Project Audion: Classic Audio Dramas for Modern Times Larry Groebe

Suspense is one of classic radio's most highly-regarded dramas -- with good reason. It sustained a remarkably high quality level of dramatic tension for 20 years, as the many surviving recordings attest. But a handful of episodes are lost - and Project Audion now recreates one of them. "The Life of Nellie James" was intended as Suspense's premiere, but circumstances pushed it back to the third episode. It was performed once, live, on July 1, 1942, but never heard again. Until now -- as Project Audion, kicking off its fifth season, brings together a transcontinental cast in a live transcription of "The Life of Nellie James" from the original 1942 script. A dreadful murder takes place in the Simon James home, and justice is done ...or is it? It's a tale well-calculated to keep you in ...Suspense! 
Before the show, there is an interview with Suspense scholar Dr. Joseph Webb, where we discuss what makes "Suspense" so special. Our cast features a mix of players, including folks returning from Project Audion episode #1 and professional voices who are brand-new to Audion.
Patte Rosebank in Canada
Tim Burns in Kansas
Andy Hartson-Bowyer in Virginia
Richard Huitema in Florida
Mel Rose in Pennsylvania
Pete Lutz in Texas 
Art Brown in California
Denny Thompson in Colorado
Frank Guglielmelli in Pennsylvania
Sharon Grunwald in New Jersey
while Larry Groebe produced and directed from Texas

A spy caper always makes for a good show. Start with a suave man of mystery, sprinkle in some far-off exotic locales, and stir in some evil enemies of democracy and beautiful women. The result: James Bond? No, "The Man Called X" -- which broadcast several hundred episodes on network radio from 1944 through 1952. Unflappable British actor Herbert Marshall originally played American agent Ken Thurston, AKA the man called X. 
Project Audion now recreates the very first episode of "The Man Called X," from a script which has not been heard since its premiere in July 1944! The action of "The Cage of Europe" is set in wartime Lisbon (you know, where Ilsa flew off to in "Casablanca." Audion's recreation features voice actors performing live on both sides of the Atlantic for this half hour of what was described as in 1944 as a "comedy-mystery," and which eighty years later is still highly entertaining! Featuring --
David Ault in England
Jack Ward in Canada
Laura Mirsky in New Jersey
George Taylor in Tennessee
Jane Beverley in New Jersey
Jeff Billard in Massachusetts
Caleb Fisher in Virginia
Joe Mendell in England
Robert Stevenson in Indiana
Larry Groebe produced and directed from Texas

The "Damon Runyon Theatre," a syndicated radio series from 1949 relating stories of New York's "guys and dolls" -- mobsters and dames, gamblers and frails, saints and sinners -- which newspaperman and sportswriter Damon Runyon colorfully brought to life in decades of short stories. They may have been gangsters, but they often had hearts of gold underneath - plus a unique present-tense way of speaking which has come to be known as "Runyonesque." 
The Damon Runyon Theatre recorded 52 charming half-hour versions of his stories, and those got writer Casey Keller (Beakman's World, The Love Boat) wanting more. So he's written a new episode, and Project Audion brings you the world premiere of his Runyonesque tale, "Ringside Rosie."  Our transcontinental cast is captured live in performance, just like they things did 1949, for a delightful story about a doll who loved boxing, and the guy who loved her. Our cast includes:
Duane Noch in New Jersey
Don Paul in California
Andy Hartson-Bowyer in Virginia
Jacob Palka in Illinois
Stanley Dyrector in California
Paul Arbisi in Illinois
Reg Platt in Texas
Susan Platt in Texas
Casey Keller in California
with the production under the supervision of Larry Groebe in Texas

Just premiered for the International Jack Benny Society annual convention, and now available to all: a "new" episode of the classic Jack Benny radio show newly penned exclusively for Project Audion by Bob Hope comedy writer Robert L. Mills. Here, Jack and the gang do a send up of the movie "Witness for the Prosecution" - with W. C. Fields in a guest-starring role. 
Here's what Mr Mills said after hearing the final product: "This as near perfection as any living humans could possibly recreate a 75-year-old radio show. You performed miracles producing this and the program will take its place among the best work you've ever done." As Jack would say... "Well!” That's a tribute to the cast and crew. Go ahead - join our virtual studio audience and laugh at the efforts of these talented voice actors...
John Bell in Alabama
Pete Lutz in Texas
Ken Jeffries in California
Carl Thomas in Texas
Bob Beaumont in California
Angela Young in Florida
Harry Middlebrooks in CA
Norman Cline in Kentucky
Bob Mills wrote the script in LA
While back in Texas,  Larry Groebe oversaw the production

Premiering tonight (2/9) at 9 PM Eastern, Project Audion recreates a shocking tale of love, hate, conspiracy, and murder - all the more so for being a true story that took place in 1778.
"The Crime of Bathsheba Spooner" tells the story of the first woman executed for murder in the United States. It was the audition script for a new CBS radio drama series - "Crime Classics" --  a sort of mid-century predecessor to today's true-crime podcasts, created by some of radio's finest actors, writers, directors, and musicians.
Audion's rendition of "The Crime of Bathsheba Spooner" works from the uncut audition script, including material that never aired seventy years ago. In addition, we visit with Andrew Noone, author of a recent book on the 1778 murder, trial, and execution. Join us and listen to the modern passions that inflamed Revolutionary America!

Peter Lorre is an actor with such a distinctive voice and presence that even now, 60 years after his death, he's still instantly identifiable. It's surprising he didn't do more radio dramas, but he did host and star in "Mystery In The Air" in 1947. As a summer replacement show, there were only 17 episodes, and only 8 or so recordings exist -- so Project Audion asked Pete Lutz to create a NEW Mystery in the Air script. The result is both light-hearted and supernaturally spooky, and thanks to our transcontinental cast of talented voice actors, sounds just like an unheard episode from this terrific vintage series:
Pete Lutz in Texas
Lothar Tuppan in California
Jeff Billard in Massachusetts
Geri Elliff in Texas
Angela Young in Florida
John Bell in Alabama
Bob Beaumont in California
with Larry Groebe handling sounds, music, and production