Golden Radio Theater
Home/Drama & Anthology/The Clyde Beatty Show
Drama & Anthology · Syndicated (Commodore/Kellogg)

The Clyde Beatty Show

· 52 broadcasts

A syndicated juvenile adventure serial from Commodore Productions, sponsored by Kellogg's and heard three times a week in 1950-52. The world's most famous wild-animal trainer, Clyde Beatty, is the hero of every episode -- though Beatty himself never went near a microphone: radio actor Vic Perrin impersonated him and narrated, with Eve McVeagh as Beatty's wife Harriett. Fifty-two half-hour stories range from the real and the plausible -- the lion Nero's near-fatal mauling, the escaped tigress Gracie, cats poisoned in their cages -- to pure jungle-adventure fancy in Burma, Borneo, the Amazon, and the South Pacific. Produced in Los Angeles with top West Coast talent, announcer Larry Thor, a dramatic score by Albert Glasser, and authentic big-top music lifted from a 1941 Ringling-Barnum recording, the show wrapped Beatty's tanbark legend in brisk, sound-rich melodrama aimed squarely at the after-school crowd.

Collection status: 52 of 52 held (100% complete)
◆ ◆ ◆

Episode Spine

undated

date unknown The Devil Cat Listen (MP3)
Clyde Beatty's circus takes on a costly and temperamental black panther.
date unknown Crisis on the Set Listen (MP3)
Beatty goes to Hollywood to make a picture, but trouble on the set threatens the shoot -- a story loosely drawn from his 1934 filming of The Lost Jungle.
date unknown Danger Unrehearsed Listen (MP3)
date unknown Elephant Stampede Listen (MP3)
date unknown Cage Boy Listen (MP3)
Someone is poisoning Beatty's big cats one by one, and suspicion settles on the newest cage boy.
date unknown Man Eater of Burma Listen (MP3)
date unknown Tiger Escape Listen (MP3)
When the tigress Gracie breaks loose from her cage, Beatty has to track her down and bring her back alive.
date unknown The Ju Ju Stones Listen (MP3)
date unknown Beauty and the Beast Listen (MP3)
Drawing on Beatty's 1941 book Jungle Performers, the tale of how he taught his wife Harriett to work wild animals.
date unknown Leopard on the Loose Listen (MP3)
date unknown Dangerous Ambition Listen (MP3)
A tanbark sorcerer's-apprentice: a green cage boy convinces himself he is ready to face the big cats on his own.
date unknown Contest in Danger Listen (MP3)
date unknown The Lion of Kintampo Listen (MP3)
date unknown Noah's Ark Listen (MP3)
date unknown God of the White Nile Listen (MP3)
date unknown Big Magic in Malaya Listen (MP3)
date unknown Never Trust a Gilly Listen (MP3)
Two con men set out to blackmail a young circus hand.
date unknown Zombie Listen (MP3)
date unknown For Children Only Listen (MP3)
The Beatty circus squares off against crooked local officials angling for graft money.
date unknown The Bear Listen (MP3)
date unknown The Princess and the Tigress Listen (MP3)
date unknown Time off for Trouble Listen (MP3)
date unknown Kurtz the Clown Listen (MP3)
date unknown Jinx of the Big Top Listen (MP3)
date unknown Ghost Cat of Guatemala Listen (MP3)
date unknown The King of Clowns Listen (MP3)
An eccentric old clown keeps everyone guessing whether he is a comic genius or losing his mind.
date unknown The Fabulous General Ike Listen (MP3)
Clyde and Harriett take in a homeless boy and make a place for him with the show.
date unknown Danger in the Deep Listen (MP3)
date unknown The White Rogue of Siam Listen (MP3)
date unknown The Wild Man of Borneo Listen (MP3)
date unknown The Marvelous Marvins Listen (MP3)
A behind-the-scenes story of two little-person performers hired for their specialty aerial act.
date unknown Jungle Joe Listen (MP3)
date unknown Daniel in the Lion's Den Listen (MP3)
At Beatty's Fort Lauderdale zoo a promising cage boy presses Clyde to take him on, with a very young lion and a very old one figuring in the lesson.
date unknown Kodiak Killer Listen (MP3)
A monster-sized bear is wreaking havoc across the Alaskan wild.
date unknown Amazon Adventure Listen (MP3)
date unknown Brush with Death Listen (MP3)
A retelling of Beatty's near-fatal cage fight with the lion Nero, the mauling that nearly ended his career.
date unknown Land of the Giants Listen (MP3)
A treacherous guide leads Clyde and Harriett into danger.
date unknown Death in Stateroom B Listen (MP3)
The Beattys sign a French knife-throwing act aboard ship, where death strikes in Stateroom B.
date unknown The Flying Politos Listen (MP3)
When one flyer drops out of the circus's star aerial act, the family must find a fill-in before the next show.
date unknown Bakweri Bravery Listen (MP3)
In Nigeria, Clyde and Harriett are startled by the courage of a local tribe.
date unknown Borneo Devil Beast Listen (MP3)
Borneo's dreaded 'devil beast' proves to be an orangutan -- which hardly makes it safe.
date unknown Canine Courage Listen (MP3)
The one surviving dog story: Beatty's faithful shepherd 'Colonel,' a character modeled on his real pet Timber.
date unknown Jungle Medico Listen (MP3)
An expedition into the remote land of the Pangalas.
date unknown The Lost City Listen (MP3)
A flight goes wrong near an uncharted region, stranding the fliers beside a lost city.
date unknown Mystery Island Listen (MP3)
A South Pacific voyage leaves the Beattys marooned on a mysterious island.
date unknown Wombo's Strange Pet Listen (MP3)
A boy and his pet giraffe are being hunted, and Beatty steps in to help.
date unknown Oklahoma Hoax Listen (MP3)
After the circus leaves town, locals claim a python has gotten loose and pin the escape on Beatty's show.
date unknown Arabian Nightmare Listen (MP3)
date unknown Hold That Tiger Listen (MP3)
A troublesome tiger the circus donates to the local zoo escapes into a nearby park during delivery.
date unknown In Search of a Myth Listen (MP3)
date unknown Adventure in Australia Listen (MP3)
date unknown Tiger Town Listen (MP3)
Deep in the Malayan jungle, Beatty comes upon a settlement terrorized by a man-eating tiger.
The Story

A syndicated juvenile adventure serial from Commodore Productions, sponsored by Kellogg's and heard three times a week in 1950-52. The world's most famous wild-animal trainer, Clyde Beatty, is the hero of every episode -- though Beatty himself never went near a microphone: radio actor Vic Perrin impersonated him and narrated, with Eve McVeagh as Beatty's wife Harriett. Fifty-two half-hour stories range from the real and the plausible -- the lion Nero's near-fatal mauling, the escaped tigress Gracie, cats poisoned in their cages -- to pure jungle-adventure fancy in Burma, Borneo, the Amazon, and the South Pacific. Produced in Los Angeles with top West Coast talent, announcer Larry Thor, a dramatic score by Albert Glasser, and authentic big-top music lifted from a 1941 Ringling-Barnum recording, the show wrapped Beatty's tanbark legend in brisk, sound-rich melodrama aimed squarely at the after-school crowd.

Full story — coming soon while it's being curated.
Gallery
Art pending