Box 13 (1948-1949) aired “Find Me, Find Death” on April 24, 1949 as the 36th of its 52 episodes. This is the 10th episode of Box 13 we have showcased, and only the third since November of 2020 (the last episode being in June of 2023). It has proved a popular program so we happily present another episode this week, along with a reprise of the introductory material from previous shows for newcomers, or those wishing to refresh their memories.

Box 13 was a production of Mayfair Productions, a company begun by Alan Ladd and Richard Sandville, and was named after a restaurant of the same name owned by the pair. The shows were syndicated to various networks and radio stations who ran them on different days of the week and at different time slots to fit their individual programming needs. Thus, some shows have differing original air dates and are hard to pin down, especially since a limited block of shows (13 or 26 or more episodes of the 52 total run) might have been picked up years later. So we have the show appearing in a few scattered markets in late 1947, and then on its historically recognized nationwide run in 1948-49, cropping up again around 1954, and even into the early 1970s. It was well produced, written, and acted, with quite a few Big Name radio actors appearing in various episodes. It is also one of those shows veering away from the single-track, hard-boiled, noirish detective or P.I. radio shows so popular throughout the 1940s in film and on radio, in that while it kept the noirish element (usually at least one corpse a trademark feature) it also emphasized a strong element of adventure, so that Box 13 is probably best categorized as a noir-adventure series.

The premise of the show has film star Alan Ladd (1913-1964, most recognizable as the hero in the classic 1953 film Shane) as writer/adventurer Dan Holiday. Holiday has retired from his days of writing for a newspaper to write his own fiction, and now to gain ideas for his books has placed an ad in the paper that reads:  “Adventure wanted – will go anywhere, do anything – Box 13.” Holiday’s personal secretary, Suzy (played by Sylvia Picker [1909-1981], photo at right with Ladd), is in charge of his mail drop, which she checks regularly. While Suzy’s character is somewhat ditzy (a not uncommon character in film and radio of the time), she plays it to the hilt and adds a nice touch to the show.

This episode begins with Suzy checking Dan’s mail as usual when she notices that one letter has not come through the post office to his box but has been personally left on the counter and simply addressed to Dan. When Dan is going through the mail later, Suzy asks him why anyone would drop mail in person instead of mailing it. To which Dan twigs to the obvious answer that then this anonymous person could follow Suzy back to Dan’s place and learn where he lives. But to what end? Dan has received all manner of responses to his box 13 ad, from those needing or wanting his help. But this one is different. The contents of the anonymous letter reveals a death threat, obviously from some deranged individual with no other motive than to satisfy some sick game. It states that unless Dan can find the letter writer he will be killed in four days. Thinking it a joke at first, Dan dismisses the threat. But he soon finds that a psycho has taken his ad as a challenge and not a call for routine adventure, and it leads Dan on one of the most dangerous escapades he has yet encountered, and a foe so intellectually above the norm that it taxes every fiber of his being if he is to have any hope of staying alive. The psycho eventually ends his deadly game by trapping Dan in a one-on-one confrontation, alone in a room with no way out, one well calculated with a devious twist on a certain life and death game from which there seems to be no good outcome, but which fits the “Find Me, Find Death” title perfectly. How Dan lives through this life or death (virtually binary) situation makes for a tense half hour episode.

(The linked CD at top includes this episode and 15 others.)

Play Time: 26:31

{Airing on a Sunday evening in late April of 1949, the neighborhood gang was primed and ready to meet at the nearby newsstand after school the following day. They were after thrills the likes of which they had experienced the night before and knew where they could find them. Astounding SF (1930-present, now Analog) was always a must-buy, and this issue was no different. The cover story by one René Lafayette is actually by L. Ron Hubbard, Lafayette being one of Hubbard’s pseudonyms. Also in this issue is Part 3 of 3 of Jack Williamson’s novel Seetee Shock, and stories by Eric Frank Russell, John Christopher, M. C. Pease, and Theodore Sturgeon. ASF was a monthly in 1949. fantastic Adventures (1939-53) was begun by Raymond Palmer as editor. Its mandate was to be a sister/companion magazine to Amazing Stories. It ran (according to one reliable source) somewhat lighter fantasy at first but by the late 1940s the material was much the same as that in Amazing, albeit still a little more…fantastic. It was also a monthly in 1949. Super Science Stories (1940-43, 1949-51) published a total of 16 issues during its first run, and only 15 in its final run, but despite its publishing ups and downs still managed to attract major talent through both incarnations, witness the issue below with Ray Bradbury and A. E. van Vogt gracing the cover. Super Science Stories managed 5 issues in 1949.}

[Left: Astounding SF, 4/49 – Center: fantastic Adventures, 4/49 – Right: Super Science Stories, 4/49]

To view the entire list of weekly Old Time Radio episodes at Tangent Online, click here.