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Versatile actor/comedian Jack Benny had a long career (1911-1974) and was truly a star of stage, screen, and radio. Recognized as a leading 20th-century American entertainer, Benny often portrayed his character as a miser, playing violin poorly, and claiming to be no older than 39, regardless of his actual age. His radio and television programs, popular from 1932 until his death in 1974, were a major contribution to the sitcom genre. We’ve carefully chosen 11 radio episodes starring Jack Benny from our master archives for this collection.

Conceived as a potential radio vehicle for Alfred Hitchcock to direct, Suspense was a radio series of epic proportion. It aired on CBS from 1942 to 1962 and is considered by many to be the best mystery/drama series of the Golden Age. Known as “Radio's Outstanding Theater of Thrills”, it focused on suspenseful stories starring the biggest names in Hollywood. Running more than 20 years, Suspense aired nearly 1,000 radio broadcasts. It made the transition to television in 1949, but it was much better suited for radio where the “theatre of the mind” could run free.

Movie star Alan Ladd played Dan Holiday, retired newspaperman turned fiction writer and adventurer extraordinaire. To gain ideas for his books, Holiday placed an ad in the Star-Times newspaper "Adventure wanted – will go anywhere, do anything – Box Thirteen." It wasn’t long before his Box Thirteen became jammed with adventures galore. Holiday always had more adventure than he had originally sought, because those who responded to his ad never revealed all of their glorious, unusual, and sometimes sinister details until they met in person.

In 1935 when Phillips H. Lord created Gang Busters, the crime rate was high and confidence in law enforcement was low. Crimes were highly publicized, and their perpetrators were sometimes glamorized in Hollywood movies. With most radio crime programs dramatizing pulp-fiction stories, Lord decided to portray the procedure and practices of real-life law enforcement officers, basing his dramas on court records and police files. Enjoy these 12 exciting Gang Busters episodes in this “true crime” collection!

The adventures of Captain Midnight came to radio in 1938. Our hero was Captain Jim “Red” Albright, a World War One U.S. Army pilot. His “Captain Midnight” code name was given to him by a general who sent him on a high-risk mission from which he returned precisely at the stroke of midnight. Albright was recruited by our government to head the Secret Squadron, an aviation-oriented paramilitary organization fighting sabotage and espionage during the period prior to the United States entering into World War Two. Captain Midnight and his Secret Squadron battled enemies including Ivan Shark, Baron von Karp, and more.

There were several newspaper-based dramas during radio’s golden age including The Big Story, Casey, Crime Photographer, Box 13, and Let George Do It but Night Beat was a cut above the others. It followed Randy Stone, hard-nosed Chicago Star newsman and his quest for the human-interest story behind the headlines. Hollywood actor Frank Lovejoy voiced the role of Randy Stone, who came to vivid life thanks to expert scripts by Russell Hughes, E. Jack Neumann, John Michael Hayes, and Larry Marcus.

The Aldrich Family was a popular teenage situation comedy that was heard on radio and seen in films, television and comic books. The creation of playwright Clifford Goldsmith, teenager Henry Aldrich was an endearingly bumbling kid growing awkwardly into adolescence. Episodes revolved around Henry’s misadventures with girls, his family and his friends. Portrayed on radio by 20-something Ezra Stone, The Aldrich Family launched as a summer replacement program for Jack Benny in NBC’s Sunday night lineup, July 2nd, 1939, sponsored by Jell-O.

Escape was radio's leading anthology series of high-adventure, airing on CBS from July 7, 1947 until September 25, 1954. The series' well-remembered opening combined Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain with this introduction, as intoned by Paul Frees and/or William Conrad: “Tired of the everyday grind? Ever dream of a life of romantic adventure? Want to get away from it all? We offer you... Escape!”

Created by Blake Edwards (of Pink Panther fame), Richard Diamond, Private Detective came to NBC radio in 1949 starring film actor and crooner Dick Powell. Powell had recently played Philip Marlowe in the popular RKO film Murder My Sweet and jumped at the chance to play a suave detective on radio. Richard Diamond was a light-hearted New York-based private eye who enjoyed ribbing the cops and singing songs to his millionairess girlfriend, Helen Asher (played by Virginia Gregg). Its theme “Leave it to Love” was whistled by Powell at the beginning of each episode.

In 1935, the DuPont Company chose to enhance its image by dramatizing great events in American history to an audience of millions each week on The Cavalcade of America. “Cavalcade” is a term used to describe pioneers who shaped the way America operates today. DuPont’s motto: “Maker of better things for better living through chemistry” was read at the beginning of each program, and the dramas emphasized humanitarian progress, particularly improvements in the lives of women, often through technological innovation.

