December 30, 2013 (Monday)
During our discussions in Sunday School yesterday, our teacher mentioned the fact that his wife likes mysteries. They challenge her powers of deduction. It’s fun for her to figure out who is guilty of the crime.
When he said that, I immediately thought of “I Love a Mystery,” the title of a radio program back in the 1930’s and 1940’s. I didn’t recall much about the program itself, but I remembered immediately the theme song, “Valse Triste” by Jean Sibelius (and the sponsor, Fleischman’s Yeast). You can hear it on “You Tube.” If you remember those old broadcasts, you will recognize the theme song immediately. It is beautiful music, but on that program it sounded “spooky.”
Old time radio was different than radio today. Today’s radio features music, but radio in its early days gave us all kinds of entertainment, among which were dramas of various kinds. Mystery was one of those genres.
If television had come along before radio, then people would probably have said of it, “You can now listen without having to watch.” Nevertheless, people looked at the radio in many homes every evening as we heard drama, music, comedy, and other types of shows. We gathered around the radio, which in many instances was encased in a beautiful wood cabinet, sometimes four or five feet high. My favorite position, as the oldest child, was sitting crosslegged directly in front of the radio, my back to the big speaker. I guess I thought that gave me a front row seat.
As I write this, a multitude of memories flood my mind, as I think of all the different programs we used to hear on the radio. Those were the days.
(Take a look at the Google Search results for “Old Time Radio.” Click here).