30 minute comedy episodes
The Halls of Ivy was an NBC radio sitcom that ran from 1949-1952. It was created by Fibber McGee & Molly co-creator/writer Don Quinn before being adapted into a CBS television comedy (1954-55) produced by ITC Entertainment and Television Programs of America. British husband-and-wife actors Ronald Colman (1891-1958) and Benita Hume (1906-1967) starred in both versions of the show.
Quinn developed the show after he had decided to leave Fibber McGee & Molly in the hands of his protege Phil Leslie. The Halls of Ivy's audition program featured radio veteran Gale Gordon (then co-starring in Our Miss Brooks) and Edna Best in the roles that ultimately went to the Colmans, who'd shown a flair for radio comedy in recurring roles on The Jack Benny Program in the late 1940s.
The Halls of Ivy featured Colman as William Todhunter Hall, the president of small, Midwestern Ivy College, and his wife, Victoria, a former British musical comedy star who sometimes felt the tug of her former profession, and followed their interactions with students, friends and college trustees. Others in the cast included Herbert Butterfield as testy board chairman Clarence Wellman; Willard Waterman (then starring as Harold Peary's successor as The Great Gildersleeve) as board member John Merriweather; and, Elizabeth Patterson and Gloria Gordon as the Halls' maid.
The series ran 110 half-hour radio episodes from January 6, 1950, to June 25, 1952, with Quinn, Jerome Lawrence, and Robert Lee writing most of the scripts and giving free if even more sophisticated play to Quinn's knack for language play, inverted cliches and swift puns (including the show's title and lead characters), a knack he'd shown for years writing Fibber McGee & Molly. Jerome Lawrence and Robert Lee continued as a writing team; their best-known play is Inherit the Wind.
Cameron Blake, Walter Brown Newman, Robert Sinclair, and Milton and Barbara Merlin became writers for the program as well. But listeners were surprised to discover that the episode of 27 September 1950, "The Leslie Hoff Painting," a story tackling racial prejudice, was written by Colman himself.
The sponsors were Schlitz Brewing Company and then Nabisco. Nat Wolff produced and directed, Henry Russell handled the music and radio veteran Ken Carpenter was the announcer.
Purchase as a download, purchase as CD(s), or listen for free
All of our Old Time Radio Programs are in MP3 format. You can play them on your computer, you can transfer them to MP3 players (like the IPod), but, by and large, you cannot play them on stereos, walkmen, or car radios.
The sound quality of Old Time Radio Programs can vary greatly. Some episodes are excellent, others you have to turn up the volume a little and ignore the static. All of the episodes can be listened to and enjoyed. You can listen to our free samples to get a feel for how the programs sound.
You may also like: Fibber McGee and Molly
Episode List Set 1
HallsOfIvy (00-00-00) Contagious Disease.mp3
HallsOfIvy (00-00-00) Misunderstanding Professors.mp3
HallsOfIvy (00-00-00) Mr Hall Helps Mr Walden.mp3
HallsOfIvy (00-00-00) Mr Hall Hires A Woman.mp3
HallsOfIvy (00-00-00) Music Student Dropout.mp3
HallsOfIvy (00-00-00) Psychology Vacancy.mp3
HallsOfIvy (00-00-00) School Marriage Rules.mp3
HallsOfIvy (50-01-06) Reappointment.mp3
HallsOfIvy (50-01-09) First Show-duplicateofReappointment.mp3
HallsOfIvy (50-01-13) The Editorial.mp3
HallsOfIvy (50-01-20) Mike Meliot.mp3
HallsOfIvy (50-01-27) Charter Day.mp3
HallsOfIvy (50-02-03) Dr Bromley.mp3
HallsOfIvy (50-02-10) Snowman.mp3
HallsOfIvy (50-02-17) Prejudice.mp3
HallsOfIvy (50-02-24) Bookstore Thief.mp3
Episode List Set 02
HallsOfIvy (50-03-10) The Play.mp3
HallsOfIvy (50-03-17) Theatened.mp3
HallsOfIvy (50-03-24) Cheating Professor.mp3
HallsOfIvy (50-03-31) Knockwurst Society.mp3
HallsOfIvy (50-04-14) Lost Dog.mp3
HallsOfIvy (50-04-21) Vicki's Admirers.mp3
HallsOfIvy (50-04-27) Feigning Illness.mp3
HallsOfIvy (50-04-28) Scofield Prize.mp3
HallsOfIvy (50-05-05) Easter Holiday.mp3
HallsOfIvy (50-05-10) Gymnasium Donation.mp3
HallsOfIvy (50-05-17) College Bound.mp3
HallsOfIvy (50-05-24) Boxer Or Surgeon.mp3
HallsOfIvy (50-05-24) Fighting Med Student.mp3
HallsOfIvy (50-05-31) Babysitting.mp3
HallsOfIvy (50-06-07) Phillp Weatherbee.mp3
HallsOfIvy (50-06-14) Stolen Book.mp3
