Old Radio

January 19: Happy Birthday,  Patricia Highsmith Stangers on a Train , The Talented Mr. Ripley and Edith's Diary are the novels of Patricia Highsmith , who was born on this day in 1921. Adaptations of her work crackled over the airwaves in the era of Classic Radio. In 1951, Lux Radio Theater presented an adaptation of  Stangers on a Train , starring Ruth Roman and Ray Milland . Highsmith walked a tightrope between literary and crime fiction. The themes of lesbianism in her work are part of what lend her work its literary tint. As one can see, her work was widely adapted, not just into old time radio shows but also movies .

Ray Milland won an Oscar in 1946 for his work in Billy Wilder's The Lost Weekend.  He also starred in Dial M For Murder, Close To My Heart, and Reap the Wild Wind. But who are we kidding?  You and I love Ray for his role in the CBS blockbuster radio program Meet Mr. McNutley .  The series ran from '53-'54, and starred Ray Milland and Phyllis Avery.  Mr. McNutley was, as his name might imply, a warm-hearted, perhaps absent-minded professor at Lynnhaven College for Women.  The show ran simultaneously on the airwaves and the tube. Plots include Peg buying a new outboard motor for Ray; Ray trying to divine the gender of a new parakeet; and an O. Henryesque miscue involving a mink coat. Milland appeared as a guest on Lux Radio Theatre , Safari, Camel Screen Guild Theatre , and Suspense .