''Mystery Playhouse'' is an American

radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

hosted by

Peter Lorre Peter Lorre (; born László Löwenstein, ; June 26, 1904 – March 23, 1964) was a Hungarian and American actor, first in Europe and later in the United States. He began his stage career in Vienna, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, before movin ...

which aired on the

American Forces Network The American Forces Network (AFN) is a government television and radio broadcast service the U.S. military provides to those stationed or assigned overseas. Headquartered at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, AFN's broadcast operations, which i ...

from July 1944 to June 1946. The series aired during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

specifically for the purposes of entertaining the troops serving during the war.

Premise

''Mystery Playhouse'' was created by the

in 1944 for the entertainment of the troops during

. Every week, the series aired rebroadcasts of episodes of many popular radio shows of the time. Some include rebroadcast of ''

The Whistler ''The Whistler'' is an American radio mystery drama which ran from May 16, 1942, until September 22, 1955, on the west-coast regional CBS radio network. The show was also broadcast in Chicago and over Armed Forces Radio. On the west coast, it w ...

'', ''

Mr. and Mrs. North ''Mr. and Mrs. North'' are fictional American amateur detectives. Created by Frances and Richard Lockridge, the couple was featured in a series of 26 Mr. and Mrs. North novels, a Broadway play, a motion picture and several radio and television ...

'', ''

Inner Sanctum Mystery ''Inner Sanctum Mystery'', also known as ''Inner Sanctum'', is a popular old-time radio program that aired from January 7, 1941, to October 5, 1952. It was created by producer Himan Brown and was based on the imprint (trade name), imprint given ...

'', and ''

The Adventures of Nero Wolfe ''The Adventures of Nero Wolfe'' is a 1943–44 American radio drama series produced by Himan Brown and featuring Rex Stout's fictional detective. Three actors portrayed Nero Wolfe over the course of the series. J. B. Williams starred in its f ...

''.

's way of introducing each episode was noted as "...part plot summary, and part philosophical about the human condition".

Episodes

*''Fifty Candles - July 25, 1944'' *''Nightmare - November 28, 1944'' *''The Bottle - December 12, 1944'' *''The Letter - December 26, 1944'' *''

Deadline at Dawn ''Deadline at Dawn'' is a 1946 American film noir, the only film directed by stage director Harold Clurman. It was written by Clifford Odets and based on a novel of the same name by Cornell Woolrich (as William Irish). The RKO Pictures film rele ...

- January 30, 1944'' *''The Eleventh Juror - April 3, 1945'' *''Lady in the Morgue - May 15, 1945'' *''Angel Face - October 5, 1945'' *''A Death is Caused Part I - October 12, 1945'' *''A Death is Caused Part II - October 12, 1945'' *''Leg Man - October 19, 1945'' *''Ladies in Retirement - January 18, 1946'' *''Witness for the Prosecution - May 31, 1946'' *''Female of the Species - June 7, 1946'' *''The Adventure of the Fa - June 14, 1946''

Listen to

Audio of ''Mystery Playhouse''

References

{{Reflist American radio dramas American Forces Network radio programs 1940s American radio programs