Radio Recap: Let George Do It

"Personal Notice: Danger's my stock-in-trade. If the job's too tough for you to handle, you've got a job for me, George Valentine. Write full details."

Let George Do It was a half-hour detective show that starred Bob Bailey as George Valentine, who obtained his clients from an ad in the newspaper that emphasized his status as an odd-job man. His sidekick was Claire Brooks ("Brooksie") portrayed by Frances Robinson (later Virginia Gregg). George's frenemy with the police was Lt. Riley (Wally Maher). Let George Do It aired on Mutual for an impressive eight years from October 18, 1946 until September 27, 1954. It's the work Bob Bailey was best-known for prior to assuming the lead on Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. When he left to take over that series, Olan Soule became George Valentine (we have only a few of his episodes).

In the early days Brooksie was accompanied by her kid brother Sonny (Eddie Firestone Jr.). The tone of the series in the first year was originally broadly comedic; it was only in the second year that Sonny took a hike and the series became more of a traditional detective series. The show's original opening was:

"George Valentine has been out of uniform only a few weeks. Blessed with an abundance of energy and adventuresome spirit and not too much money, he has sunk his last dime in an office, renting a few pieces of furniture and an ad in the classified section of the daily paper, an ad which reads: You have a crime that needs solving? You have a dog that needs walking? You have a wife that needs spanking? Let George do it!"

That "You have a wife that needs spanking?" line was in particular timed for comedic effect. Plots of the first season are very simple, quaint... like an Archie comic book. Listening to the first year, it's amazing that they were given enough rope to retool the series into something a bit more formulaic but also better able to hold up year after year.

Let George Do It featured plenty of familiar radio actors in the supporting roles, including Luis Van Rooten, Paul Frees, Barney Phillips, Betty Lou Gerson, Tony Barrett, Herb Butterfield, Howard McNear, Pedro De Cordoba, Georgia Ellis, Lurene Tuttle, Jeff Chandler and William Conrad.

I've given grief to some other radio detective shows for how they depicted the hero's gal Friday, so I should note Virginia Gregg's Brooksie was a cut above them; she had the typical unrequited love for the hero (George always seemed to be too busy to focus on his relationship with Brooksie) but she wasn't bitter or manipulative, nor was she a flaky airhead. She took part in George's investigations and accepted risky assignments.

I find Let George Do It to be a decent enough program. I can't say that any episodes really stand out to me, but Bob Bailey's performances hold up well. If you like Bailey on Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, you probably enjoy Let George Do It too.

The Old Time Radio Researchers have a YouTube playlist of 243 episodes of Let George Do It - the syndicated versions are at the end of the list, some are available in both network and syndicated versions; the syndicated versions have a somewhat irritating mumbling announcer:

RIP: Sal Buscema

"Our Pal" Sal Buscema passed away last Saturday, just 2 days shy of his 90th birthday. He was the brother of the legendary comics artist John Buscema and got his start inking his brother. He wound up toiling as a penciler and inker at Marvel Comics from 1969 up to 2011. In his time, he worked on just about every major Marvel property, everything from Rom to Spectacular Spider-Man.

While his brother has earned plenty of accolades for his work, Sal hasn't received too many honours for his work (although I note my colleagues at the Inkwell Awards gave him four awards). Sal's most warmly-received run is probably his work on Defenders in the 1970s, but fans dub it "Steve Gerber's Defenders," not "Gerber and Buscema's."

I think Sal Buscema was seen as a "house style" artist - that is, people thought he imitated other artists (like his brother and Jack Kirby) rather than developing his own style. And yet, his style - especially as seen in Spectacular Spider-Man - is undeniably unique. His collaboration with writer Walter Simonson on Thor saw him shift his style to suit Simonson's own art; his long run on Incredible Hulk included a period with moody inks by Gerry Talaoc; and his Spectacular Spider-Man run included a run of stories where he was inked by Bill Sienkiewicz - it's scarcely recognizable as his old "house style."

When Sal Buscema was chosen as the cover artist for the series of Marvel Legacy handbooks we created in 2006 (he wound up drawing the covers to the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s books) I was honoured to have his art grace our cover as at the time, he was one of the last surviving 1960s Marvel artists, a genuine link to the past, which is what our books were honouring.

Rest in peace, Mr. Buscema.

Coming from Marvel in April: Annihilation Conquest TPB!

