Imagination Theater

Miss old-time radio;  mysteries, fantasies, suspense, westerns-the drama imagination and excitement?  I did.  And old-time radio is entertaining, but there are a limited number of shows preserved and I'm often subjected to the same shows and sometimes I like something new.  Enter Jim French's "Imagination Theater" with its "movies for your mind".

I listen every Thursday to the Seattle-based production over the internet and often in between on the collection cds available at the above website.  Some of the voices might even sound familiar. Jim French has been in radio since 1943, long before Imagination Theater was started in 1972 and syndicated in 1996. Other regulars like Larry Albert are long-time veterens of airwaves and footlights and guests like John Astin, Eddie Bracken, Hans Conreid, Bob Crane, Patty Duke, Russell Johnson (the Professor on Gilligan's Island), Kurt Kasznar, Ruta Lee, Roddy MacDowall, Richard Sanders (of WKRP in Cincinatti), Tom Smothers, and Keenan Wynn might sound familiar.
   The shows vary not just week to week but often 2 shows per 1 hour episode.   My personal favorites are "The Adventures of Harry Nile", "like the river" to quote that classic hard-boiled private eye and the non-recurring stand-alone shows.  Tonight was a "Powder River" episode, though (I listened to the archive tonight.).  That's a western drama in the vein of "Gunsmoke" and I enjoyed it.  Another favorite is "The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes".  I strongly recommend this show!