On This Day, August 25: Glenn Miller and The Avenger
Also featured: Brooklyn Dodgers.
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, big band swing, pulp masked hero adventure, Major League Baseball broadcasts, and hardboiled detective mystery radio history (1939–1947):
1. Broadcasts
| Title | Network, Airdate & Showtime | Sponsor & Commercial Ads | Credited Cast & Performers | Director, Writers & Crew | Genres | Story-First Plot Synopsis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Guest Lyric Soprano Jane Wilson (James Melton — Texaco)" | CBS (WCBS) 1946-08-25 9:30 PM EDT |
Texas Company Texaco Fire-Chief Gas |
James Melton (Tenor), Jane Wilson (Soprano) | Al Goodman (Orchestra), Frank Gallop | ["Music", "Classical", "Vocal", "Pop", "Variety"] |
Metropolitan Opera tenor James Melton welcomes lyric soprano Jane Wilson to perform romantic operatic duets and Broadway show tunes accompanied by Al Goodman's Orchestra for Texaco Fire-Chief Gasoline. |
| "The Secret of the Steel Syndicate (James Monks as The Avenger — Street & Smith)" | Syndicated 1942-08-25 (Pulp Drama) |
Sustaining Street & Smith Superhero |
James Monks (Jim Brandon), Helen Adamson | Paul Ernst (Author), Kenneth MacGregor, Ken Powell | ["Adventure", "Superhero", "Pulp", "Action", "Mystery"] |
Master criminologist and bio-chemist Jim Brandon adopts the masked persona of The Avenger, using his secret invention—the telepathic 'telepath-ray' and invisibility diffuser—to thwart a saboteur ring targeting industrial steel mills. |
| "Chesterfield Moonlight Serenade: Late-Summer Swing (Glenn Miller — Chesterfield)" | CBS (WABC) 1942-08-25 10:00 PM EWT |
Liggett & Myers Chesterfield — "They Satisfy!" |
Glenn Miller Orchestra, Ray Eberle, Modernaires | Glenn Miller & Jerry Gray, Paul Douglas | ["Music", "Big Band", "Swing", "Jazz", "Vocal"] |
"It's the Chesterfield Moonlight Serenade!" Bandleader Glenn Miller leads his iconic swing orchestra in a crisp late-summer broadcast featuring the signature harmonies of 'Moonlight Serenade' and 'Kalamazoo' for Chesterfield Cigarettes. |
| "The Case of the Border Smuggling Ring (Phillips H. Lord — Knox Manning — ABC)" | ABC (WJZ) 1947-08-25 8:00 PM EDT |
Sustaining Law Enforcement Drama |
Knox Manning (Narrator), Joe DeSantis | Phillips H. Lord, Leonard Bass, Gene Hamilton | ["Detective", "Procedural", "Docudrama", "Crime", "Action"] |
Drawn directly from the secret files of the United States Treasury Department, federal agents track an armed international cartel running illicit contraband across the Mexican border, orchestrating a high-stakes sting operation. |
| "Live with the Brooklyn Dodgers & St. Louis Cardinals (Hotel Bossert — Bromo-Seltzer)" | CBS (WABC) 1941-08-25 8:00 PM EDST |
Emerson Drug Co. Bromo-Seltzer |
Parks Johnson, Warren Hull, MLB Players | CBS Special Events, Herb Moss, Roger Krupp | ["Talk", "Interview", "Sports", "Baseball", "Human Interest"] |
"Vox Pop, the voice of the people!" Co-hosts Parks Johnson and Warren Hull broadcast live from the rooftop of Brooklyn's historic Hotel Bossert, interviewing star players and managers of the Brooklyn Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals in the heat of the 1941 National League pennant race for Bromo-Seltzer. |
| "The Roxbury Terror: The Embalming Crypt (Part 13 — Carlton E. Morse — Fleischmann's)" | NBC Red (WEAF) 1939-08-25 7:15 PM EDST |
Standard Brands Inc. Fleischmann's Yeast |
Michael Raffetto, Barton Yarborough, W. Paterson | Carlton E. Morse, Rex Koury, Dresser Dahlstead | ["Detective", "Mystery", "Hardboiled", "Adventure", "Suspense"] |
"Jack, Doc, and Reggie... three men who go anywhere, do anything, so long as the trouble is exciting!" In Part 13 of The Roxbury Terror, the A-1 Detective Agency trio uncover a hidden embalming crypt within the Roxbury mansion where an assassin lies in wait for Fleischmann's Yeast. |