The Haunting Hour, 1945 to 1946

Series Overview

The Haunting Hour was a horror anthology on NBC which included supernatural, mystery, and detective dramas in its collection. It aired from early-1945 until mid-1946 and included at least 52 episodes, of which 41 are in circulation. Many of the stories were written by Max Erlich and Edwin Wolfe and directed by Herbert Wood. Many of the existing episodes in circulation survive due to the efforts of the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service [AFRTS].

Notes: Organist Rosa Rio. Sound expert Tilden Brown. Actors: Frank Lovejoy, Jackson Beck, Eve Arden, Betty Furness, Jed Prouty, Barry Kroeger. Directors: Edwin Wolfe. Authors: Brett Halliday. Writers: Max Erlich, Edwin Wolfe. Indeed, we've identified at least eleven previously uncirculated AFRTS-transcribed episodes among our own yet-to-be digitally transferred holdings of over 37,000 electrical transcriptions and reels. Certainly as we continue to wade through them and complete their transfer, we'll continue to update the log below, and the contents of these holdings. According to Billboard Magazine (Dec. 22, 1945), The Haunting Hour was "locally produced and acted" in the Philadelphia area, at NBC affiliate, KYW. That would have post-dated the Tucson run immediately below. What remains historically indisputable is the fact that there were unquestionably fifty-two scripted recordings transcribed for The Haunting Hour syndication. No more, no less. -- digital deli too

Not to be confused with The Haunted Hour, which was an Australian radio series from the 1950s, or Haunted which was a BBC radio series from the 1980s.

Sources used to create my own log and double-check titles, dates and cast members: Digital Deli Too, RadioGOLDINdex, and Nightkey's OTR Errors.

Currently this archive contains 16 of 50 plotlines and 6 reviews

Webmaster Recommends:
Assignment: Death | Breakdown | Devil's Deep

Episode Details

Assignment: Death

Year: 1945
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Crime
Available for Listening Booth: Y

A magazine reporter and two photographers are given the monumental task of photographing a local crime boss who has a legendary aversion to being photographed. Subterfuge and misdirection, followed by a deadly game of cat vs mouse which might, or might not, evolve into something much more sinister.

Cast

Frank Lovejoy: Dick Ryan, reporter
unknown: Ellen Matelan, photographer
Jackson Beck: Larry Nelson, photographer
unknown: Mike Velvetta, gangster
unknown: Rosie, nervous body guard
unknown: police lieutenant
Berry Kroeger: narrator

Opening: "I'm Dick Ryan. Maybe you've read some of my stories in a certain national [picture] magazine. Now, here's a scoop that never got in. One editor and two vice-presidents fainted at the thought. Like I told my boss, horror doesn't always come wrapped up in a haunted house with the wind howling outside. Sometimes it walks along behind you, breaths down your neck and whispers something about a slug of lead in your back. And the two grey hairs that staff photographer Ellen [Matelan] and I got out of it didn't come from lack of vitamins."

Reviews:

A simple story that gradually becomes more complicated and mysterious. Poor audio quality makes some plot developments difficult to follow, and I had to listen to some sections many times, but overall well-produced. Didn't see the ending coming at all. [7/10] -- webmaster

Best Laid Plans, The LOST

Year: 1945
Duration: 30 min
Available for Listening Booth: N

Bird of Death

Year: 1945
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Murder
Available for Listening Booth: Y

The lives of a three people (uncle Oren, his nephew Victor, and his secretary Spear) are bound together with the life of a carrion bird in a way that suggests Fate, but just might be Free Will. Victor believes that the crow is the Bird of Death, while Spear scoffs at such superstition, favoring the idea that a bird is just a bird and we make our own future.

