SiriusXM Celebrates Lorre Co-Star Birthday

Lorre fans will have an opportunity to catch one of Peter’s Mystery in the Air episodes on the Radio Classics channel during the week of April 22, 2024, when host Greg Bell celebrates the birthday of Gloria Ann Simpson with a two-hour block of her radio shows.

The programs include Mystery in the Air, “Crime and Punishment”, broadcast September 25, 1947; Rocky Fortune, “Boarding House Doublecross”, broadcast March 30, 1954; The Falcon, “The Case of the Vanishing Varmint”, broadcast July 11, 1951; and Boston Blackie, “The Twin Midnight Murders”, broadcast February 25, 1948.

The birthday block will air these dates and times ~

Tuesday, April 23 –
3 am Pacific
6 am Eastern

Thursday, April 25 –
7 pm Pacific
10 pm Eastern

Saturday, April 27 –
11 am Pacific
2 pm Eastern

The satellite radio service SiriusXM airs Radio Classics over channel 148. Subscribers may also listen to the programs over the internet or through the SiriusXM app. Log-in with your User ID and password. Not a subscriber? A trial is also available for a nominal price through the SiriusXM radio website.

Mystery in the Air was the 1947 summer replacement series for The Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Show and originally aired over NBC for 13 weeks, beginning July 3, 1947, with “The Tell-Tale Heart”, and ending on September 25 with “Crime and Punishment”.

The “Crime and Punishment” episode was adapted from Peter Lorre’s 1935 movie for Columbia. In the episode, Gloria Ann Simpson plays the pawnbroker, whom Lorre’s character Roderick Raskolnikov murders with a poker – resulting in a cat-and-mouse game between Raskolnikov and the police inspector Porfiry, played by series regular Louis Van Rooten.

In the pages of The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre, Stephen D. Youngkin discusses the radio career of Peter Lorre, beginning in Germany in the 1930s and continued throughout his years in Hollywood with a variety of comedies, dramas, and anthology series.

A complete-to-date list of Peter’s radio work is included in the book’s Appendix.

The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre may be purchased from many brick-and-mortar shops, as well as these online merchants ~

• Amazon U.S.
• Amazon Canada
• Amazon U.K

Disney Classic in Maryland Includes Lorre

Advertised in 1954 as “The Mightiest Motion Picture of Them All”, the Walt Disney classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), starring Peter Lorre, Kirk Douglas, James Mason, and Paul Lukas, celebrates its 70th anniversary at the American Film Institute in Silver Spring, Maryland.

The undersea adventure will be shown on the AFI’s big screen on these dates and times ~

• Friday, April 12, 2024 – 2:10 pm
• Sunday, April 14 – 11:20 am
• Tuesday, April 16 – 4:45 pm

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is presented as part of the “Fabulous ‘50s” series, which began Friday, February 2, and will run until Thursday, May 2, 2024. More information about the series is available on the AFI website.

Tickets are $13 general admission; $11 for seniors age 65 and older, students and military with valid ID; $11 for AFI Members at 2-star level and higher; and $8 for children age 12 and under. Matinee tickets are $10 on weekdays before 5 pm; and Saturday and Sunday before noon. Tickets may be purchased at the AFI box-office or online through the AFI website. More information about tickets is available on the AFI website.

The AFI Silver Theatre is located at 8633 Colesville Road, at the intersection of Colesville Road and Georgia Avenue, in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Parking is available in several public parking decks close to the theater. Most convenient is the Wayne Avenue garage, located at 921 Wayne Avenue, Silver Spring, Maryland. Parking at the Wayne Avenue garage is free on weekends and after 8 pm on weekdays.

Directions to the cinema, as well as information about parking and public transportation, may be found on the AFI Silver website.

SiriusXM Celebrates Lorre Co-Star Birthday

The week of April 8, 2024, Radio Classics host Greg Bell salutes the birthday of actor Harry Morgan, Peter Lorre’s co-host on Mystery in the Air.

The old-time radio shows channel will present a 2-hour block of programs featuring Harry Morgan, including Mystery in the Air, “The Horla” (August 21, 1947); Mystery in the Air, “The Queen of Spades” (September 11, 1947); This is Your FBI, “The Floating Stickup” (December 8, 1950), and Tales of the Texas Rangers, “Conspiracy” (April 15, 1951).

Harry Morgan’s birthday block will air these dates and times ~

Sunday, April 7
9 pm Pacific

Monday, April 8
12 midnight Eastern

Wednesday, April 10
5 pm Pacific
8 pm Eastern

Saturday, April 14
3 am Pacific
6 am Eastern

The full schedule is available on Greg Bell’s website.

