The Adventures of Topper, based on Thorne Smith's 1926 novel about a middle-aged banker haunted by a married couple of fun-loving ghosts, ran for fifteen weeks beginning June 7, 1945, as a summer replacement for Dinah Shore's Bird's Eye Open House program. Rather than being an adaptation of Topper or its sequel, the Topper radio program presented a series of new comedic adventures based on the characters. The Adventures of Topper was sold on the basis of an audition script written in fall 1944 by Sgt. Alan Sands, and the scripts for the airer were by Elizabeth Cobb (daughter of Irvin S. Cobb) under the supervision of producer Stanley Wolf.
Cosmo Topper was portrayed on radio by Roland Young, who had already played the character in three motion pictures. "An interesting note in connection with this series is that Thorne Smith was a close personal friend of Roland Young's and is said to have had Young in mind for dramatization of the series." (Bill Bird, "Radio in Review," Pasadena Independent, 6 Jun 1945.) Mrs. Topper was "that 200-pound, six-foot-two chunk of pixie—Hope Emerson." (Winnipeg Tribune, 7 Jun 1945.)
Paul Mann and Frances Chaney were originally cast as the ghostly George and Marion Kerby, but Tony Barrett was mentioned as playing George Kerby as early as July 19. To me it sounds like Barrett as George in all three surviving episodes including the earliest, that of July 5—in which, although I'm less certain, I think he may have doubled as Dr. Glockenspiel. (Barrett is more recognizable in 1945-06-05 when the OTRR file is played at 103% speed/pitch so that it matches the runtime of the other two files.)
The Adventures of Topper was well promoted, with episode descriptions appearing in newspapers across the country almost every week. For most episodes, I found both a very brief description and a longer one. Where the shorter description was included in the longer one, I'll just quote the longer text from one paper; if I found differing descriptions, I'll quote a couple of representative examples. (Also, I have taken the liberty of correcting typographical errors.)
1945-06-07
Cosmo Topper finds the road to riches strewn with forgers, jailbirds, cab drivers, and the ectoplasmic Kerbys as he gets off to a good start tonight.
(The way that Post Toasties commercial was worked into the script, incidentally, is one for the books: you have to hear it to believe it.)
1945-06-14
Cosmo Topper, as played by Roland Young, sells a house and then buys a bag of trouble when he tries to oust old tenants in the person of the ectoplasmic Kerbys in the second hilarious stanza of "The Adventures of Topper" tonight NBC 8:30 to 9:00 p. m.
Acquiring a house is one thing but moving in is something else when your interior decorator is confronted with "low plane spirits" who resent remodelling and refuse to be moved from the premises.
1945-06-21
Roland (Topper) Young will find that guests and ghosts don't mix when he entertains a hard-to-please uncle in KFI's "The Adventures of Topper" at 9 o'clock.
Roland Young as Topper, KFI at 9, will entertain his woman-hating uncle and the ectoplasmic Marion Kerby.
Roland (Topper) Young gives his visiting relatives the best in the house but discovers that guests and ghosts don't mix in the 8:30 p. m. NBC laugh-packed chapter of "The Adventures of Topper"
1945-06-28
Topper, played by Roland Young, is a 50-to-1 sleeper at post time, but will prove himself an authority on horse-racing in The Adventures of Topper.
Roland (Topper) Young, who never saw a horse run in his life, shows the touts how to run a $2 bet into a fortune and explains why favorites lose races in an exciting visit to the track in "The Adventures of Topper," this evening (NBC 8:30 to 9:00 p. m.)
Cosmo Topper, a 50-to-1 sleeper at post time, comes to life when a gang of thugs put the "fix" on the public and even succeeds in explaining some of the finer points of the sport to indomitable Mrs. Topper.
1945-07-05 (in circulation)
Topper (WIBA): outwits a psychiatrist.
Cornered by a psychiatrist who claims it's all in the subconscious, Topper has another adventure, WIOD 8:30 p. m.
Roland "Topper" Young, cornered by a psychiatrist who claims it's all in the subconscious, will find a clue in Mrs. Topper's day-dreaming that will turn a quiet night into a nightmare in the Adventures of Topper.
Roland (Cosmo Topper) Young, cornered by a psychiatrist who claims it's all in the subconscious, will find a clue in Mrs. Topper's day-dreaming that turns a mild night into a nightmare in "The Adventures of Topper" tonight at 8:30.
Aided by the ectoplasmic Kerbys of Thorne Smith's famous stories, Mr. Topper evades the Freudian probings of a professional dream-analyzer and proves that any man can outsmart his wife if he can only tell in advance what she is thinking.
Note: Topper is examined by a psychiatrist in this episode, but the story has nothing to do with Mrs. Topper's daydreaming and very little to do with dreams or the subconscious, nor does it take place at night.
Topper mentions events from previous episodes twice in this week's story. First, when he tells Mrs. Topper about the Kerbys: "One time George and Marion forced your uncle out of the house, and next they dragged me to the races"; and then later when she tells him it's all in his imagination: "Then I didn't go to the races last week with George and Marion and win a lot of money."
1945-07-12
"Be sure to listen to Topper, starring Roland Young, next week, when Mrs. Topper intercepts a present meant for Marion."
