"Death Is A Double-Cross" (Aired March 26, 1946)
The early 1940s programs opened with Raymond Edward Johnson introducing himself as, "Your host, Raymond," in a mocking sardonic voice. A spooky melodramatic organ score punctuated Raymond's many morbid jokes and playful puns. Raymond's closing was an elongated "Pleasant dreaaaaammmmssss!" His tongue-in-cheek style and ghoulish relish of his own tales became the standard for many such horror narrators to follow, from fellow radio hosts like Ernest Chappell (on Cooper's later series, Quiet, Please) and Maurice Tarplin (on The Mysterious Traveler) to EC Comics' Crypt-Keeper in various incarnations of Tales from the Crypt. In interviews, EC publisher Bill Gaines stated that he based EC's three horror hosts not on Raymond but on Old Nancy, host of radio's earlier The Witch's Tale (1931-38). When Johnson left the series in 1945, he was replaced by Paul McGrath, who did not keep the "Raymond" name and was known only as "your host" or "Mr. Host."
THIS EPISODE:
March 26, 1946. CBS network. "Death Is A Double-Cross". Sponsored by: Lipton Tea, Lipton Soup. An ex-con decides to steal the huge "King Midas" diamond, by becoming an apprentice diamond cutter. Lawson Zerbe, Paul McGrath (host), Mary Bennett (commercial spokesman), Michael Sklar (writer), Himan Brown (director). 29:26. Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index.
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