Mr. & Mrs. North

The Joe Hehn Memorial Collection

(4.3 stars; 6 reviews)

Mr. and Mrs. North are a fictional married couple who are amateur detectives. The Norths were a highly successful multimedia franchise that began as short stories by Frances and Richard Lockridge. The short stories grew into novels, a Broadway play, a movie, a long-running radio series, and a television series. The radio series ran on NBC and CBS from 1942 to 1955, with Alice Frost and Joseph Curtin the first actors in the lead roles of the continuing series. In 1946, Mr. and Mrs. North received the first Best Radio Drama Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America, tied with The Adventures of Ellery Queen . Aside from a 1941 single episode with Carl Eastman and Peggy Conklin, Curtin and Frost had the roles until 1953. They were followed by Richard Denning and Barbara Britton until the show concluded in 1955. Considering how long the series was on the air, only about 80 of the episodes survived. Most of them are recordings of Armed Forces Radio edits of the original network programs. The series was successful in its time, perhaps one of the many inspirations, along with The Thin Man , for the 1980s television series Moonlighting with Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd. Most old time radio fans of today do not consider the series as highly as its original audiences did, and the limited number of available episodes from its most successful years for collectors' review is an important factor in this sentiment. The longevity of the franchise and its popularity make the series worth more serious consideration. Some Mr. & Mrs. North items are here at the Internet Archive: Novel Television episodes additional radio episodes * * * These recordings are part of the Joe Hehn Memorial Collection. Mr. Hehn (1931-2020) was a pioneering collector of radio recordings when the hobby emerged in the 1960s. Digitizing his collection of reel tapes and discs is the effort of a wide range of North American volunteers, and includes assistance of some international collectors. The groups supporting this effort with their funds, time, technology and skills are the Old Time Radio Researchers and a small group of transcription disc preservationists who refer to themselves as the "The Knights of the Turning Table."

This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.