Molle Mystery Theater
1943-1948
Circulating Episodes: 73
It’s pronounced “Moe-Lay.” It’s shaving cream. For the “smooth, smooth, slick, slick, shave you get with Molle shaving cream!”
“Mystery Theater” was an epithet used by more than one series, and it can get confusing. Un-fortunately, radio history researchers have lumped entirely un-related series together because they aired with the same un-imaginative name.
On NBC the program aired as either Mystery Theatre or Mollé Mystery Theatre. NBC’s Mystery Theatre began in 1943 and ran for four years. Mystery Playhouse re-ran many of the episodes with a new introduction by Peter Lorre. This was the good stuff, and what is reviewed here.
During the 1950s, a competition between ABC and CBS began with their crime dramas of the same name. ABC Mystery Theater aired for 115 episodes over three seasons from 1951–1954, and starred Robert Carroll as Inspector Mark Saber of The Homicide Squad (also Mark Saber Mysteries). This was paralleled on television by the show Saber of London. The CBS Mystery Theater (1948-1951) spotlighted a similar character, Hearthstone of The Death Squad, which the production’s name was changed to for re-runs. It ran against ABC’s production in the ’50s. This is not even to mention the show titled CBS Radio Mystery Theater that ran from 1974 to 1982.
Sources:
Digital Deli
OTRR
Wikipedia (ABC Mystery Theater)
Angel Face
A woman promises to stick by a guy who seems a little sketchy, but she loves him. He makes a big play and rips off the bank he works for, taking twenty grand! Spoiler: She double-crosses him! She slips him a mickey and tells her real boyfriend to lock him in a chest. If they get caught… no murder rap. They’re going to bury him alive! The end is another surprise twist. Her savagery is exquisite.
Beckoning Fair One, The
A writer takes up residence in a haunted house and becomes preoccupied by its lovely ghost. She gives him bad advice.
Bottle Imp, The
A magic bottle grants wishes, but the catch is that it must be sold within a fortnight –for less than its purchase price– or the owner will go stark-raving mad! What happens when it gets down to a penny? A scoffing shrink will buy it for a British ha’ penny. Does it work? We never find out. [Adapted from Robert Louis Stevenson. Also by CBS Radio Mystery Theater]
Burn, Witch, Burn
A local “doll woman” runs afoul of the mob. A doctor investigates and the strega possesses him, ordering him to “Kill, kill, kill!” anyone who gets to close to her secret. But… he knows Latin!
Comic Strip Murder, The
A cartoonist portrays his wife in his funny strip when he discovers her in another man’s arms. The whole town is abuzz about the new storyline. Will Buzz O’Keefe save the damsel in distress before she is thrown into a coffin-sized goldfish pond filled with flesh-stripping acid? [Story also adapted for a Suspense television episode.]
Doctor and the Lunatic, The
A psycho commits crimes that destroy art. And a dog. One of the victims may also be the loony. Or so says a surgeon who keeps a psychotic patient in a cell upstairs.
Fifty Candles
A rich jerk renigs on a deal. When he’s killed, the police arrest the man who was taken for a ride and the jerk’s wife too readily fingers him. But he’s innocent. Can you guess the real culprit? The clues are there. By the author who wrote Charlie Chan. A bit racist. In the end, the pink candles point the way.
Hands of Mr. Ottermole, The
A “Jack the Ripper type” is on the loose! Try to figure out who the murderer is before the end reveal! [Adapted from Thomas Burke, Also by Suspense!]
Lady In the Morgue, The
Murder mystery. A woman’s corpse disappears from the morgue. She hung herself while still wet from the shower. Crane and O’Malley are left to clear their own names. Sam Eudoni and the dyed hair girl next door are persons of interest, but Mr. Cortland, who hired the duo, thinks they should drop the case…
Letter, The
A woman claims she killed a man in self defense, but a letter appears offering evidence she was in love with him and had lured him to the scene. Will her husband raise the blackmail money to obtain it? Did she really kill her lover?
Man In the Velvet Hat, The
A reporter discovers that a man with a black velvet fedora is witnessed at many scenes of death, and it becomes a sensation! People riot when they see a man in a black hat! When it is revealed as a stunt, guess who’s on the block for murder?
Nightmare
A man dreams he murdered someone, then discovers it was real. His brother-in-law is an abusive detective who realizes the patsy’s been hypnotized… but there were two murders on that night– Will the woman run over by a car lead to a confession by the hypnotist?
Rival Dummy, The
Is the dummy alive or is the ventriloquist schizophrenic? What will happen when the dummy tries to steal his beautiful new partner & lover?
Talk Them to Death
A small, ugly man desires to own the circus where he works. He plots to play his co-workers against each other with words, gossip and lies. “Too bad you aren’t good enough to tame that lion anymore.”
Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper (1945)
A paranormal investigator believes that Red Jack lives on in modern Chicago, and must make a human sacrifice to stay immortal… If you are found not fit to stand trial by reason of insanity, how soon can you get out of the asylum? [Adapted from Robert Bloch – See also: Star Trek “Wolf in the Fold”, Thriller (1961) (Same title)]