I haven't worked for Marvel in over a decade but some of my books - like Annihilation Saga - keep being reprinted. I'm always happy to see it brought back; solicit below:

ANNIHILATION MODERN ERA EPIC COLLECTION: CONQUEST PROLOGUE TPB

Volume #3 in the Annihilation Modern Era Epic Collections

Writer(s): DAN ABNETT, ANDY LANNING, CHRISTOS GAGE, KEITH GIFFEN and MORE
Pencils: MICHAEL PERKINS, MIKE LILLY, TIMOTHY GREEN II and MORE
Cover Artist(s): GABRIELE DELL’OTTO
272 PGS./Rated T+ …$37.99
ISBN: 9781302967116
Trim size: 6-5/8 x 10-3/16

Setting the stage for a sci-fi epic that will rock Marvel’s cosmos!

In the grim aftermath of the Annihilation War, a devastated universe struggles to rebuild. Gripped by fear and paranoia, civilizations have collapsed, and entire worlds are now smoking ruins. What’s next for the battle-weary hero known as Nova? What are Ronan’s plans for the once-mighty Kree Empire? And now that Peter Quill is once again Star-Lord, which cosmic characters will join his ragtag crew to guard the galaxy? Meanwhile, the new Quasar – Phyla-Vell, daughter of Captain Marvel – embarks on an epic journey, but what has happened to her home world? What classic foe of the Avengers is now hunting her? And what is troubling her lover, Moondragon? All the while, a devastating threat looms that threatens conquest – and annihilation!

Collecting ANNIHILATION: CONQUEST PROLOGUE (2007) #1, ANNIHILATION: CONQUEST – QUASAR (2007) #1-4, ANNIHILATION: CONQUEST – STARLORD (2007) #1-4 and ANNIHILATION SAGA (2007).

Radio Recap: Easy Money

"The National Broadcasting Company presents a new series of programs transcribed to expose the inside secrets of gamblers, racketeers and con men; it's called: Easy Money."
"Easy money? There's no such thing as easy money."
"Mike Trent, famous rackets detective and ex-magician has an exciting story of an Easy Money swindle for you, and here he is, that super-sleuth who makes an honest living out of fraud, Mike Trent."

Easy Money was an NBC program that appears to have aired just one year, from October 3, 1954 to June 5, 1955. The series starred Larry Haines as Mike Trent, the series' protagonist. Bill McCoy was the program's announcer. In the series, Mike Trent would go up against professional criminals and use his knowledge of magic to either solve the manner in which the crimes were performed, or equip himself to bring down the criminals.

Larry Haines had an appealing voice; he starred in a lot of episodes of Inner Sanctum Mysteries and I've always found him easy to listen to. Otherwise, the cast was comprised of a lot of familiar NBC voices (many recognizable to listeners of the Adventures of the Falcon).

The use of stage magic to solve crimes makes this show interesting, even with a mere 4 episodes to choose from. I'd be happy to hear more of this show, should they turn up.

The Old Time Radio Researchers Library has 4 episodes of Easy Money, at this link.

2025 in Media

A brief look back at the best films, comics and books I encountered in 2025.

Films of 2025: I made it out to the theatre for just 3 new films in 2025: Captain America: Brave New World, Mission: Impossible - Final Reckoning and Superman. I shared some thoughts about Superman here. For me, the latest Mission: Impossible was the best cinematic experience of the year, which would have surprised me years ago since I started out hating the franchise; I've really come around to it (it helps that the films have shown more respect for the TV series over time) and it's a great experience on a big screen. I also went to the theatre for a 100th anniversary re-release of the Phantom of the Opera which featured live organ music (especially composed for the event) and used an edit of the film assembled by the Calgary Cinematheque to more closely resemble the original theatrical release; it was a unique experience and the edit was the best version I've seen of the 1925 film. I also saw the 2025 films Sinners and Fantastic Four: First Steps at home; Sinners was a good time, I enjoyed its take on vampire mythos - though, frankly, the slaughter of the KKK at the climax of the film surpassed any of the previous action scenes.

Other films that I especially enjoyed were the horror film the Mist, the Holocaust drama Denial, the excellent retro action film Godzilla Minus One and the thriller the Falcon and the Snowman.

Comics of 2025: I continued following Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo, which released the mini-series Ten Thousand Plums last year; I reviewed it here. I also reviewed the anthology comic Fantastic Four Fanfare. I'm still reading Larry Hama's G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero and I'm really enjoy Al Ewing's take on Thor, which is heavy on continuity and cosmic horror. I also read Al Ewing and Steve Lieber's Metamorpho, which was good fun. I'm also reading (and yet to finish) the mini-series Death of the Silver Surfer by Greg Pak and Sumit Kumar and Marvel Knights: The World to Come by Christopher Priest and Joe Quesada.

The only other comic book of note that I read in 2025 was Patton Oswalt, Jordan Blum and Scott Hepburn's Minor Threats, which I reviewed here.