Satellite radio provider SiriusXM airs Radio Classics over channel 148. Subscribers may also listen to the programs over the internet or through the SiriusXM app. Log-in with your User ID and password. Not a subscriber? A trial is also available for a nominal price through the SiriusXM radio website.

Born April 10, 1915, actor Harry Morgan appeared as “The Voice of Mystery” on Peter Lorre’s radio series Mystery in the Air, a replacement series for The Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Show in the summer of 1947.

Mystery in the Air presented tales of suspense “culled from the four corners of world literature”, adapted from such famous tales as Alexander Pushkin’s “The Queen of Spades” and Guy de Maupassant’s “The Horla”, as well as original radio dramas.

Morgan hosted all 13 episodes, beginning with “The Tell-Tale Heart” on July 3 and continuing to the final program on September 25, 1947 – “Crime and Punishment”, adapted from Peter’s 1935 Columbia Studios film.

In the image above, Morgan (in black suit) stands, looking over Hans Conried’s shoulder at his script, with Peter Lorre at the microphone.

In the pages of The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre (2005), Stephen D. Youngkin discusses Mystery in the Air, as well as Peter Lorre’s many other radio appearances. A complete-to-date list of Peter’s radio work is also available in the book’s appendix.

The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre may be purchased from many brick-and-mortar shops, as well as these online merchants ~

• Amazon U.S.
• Amazon Canada
• Amazon U.K

April with Lorre Movies on TV

April brings a handful of Peter Lorre movies on the Turner Classic Movies channel, as well as Talking Pictures TV.

American times shown are Eastern Standard.

---

April, 2024

TCM celebrates the 100th anniversary of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer with one of the movies Peter Lorre made for that studio in the 1950s.

Apr 3 (Wed), 8 pm, Movies! Network – Beat the Devil (1954).

Apr 4 (Thurs), 1:15 am, Movies! Network – Quicksand (1950).

Apr 5 (Fri), 6:30 am, Talking Pictures TV – I Was an Adventuress (1940). It's a Lorre double-feature today on Talking Pictures TV. First up, Peter joins Erich von Stroheim and Vera Zorina as a trio of jewel thieves working the French Riviera.

Apr 5 (Fri), 12:35 pm, Talking Pictures TV – Double Confession (1950). The British classic ends the Lorre double-feature today on Talking Pictures TV.

Apr 15 (Mon), 5:30 pm, Turner Classic Movies – Silk Stockings (1957). TCM turns the daytime spotlight on MGM's anniversary with several movies, including this Fred Astaire musical with a singing and dancing Peter Lorre.

Apr 25 (Thurs), 10:10 am, Movies! Network – Quicksand (1950).

Apr 26 (Fri), 2:10 am, Movies! Network – Voyage to the Bottom Of the Sea (1961).

Apr 28 (Sun), 2 am, Talking Pictures TV – Casbah (1948). It's a Lorre double-feature today on Talking Pictures TV. First up, Peter plays Inspector Slimane, the cunning police detective who figures out a way to capture renowed jewel thief Pepe Le Moko (Tony Martin).

Apr 28 (Sun), 10:35 pm, Talking Pictures TV – The Chase (1946). Talking Pictures TV ends the Lorre double-feature with this film noir classic.

---

Sneak Peek at May, 2024

TCM features a couple of Lorre movies this month.

May 16 (Thurs), 10:15 am, TCM – The Maltese Falcon (1941). The daytime theme is "Film-Noir", including Peter's first film at the Warner Bros studio, his first movie with Humphrey Bogart, and his first movie with Sydney Greenstreet. He would go on to have a long association with both actors.

May 16 (Thurs), 4:15 am, TCM – Strange Cargo (1940). TCM's primetime theme salutes director Frank Borzage, including the only movie he made with Peter Lorre.

---

Many of these and other Lorre movies and television programs are now available on DVD and Blu-Ray – many remastered and packaged with extra features. For more information on the films of Peter Lorre released to home video, head on over to the DVD – VHS section of The Lost One website.

In The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre, Stephen D. Youngkin discusses the making of Peter’s movies, including interviews with many of the directors, writers, actors, and crew who worked with Peter.

A complete list of Peter’s movies and television credits is available in the book’s Appendix.

The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre may be purchased from many brick-and-mortar shops, as well as these online merchants ~

• Amazon U.S.
• Amazon Canada
• Amazon U.K

Happy viewing!