Tony Barrett (1916–1974), with a list of radio episodes written by Tony Barrett

Radio Row, fall 1945

 

Actor and writer Tony Barrett (Wikipedia) was born Martin Lefkowitz in New York City on May 24, 1916.

Background

A 24 Aug 1945 Radio Chart newspaper piece on Tony Barrett (found in the Hazelton, PA, Plain Speaker) says that he was of theatrical parents, had a walk-on in his father's comedy vaudeville act as a small child, and learned all types of dancing from his father. But a line in Dorothy Kilgallen's The Voice of Broadway gossip column earlier that year (7 Feb 1945) reads: "Millionaire S. H. Barrett may use the courts to restrain his son, Tony Barrett, from further pursuit of his acting career. Wants him to run the factories and 'stop fooling around' . . . "

Before digging into it I assumed this latter item was an obvious joke on Dorothy Kilgallen. But—although I haven't found any other mention of his trying to restrain his son's acting career, and I don't know that he didn't teach him to dance—historical records indicate that Martin Lefkowitz's father really was a wealthy manufacturer! (In fact, from the concurrence of addresses across newspapers, directories and census data, it appears he was the same Samuel Howard Lefkowitz who reportedly had his front teeth set with diamonds in 1913, and eleven years later had the diamonds put into a ring instead, for fear of hold-up men with dental forceps.)

Other notes on Martin Lefkowitz's early life: among other international travels, young Martin went with his family on a West Indies cruise in 1928; and S. Howard Lefkowitz made multiple trips to Cuba in the 20s and 30s. These early Latin American connections may have influenced Tony Barrett's later creative work: he played numerous radio roles with a Mexican accent, and quite a few of his radio and television scripts are set in Latin America.

Acting career

Regardless of how exactly he got his start, Tony Barrett (who legally changed his name to Anthony Barrett in September 1940) was a professional dancer by 1940, and switched to radio acting by 1943. He became a very busy New York radio actor, specializing in accents and often playing multiple roles in the same broadcast. One newspaper column in February 1945 claimed Barrett had played more than 75 radio characterizations within the past 30 days, and in March 1945 he was reported to have been on six radio programs in one day. His recurring roles included sidekick Shorty on Boston Blackie between 1944-04-25 and 1945-11-29, and the ghostly George Kerby for most of The Adventures of Topper in summer 1945. Other New York radio programs in which Tony Barrett is known to have acted include Armstrong Theatre, Big Town, Famous Jury Trials, Five Star Final, Kate Smith Hour, Man Behind the Gun, March of Time, Mollé Mystery Theater, Pepper Young's Family, Portia Faces Life, Report to the Nation, Ten From Tokyo, This Life Is Mine, We The People, Woman of America, and Young Dr. Malone.

In January 1946 Tony Barrett motored to Hollywood with Frank Lovejoy and Jackson Beck. Barrett soon signed a two-year contract with RKO, under which he appeared in such films as The Falcon's Adventure, Born to Kill, Wild Horse Mesa and Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome; he later freelanced in films such as Impact (UA, 1949). Early in his Hollywood career, Tony Barrett was said to resemble Rudolph Valentino, and was reportedly considered for the leading role in a Valentino biopic which never materialized. An item in the Salt Lake Telegram of 10 Jan 1947 reads:

Tony Barrett has been reported in 16 different screen tests as the "ideal romantic hero type" for the screen but he dies so well that he can snare only villain roles since usually only villains die in pictures. In R K O Radio's "Seven Keys to Baldpate," his seventh picture seven months after entering pictures, he perishes again.

Other newspaper items in 1946 called Barrett the most murdered man in Hollywood, and claimed that he had died 801 times in movies and radio.

