“Dead men’s wills are often strange. We cannot attempt to understand them or try to find the answers. We can but tell the story.”
Normally, a Last Will and Testament is a serious, cut-and-dry, black-and-white document. Not so in the case of Strange Wills!
So begins the radio show Strange Wills, a mystery-adventures series produced and syndicated by Teleways Radio Productions of Hollywood beginning in 1946. It starred distinguished Hollywood actor Warren William as probate attorney Warren Francis O’Connell, and the stories were told through his eyes as executor of the “strange wills made by strange people”. These cases, built around unusual bequests or searches for missing heirs, were based on the seven deadly sins, and complied by attorney Ken Krippene over a ten-year period, changing the names for broadcast.
Produced by Robert Webster Light, the show also starred actors Carlton Young and Howard Culver, and featured the music of Del Castillio. Telling the “strange stories of strange wills made under strange circumstances”, it ventured into a number of genres, including suspense, romance, psychological drama, comedy, love, intrigue and even horror.
At the time, there was nothing else like Strange Wills on the air. The thirty-minute stories included a Broadway producer who willed an actress to a rival out of love, an heiress who gave her son the choice between inheriting her financial empire or $5000 and a plane ticket to Paris, a case of murder on the Scottish moors, a burlesque dancer willed a fortune in emeralds, a young man who is scheduled to be executed from a crime that he didn’t commit, the life story of a Stradivarius violin, and a pirate who carved his will into the back of a woman!
Strange Wills was also broadcast in Australia. Expertly restored from original transcription discs for Sparkling Audio Quality by Radio Archives.
#1 The Mad Concerto
Thursday, December 5, 1946 - 30:00 - Teleways Syndication
#2 Alias Dr. Swengali
Thursday, December 12, 1946 - 30:00 - Teleways Syndication
#3 The Black Interlude
Thursday, December 19, 1946 - 30:00 - Teleways Syndication
#4 The Lady and the Pirate
Thursday, December 26, 1946 - 30:00 - Teleways Syndication
#5 The Prince of Broadway
Friday, January 3, 1947 - 30:00 - Teleways Syndication
#6 Treasure to Starboard
Friday, January 10, 1947 - 30:00 - Teleways Syndication
#7 One Shining Hour
Friday, January 17, 1947 - 30:00 - Teleways Syndication
#8 Midnight On The Moor
Friday, January 24, 1947 - 30:00 - Teleways Syndication
#9 Seven Flights To Glory
Friday, January 31, 1947 - 30:00 - Teleways Syndication
#10 The Girl From Shadowland
Friday, February 7, 1947 - 30:00 - Teleways Syndication
#11 Emeralds Come High
Friday, February 21, 1947 - 30:00 - Teleways Syndication
#12 Emily
Friday, February 28, 1947 - 30:00 - Teleways Syndication
#13 Margin For Love
Friday, March 7, 1947 - 30:00 - Teleways Syndication
#14 They Met in Monte Carlo
Friday, March 14, 1947 - 30:00 - Teleways Syndication