Cast

unknown: Spear, secretary
unknown: Victor, nephew
unknown: Oren, uncle
Parker Fennelly: Jed, caretaker
unknown: Kathy, housekeeper
Berry Kroeger: narrator

Opening: "This is the story of a man named [Spear], of a bird—a kind of carrion crow—and of a student of birds named Victor. This is also a story of Victor's uncle, Oren, but that comes later. At this moment we are concerned only with the trio: Spear, Victor, and the Bird of Death: the crow." -- the narrator

Reviews:

A story that explores the boundary between fate and free will, but does so in a way that leads to boredom rather than mystery and enlightenment. I never really warmed to any of the characters and didn't care much what happened to them. Except Jed. I fell in love with the voice actor Parker Fennelly when he played Gramps in the Best Plays episode "On Borrowed Time" and have liked him in every role I've heard him. His acting wasn't enough to save this story, though. [5/10] -- webmaster

Breakdown

Year: 1945
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Psychological Mystery
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Betty Ulius

Sybil Wells fears for her sanity. When she was young her father died in an asylum, his wild eyes desperate and dead of hope. She never forgot. Now, 20 years later, she feels her own grip on reality slipping: visions that other people can't see, sounds that other people can't hear. What's next? Taste? Touch? Her father pleaded with her that he wasn't really insane, but she was too young to judge. Now she is old enough, but can she judge her own sanity?

Cast

unknown: Dr George Adams, doctor
unknown: Mrs Sybil Wells, patient
unknown: Mr Courtney, father
unknown: Mrs Agnus Kern, nurse
unknown: Jean, young girl
unknown: mailman
unknown: Frank Courtney, brother
unknown: Dr Randall, specialist
unknown: narrator

Opening: "Sybil Wells grey head lies wearily on her pillow. Her eyelids are closed, as if it were too great an effort to lift them. She can hear Dr Adams and her nurse talking, but they seem distant, remote, much farther away than the thoughts in her own brain." -- the narrator

Reviews:

A horrific tale about a woman's descent into madness (focussing on that brief time when she is sane enough to realize she's becoming insane) and her desperate attempt to fight back. Melodramatic, with plenty of excited screaming, which is sort of what you'd expect of someone losing touch with reality. Good script, good acting. A little too much organ music. A strong ending, with one or two twists that will keep you guessing. [8/10] -- webmaster

Briefcase, The LOST

Year: 1945
Duration: 30 min
Available for Listening Booth: N

Case of the Lonesome Corpse, The

Year: 1945
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Crime
Available for Listening Booth: Y

Renowned criminologist Hugo Carterick and his charming assistant Ann Smith investigate several disappearances in Greystone Park, the former estate of reclusive millionaire Caleb Greystone. Carterick and Smith balance conflicting reports of howling animals, floating purple lights, black magic, distant screams, mirages, walking ghosts, and voices on the wind.

Cast

unknown: William Marsden, lawyer
unknown: Edward, chauffeur
unknown: newspaper hawker
unknown: Tom Ferrell, gardener
unknown: Joe Danetti, gardener
unknown: Hogan, police sergeant
unknown: Hugo Carterick, criminologist
unknown: Ann Smith, assistant
Frank Lovejoy: Hank, police commissioner
unknown: park superintendent
Berry Kroeger: narrator

Opening: "Remember Hugo Carterick? Of course you do. The brilliant criminologist and charming gentleman who had such a wonderful flair for solving crimes which carried a hint of the macabre and [favored] the supernatural. He died back in the 20s, and they say that everybody—from the 400 of Park Avenue to the 400,000 of the Bowery and Hell's kitchen—came to his funeral. Anyway, Hugo Carterick left his memoirs and the very first chapter deals with an infamous crime which in June of the year 1922 threw all of New York City into an uproar of horror. Such was The Case of the Lonesome Corpse." -- narrator

Reviews:

The plot sounds thrilling, doesn't it? I was bored. The writer introduces too many elements that he doesn't have time to develop. The result is a one-dimensional plot with a bewildering conclusion. I mean, the conclusion make sense, it's just not based on the way that real people act. [4/10] -- webmaster

Cat Man, The

Year: 1945
Duration: 30 min
Genre:
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: xxxxx

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Corpse There Was, A

Year: 1946
Duration: 30 min
Genre:
Available for Listening Booth: Y

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Cast

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Reviews:

Dark Tower, The

Year: 1945
Duration: 30 min
Genre:
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: xxxxx

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Date in the Dark

Year: 1945
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Murder
Available for Listening Booth: Y

Private detective Earl Breton receives an urgent, late-night phone call from a politician (Bill Henderson) who pleads for immediate help because (as he says) tomorrow morning might be too late. Complications arise even before Breton can meet with Henderson, and those complications lead to more complications.

