I used to love listening to the Fat Man when I was a kid, I was born in the thirties so I heard an awful lot of radio when it was still in it's heyday. I listened to all the normal things a kid would listen to, the serials when I got home from school, and whatever was on the radio when it was time for me to hit the sack. My mother ruled the clock and she said when that time was. I remember also THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD. I wasn't very religious even then, but I remember getting chills sometimes when God spoke. A heavenly choir accompanied his words, pretty cool huh?

I got this information about the Fat Man from the Wiki encyclopedia and noticed that a bonus came along with it, 29 Fat Man stories and also the list of hundreds of other OTR shows. Be sure to listen to as many as you want, if you aren't an OTR (Old Time Radio) fan, you will be after listening to several of the shows. I also noticed a link to Bill Crider. Check him out, he seems to be a kind man and carries my Public Reader as a link on his page.


The Fat Man (radio)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



The Fat Man, a popular radio show during the 1940s and early 1950s was a detective drama based on characters by Dashiell Hammett. It starred J. Scott Smart in the title role.
Broadcast from the studios of WJZ in New York, the series premiered on the ABC Radio Network on Monday, January 21, 1946, at 8:30pm, as part of a block of four new programs (I Deal in Crime, Forever Tops, and Jimmy Gleason's Diner). Based on Dashiell Hammett's fiction, The Fat Man was further developed by producer, E.J. ("Mannie") Rosenberg. The program was directed by Clark Andrews, creator of Big Town, and Charles Powers. The main writer was Richard Ellington, with other scripts by Robert Sloane and Lawrence Klee.

The veteran character actor Ed Begley co-starred as Sgt. O'Hara, and the supporting cast included Betty Garde, Paul Stewart, Linda Watkins, Mary Patton as Lila North and Vicki Vola, who was also the female lead in Mr. District Attorney. Amzie Strickland played Runyon's girlfriend Cathy Evans, and Nell Harrison was Runyon's mother during the early episodes. The cast also included Dan Ocko, Rolly Bester (wife of science fiction writer Alfred Bester) and Robert Dryden. An 11-piece orchestra was directed by Bernard Green, who also wrote the program's theme. The sound effects were by Ed Blaney, and the announcers were Charles Irving and sportscaster Gene Kirby (1909-1985).

The success of the radio series led to a movie, The Fat Man (1951), directed by William Castle with a flashback-within-a-flashback storyline. Smart retained his role as detective Brad Runyon, investigating the murder of a Los Angeles dentist with an assist from Bill Norton (Clinton Sundberg). One of the suspects is portrayed by famed Barnum & Bailey clown Emmett Kelly in his screen debut as an actor. Also in the cast are Rock Hudson, Julie London, Parley Baer (uncredited) and Jayne Meadows.

Listen to
Internet Archive: The Fat Man (29 episodes)

External links
Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine: "Dashiell Hammett's The Fat Man"
Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs: The Fat Man
National Film and Sound Archive: The Fat Man
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fat_Man_(radio)"
Category: American radio drama