Roland (Topper) Young, hunting the ideal gift for his wife, finds a bargain in blondes but runs amuck of the store's cash and carry rules in The Adventures of Topper. With Mrs. Topper trailing her shopper-husband under counters and through the junior misses' department, Marion Kerby shows Mr. Topper the difference between a sandal and a scandal.
1945-07-19
Topper will be caught between a blue blood and a beguiling blonde at 9 over KFI.
Roland Young—"Topper"—puts life into high society's biggest party but discovers that two of the guests are ghosts in the hilarious "Adventures of Topper" tonight.
Note: In the novel, Topper meets another ghost couple, Colonel Scott and Mrs. Hart, without at first being aware that they are ghosts. I wonder if those characters appeared in this episode, if the description simply refers to the Kerbys, or if the episode had two original ghost characters.
1945-07-26
Topper gets mixed up in a bathing beauty contest, KFI at 9.
Roland "Topper" Young, staunch admirer of mother nature, goes to inspect various blonde forms of life at the seashore but winds up as an unwilling participant in a bathing beauty contest in "The Adventures of Topper," NBC-8:30 p. m.
1945-08-02
Topper (Roland Young) has rental trouble at 9 over KFI. The Kerbys, real only to him, are partly responsible.
Leasing an apartment for occupancy by the nebulous George and Marion Kerby will cause plenty of landlord trouble for Cosmo on Adventures of Topper. Contributing to Topper's confusion will be Mrs. Topper and the Kerbys themselves.
Roland Young as Cosmo Topper impersonating a benevolent real estate tycoon, rents a house for a beautiful blonde but finds his client's lease is not worth the sting of Mrs. Topper's leash in "The Adventures of Topper" tonight at 8:30 over WHIS.
Braving the horde of irate tenants Mr. Topper waves his way through cellars and attics to inspect the dwelling's finer architectural points only to find the ectoplasmic Kerbys ahead of him and his wife hardly a foyer behind.
1945-08-09
It will be a trying day for all concerned when Topper visits his farm, accompanied by the ubiquitous Mrs. Topper and the ectoplasmic Kerbys on the Adventures of Topper.
"Cosmo Topper," as played by Roland Young, visits a farm in tonight's drama. It's a trying day for everyone when Topper, who knows his hens and chickens, meets what he calls a swell egg and then discovers that you can't put them all in one basket and expect to fool an intuitive housewife.
Roland "Topper" Young thinks farming depends on quality of farmerette.
1945-08-16
Roland "Topper" Young encounters difficulties as a furniture salesman.
Roland "Topper" Young has auction trouble on the 8:30 p. m. NBC funfest.
Selling used furniture should be an easy task these days but not so when Topper takes the Kerby household items out of storage and attempts to dispose of them in "Adventures of Topper" over KFI at 9.
Topper (Roland Young) as "heir" to the fortune of the ectoplasmic Kerbys will supervise an auction of the household items which have been in storage, KFI at 9.
Roland Young, who doesn't know a Queen Anne from a queen bee, supervises an auction of the Kerbys' belongings, with dire results in the hilarious "Adventures of Topper" program tonight at 8:30.
As heir to the Kerbys' fortune, Topper runs the sale with spiritual help from the ectoplasmic Kerbys whose playful pranks almost break up the proceedings, as well as their earthly furniture.
1945-08-23
When Topper serves as nursemaid for the Kerbys' dog, he finds that their baleful influence extends even to the animal kingdom in the Adventures of Topper. Those ectoplasmic pranksters, the Kerbys, entrust their pet pooch to Topper who just doesn't like dogs. After a session with the Kerby canine, Topper is even more confirmed in his dislike of man's best friend.
Note: In the novels it's Colonel Scott who has a ghost dog, Oscar.
1945-08-30 (in circulation)
When the ectoplasmic George Kerby sneezes it is Topper who has to take very bad tasting medicine.
Roland "Topper" Young finds the prospective visit of his mother-in-law a bitter pill to swallow, but winds up taking a much worse dose on the laugh riot "Adventures of Topper".
1945-09-06 (in circulation)
"Be sure to tune in next week, when Topper visits a spiritualist and takes his spirits along with him."
Roland "Topper" Young visits a medium and takes his own spirits along on the all-out fun fest "Adventures of Topper" program tonight. The program will be heard at 8:00 p. m., a half-hour earlier than its usual time for its two final broadcasts of the summer series.
When Mrs. Topper decides that a spiritualist may be able to exorcise the evil spirits that have been tormenting Mr. T, lively doings develop in KFI's "Adventures of Topper" at 8:30.
Note: The Dinah Shore program returned to the air at its usual time on 1945-09-06, which is why the final two episodes of Topper were heard at a new time half an hour earlier.
1945-09-13
"Be sure to tune in Topper next week, when Topper finds the road to Heaven paved with good intentions."
Note: I don't find any descriptions of this episode in the newspapers; I guess for the last episode they didn't bother. At the end of the novel Topper, Marion has apparently ascended to a higher plane, but in Topper Takes a Trip it turns out it didn't take. From the teaser, I would guess that the radio series finale also involved the Kerbys attempting to move on (and probably ultimately ending up back with Topper).
