Adventures by Morse
Volume 1

"If you like high adventure, come with me. If you like the stealth of intrigue, come with me. If you like blood and thunder, come with me..."

When it comes to drama, the name Morse signifies many things to listeners of old time radio. For many, it reminds us of the suspense-thriller series "I Love a Mystery;" for others, it represents a visit to the Barbour family in the long running serial drama "One Man’s Family." But Carlton E. Morse is also the creator and author of the suspense serial offered in this exciting collection from Radio Archives: "Adventures by Morse."

Born in Jennings, Louisiana on June 4th, 1901, Morse began his writing career as a young man. He honed his skills by working as a reporter for several newspapers in California and in 1929, with a desire to work in radio, he applied for and got a job with KGO, the local NBC station in San Francisco. He soon proved his talent for both production and writing and was quickly launched upon a radio career that would last for decades to come.

With the end of "I Love a Mystery" in 1944 and a few unsuccessful attempts to revive it, Morse turned to some previous storylines he had written for local radio outlets in the thirties to create a new syndicated series. "Adventures by Morse" offered four 10-part serials along with four 3-part serials for a total of 52 episodes. The mid-forties was a time when transcriptions were used much more frequently by local stations, allowing producers to pre-record programs and distribute them to local stations. Morse created his new series with syndication in mind, renting out the discs to allow stations to produce their own income by selling ad time to sponsors. Since he had created 52 half-hour programs, each episode could be broadcast on a weekly basis for a full year.

In his prime as a creator/writer/producer, Carlton E. Morse was a one-man radio factory, producing scripts non-stop and literally writing every single script himself. To maintain such productivity, however, he frequently recycled the plots of his adventure serials, changing character names and locations of events as needed. He also pretty much stuck to the same basic program formats, openings, and sound effects: a gong, sirens and organ music were staples of a Morse adventure series.

The major characters were similar, too: in "I Love a Mystery," for instance, there is the no-nonsense leader, Jack Packard, and his somewhat reckless, wise-cracking sidekick, Doc Long -- complete with a Texas drawl. (The third major character, Reggie York, was always a sort of third-wheel who never seemed to gain traction as a real participant.) In "Adventures by Morse," the lead character is Captain Bart Friday, soul mate to Jack Packard, and Skip Turner, the drawling equivalent of Doc Long. If you aren’t listening closely, you’ll almost think that shows from "Adventures by Morse" and "I Love a Mystery" are all from the same series. That Morse was formulaic is true -- but it was a formula that worked!

In this series, Captain Friday is portrayed by three different actors: Elliot Lewis for the first 13 shows, David Ellis for the next 23 shows, and Russell Thorson completing the run for the final 16 programs. Lewis, best known to old time radio fans as Frankie Remley on "The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show," later starred with his then-wife Cathy Lewis in "On Stage" and was also the producer/director of "Crime Classics." Ellis was a staple of west coast radio, with both writing and acting credits on many detective/adventure serials including "Escape," "The Adventures of Sam Spade," "Night Beat, and "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar." Thorson is probably best known to radio enthusiasts for his role as Jack Packard in the second run of "I Love a Mystery," heard over the Mutual Broadcasting System in the late forties and early fifties. Jack Edwards appears in the role of Skip Turner for the entire run of "Adventures by Morse." Another busy west coast actor, Edwards portrayed Doc Long to David Ellis’ Jack Packard in a 1945 audition for a new "I Love a Mystery" series - an early (and unsuccessful) attempt to revive the program.

Heard today, "Adventures by Morse" remains an enjoyable and exciting listen. This set includes two of the ten-part serials: "The City of the Dead" and "The Cobra King Strikes Back," with the latter being, for many, much more exciting radio. This was the true genius of Carlton E. Morse: love him or hate him, these serials easily captivate. As Captain Friday asks at the opening of each show, "If you like adventure, come with me;" if you like the other Morse serial adventures, you won’t be disappointed with this one.

The programs in this set, licensed and released with the cooperation of the Morse Family Trust, have been transferred from Mr. Morse's own personal set of transcription recordings and fully restored for outstanding audio fidelity, making this the best sounding collection of these programs ever released to the public.

The City of the Dead
starring Elliot Lewis as Captain Bart Friday and Jack Edwards as Skip Turner

City of the Dead
1944-45 - 30:00 - Syndicated

I’ve Dug Up Something Ghastly
1944-45 - 30:00 - Syndicated

The Body That Walked Off
1944-45 - 30:00 - Syndicated

Old Clawfoot Again
1944-45 - 30:00 - Syndicated

The Skeleton Walks In
1944-45 - 30:00 - Syndicated

The Ghoul in the Grave
1944-45 - 30:00 - Syndicated

Captain Friday Vanishes
1944-45 - 30:00 - Syndicated

Kidnapping of Clawfoot
1944-45 - 30:00 - Syndicated

The Trail of the Phantom Church Bells
1944-45 - 30:00 - Syndicated

Where the Pearls Are Hidden
1944-45 - 30:00 - Syndicated

The Cobra King Strikes Back
starring David Ellis as Captain Bart Friday and Jack Edwards as Skip Turner

The Cobra King Strikes Back
1944-45 - 30:00 - Syndicated

Something About the Hooded Snake
1944-45 - 30:00 - Syndicated

The Mad King of Angkor
1944-45 - 30:00 - Syndicated

The Temple of Gorillas
1944-45 - 30:00 - Syndicated

The Living Image of Cambodia
1944-45 - 30:00 - Syndicated

Terror of the Hollow Mountain
1944-45 - 30:00 - Syndicated

The Face of the Beast
1944-45 - 30:00 - Syndicated

It Was Not Cannibalism
1944-45 - 30:00 - Syndicated

The Fangs and Teeth of the Enemy
1944-45 - 30:00 - Syndicated

The Amazing End of an Expedition
1944-45 - 30:00 - Syndicated

This CD set released under license to Nostalgia Ventures Inc.
© & (p) 1990, 2004 Morselco, Inc. All Rights Reserved