In addition to movie acting, Barrett continued as a busy and versatile radio actor in Hollywood. Daily Variety of 30 September 1946 reported that he was doing an average of 12 radio shows a week, and the Long Beach Press-Telegram of 17 January 1948 reported that he appeared on six radio shows every week. His regular radio roles in Hollywood included sidekick Marc Donovan on The Adventures of Frank Race and the narrator and radio voice on Tales of the Texas Rangers—and he frequently doubled as one-off characters in both programs. Other Hollywood radio programs on which Tony Barrett was an actor include All-Star Western Theatre; Bold Venture; Broadway's My Beat; The Couple Next Door; Dangerous Assignment; Defense Attorney; Dr. Paul; Escape; Family Theatre; Hallmark Playhouse; Let George Do It; Richard Diamond, Private Detective; Rocky Jordan; Romance; Screen Directors Playhouse; Stars Over Hollywood; Suspense; The Line-Up; Lux Radio Theatre; NBC University Theatre; This Is Your FBI; Wild Bill Hickok; and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar.

Radio writing

Tony Barrett went on to become a successful television writer and producer, including writing or co-writing 63 episodes of Peter Gunn and developing The Mod Squad. He also did some writing for radio. Here is a list of the Tony Barrett–penned radio episodes I have found listed on RadioGOLDINdex, mentioned in historical periodicals, and/or listed in the finding aid for the Tony Barrett Papers (herein TBP)—I have not consulted the papers themselves, but this list may be of interest as a preliminary overview of Barrett's radio writing work.

Escape 1952-12-28 "Nightmare in the Sun"

A matador hero of Anthony Barrett's "Nightmare in the Sun," KNX at 6:30. —Hollywood Citizen-News, 1952-12-27

[Script available in SPERDVAC library. Tony Barrett played the ambitious young matador Pepe, and Jack Kruschen had the leading role as his brother Miguel.]

[Barrett wrote a script of the same title for television's Burke's Law, 1965-10-20. That story was also set in Mexico, but involved a political assassination plot.]

Escape 1954-06-17 "Bloodwaters"

Escape 1954-09-18 "The Target"

Hollywood Star Playhouse 1951-05-07 "Death Is a Right Hook" by Antony Ellis and Anthony Barrett; repeated on 1952-03-23.

Dan Dailey portrays a young man whose ambitions exceed his ability in "Death Is a Right Hook" on Hollywood Star Playhouse, KCBS, 9 p.m. —The Berkeley Gazette, 1951-05-07

Screen actor Barry Sullivan will star in "Death Is a Right Hook" on "Hollywood Star Playhouse" today at 5 p.m. on WROL. Barnstorming American heavyweight Jimmy Dunlavy (Barry Sullivan) finds the climate a bit too hot for him in Mexico when he is offered $5000 by a wealthy Mexican to fight Mexico's heavyweight champion. Jimmy, whose usual take is $100, suspects the worst. He appears to be worth more dead than alive, but the fighter has some ideas of his own. —The Knoxville Journal 1952-03-23

Hollywood Star Playhouse 1952-07-20 "Step Right Up and Die"

John Lund, screen and radio star, will portray Joe Martin, a fun-house owner who is accused of murder, in "Step Right Up and Die" on "Hollywood Star Playhouse" over WGBF today at 4 p.m. —Evansville Courier and Press, 1952-07-20

[TBP list an undated script of this title under Hollywood Star Playhouse, and an outline and short story treatment of the same title under TV's Schlitz Playhouse of Stars; the story, which sounds like it was the same story, was produced on Schlitz Playhouse of Stars on 1956-04-27.]

Hollywood Star Playhouse 1952-09-21 "Last Chance"

Charlton Heston, one of Hollywood's new leading men, stars in "The Last Chance," drama of native superstition in the South American jungle. —The Miami News, 1952-09-21

Hollywood Star Playhouse 1952-10-06 "Sitting Duck"

Dane Clark, star of Broadway and Hollywood, enacts the role of private detective Sam Dexter, a man who is tempted by the money he is hired to recover, on "Hollywood Star Playhouse" Oct. 12 over NBC-radio.

Authored by radio actor-writer Anthony Barrett, the play is entitled "Sitting Duck."

In the drama Dexter is hired not for his sleuthing ability but as a decoy to recover $100,000 for an insurance company. The money was stolen and hidden by a bank teller who is serving a five-year jail term. –South Gate Daily Press-Tribune 1952-10-06

[TBP also include a script with the same title for Ford Television Theater, 1957-03-21, and an undated script with the same title for the unrealized TV series Johnny Nighthawk.]