Books of 2025: The only 2025 book I read was Future Boy by Michael J. Fox, his personal account of the making of the original Back to the Future film. The most interesting part of Fox's story were his personal memories of what it was like to be a struggling young actor - it was especially striking to hear about when he owned only three shirts.

I read an awful lot of other books in 2025 - the best works of fiction were the Magic Skin by Honore de Balzac, about a man whose life is mystically bound to a piece of leather; the Secret History by Donna Tartt, which I sought out because I saw it favorably compared to Columbo - I wouldn't make the comparison myself but it was an excellent thriller; I read the science fiction novel Existence by David K. Brin; Cornell Woolrich's Waltz into Darkness was an interesting piece about a man who falls in love with a criminal and tries to make their relationship work; The Three Impostors by Arthur Machen was an engaging mystery read; I read A. P. Herbert's the House by the River, which I'd seen in film form and enjoyed; finally, I started reading Stephen R. Lawhead's Pendragon Cycle, starting with Taliesin and Merlin.

Early on, I read Banned Books by Elizabeth Blakemore and sought out many of the titles listed there; many of them were books about Black people's existence. Those I enjoyed the most were Black Boy, Richard Wright's autobiography about how Communists are intolerable people to be around, even when you're a fellow Communist; Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings; The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas; and Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You by Jason Reynolds.

Having become interested in Dr. Seuss' early cartooning work in publications like Judge, I read Brian Jay Jones' biography of Seuss, Becoming Dr. Seuss. I read Tim Roby's Box Office Poison about movie flops. i read Gideon Defoe's An Atlas of Extinct Countries, which focused on the various reasons why certain nations ceased to exist. And I read about the conservatism of science fiction in Jordan S. Carroll's Speculative Whiteness.

I also read a few books about the present state of Christianity in the US, including The Kingdom, the Power and the Glory by Tim Alberta and The Exvangelicals by Sarah McCammon.

I also read a great book about Angola - Jess Auerbach's From Water to Wine, her perspective of what Angola's emerging middle class are like. Although she lived in a different part of Angola than where I lived, I appreciated and understood many of her insights.

Radio Recap: Anthology

Anthology was a half-hour program on NBC from February 28, 1954 to June 12, 1955. It featured readings of poetry, most of them culled from recording (occasionally they played snippets from plays such as the works of Shakespeare, although the emphasis remained on the poetic nature of the works). Some times the poems were read by the original poets; other recordings were read by well-known performers. Other times they featured interviews with poets who read from their recent publications.

Poets heard in recordings on Anthology included Elizabeth Bishop, Claire Bloom, Noel Coward, T. S. Eliot, Archibald MacLeish, Carl Sandburg and Edith Sitwell. Famous names heard reading poems on Anthology included John Carradine, Ronald Colman, George Coulouris, Bing Crosby, Jose Ferrer, Sir John Gielgud, Frank Lovejoy, Agnes Moorehead, Tyrone Power, Vincent Price, Basil Rathbone and Orson Welles.

The series was hosted by Harry Fleetwood, produced by Steve Wright and directed by Draper Lewis. Obviously, if you don't like poetry you won't want to check out this series, but I think it's unusual enough that you should give it a chance. Some episodes feature seasonal themes such as Halloween and Christmas, which you might want to add to your own seasonal playlists.

Many of the recordings feature music behind the orator of the poems. I find it distracts from the poems and I wasn't alone - Fleetwood frequently read from listener mail in which listeners complained about the music and he discussed the matter with his guests, with opinions heard either side of the issue. Personally, I think music leading in and out is fine but when it plays under the spoken words it tends to interfere with the words' impact.

You can hear 57 episodes of Anthology at the Old Time Radio Researchers Library at this link.

Radio Recap: Great Plays

Great Plays was an hour-long program heard on NBC's Blue network, heard from February 26, 1938 til January 25, 1942. The series featured adaptations of popular plays from throughout history - not so much contemporary plays. There were plenty of radio programs which adapted plays, but they tended to feature either contemporary or beloved classics like Shakespeare. Great Plays features performances of many plays which I'd never heard of before.

Great Plays didn't feature famous names in the cast but the plays themselves were presented in an interesting manner - the first episode, adapting "The Birds" by Aristophanes, took the time to explain what the theater-going society in Greece of the time would have been like; that kind of context is lacking in other programs with famous plays.

The productions aren't all captivating, but a few stood out for me; George S. Kaufman's "Beggar on Horseback" (April 6, 1941) features a surreal dream sequence that required the program to be a bit more inventive in terms of musical cues and sound effects than their usual fare.

You can hear 46 episodes of the Great Plays at the Old Time Radio Researchers Library at this link.