On This Day, August 25: Destination Freedom (Sojourner Truth) and Charlie Chan
Also featured: I Love a Mystery.
August 25 Exhaustive Update
This report documents the comprehensive provenance, broadcast scheduling, commercial sponsorship, credited cast, production personnel, alternate circulating titles, serial multi-part narrative arcs, and story synopses for historical broadcasts transmitting on August 25 across American network, civil rights docudrama, pulp detective, hardboiled adventure serials, and midnight horror radio history (1940–1951):
1. Broadcasts
| Title | Network, Airdate & Showtime | Sponsor & Commercial Ads | Credited Cast & Performers | Director, Writers & Crew | Genres | Story-First Plot Synopsis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Murder Is the Word for It: The Mountain Lodge Trap (Part 13 — Carlton E. Morse — Ivory Soap)" | CBS (WABC) 1943-08-25 7:00 PM EWT |
Procter & Gamble Ivory Bar Soap & Oxydol |
Michael Raffetto, Barton Yarborough, M. McCambridge | Carlton E. Morse, Rex Koury, Dresser Dahlstead | ["Detective", "Mystery", "Hardboiled", "Adventure", "Suspense"] |
In Part 13 of Murder Is the Word for It, Jack Packard and Doc Long face a lethal setup in a storm-isolated mountain lodge when a psychotic killer cuts the telephone wires and locks the exits for Ivory Bar Soap. |
| "The Temple of Vampires: The Bat Caverns (Part 4 — Carlton E. Morse — Oxydol)" | CBS (WABC) 1944-08-25 7:00 PM EWT |
Procter & Gamble Oxydol — "Hustle-Bubble" |
Michael Raffetto, Barton Yarborough, Gloria Blondell | Carlton E. Morse, Rex Koury, Dresser Dahlstead | ["Detective", "Mystery", "Hardboiled", "Adventure", "Occult"] |
In Part 4 of The Temple of Vampires, Jack, Doc, and Sunny explore the subterranean ruins of an ancient Mexican pagan pyramid, discovering a terrifying subterranean colony of blood-drinking bats guarding a stolen Mayan jade cache for Oxydol. |
| "Murder in Turquoise Pass: The Sniper's Ambush (Part 5 — Carlton E. Morse — Mutual)" | Mutual (WOR) 1950-08-25 7:45 PM EDT |
Sustaining Adventure Serial |
Russell Thorson, Jim Boles, Tony Randall | Carlton E. Morse, Don Dowd | ["Detective", "Mystery", "Hardboiled", "Adventure", "Western"] |
In Part 5 of Murder in Turquoise Pass, Jack Packard and Doc Long track an armed band of silver-mine claim jumpers through a treacherous Southwestern mountain gorge, dodging sniper fire from a hidden ridge ambush. |
| "The Story of Sojourner Truth: The Long Road (Richard Durham — Destination Freedom)" | NBC (WMAQ) 1951-08-25 10:00 AM CDT |
Sustaining Civil Rights Docudrama |
Fred Pinkard, Oscar Brown Jr., Janice Kingslow | Richard Durham (Writer), Homer Heck, Hugh Downs | ["Drama", "Historical", "Civil Rights", "Black History", "Biographical"] |
Written by groundbreaking dramatist Richard Durham, Destination Freedom presents the courageous life of abolitionist and women's rights pioneer Sojourner Truth, chronicling her escape from slavery in New York and her tireless national crusade for racial equality. |
| "The Case of the Talking Doll (Ed Begley as Charlie Chan — Feen-a-Mint)" | Mutual (WOR) 1947-08-25 8:30 PM EDT |
Pharmaco Inc. Feen-a-Mint & Chooz |
Ed Begley (Charlie Chan), Leon Janney (Son) | Earl Derr Biggers, Chick Vincent, Dorian St. George | ["Detective", "Mystery", "Procedural", "Crime", "Action"] |
"Inspector Charlie Chan speaking..." Renowned Honolulu detective Charlie Chan and his energetic Number One Son investigate the murder of an eccentric toy inventor whose robotic talking doll conceals a hidden cylinder recording naming his killer for Feen-a-Mint. |
| "The Ghost of the Gallows Tree (John Kent as The Hermit — Carter's Pills)" | WJR Detroit 1940-08-25 10:30 PM EDST |
Carter Products Little Liver Pills |
John Kent (The Hermit), WJR Repertory | Charles Penman (Writer/Dir.), Mel Marshall | ["Horror", "Suspense", "Macabre", "Supernatural", "Audio Drama"] |
"Ghost stories! Weird stories! And murders, too! The Hermit knows of them all..." The cackling Hermit tells the macabre tale of an executioner haunted by the vengeful phantom of an innocent man hanged beneath an ancient gallows oak tree for Carter's Little Liver Pills. |