O'Hara 1956-06-10 "The Legend"

O'Hara 1956-06-21 "The Set-Up"

On Stage 1953-11-04 "Vickie" by Ross Murray and Anthony Barrett

A woman marries a man to destroy him in "Vickie," by Ross Murray and Tony Barrett, on CBS Radio's "Cathy and Elliott Lewis Onstage," Wednesday, Nov. 4. —New Pittsburgh Courier, 1953-10-24

Romance 1956-12-08 "The Guitar" (starring Tony Barrett!)

Tales of the Texas Rangers 1951-12-23 "Christmas Payoff"

Tales of the Texas Rangers 1952-02-18 "Smart Kill"

Tums Hollywood Theater 1951-11-27 "The Sixty-Foot Grave"

Tyrone Power is the lead at 9:30 over KFI in "The Sixty Foot Grave" by Anthony Barrett, radio actor known as Tony Barrett. His characterization is that of a deep-sea diver, Robert McKay, in Venezuela. The one person who knows the secret of his past comes along. —Hollywood Citizen-News 1951-11-27

Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar 1956-06-25–29 "The Alder Matter"

Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar 1956-08-06–10 "The Long Shot Matter"

Whistler blog posts so far

I hear there's about to be some enthusiasm about The Whistler, so I thought I ought to do a post for new visitors to this blog!  I post fairly infrequently and lately I've done some posts on other old-time radio shows, but I am primarily a Whistler blog and I'm looking forward to doing more analysis, research and commentary on Whistler episodes—especially since I'll probably listen again to the entire series via the new set!

Here are the posts I've done on The Whistler so far:

• 1945-08-20 "X Marks the Murderer"
• 1946-08-19 "Delivery Guaranteed" 
• 1947-03-17 "Mavis Cameron Disappears" / 1948-12-26 "Delayed Christmas Present" / 1951-12-23 "Christmas Gift" 
• 1947-06-02 / 1950-06-04 "Caesar's Wife" 
• 1948-03-31 "Bird of Prey" 
• 1949-08-21 "Confession" / 1954-10-17 "Last Request" 
• 1950-10-22 "The Wall" / 1954-08-29 "Quadrangle"  
• 1950-12-31 "The Big Jump" / 1952-06-15 "Last Message"  

• A list of Signal Oil references in The Whistler 
• A selection of odd Whistler commercials from 1946 

The Whistler 1945-08-20 "X Marks the Murderer"

The basic setup: A housewife's idea for catching a serial killer hits too close to home. This script was reused with minor changes for the 1946 Whistler summer series, and was reworked years later with a darker feel as Suspense 1961-09-24 "Man in the Fog."

The Whistler 1945-08-20 "X Marks the Murderer"
Directed by George W. Allen
Story by Joseph Cochran, music by Wilbur Hatch
Announcer: Marvin Miller
Whistler: Marvin Miller (filling in while Bill Forman was in the service)
Cast (uncredited): Jack Moyles (Ben), Edmund MacDonald (Captain Shane), Charles Calvert (Patrolman / Sgt. Schmitt), Earle Ross (Police Commissioner / Plant Timekeeper), Sarah Selby or Adrienne Marden? (Mamie)
(Thanks, Karl Schadow and Keith Scott, for voice identification!)

The story: Mamie Kast chats with her husband Ben about the recent series of murders in the headlines: four women stabbed. The police think it's a working man, because the killings all occurred on weekends. The newspaper is offering a reward for any clue leading to the arrest and conviction of the monster. Ben seems put off by the word "monster," and is scornful that Mamie could have any idea about the killings. Mamie explains her theory: she marks the location of each killing on a map, forming a square. Theorizing that the killer lives near the middle of the square, she connects the opposite corners and finds that the diagonal lines cross right near their own block!

The next night, Wednesday, a woman is killed almost on the Kasts' doorstep. Ben comes home from the factory where he works nights, washes his hands, and asks for a drink of brandy—neither of which is his habit. He taunts Mamie about her fine theories: this time the killing didn't occur on a weekend, or far away in another direction.

