On January 6, 1974, a door creaked open—and network radio drama came back to life.
The Mystery Theater Companion begins at the beginning with CBS Radio Mystery Theater Episode #1, “The Old Ones Are Hard to Kill,” written by Henry Slesar and starring the incomparable Agnes Moorehead.
🎧 LISTEN TO THE ORIGINAL BROADCAST
CBS Radio Mystery Theater #1 — The Old Ones Are Hard to Kill
Internet Archive:
https://archive.org/download/otr_cbsradiomysterytheater/CBSRMT740106-000132-TheOldOnesAreHardtoKill.mp3
More than an episode recap, this is a journey back to the night Himan Brown and E. G. Marshall invited Americans to turn down the lights and rediscover the theater of the mind. We explore the story and its wonderfully unsettling premise, Moorehead’s performance, the craft behind the production, and the remarkable gamble CBS was taking by launching a new network radio drama in 1974.
And this is only the beginning.
The Mystery Theater Companion: A Nightly Journey Through CBS Radio Mystery Theater will travel through the series in original broadcast order—one episode at a time, one night at a time.
New episodes arrive at 10:30 PM Central, a small Chesterton Radio tribute to the hour when many of us once heard that famous creaking door on late-night radio.
🎙️ Chesterton Radio — Stories • Ideas • Wonder
If you enjoy these journeys into radio, literature, mystery, and the theater of the mind, consider becoming a paid subscriber and helping us keep the little station on the air.
Tonight, the door opens for the first time.
