On This Day, August 24: Edward R. Murrow and Doris Day
Also featured: Philo Vance.
August 24 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 24 across American network, shortwave wartime, and NPR syndication broadcasting history (1939–1980):
1. Broadcasts
| Title | Network, Airdate & Showtime | Sponsor & Commercial Ads | Credited Cast & Performers | Director, Writers & Crew | Genres | Story-First Plot Synopsis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Nightingale's Defense (Peter Whalley Drama — NPR Earplay)" | NPR (WHA) 1980-08-24 (NPR Playhouse) |
Sustaining CPB / NPR Presentation |
Neil Munro, Colin Fox, Nonnie Griffin | Peter Whalley (Writer), John Douglas, Karl Schmidt | ["Drama", "Courtroom", "Legal", "Psychological", "Modern Audio Drama"] |
In Peter Whalley's psychological courtroom drama, a veteran defense barrister takes on the seemingly hopeless case of an introverted accountant accused of embezzling company pension funds to save his bankrupt sister. |
| "Hawaiian War Dance & To You (Matty Malneck Orchestra — Pall Mall Finale)" | NBC Red (WEAF) 1939-08-24 7:15 PM EDST |
American Cigarette Co. Pall Mall Famous Cigarettes |
Matty Malneck Orchestra, Manny Stein, Milton DeLugg | Matty Malneck (Arranger), Frank Gallop (Announcer) | ["Music", "Jazz", "Swing", "Big Band", "Instrumental"] |
In the series finale for Pall Mall Cigarettes, jazz violinist and arranger Matty Malneck leads his virtuoso eight-piece orchestra through lightning-fast swing interpretations of 'Hawaiian War Dance', 'To You', and 'Park Avenue Fantasy'. |
| "This Is London: The London Blackout (Edward R. Murrow Live Shortwave)" | CBS (WABC) 1940-08-24 6:45 PM EDST |
Sustaining CBS News Shortwave |
Edward R. Murrow (London), Bob Trout (New York) | CBS News London Bureau Live Transmission | ["News", "Historical", "Public Affairs", "World War II", "Journalism"] |
"This... is London." Standing on a rooftop amidst the total wartime blackout during the Battle of Britain, Edward R. Murrow delivers a haunting live report describing anti-aircraft searchlights slicing through the foggy London skies as sirens wail. |
| "The Doris Day Show with Special Guest Bob Hope (Rexall)" | CBS (WCBS) 1952-08-24 8:30 PM EDT |
Rexall Drug Company "Good Health from Rexall" |
Doris Day, Bob Hope (Guest), Page Cavanaugh Trio | Arthur Phillips (Writer), Don Wilson (Announcer) | ["Music", "Comedy", "Variety", "Vocal", "Easy Listening"] |
Sunny vocalist Doris Day headlines her sparkling summer musical revue for Rexall, trading rapid-fire banter with special guest Bob Hope and performing luminous vocal solos on 'It's Magic' and 'A Guy Is a Guy'. |
| "The Mystery of the Lost Treasure (Chapter 3 — Gene Autry & Champion)" | Mutual (WOR) 1949-08-24 5:30 PM EDT |
Sustaining Mutual Western Series |
Gene Autry, Champion the Wonder Horse, Pat Buttram | Gene Autry Productions, Charlie Lyon | ["Western", "Adventure", "Juvenile", "Action", "Animal"] |
Gene Autry and his wonder horse Champion brave treacherous quicksand canyons to track a band of outlaw rustlers who stole an ancient map leading to a forgotten Spanish gold mine in the Superstition Mountains. |
| "The Poetic Murder Case (Starring Jackson Beck as Philo Vance — S.S. Van Dine)" | Ziv Syndication 1948-08-24 (Show #42) |
Regional Advertisers Beverage & Department |
Jackson Beck (Philo Vance), Joan Alexander | S.S. Van Dine, Kenny Lyons, George Petrie | ["Detective", "Hardboiled", "Mystery", "Crime", "Literature"] |
Aristocratic sleuth Philo Vance investigates the poisoned death of an eccentric Greenwich Village poet whose posthumous verse contains cryptic rhyming clues identifying which of his jealous literary rivals slipped aconite into his absinthe. |