On This Day, August 23: Chick Carter and Dunninger
Also featured: On Safari (Finale).
August 23 Exhaustive Update
This report documents the comprehensive provenance, broadcast scheduling, commercial sponsorship, credited cast, production personnel, alternate circulating titles, and story synopses for historical broadcasts transmitting on August 23 across American network, syndication, and South African broadcasting history (1943–1968):
1. Broadcasts
| Title | Network, Airdate & Showtime | Sponsor & Commercial Ads | Credited Cast & Performers | Director, Writers & Crew | Genres | Story-First Plot Synopsis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "The Howard Miller Show with Guest Bob Jaxon (CBS Radio — WBBM Chicago)" | CBS (WBBM) 1957-08-23 10:45 AM EDT |
Wrigley's Gum Wrigley's Spearmint Gum |
Howard Miller (Host / DJ), Bob Jaxon (Guest) | WBBM Chicago / CBS Radio Presentation | ["Music", "Interview", "Pop", "Vocal", "Variety"] |
Disc jockey Howard Miller chats with rising young RCA Victor recording artist Bob Jaxon, spinning Jaxon's latest pop singles and discussing teenage jukebox trends across the Midwest. |
| "The Road to Elmira (Starring Donald Woods & Frances Chaney — Wayside Theater)" | NBC Red (WEAF) 1943-08-23 9:00 PM EWT |
Sustaining NBC Summer Drama |
Donald Woods, Frances Chaney, Karl Swenson | George Faulkner (Writer), Lester Vail, Jack Costello | ["Drama", "Anthology", "Romance", "Small Town", "Morale"] |
A heartwarming small-town wartime drama about a weary big-city commercial artist stranded in an upstate New York village, where he helps an earnest young woman save her family's struggling roadside inn. |
| "Big Dutch's Last Safari (Series Finale — On Safari)" | SABC English 1968-08-23 (South Africa) |
Commercial Sponsors SABC English Service |
Tommy Read (Big Dutch), Colin Fish, Patrick Mynhardt | Tommy Read (Writer/Producer), Bruce Stewart | ["Adventure", "Action", "Drama", "Outdoors", "African"] |
In the dramatic final adventure of the series, veteran white hunter Big Dutch leads his last safari deep into the uncharted Zambezi bushveld to rescue stranded geologists from a ring of diamond smugglers before retiring from the bush. |
| "Dunninger The Master Mentalist (Kem-Tone Miracle Wall Paint)" | Blue Network (WJZ) 1944-08-23 9:00 PM EWT |
Sherwin-Williams Kem-Tone Miracle Wall Paint |
Joseph Dunninger (The Mentalist), Bill Slater (MC) | Roger White (Producer), Earl McGill, Glenn Riggs | ["Variety", "Mentalism", "Magic", "Quiz", "Mystery"] |
Master mentalist Joseph Dunninger astounds radio listeners and a panel of skeptical celebrity judges by reading sealed thoughts from locked steel boxes and reproducing hidden serial numbers from dollar bills over the air for Kem-Tone Paint. |
| "The Rattler's Emergency Order (Chick Carter, Boy Detective — Episode #74)" | Mutual (WOR) 1943-08-23 5:30 PM EWT |
Street & Smith Street & Smith Youth Mystery |
Leon Janney (Chick Carter), Bill Lipton, Joanne Myers | Fritz Blocki (Writer), Lawrence Holcomb, Ken Powell | ["Detective", "Juvenile", "Adventure", "Mystery", "Pulp"] |
In the thrilling serial storyline, young sleuth Chick Carter intercepts a coded telegraph report from criminal mastermind The Rattler, racing against time to prevent the sabotage of an experimental munitions shipment. |
| "The Trap of the Black Falcon (Chick Carter, Boy Detective — Episode #335)" | Mutual (WOR) 1944-08-23 5:30 PM EWT |
Street & Smith Street & Smith Youth Mystery |
Leon Janney (Chick Carter), Bill Lipton, Gilbert Mack | Fritz Blocki (Writer), Lawrence Holcomb, Ken Powell | ["Detective", "Juvenile", "Adventure", "Mystery", "Pulp"] |
Continuing the serial mystery, Chick Carter and his loyal companion Tex Fletcher discover a secret underground printing press used by counterfeiter 'The Black Falcon', only to be trapped inside a steel vault as the room fills with water. |