New Series on RUSC

Joy and I have added several new series to RUSC over the past few weeks, but looking at the poll results (over to the right), 38% of voters weren't aware that we'd added any, so I wanted to take this opportunity to write a little about each one...

However, after writing about each series one by one, I began to realise that this one article was going to take you a very, very, long time to read. 

So I have decided to instead, write about them individually, and then you can read about each one over the next couple of weeks - and it will give you a chance to catch-up on the shows you missed. 

At the top of the ten new series added, is the historical drama series, Inheritance. 

Joy and I have amassed quite a collection of Old Time Radio handbooks, guides and encyclopedia's over the years, but I could only find reference to the series Inheritance in one of them. 

This comprehensive book was published in 1993. It comprises more than twelve years of research, which included the use of the NBC archives at the Library of Congress. But, it clearly says that there are no Inheritance shows in existence. 

Well, it looks like there must have been an archive somewhere, or a collector had recorded the shows and then kindly donated them after 1993, as we now have 49 of the 57 original broadcasts for you on RUSC! 

Premièring on April 4, between 1954 and 1955, the patriotic shows opened each week with the introduction: 

"Inheritance! The National Broadcasting Company in cooperation with The American Legion, presents a story out of that great composite of visions, struggles and victories of the American past, our Inheritance! 

Let us now go back to a decisive period in America's history. One which we all share in our Inheritance." 

Each show covered a number of important historical events, and the shows were written by the well-known radio actor Karl Swenson, George Lefferts and Ernest Kinnoy. 

The latter were both frequent script writers for many of the major NBC radio and television dramas of the 1950s - including the popular science fiction radio programs Dimension X and X-Minus One. Ernest Kinnoy also wrote the script for another of the recently added new series to RUSC, called The Marriage. 

With exciting tales including the creation of the Liberty Bell; Dorothea Dix's fight to wipe out injustice on behalf of the mentally ill; the men who opened up the trails to the west; the building of the canal in fever-ridden Panama; the determination of Elizabeth Blackwell and her success as a surgeon against all odds; and the legend of Davy Crockett, to name but a few, Joy and I really hope that you'll enjoy listening to the series Inheritance.

Happy listening my friends,