Cast

unknown: Owen Bailey, The Professor
unknown: Bill Henderson, politician
unknown: Earl Breton, private eye
unknown: voice in the dark
unknown: hotel manager
unknown: Sparrow, gambler
unknown: Dan Huber, gambler
unknown: Harry Jackson, gambler
unknown: Willy Garvin, gambler
unknown: Joe Murray, gambler
unknown: narrator
Frank Lovejoy (?): hmm

Opening: "Midnight. Midnight in the Metropolis, town of a thousand moods and contrasts, of wealth and lightness and laughter. Of poverty, heartbreak and tears. Of shadowy people and dark, dark things. Big City. Hard boiled and tender. Weak and mean and cheap without dignity, and great and proud and powerful. And the metropolis at midnight, filled with the high-spirits of joy seekers, revellers who give way to the goodness of living or try to forget the badness of living. Midnight that is brooding, sinister. The sounds of the big city at midnight, the squeaks and roars of taxicabs, the rumble of trucks, the moan of river boats. And underground, the subway. And under and above, the sounds of the people, shrill, ribald, futile. But there is quiet too, in the teeming city at midnight. The quiet that is broken by the wail of a child, the rattle of a snore, or as in the home of Earl Breton (a private detective) and his partner Owen Bailey (called the Professor)...

Reviews:

A mildly-interesting noir detective story that raises more questions than it answers. Simple plot, reasonably-good acting, unsatisfying conclusion. [6/10] -- webmaster

Date with Destiny, A LOST

Year: 1945
Duration: 30 min
Available for Listening Booth: N

Dead Strike Back, The LOST

Year: 1945
Duration: 30 min
Available for Listening Booth: N

Death by Request

Year: 1945
Duration: 30 min
Genre:
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: xxxxx

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Cast

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Reviews:

Death of Jonathan, The

Year: 1945
Duration: 30 min
Genre:
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: xxxxx

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Cast

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Reviews:

Destination Unknown

Year: 1945
Duration: 30 min
Genre:
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: xxxxx

xxxxx

Cast

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Reviews:

Devil's Deep, The

Year: 1945
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Murder
Available for Listening Booth: Y

Miss Peggy Scott purchases a secluded house on an island cliff-top. She has been taking care of her step-brother (Duncan) for many years -- covering up for his violent behaviour and comforting him during times of mental distress -- and hopes that he will fare better in a place where he can avoid interacting with people. Getting him to the island without incident, however, proves more difficult than either of them suspect.

Cast

unknown: police sergeant
unknown: Inspector Bowman
unknown: Miss Peggy Scott, sister
unknown: Mr Bob Malone, passenger
unknown: Dr Ramsey, psychiatrist
unknown: Duncan, step-brother
unknown: Mr Sherman, passenger

Opening: "At the foot of a great cliff, a police launch is being slowly pushed by the ocean currents toward jagged rocks where the water boils and swirls as in a giant cauldron. Searchlights stab the darkness to reveal grappling irons, probing the inky waters of the Devil's Deep."

Reviews:

Well done. I figured it out by the station break, but additional clues had me second-guessing myself, then third- and fourth-guessing until I couldn't keep track of all the possibilities and just sat back and let the story unfold. Peggy was great as the young woman, playful and flirtatious (I feel like I should know her voice, but I can't place it), and she won my heart right from the start. The men flip-flopped between good guys and bad guys with each new piece of evidence. Any of them could have been the murderer... or the victim for that matter. It's that kind of story. [7/10] -- webmaster

Double Threat

Year: 1945
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Crime
Available for Listening Booth: Y

A cab driver receives multiple threats from rival gangs to hand over a letter he was given in confidence. He was told the letter contains a message necessary to save humanity, but every one who wants it seems like a common criminal.