Meanwhile, the police are getting desperate, and Detective Captain Shane asks his sergeant if, among all the screwball letters they've gotten, there's anything that he gave a second thought. The sergeant says Mamie's letter caught his attention because the day after it came in, the next murder took place within a hundred feet of the spot she'd indicated. Shane says he'll look into it when he has time.

Ben forgets his lunch box at home, and Mamie brings it to the factory for him. The timekeeper says Ben Kast didn't punch in tonight, and that he's missed work only once before—last Wednesday. When Ben gets home and starts washing his hands, Mamie offers him brandy and doesn't ask questions.

At the factory the next night, the timekeeper mentions Mamie's bringing Ben's lunch. Ben rushes home to confront Mamie, and overhears Captain Shane on his way out. When Ben demands to know what the police were doing there, Mamie says it was just routine. She didn't tell them he wasn't at work last Wednesday. It comes out that she knows. Ben picks up a knife, but Mamie convinces him that he needs her because only she can tell the police he was at home those nights. She can be his alibi.

Days later, a heavy fog rolls in and, despite Mamie's pleading, Ben is compelled to go out and strike again. Shane brings Ben in for questioning and lays out the circumstantial evidence against him. Ben says he has an alibi. Shane says Ben's alibi is worthless!

The twist: Shane explains that after questioning Mamie again he knew that she both feared Ben and loved him enough to protect him, and unless she broke down and helped the police, they'd never be able to prove Ben was guilty. Then Shane has Mamie brought in... on a stretcher. "Tonight she ran out after you, probably to try to stop you, and walked right into your trap. It was your wife you killed tonight, Mr. Kast."

Suspense, sixteen years later:

Suspense 1961-09-24 "The Man in the Fog" (at The Suspense Project here) has essentially the same sequence of events as "X Marks the Murderer" until the final scenes, and the main characters even have the same names. (It's a little funny that the announcer says the script was "written especially for Suspense by Joseph Cochran"!) The Suspense episode is set in England, the cops have different names, and the story has a new ending—but I think the most significant difference is that "The Man in the Fog" feels like a darker story than "X Marks the Murderer." It focuses more on the mind of the murderer, and I think is also a little more explicit about the nature of the crimes.

The opening narration of "X Marks the Murderer" says, in part:

It was a long series of murders which baffled and terrorized the city. Not only because of their fiendish quality, but because of their apparent lack of motive. I say apparent lack because you can't expect the police to find and recognize a motive deep in the mind of a man who simply enjoys killing, a man who rationalizes his feeling into a sort of righteous cause.

The briefer announcement before the first act of "The Man in the Fog" also says the murders "are without pattern and apparently without motive." But by 1961, crime fiction audiences probably did expect the police to make use of psychology. The Suspense episode adds a new scene before the last murder in which the detective, Mr. Britt, discusses the killer's compulsion to strike again and even correctly links the murders to the weather; and has a new ending in which Britt uses his understanding of the killer's psychology to get a confession.

In this version, Mamie is not murdered, but goes to the police on the night of the last murder and asks them to take Ben in. Britt explains that Mamie can't testify against her husband (a legally dubious plot device), and he'll need a confession. Again he questions Ben and Ben says Mamie is his alibi. Britt expresses doubt about having a woman for an alibi, because of how sneaky and greedy women are. He pretends to confide in Ben: "I hate women too." Then Britt lets Ben see Mamie talking to the sergeant, apparently selling Ben out.

"X Marks the Murderer" ends on the revelation that Ben's alibi is broken, implying that he now has no choice but to confess. In "The Man in the Fog," Britt convinces Ben that he understands, and we actually get to hear Ben tell him about it. "...I could hear a soul wailing in the body of a woman, begging to be freed from the claws of the flesh, and then my hand would lift the knife, and in a minute the soul would be free. And then my head would stop hurting." Ben also talks about freeing souls in the scene with Mamie before the last murder, and calls it his "mission." These speeches expand on the "righteous cause" that the Whistler cynically posited in the earlier episode—in which the closest thing to an explanation of Ben's motive was his remark that the murder victims are "better off anyway. We'd all be."

