Night Beat (1950-52) aired “Five Days off for Christmas” on December 21, 1951 as its 73rd episode out of approximately 118 (depending on how one counts). Some 80 episodes are estimated to remain in circulation. This radio noir “detective” show featured film–-and later TV–-star Frank Lovejoy (1912-1962) as Randy Stone, the night beat reporter for the fictional Chicago Star newspaper.
This is the 10th episode of Night Beat we have showcased, the first being “The Devil’s Bible” from July of 2013. This is but the 3rd since August of 2022, so a bit of background is in order for newcomers. While well received, Night Beat ran for a modest two years before being cancelled, but not from any fault of its own. It had two factors going against it, both with origins at NBC. The time for a new radio show, and for a network to pour money into it, wasn’t the best. The early 1950s was becoming a growth spurt for the relatively new medium of television, and advertisers realizing its much larger potential audience were diverting their ad dollars away from radio and into this promising new market. Secondly, and for whatever reason, NBC around this time had a reputation for not supporting many of its shows with in-house advertising around the country, or allowing them the benefit of stable time slots so audiences could plan on listening to their favorite shows at a regular time. Both of these factors had a role in Night Beat‘s short life span. NBC would move it from one day of the week to another and at a different nightly time slot, without notice or fanfare, making it difficult for its audience to follow. Thus, while the show was a success, it was in spite of NBC, not because of anything its parent network did to support it.
As noted above, Frank Lovejoy portrayed Randy Stone, the night beat reporter for the fictional newspaper, the Chicago Star. He wasn’t the show’s first choice, however. Noted film actor Edmond O’Brien played Stone in an audition episode, but the censorship watchdogs that had for a long time been active in radio (so one theory goes, true or not) felt O’Brien’s hardcore, gritty characterization of Stone to be too stark for younger listeners, so decreed that Night Beat would have to air in a later time slot (after 9:30 PM) if it was to be given a green light. Rather than moving their new show in the making to a late night venue (with fewer listeners and thus fewer potential ad dollars spent), they would soften the Stone character. Enter Frank Lovejoy, with a voice historians would later place in the top ten of the most distinctive voices in radio. Lovejoy also brought his own sense of down to earth humanity and heartfelt compassion to the role (which he did to all of his radio roles, some 3,000 productions during his radio career), and Night Beat had its winning formula.
Lovejoy was a well known and respected film actor in the 1940s and 50s, having supporting or major roles in more than two dozen films, a scant few of many worth mentioning being 1949’s In a Lonely Place (starring Humphrey Bogart), and the title role in the classic 1951 noir crime thriller I Was a Communist for the FBI. Lovejoy featured prominently in several world War II and/or Korean War films, the most high profile probably his co-starring role with James Stewart in 1954’s Strategic Air Command. Of interest to SF genre fans is Lovejoy’s role as Lt. Tom Brennan opposite Vincent Price in the 1953 3D horror flick House of Wax (the first color 3D film to be released by a major American studio, and the first in a regular theater setting to offer stereophonic sound).
“Five Days off for Christmas” would appear to be a great Christmas gift from Randy’s boss at the newspaper. Randy is a workaholic and has missed a number of Christmas holidays without a day off for some years, so it was quite a surprise when Randy was now more or less ordered to take some time off for himself around the holidays. Randy begins making plans to see old friends, not wanting to spend the holiday alone, only to find they have made other plans, have moved away, or are otherwise unable to spend time with him. Feeling let down and adrift, an unrelated situation confronts Randy that will change his holiday plans in a way he never saw coming, one which embodies the spirit of Christmas in so subtle a fashion that it is almost missed. Pay close attention to the last words a young boy speaks at story’s end for the perfect ending to this special Christmas episode of Night Beat.
Play Time: 28:57
{This episode of Night Beat aired on a Friday night, four days before Christmas 1951, so the neighborhood gang was enjoying a holiday break from school and could hardly wait to trek to the local newsstand for their magazine fix the next morning. Famous fantastic Mysteries (1939-53) published reprints of classic science fiction or fantasy novels and was an immediate success. Editor Mary Gnaedinger was well versed in both fields and her choices were winners from the first issue, and with the premiere artist in the field, Virgil Finlay, handling most of the art for the magazine, the magazine enjoyed much well deserved success. It was a bi-monthly in 1951. fantastic Adventures (1939-53) was created by editor Raymond A. Palmer as a sister magazine to Amazing Stories. It would run a lighter, “frothier” sort of fantasy than Amazing at first, but by the later 1940s the differences would be hard to tell save for possibly an even more fantastic bent to some of the stories. While it struggled to find a permanent schedule in its early years, from 1948 until its demise with the March 1953 issue it was a solid monthly. Galaxy (1950-80) was a breath of fresh air when it debuted as a monthly in October of 1950. It offered authors and readers new ways of approaching the boundaries of the SF genre while still presenting some of the best writers and stories in the classic mold. It was an instant success and quickly became one of the leaders in the field.}
[Left: Famous fantastic Mysteries, 12/51 – Center: fantastic Adventures, 12/51 – Right: Galaxy, 12/51]
To view the entire list of weekly Old Time Radio episodes at Tangent Online, click here.