Cast

unknown: Joe Morris, taxi cab driver
unknown: police inspector
unknown: guy who hails the cab
unknown: hotel desk clerk
unknown: Smithy, muscle #1
unknown: Beth, Joe's wife
unknown: Lefty, muscle #2
unknown: Big Eddie, gangster
unknown: Willie, pool player

Opening: "The noise within the police precinct drowned out the bigger noise of the city without, but the office of Inspector Brogan was quiet. He had said all he was going to say, and now he waited for the little man to speak: the little man with the patch on his forehead and the bandage around his arm, the little man who sat opposite him, the puzzled, little man with the nervous eyes and the tense staccato speech." -- narrator

Reviews:

Starts off with a scene that reminds me Stan Ridgway's song "Drive, She Said", but it turns out the cab wasn't a getaway car after all. Might have been better if it had been. An action-packed beginning, followed by a mundane plot and a weak ending. Not bad, but I don't think I'll listen to it again. [6/10] -- webmaster

Dressed to Kill LOST

Year: 1945
Duration: 30 min
Available for Listening Booth: N

Ecclesiastes First Chapter, Second Verse LOST

Year: 1945
Duration: 30 min
Available for Listening Booth: N

Hands of Mr Smith, The

Year: 1945
Duration: 30 min
Genre:
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: xxxxx

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Cast

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Homicide House

Year: 1946
Duration: 30 min
Genre:
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: xxxxx

Two newspaper reporters discover a supposedly deserted house occupied by three old characters dressed in clothes of a bygone period. Their curiosity leads them into a strange adventure which is dramatized during tonight's HANTING HOUR broadcast at 8:30 on KFBK, entitled Homicide House. -- Sacramento Bee, 46-01-05, as quoted in Digital Deli Too

Cast

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If the Shoe Fits

Year: 1945
Duration: 30 min
Genre:
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: xxxxx

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Cast

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Cast and Crew

Cast

xxxxx

Script Writers

Brady, Ben
Ulius, Betty

Crew

Producer: Herbert Wood
Director: Herbert Wood
Announcer: Marvin Miller (AFRS)
Host/Narrator: Berry Kroeger
Script Supervisor: Steve Carlin
Recording Supervisor: George Stewart
Sound Effects: Tilden Brown
Organist: Rosa Rio

The Haunting Hour, 1945 to 1946

Series Overview

Episode Details

Assignment: Death

Best Laid Plans, The *LOST*

Bird of Death

Breakdown

Briefcase, The *LOST*

Case of the Lonesome Corpse, The

Cat Man, The

Corpse There Was, A

Dark Tower, The

Date in the Dark

Date with Destiny, A *LOST*

Dead Strike Back, The *LOST*

Death by Request

Death of Jonathan, The

Destination Unknown

Devil's Deep, The

Double Threat

Dressed to Kill *LOST*

Ecclesiastes First Chapter, Second Verse *LOST*

Hands of Mr Smith, The

Homicide House

If the Shoe Fits

Key to a Murder *LOST*

Likely Murder Story, A

Murder Is My Business

Murder Wears a Strange Mask

Mystery of the Southern Star, The

No Escape

Nocturne

Occupation, Murder

Old, Old Men, The

Out of the Night *LOST*

Pale Hands That Kill

People in the House, The

Perfect Crime

Ptolemy's Grave

Reprieve To Death *LOST*

Revenge

Second Chance

Sinister Estate

Sixth Button, The

Skyscrapper Mystery, The

Tale of Darkness, A

Tapping on the Window

Thought, The

Till Murder Do Us Part

Two Mr Brandts, The

Unidentified Body

Uptown Express, The

Way of the Transgressor, The

Cast and Crew

Cast

Script Writers

Crew

Best Laid Plans, The LOST

Briefcase, The LOST

Date with Destiny, A LOST

Dead Strike Back, The LOST

Dressed to Kill LOST

Ecclesiastes First Chapter, Second Verse LOST

Key to a Murder LOST

Out of the Night LOST

Reprieve To Death LOST