"The Man in the Fog," even before the explicit misogyny in the final scene, is also much more persistent than the original Whistler episode in directing the listener's attention to the fact that these murders are specifically murders of women: "A man walks in the fog. And a woman dies." In "X Marks the Murderer," on the other hand, Mamie talks in the first scene about the victims having all been women, but the narration and dialogue tend to refer simply to "murders" or "killings," without giving much weight to the obvious pattern of the victims' gender.

For instance, in The Whistler, each of Mamie's four crosses "marks the place where a killing occurred," and she assumes the killer "goes out in a different direction from where he lives every time he wants to do away with somebody" because "it's just natural not to do something like that in front of his own house." In Suspense, each cross "marks the spot where a woman was killed, and Mamie assumes the killer "goes in a different direction each time" because "it stands to reason he's not going to kill a woman in front of his own house." The patrolman who finds the fifth victim in The Whistler says "Another one!" but doesn't specifically say anything to indicate gender (though we do hear later that a woman was killed); the patrolman in Suspense calls the victim "dearie" as he tries to wake her. There even seems to be a faint hint of the threat of sexual violence in the Suspense episode, when the timekeeper tells Mamie she ought to take the bus home: "You shouldn't be out alone in this fog, with that fellow still at large. I guess you know... what I mean."

A lost Whistler version:

Dr. Joe Webb has recently discovered a script for the Whistler summer series 1946-09-04 "Where the Lines Cross" by Joseph Cochran, of which no recording is known to survive. This script is almost identical to "X Marks the Murderer," with the main difference being some additional bits of dialogue—generally comparable in length to bits of dialogue that I've seen cut from other Whistler scripts. Dr. Webb points out that, since the Whistler summer series was a sustaining program, this additional dialogue may have been restored and/or added in order to fill the time taken up by commercials in the original Signal broadcast.

There's some brief additional action after the patrolman finds the fifth victim, including a woman screaming "It's him again. He's killed her. I can see her. It's a woman lying there and she's been stabbed." I think going straight from the patrolman's exclamation to Ben arriving home is more effective—but this scene would have put a little more emphasis on the killing-of-women angle.

The 1946 script also continues to develop the psychological elements that are prominent in the later Suspense episode. There's a little more dialogue between Ben and Mamie about Ben being compelled to go out in the fog, and there's some additional dialogue at the beginning of the interrogation scene in which Captain Shane explains that he's studied murderers like this and planned his interview accordingly. In the 1945 episode, Ben says, "Can't a man wash his hands when they need it?"—and in 1946, he then adds, "Can't he make himself clean without his wife yelling about it?" That phrase "make himself clean" is also heard in "The Man in the Fog."

In the 1945 episode, when Ben comes in after Shane leaves, Mamie exclaims, "Ben! You're home." The 1946 script has "You! You're home?" [underlining in original]. In 1945, the Whistler's narration after the last murder begins, "So the monster struck again. For the last time. You didn't know that, Ben, but it was for the last time." The 1946 script has, "So, Ben...you struck again. For the last time. You didn't know that...but it was for the last time."

In the 1946 script, we also learn that Ben is short for Ebenezer!

Further notes:

• "X Marks the Murderer" is the first Whistler episode after Japan's surrender was announced on August 14, 1945, marking the end of World War Two. (Nowadays, we tend to think of the war as ending with the formal surrender on September 2.) The Signal commercial at the first break begins:

  "Now it can be told!" is on everyone's lips these days, with all sorts of news breaking. For wartime security, American industry has had to maintain secrecy about many of its most amazing projects. For instance, Signal Oil Company, who brings you The Whistler each week, would like to have been able to tell you about Signal's new super-fuel as it was being developed. For during the last few years, petroleum chemists have found ways of completely changing the composition of gasoline, giving new performance undreamed of before the war. But the big news tonight is that soon these ingredients that have been helping us win the war will be in a new Signal gasoline!

  The commercial at the second break says, "Where are you going? I mean, with that unlimited supply of gasoline you can enjoy from now on," but warns that you'll still have to make your current tires last a while longer.

