Crime Classics

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Crime Classics
Elliott Lewis, creator, producer, and director of Crime Classics
GenreHistorical crime drama
Running time30 minutes
Country of originUnited States
Language(s)English
SyndicatesCBS
StarringLou Merrill
AnnouncerBob LeMond
Roy Rowan
Larry Thor
Created byElliott Lewis
Written byMorton Fine
David Friedkin
Directed byElliott Lewis
Produced byElliott Lewis
Original releaseJune 15, 1953 (1953-06-15) –
June 30, 1954 (1954-06-30)

Crime Classics is a United States radio docudrama which aired as a sustaining series over CBS Radio from June 15, 1953, to June 30, 1954.[1]

Production

Produced and directed by radio actor and director

dramatic license was taken with the facts and events, but the tragedy was leavened with humor, expressed largely through the narration.[citation needed
]

The crimes dramatized generally covered a broad time and place frame from ancient

Morton Fine and David Friedkin,[1] in consultation with Lewis, although the scripting process was more a matter of research,[citation needed] as the stories were from "the records of newspapers of every land from every time."[3]

The cases ranged from famous assassinations (of

America
.

The only continuing character was the host/ and narrator, Thomas Hyland, played by

Burke and Hare
," and "The Axe and the Droot Family... How They Fared".

A roster of Hollywood radio actors filled the various historical roles.

Jack Edwards (as John Wilkes Booth and Cole Younger), Irene Tedrow (as Lizzie Borden),[citation needed] William Johnstone[4] (as Robert Knox), Betty Harford (as Madeleine Smith and Ripper victim Mary Jane Kelly), Eve McVeagh as Madame Marie Lafarge, Clayton Post (as Jesse James),[citation needed] and Sam Edwards[4] (as Billy the Kid and Bob Younger).[citation needed] Georgia Ellis and Tudor Owen also were heard regularly on the program.[4]

Composer Bernard Herrmann returned to radio to score all but one of the series episodes (with Wilbur Hatch substituting for that entry), capturing the sound and feel of the various time periods simply but elegantly, often with the use of only two or three instruments per episode. During the fall of 1953, the show was scheduled back to back with On Stage, another dramatic anthology created by Lewis. He decided to connect the two by presenting "The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln" on Crime Classics while On Stage featured Our American Cousin, the play Lincoln had attended the night of his death. The experiment was unsuccessful, and according to radio historian John Dunning, earned Lewis a rebuke from network head William S. Paley, who advised him to never attempt anything like it again.[5]

Episodes included "Good Evening, My Name Is Jack the Ripper" on June 30, 1954, with Betty Hartford portraying Mary Jane Kelly.[6]

Roy Rowan, Larry Thor,[1] and Bob Lemond were the announcers.[3] Ken McManus was the director.[1]

The trade publication Billboard reported in 1956 that Tomado Productions would begin filming Crime Classics for television. Merrill was to continue as host, with Lewis as executive producer and Robert Florey as director.[7] The episode was not broadcast.[8]

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-1476612270
    . Retrieved December 26, 2022.
  2. ^
    Newspapers.com
    .
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-1476612232
    . Retrieved December 26, 2022.
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-1476605289
    . Retrieved December 26, 2022.
  5. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3
    . Retrieved 2019-09-18.
  6. ISBN 978-1476607375
    . Retrieved December 26, 2022.
  7. ^ "Tomado to Film 2 New Series". Billboard. March 24, 1956. p. 2. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
  8. ISBN 978-1476672069
    . Retrieved December 26, 2022.

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Crime_Classics&oldid=1209232692"