Created by Don Quinn, the co-creator of Fibber McGee & Molly, The Halls of Ivy was a situation comedy series that ran on NBC radio from 1950 through 1952. Originally slated to star Gale Gordan and Edna Best, the lead roles went to British husband-and-wife actors Ronald and Benita Colman. The Colman’s were well versed at comedy and already a hit with radio fans having played Jack Benny’s next-door-neighbor on The Jack Benny Program for years. Ronald Colman played William Todhunter Hall, the urbane president of small, rural Ivy College.

The Weird Circle was an anthology of classic thrillers from the pens of the world’s best-known and respected fiction authors of the 19th Century. The focus was horror and suspense stories by Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Mary Shelley (among others) with the occasional drama by Emily Bronte, Charles Dickens, and George Eliot. The Weird Circle was produced in New York by NBC and offered in syndication.

The Whistler was one of radio’s top mystery programs airing from May 16, 1942 until September 22, 1955. Sponsored by the Signal Oil Company, The Whistler (Joseph Kearns, Gale Gordon, and Bill Forman) was an ominous narrator who knew the killer’s every move even before they did. The stories followed an effective formula in which a person's criminal acts were typically undone by their own missteps. The Whistler often commenting directly upon the action in the manner of a Greek chorus, taunting the criminal from an omniscient perspective.

Created by Irving Brecher, The Life of Riley starred William Bendix as Brooklyn-born Chester A. Riley, a family man who worked as an airplane riveter at the fictional Cunningham Aircraft plant in California. The stories were usually set at home, with Riley cheerfully disrupting life with his malapropisms and ill-timed intervention into minor problems. His stock answer to every turn of fate “what a revoltin' development this is!” became a popular catchphrase.

Produced by Louis G. Cowan, Command Performance aired between 1942 and 1949 over the Armed Forces Radio Network (AFRS) with a direct shortwave transmission to American troops overseas. Performed before a live audience in Hollywood, the weekly listening military audience was estimated at 95.5 million. Troops sent in requests to hear their favorite celebrities, and they also suggested unusual ideas or situations for them to be put into. Top stars of the day appeared, including Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Shirley Temple, Frank Sinatra, Clark Gable, Ginger Rogers, Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart and many more.

In 1949, NBC brought mustachioed Irish-American actor Brian Donlevy to the radio microphones as international troubleshooter Steve Mitchell in the spy series Dangerous Assignment. Mitchell worked for an unnamed US government intelligence agency, whose boss, The Commissioner, dispatched him to world trouble spots. Enjoy 12 exciting, half-hour radio adventures of globe-trotting troubleshooter Steve Mitchell as he solves another Dangerous Assignment.

Fibber McGee & Molly had a long and successful run on radio (1935-1959). The program showcased terrific comic and musical talent, headlined by its creators and stars, married couple Jim and Marian Jordan. Living in the fictional Midwestern town of Wistful Vista, Fibber was an American teller of tall tales and a braggart, usually to the exasperation of his long-suffering wife Molly. Fibber's weekly schemes would be interrupted, inspired by, and often played upon the people of Wistful Vista, a set of regular players and characters.

The Columbia Workshop aired on CBS radio from 1936 until 1947. Created by Irving Reis, it was an experimental platform with no boundaries for what radio had to offer. Broadcast from New York, it featured the biggest stars from stage, screen and radio including Orson Welles, Burgess Meredith, Agnes Moorehead, Art Carney, Charles Laughton, Vincent Price and Laurence Olivier. Stories were by William Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Charles Dickens, John Keats, Edgar Allan Poe, Ernest Hemingway, Rudyard Kipling, Mark Twain, Lucille Fletcher, Carl Sandburg and Herman Melville with music by Bernard Herrmann.

Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll made their radio debut January 12, 1926, as the comedic, blackface characters Sam 'n' Henry. On March 19, 1928 they introduced Amos 'n' Andy, which went on to become one of the most popular and longest-running programs in radio history. During the height of its popularity, almost the entire country listened to the 15-minute, Monday through Friday adventures of Amos 'n' Andy. Department stores open in the evening piped in the broadcasts, so shoppers wouldn't miss an episode.

Horatio Black was known to friend and foe as Boston Blackie - an ex-jewel thief and safecracker constantly suspected of crimes he did not commit and forced to play the role of detective to clear his name. His girlfriend, Mary Wesley, assisted Blackie from time to time, as did his pal Shorty. Forced to defend himself against the accusations of New York Police Inspector Faraday, Blackie always managed to stay one step ahead of the cops in solving a crime. The wisecracks exchanged between Blackie and Faraday made the program an enjoyable mix of comedy and mystery.