Dr. Velonius, seems to be able to see into the future, and relates a forboding tale of a man who kills a woman at a railroad station.

Inner Sanctum is a  little-known film noir  directed by Lew Landers (The Return of the Vampire, Crime, Inc., Jungle Jim in the Forbidden Land, Terry and the Pirates, Tales of the Texas Rangers), and stars Charles Russell stars as Harold Dunlap, the brooding killer. Russell should be familiar to Old Time Radio fans as radio’s original star of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar (excluding the Dick Powell audition).

The storytelling clairvoyant, Dr. Velonius, is played by Fritz Leiber, Sr. Leiber worked in dozens of films from 1916 to 1950 including A Tale of Two Cities, Samson and Delilah, The Song of Bernadette, Phantom of the Opera, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. His son Fritz Leiber, Jr. is a popular science-fiction author.

Released in 1948, Inner Sanctum is loosely based on Inner Sanctum Mysteries magazine, a long-running radio show and a Lon Chaney, Jr. movie series of the same name. Beyond the macabre tale told in the film, it bears little resemblance to any of them. Some OTR aficionados may be reminded of The Mysterious Traveler, an old-time radio series featuring an unnamed man on a train unnerving his fellow travelers with gruesome tales of death.

Charles Russell as Harold Dunlap
Mary Beth Hughes as Jean Maxwell
Dale Belding as Mike Bennett
Billy House as McFee
Fritz Leiber as Doctor Valonius, the Seer
Nana Bryant as Thelma Mitchell
Lee Patrick as Ruth Bennett
Roscoe Ates as Willy
Eddie Parks as Barney
Eve Miller as Marie Kembar, Dunlap’s Fiancée

“If you like the stealth of intrigue, come with me.

“If you like blood and thunder, come with me.”

Adventures by Morse was an action & adventure series produced, written and directed by Carlton E. Morse, who created the eponymous series after NBC canceled his popular series I Love a Mystery.

The 30-minute series aired 1944 to 1945, and told the adventures of Captain Bart Friday, San Francisco private investigator, and his able-bodied, Southern sidekick, Skip Turner.

Friday and Turner travel across the world solving crimes and mysteries, and occasionally freelancing for U.S. intelligence services. Their adventures touch upon the paranormal, horror, intrigue, espionage, abductions, murder, and outwitting Nazis.

Captain Friday was played on various shows by Elliott Lewis (Jack Benny Show, The Phil Harris and Alice Faye Show, The Voyage of the Scarlet Queen), David Ellis (Road of Life, Suspense, Escape) and Russell Thorson (I Love A Mystery, One Man’s Family, The Detectives). Jack Edwards (Escape) played Texan Skip Turner.

