Old Time Radio of Temporary Interest

I discovered a new show this week called The Whisperer. When the title character turns on the whisper it's super creepy. When he talks normally, it's a slight notch above the average OTR mystery show. I could not have asked for a better introduction to the short-lived 1951 series than the wonderfully named Tea Time for Teenagers, an enjoyable anti-marijuana romp in which The Whisperer whispers that "the syndicate has decided to introduce the widespread use of... mair-hah-waaaa-naaahh... into Central City ... one month from today we will expect two hundred regular mair-hah-waaaa-naaahh...addicts among the high school students." As if that weren't good enough, the episode also features the man who was, arguably, the greatest voice actor who ever lived, Paul Frees. Listening to Tea Time for Teenagers gave me the hair-brained idea of culling together as many anti-pot OTR shows as I could muster. Here is just a small sampling of what surely are many. I know I have heard more than just these over the years, but I can't seem to track them down. If you have links to any others, please let me know in the comments section.

The Whisperer - Tea Time for Teenagers (1951)
Calling All Cars - Reefers By the Acre (1936) - The pot dealer is "A man with warts on his hands!"
Dragnet - The Big Tomato (1951)
Dragnet - The Big Seventeen (1951) - This one was also turned into an episode of the TV show, which you can watch here.
Suspense - Melody in Dreams (1952)
Stand By for Crime - Marijuana Mystery (1953)
Tales of the Texas Rangers - Wild Crop (1951)

Comments

[Adam Gott]

Who would have thought such a thing? I have heard the Dragnet episodes before but the Whisperer episode is sure to be a real treat.

http://cool-mo-dee.blogspot.com/

[Bill Polonsky]

After reading your post I found this link.
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Love the blog
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CJUC FM
Whitehorse
Yukon
Canada

[Krys O.]

Gene Krupa was a hophead! AND he was the best goldarn drummer. Put that in yer pipe....

[HP]

Krys O. -- There's a great photo of Louis Armstrong -- I believe it was taken by a photographer for Life magazine in the early '60s -- showing Armstrong, his shirt open to the waist, holding a fat fuckin' Jamaican spliff in one hand, staring into the camera with naked malevolence. It's the only picture I've seen of Satchmo not smiling, and I can't find it anywhere on the 'net. But it's beautiful thing -- angry, stoned Louis.

The story is that musicians picked up the habit from Hollywood actors of the silent era, who in turn picked it up from Mexican extras in cowboy movies. But Armstrong and the other N.O. musicians likely came by getting high more because it was part of the Carribean/Chicano/Latin culture of N.O.

By all accounts, Louis abused two herbs -- marijuana and senna. From the stories, I'd say he enjoyed the effects of senna even more than the pot.

[SwirlyD]

The Blue Beetle (http://www.archive.org/details/otr_bluebeetle) "Smashing the Dope Ring" and Green Hornet (http://www.archive.org/details/GreenHornet) "Murder and the Dope Racket"

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