Cloak and Dagger
This week marks the 70th anniversary of the finale of one of the most terrific, yet underappreciated series on radio.
Cloak and Dagger debuted in May 1950 on NBC, and featured fully authenticated case histories of Allied espionage during World War II.
In the 1930s, America's intelligence gathering services were pretty disorganized, so when the world went to war in 1939 it was clear that this needed to change, and the Office of Strategic Services was formed.
For the duration of World War II, the OSS collected intelligence. As well as recruiting brave citizens as spies, the OSS performed acts of sabotage, waged propaganda war, organized and coordinated anti-Nazi resistance groups in Europe, provided military training for anti-Japanese guerrilla movements in Asia, among other things. One of the greatest accomplishments was the penetration of Nazi Germany by OSS operatives - which played a definite role in eventually winning the war.
But serving in the OSS was dangerous work and a lot of agents were captured, tortured or killed, and soon after the war ended, OSS veterans, Lt. Col. Corey Ford and Major Alastair MacBain, published a best selling novel, Cloak and Dagger: The Secret Story of the Office of Strategic Services', recounting the extraordinary missions performed by brave OSS operatives during the war - many with no military knowledge, such as doctors, dentists, and truck drivers.
And it was from the pages of this book, the Cloak and Dagger old time radio series was created. Each week's story promised real listening thrills of war time intrigue, revealing an undisclosed chapter in American history.
One newspaper quoted "The stories dramatized each week are true, and yet as fantastic as any fiction writer might be able to dream up. In all, Clock and Dagger is an innovation in radio entertainment, because now for the first time in radio's history, an important and secretive phase of wartime operations is revealed through tense and hard-hitting drama."
A review about the series was added to RUSC which really sums it up.
"Oh, how I wish there were MORE episodes of this wonderful show! Cloak and Dagger is another of my very favorite OTR shows. If only the entertainment of today were as well written as those in by-gone days, we would be much better off."
--- Ricky
Cloak and Dagger was a half hour of outstanding "whodunit" excitement, with great production values, real drama and suspense, and was based on actual events. It's a shame it came along later in the game and wasn't given more of a chance.
Why not give it a whirl and see if you enjoy the series? All 22 episodes are available on RUSC. I'd love to hear what you think!
Happy listening my friends,