Adventures by Morse Series’ Log

44/01/08 1 The City of the Dead 1 (The Adventure Begins)
44/01/15 2 The City of the Dead 2 (I’ve Dug Up Something Ghastly)
44/01/22 3 The City of the Dead 3 (The Body That Walked Off)
44/01/29 4 The City of the Dead 4 (Old Clawfoot Again)
44/02/05 5 The City of the Dead 5 (The Skeleton Walks In)
44/02/12 6 The City of the Dead 6 (The Ghoul in the Grave)
44/02/19 7 The City of the Dead 7 (Captain Friday Vanishes)
44/02/26 8 The City of the Dead 8 (The Kidnapping of Clawfoot)
44/03/04 9 The City of the Dead 9 (Trail of the Phantom Church Bell)
44/03/11 10 The City of the Dead 10 (Where the Pearls Were Hidden)
44/03/18 11 A Coffin for the Lady 1 (The Adventure Begins)
44/03/25 12 A Coffin for the Lady 2 (Conversation in the Casket)
44/04/01 13 A Coffin for the Lady 3 (Deepest Grave in the World)
44/04/08 14 Cobra King Strikes Back 1 (The Adventure Begins)
44/04/15 15 Cobra King Strikes Back 2 (The Adventure Continues)
44/04/22 16 Cobra King Strikes Back 3 (The Mad King of Ankar)
44/04/29 17 Cobra King Strikes Back 4 (Temple of the Gorillas)
44/05/06 18 Cobra King Strikes Back 5 (The Living Image of Cambodia)
44/05/13 19 Cobra King Strikes Back 6 (Terrors Of The Hollow Mountain)
44/05/20 20 Cobra King Strikes Back 7 (The Face of the Beast)
44/05/27 21 Cobra King Strikes Back 8 (It Was Not Cannibalism)
44/06/03 22 Cobra King Strikes Back 9 (Fangs and Teeth of the Enemy)
44/06/10 23 Cobra King Strikes Back 10 (Amazing End of an Expedition)
44/06/17 24 Girl on Shipwreck Island 1 (The Adventure Begins)
44/06/24 25 Girl on Shipwreck Island 2 (The Pirate Is a Fighting Man)
44/07/01 26 Girl on Shipwreck Island 3 (More About Gracie Than Meets the Eye)
44/07/08 27 Dead Men Prowl 1 (The Adventure Begins)
44/07/15 28 Dead Men Prowl 2 (The Prowler at Work)
44/07/22 29 Dead Men Prowl 3 (The Dead Do Walk at Night)
44/07/29 30 Dead Men Prowl 4 (Conversation with the Walking Dead)
44/08/05 31 Dead Men Prowl 5 (The Walking Dead Captured)
44/08/12 32 Dead Men Prowl 6 (Life History of Prowlers)
44/08/19 33 Dead Men Prowl 7 (Four Go to Join the Prowling Dead)
44/08/26 34 Dead Men Prowl 8 (Prowler with the Rope Around His Neck)
44/09/02 35 Dead Men Prowl 9 (Prowling Dead Walk Again)
44/09/09 36 Dead Men Prowl 10 (The Prowling Dead Introduces Himself)
44/09/16 37 You’ll Be Dead in a Week 1 (The Adventure Begins)
44/09/23 38 You’ll Be Dead in a Week 2 (Twenty Thousand Dollars to Lose)
44/09/30 39 You’ll Be Dead in a Week 3 (The Conclusion)
44/10/07 40 Land of the Living Dead 1 (The Adventure Begins)
44/10/14 41 Land of the Living Dead 2 (The Adventure Continues)
44/10/21 42 Land of the Living Dead 3 (The Green-Eyed Murderess Again)
44/10/28 43 Land of the Living Dead 4 (The Tree That Eats Flesh)
44/11/04 44 Land of the Living Dead 5 (The Adventure Continues)
44/11/11 45 Land of the Living Dead 6 (The Adventure Continues)
44/11/18 46 Land of the Living Dead 7 (The Adventure Continues)
44/11/25 47 Land of the Living Dead 8 (The Adventure Continues)
44/12/02 48 Land of the Living Dead 9 (The Adventure Continues)
44/12/09 49 Land of the Living Dead 10 (The Conclusion)
44/12/16 50 It’s Dismal to Die 1 (The Adventure Begins)
44/12/23 51 It’s Dismal to Die 2 (The Adventure Continues)
44/12/30 52 It’s Dismal to Die 3 (Bad Medicine for the Doctor)

Death by Proxy is based on a story by Jerry McGill, and stars Mr. Sloan (Citizen Kane, The Mer­cury The­ater, The Mys­te­ri­ous Trav­el­er, In­ner Sanc­tum Mys­ter­ies), Cathleen Cordell (Gaslight), George O. Petrie (The Hon­ey­moon­ers, Rawhide, 77 Sun­set Strip, The Twi­light Zone), and Lyle Kudrow.

According to New York Times archives, this episode was originally broadcast May 1st, 1957

The show is noteworthy not only for its storylines, but also for the eerie — and slightly camp — pipe organ, which adds to the series’ atmosphere of suspense.

Several episodes featured distinguished actors such as Sir Ralph Richardson ( OTR’s Dr. Watson to Sir John Geilgud’s Sherlock Holmes), Sir Laurence Olivier and Sir Michael Redgrave.

Other familiar radio, television and film personalities starring on the show included Everett Sloane (The Mercury Theater, The Mysterious Traveler, Inner Sanctum Mysteries), Cathleen Cordell (Gaslight) and George O. Petrie (The Honeymooners, Rawhide, 77 Sunset Strip, The Twilight Zone).

Mystery Time was hosted by announcer Don Dowd, who apparently couldn’t decide which “announcer voice” to use throughout the course of the series.

The shows ran from 1957 to 1958. Exact broadcast dates of the 13 existing episodes is uncertain.

xx/xx/xx Death by Proxy
xx/xx/xx Death Walked In
xx/xx/xx Four Fatal Jugglers
xx/xx/xx Four Time Loser
xx/xx/xx Half an Hour
xx/xx/xx Murder in Haste
xx/xx/xx My Adventure in Norfork
xx/xx/xx No One Will Ever Know
xx/xx/xx Picture of Dorian Gray
xx/xx/xx Success Story
xx/xx/xx Suicide Club
xx/xx/xx The Overcoat
xx/xx/xx The Tale

Photo: Portrait of Dorian Gray by kevindooley