On This Day, September 2: Hop Harrigan and Death Valley Days
Also featured: Arch Oboler.
September 2 Update
This report documents the historical provenance, broadcast scheduling, commercial sponsorship, credited cast, production personnel, alternate circulating titles, and pure narrative synopses for broadcasts transmitting on September 2 across classic aviation adventure serials, frontier desert historical sagas, and avant-garde psychological and sci-fi radio experiments, Chester Stratton as Hop Harrigan for Grape-Nuts (1942, 1947), The Old Ranger on Death Valley Days for 20 Mule Team Borax (1938, 1943), and Arch Oboler's visionary dramas Love Story Ltd. (1939) and The Day the Sun Exploded (1938–1947):
1. Broadcasts
| Title | Network, Airdate & Showtime | Sponsor & Commercial Ads | Credited Cast & Performers | Director, Writers & Crew | Genres | Story Synopsis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "More Mortgage Worries with Chester Stratton and Grape-Nuts" | NBC Blue (WJZ) 1942-09-02 5:00 PM EWT |
General Foods Grape-Nuts Flakes |
Chester Stratton (Hop) | Glenn Cross (Tank) | ["Aviation", "Adventure", "Children", "Hop Harrigan", "Grape Nuts"] |
Aviator Hop Harrigan and Tank Tinker race to secure a crucial air freight contract before a predatory bank forecloses on their airfield hanger. |
| "The Channel Wing Plane (Part 5) with Chester Stratton" | Mutual (WOR) 1947-09-02 5:00 PM EDT |
Sustaining Aviation Serial |
Chester Stratton (Hop) | Glenn Cross & Aley | ["Aviation", "Adventure", "Children", "Hop Harrigan", "Mutual"] |
Hop takes an experimental channel-wing aircraft on a perilous test flight through heavy fog to outrun industrial saboteurs. |
| "Rusty and the Lone Sheep with 20 Mule Team Borax" | NBC Red (WEAF) 1938-09-02 8:30 PM EDST |
Pacific Coast Borax 20 Mule Team Borax |
John White (Old Ranger) | Ruth Cornwall Woodman | ["Western", "Drama", "Death Valley Days", "Old Ranger", "Borax"] |
A stray sheepdog in the Mojave desert protects an abandoned ewe from predatory coyotes and leads a desert prospector to water. |
| "Tribute to a Long Line Skinner with The Old Ranger" | CBS (WABC) 1943-09-02 8:30 PM EWT |
Pacific Coast Borax 20 Mule Team Borax |
John White (Old Ranger) | Ruth Cornwall Woodman | ["Western", "Drama", "Death Valley Days", "Old Ranger", "Borax"] |
The Old Ranger recounts the true saga of a veteran twenty-mule team wagon driver steering heavy borax loads across salt flat sinkholes. |
| "Love Story Ltd. and Mungahra with Arch Oboler" | NBC Red (WEAF) 1939-09-02 7:00 PM EDST |
Sustaining Experimental Drama |
Dramatic Voice Cast | Arch Oboler (Writer/Dir) | ["Drama", "Anthology", "Arch Oboler", "Experimental", "NBC Red"] |
A cynical advertising copywriter creates an idealized corporate romance agency while an Australian explorer confronts an eerie outback entity. |
| "The Day the Sun Exploded with Arch Oboler" | Mutual (WOR) 1945-09-02 7:30 PM EWT |
Sustaining Experimental Drama |
Dramatic Voice Cast | Arch Oboler (Writer/Dir) | ["Sci-Fi", "Drama", "Anthology", "Arch Oboler", "Mutual"] |
Astronomers and ordinary citizens confront terrifying global panic when solar flares threaten to engulf the Earth's atmosphere. |