Silent Photoplay Forum

I've been on an old time radio kick lately! This site is fantastic. I have the Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio, a huge tome of old time radio info. I saw it in a library one time, and had wanted it ever since. As you can imagine, it is a very expensive book, but I had $30 in Amazon credit a few years ago and was able to get it that way.
Anyway, I'm using this book for reference. (What better thing to do with an encyclopedia than use it for reference? )
I listened to the one episode available on this website of A. L. Alexander's Board of Mediation, a definite first of Jerry Springer type drama, 1940s style. It's actually very interesting. I wonder what ever happened to these people?

https://www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com/h ... -mediation

That was a most interesting and unusual program.

In the first case, it's interesting that there seems to be quite a muddle as to what extent, or in what sense, if any, they are already married. I wonder what the “husband” means by, “There’s no such thing as love” if he professes such devotion to his children. It's also surprising how everyone apparently thinks it's fine for them to be married just for the sake of the children even if they don't love each other.

In the second case, I kind of felt sorry for the guy—until I learned he'd been back in a total of 15 times!

I had a little bit of trouble understanding what the complainant in the third case was saying due to the sound quality, but got the gist. I think both the wife and the family are enabling that guy big-time, and I'm surprised no one said that.

Like you, I wonder what eventually happened to these people. I think it is refreshing that they use spiritual leaders as advisors—that's very refreshing and would not would probably not occur today. I'll bet they had a lot of submissions from folks wanting to be on.

I think that guy had deep emotional problems. It seems although he is a grown man he has no normal reasoning as an adult should.
They used spiritual advisors in this because originally Alexander tried to give legal advice over the radio---and the bar banned that not too soon after. He got around this by doing the same sort of show, but have others give the advice for him.
I'm glad you were interested in this! I wish I knew where more of these were.

Kitty wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 02, 2018 9:20 pm

I think that guy had deep emotional problems. It seems although he is a grown man he has no normal reasoning as an adult should.

The one in the first case, you mean? Yes, there seeem to be a lot of that type around today.

This program could have in a way been the great-granddaddy of a lot of similar things that came later. You mentioned Jerry Springer. Also, the court shows like People’s Court, Judge Judy, etc., though they found a way to make it legally binding in those.

This also reminds me of that awful Queen for a Day show that came on in the 50s (60s?). Though the setup is different, it still involves hard luck cases. Have you ever seen any reruns of that?

Yes, I meant the guy in the first case.

I saw an episode or two of Queen for a Day on YouTube once. It was rare at the time, although there may be more episodes on YouTube now.