• The Whistler's narration in this 1945 episode is moving towards the familiar pattern of later years: setting the scene in third person past tense, and then narrating most of the episode in second person present tense. One striking difference from this later pattern is that instead of addressing one main character throughout, he switches to a different main character about halfway through! "Yes, Mamie. Now you're beginning to understand. And you know your plan was too good. Too good. But what about you, Ben, what are you thinking?"

  There are other Whistler episodes from this era that address multiple characters, or that switch back and forth between second and third person; earlier Whistler episodes are also more likely to address the listener, and some early episodes are narrated almost entirely in third person. I hope to do at least one general post in the future about the different modes of narration on The Whistler.

• Whistler episodes reused on other programs often replaced the Whistler's narration with more conventional first-person or third-person narration. "The Man in the Fog" omits the narration entirely and bridges the scenes with eerie music. This makes for some abrupt transitions, like going straight from Britt's "We'll have to make a routine call on Mrs. Kast" to Mamie's "Are you the timekeeper?", but the slighly disjointed feel works well with the sense of Ben's mental "fog" that pervades the episode.

Additional listening:

1945-06-25 "Death Watch" is another Whistler episode by Joseph Cochran involving a murderer with a compulsion—in this case, the compulsion to return to the scene of the crime—and a detective who plans to play upon the psychology of the murderer. (And, like "X Marks the Murderer," this episode also has Earle Ross as the detective's boss and Charles Calvert as his sidekick.)

See 1946-03-11 "Boomerang", based on a story by Nancy and Alfred Seel, for another story in which a woman apparently suspects her husband of being a serial killer.

The Adventures of Topper (1945) episode descriptions from newspapers

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.

—Minneapolis Star

Variety's less than favorable review of the premiere doesn't describe the story, but does mention that:

(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.

—Waterbury (CT) Democrat

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.

—Pasadena Star-News

Roland Young as Topper, KFI at 9, will entertain his woman-hating uncle and the ectoplasmic Marion Kerby.

—Hollywood Citizen-News

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"

—Findlay (OH) Republican-Courier

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.

—Bristol (TN-VA) Herald Courier

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.

—Waterbury Democrat

1945-07-05 (in circulation)

Topper (WIBA): outwits a psychiatrist.

—Wisconsin State Journal

Cornered by a psychiatrist who claims it's all in the subconscious, Topper has another adventure, WIOD 8:30 p. m.

—Miami (FL) News

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.

—Bristol Herald Courier

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.

—Bluefield (WV) Daily Telegraph

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."

—previous episode

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.

—Bristol Herald Courier

1945-07-19

Topper will be caught between a blue blood and a beguiling blonde at 9 over KFI.

—Hollywood Citizen-News

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.

—Bristol Herald Courier

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.

—Hollywood Citizen-News

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.

—Findlay (OH) Republican-Courier

1945-08-02

Topper (Roland Young) has rental trouble at 9 over KFI. The Kerbys, real only to him, are partly responsible.

—Hollywood Citizen-News

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.

—Bristol Herald Courier

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.

—Bluefield Daily Telegraph

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.

—Bristol Herald Courier

"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.

—Minneapolis Star

Roland "Topper" Young thinks farming depends on quality of farmerette.

—Wisconsin State Journal

1945-08-16

Roland "Topper" Young encounters difficulties as a furniture salesman.

—Athens (OH) Messenger

Roland "Topper" Young has auction trouble on the 8:30 p. m. NBC funfest.

—Findlay Republican-Courier

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.

—Pasadena Star-News

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.

—Hollywood Citizen-News

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.

—Bluefield Daily Telegraph

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.

—Bristol Herald Courier

Topper serves as a nursemaid for the ghost of the ghostly Kerby's dog.

—Cincinnati Enquirer

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.

—Hollywood Citizen-News

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".

—Bristol Herald Courier

1945-09-06 (in circulation)

"Be sure to tune in next week, when Topper visits a spiritualist and takes his spirits along with him."

—previous episode

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.

—Bristol Herald Courier

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.

—Pasadena Star-News

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."

—previous episode

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).