Mollé Mystery Theatre (1943-51) aired “Angel Face” on October 5, 1945 from its 1943-48 original NBC run before it switched to CBS for its final 3 years, of which only 73 of the 237 episodes are known to still remain in circulation. It would exist under several name changes for another six years or so, and as noted would switch from its original network, NBC, to CBS (1948-51), and then ABC. Its glory years as a first class mystery show are acknowledged as those comprising its original incarnation at NBC. This episode is the 9th we have offered since the first in 2018, and the second since May of 2023.
This episode is a rebroadcast by the Armed Forces Radio Services (AFRS). The AFRS began in 1942 with one of its features (besides current war news) being to entertain the troops abroad. It received license to rebroadcast selected radio programs from a number of current stateside programs, among them Creeps by Night and Molle Mystery Theatre. The shows were aired in their entirety but were stripped of commercials so as not to play favorites with certain products’ advertising. As a final note, in 1954 the AFRS became the AFRTS (Armed Forces Radio & Television Services) when television had become a staple of news and entertainment, and the AFRS and AFRTS were merged in 1998 to become the Armed Forces Network (AFN) which exists today as a worldwide entity with affiliates in many dozens of countries providing a multitude of services to its millions of listeners.
“Angel Face” is a lesson in deception, which has many disguises. It begins innocently enough with a young man trying to do right by his girlfriend but finding himself caught up in his poor (and illegal) decisions. His girlfriend, when she discovers the wrong path her beloved is taking, does everything in her power to dissuade him from what will surely end badly, but to no avail. This is the setup for this cleverly drawn tale of misdirection, with more than one person on the receiving end of a carefully planned arc of treachery, where the poor recipients never saw their fate coming. This one is a real corker, with more than one twist to totally disarm even the careful listener.
(The CD linked above contains this episode and 19 others, all digitally remastered and restored.)
Play Time: 25:09
{Airing in most markets in the 9 PM time slot, and on a Friday night in early October, the gang was allowed to stay up late to listen to this creepy mystery show, and “Angel Face” certainly filled the bill. It was no wonder they made off early for the nearby newsstand the next morning to find some of their favorite detective/mystery pulps to keep their adrenaline racing. Black Book Detective (1933-53), so the story goes, was a competent but run of the mill detective pulp until it introduced the character of the Black Bat in 1939. The Black Bat was then featured in more than 60% of the material in each subsequent issue and is given credit for keeping the magazine alive for the length of its run, which lasted another 16 years. It was a quarterly in 1945. Dime Mystery Magazine (1932-50) began with a format featuring a novel and a few short stories, but when it became apparent that this was not a winning formula it dropped the novels and switched to a more traditional formula with a few novelettes to pair up with its short stories. It also drastically altered the type of stories it ran to those with a strong “weird menace” approach. These changes proved a successful combination and the magazine enjoyed a respectable 18-year run. It was a bi-monthly in 1945. Thrilling Mystery Novel (1935-51), coincidentally, and in response to the success of Dime Mystery‘s and Terror Tales’ weird menace approach, began by also featuring tales of weird menace, but by the 1940s saw the writing on the wall and began (as one reputable source has it) to gradually shift to more traditional fare. This proved a wise move and the magazine entertained its loyal following for a solid run of 88 total issues. Though it was a quarterly in 1945 it managed to squeeze in a November issue for a total of 5 that year.}
[Left: Black Book Detective, Fall/45 – Center: Dime Mystery, 9/45 – Right: Thrilling Mystery Novel, Fall/45]
To view the entire list of weekly Old Time Radio episodes at Tangent Online, click here.