Halloween on SiriusXM Includes Lorre

During the week of Monday, October 30, 2023, the Radio Classics channel continues its celebration of Halloween with horror and Halloween-themed radio shows, including Peter Lorre’s Inner Sanctum Mysteries episode “Death is a Joker”.

The two-hour block of spooky old-time radio tales include ~

• Inner Sanctum Mysteries, “Death is a Joker” (June 10, 1944)
• Inner Sanctum Mysteries, “Dead Man’s Vengeance” (October 7, 1944)
• The Witch’s Tale, “Graveyard Mansion” (March 6, 1933)
• The Witch’s Tale, “Devil’s Number” (December 12, 1935)

“Death is a Joker” will air on these days and times ~

Tuesday, October 31 ~
11 pm Pacific

Wednesday, November 1 ~
2 am Eastern

Friday, November 3 ~
7 am Pacific
10 am Eastern

The full schedule for the week of Monday, October 30, through Sunday, November 5, 2023, is available on the website of Radio Classics host Greg Bell.

SiriusXM airs the Radio Classics channel over channel 148. Subscribers may also listen to the programs over the internet or through the SiriusXM app on a Smart Phone or Smart Speaker. Not a subscriber? A 30-day trial may be purchased for $1 through the SiriusXM radio website.

Originally broadcast on Inner Sanctum Mysteries on June 10, 1944, “Death is a Joker” now survives only as an episode of the AFRS program Mystery Playhouse – and hosted by Peter Lorre, who has the unique opportunity of introducing himself on his own program!

Happy listening – and happy Halloween!

Lugosi Birthday Block Includes Lorre

Halloween is on the way, and during the week of October 16 to October 22, 2023, Greg Bell will host the birthday of horror legend Bela Lugosi on the Radio Classics channel, airing over the satellite radio provider SiriusXM.

And the Lugosi celebration has a treat for Lorre fans, too – an episode of Peter’s 1947 summer series Mystery in the Air.

The Lugosi birthday block includes ~

• Suspense, “The Doctor Prescribed Death” – February 2, 1943
• Mystery in the Air, “The Mask of Medusa” – September 4, 1947
• The Abbott and Costello Show, with guest Bela Lugosi – May 5, 1948
• The Mel Blanc Show – March 18, 1947

The programs will air on these dates and times ~

Monday, October 16 ~
3 am Pacific, 6 am Eastern

Friday, October 20 ~
5 pm Pacific, 8 pm Eastern

Saturday, October 21 ~
9 pm Pacific

Sunday, October 22 ~
12 midnight Eastern

The full schedule of the week’s programming is available on host 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 on a Smart Phone or Smart Speaker. Not a subscriber? A three-month trial is also available for one dollar, plus fees and taxes, through the SiriusXM radio website.

Peter Lorre worked with Bela Lugosi in the horror-comedy You’ll Find Out (1940), starring bandleader Kay Kyser. With Boris Karloff, Lorre and Lugosi played villains out to murder a young debutante before her 21st birthday in order to get control of her aunt’s estate. Hired to entertain at the debutante’s birthday party, Kay and his Kollege of Musical Knowledge band foil the trio’s plans.

On September 25, 1940, Kay Kyser hosted Peter Lorre, Bela Lugosi, and Boris Karloff on his weekly radio show, Kay Kyser’s Kollege of Musical Knowledge.

Sadly, that program has apparently been lost – but You’ll Find Out is available on DVD, as well as occasional showings on the Turner Classic Movies channel.

Lorre Classic in Frederick, Maryland

As part of their “Wonder Book Classic Film Series”, the historic Weinberg Center, located in Frederick, Maryland, will screen The Maltese Falcon (1941) on Thursday, October 12, 2023.

The movie begins at 7:30 pm.

Admission is $7 for adults; $5 for children, FAC members, military service members, seniors age 62 and older, and students; and $4 for City employees.

Tickets may be purchased at the Weinberg Center box-office. Tickets may also be purchased online through the Weinberg Center website. On The Maltese Falcon webpage, click the “Buy Tickets” button. A nominal fee will be added to each ticket purchased online.

The Weinberg Center is located at 20 West Patrick Street in the heart of historic Frederick, Maryland.

Parking is available at several parking decks in downtown Frederick. Closest to the Weinberg Center are the Court Street garage and the West Patrick garage. Parking information, as well as directions to the venue, are available on the Weinberg Center website.

The Weinberg Center opened in 1926 as the Tivoli, an elegant theater that could present both silent movies (accompanied by the cinema’s Wurlitzer organ) and stage shows. And in 1940, Jack Warner, head of Warner Bros Studio, had a hand in the installation of air conditioning to the Tivoli.

After falling into disrepair in the 1950s, the Tivoli was purchased by Dan and Alyce Weinberg, and today, the Weinberg Center presents classic movies and a variety of live performances throughout the year, including the “Wonder Book Classic Film Series”, sponsored by Wonder Book, a local bookshop offering new, used, rare, and collectibles items, such as Peter Lorre radio shows on vinyl records and films on DVD.

The full schedule is available on the venue’s website.

Lorre Classic Scheduled for Fundraiser

The Nancy Painter Foundation will present a special showing of Casablanca (1942) as a fundraiser on the rooftop of the historic Montalban Theatre on Wednesday, October 11, 2023.

Tickets to the event include a cocktail and popcorn. A raffle will be held after the movie.

Admission to the event is $75 for a single ticket and $100 for two tickets. Tickets must be booked in advance through the Nancy Painter Foundation website.

Doors open at 6 pm, with Casablanca beginning at sundown at 7:15 pm.

The open-air cinema on the Montalban’s roof includes a large screen, projector, noise-cancelling head-phones, freshly popped popcorn, and blankets if the night is chilly.

The Nancy Painter Foundation seeks to provide emotional and financial support to single mothers and their children who are living on the street or about to become homeless. Donating to the Foundation assists these families in turning their lives around.

The Montalban Theatre is located at 1615 Vine Street, in Los Angeles, California.

Patrons may enter through the cinema’s main entrance on Vine Street.

Parking is available in the Modern Parking Inc lot, located next to the Montalban at 1627 Vine Street, in Los Angeles.

Moto Film Scheduled for Syracuse Cinephile Event

Peter Lorre’s intrepid detective Mr. Moto is no stranger to the movie fans at the Syracuse Cinephile Society of Syracuse, New York!

On Monday, October 9, 2023, Mr. Moto makes his third appearance at the twice-yearly film festival when Mysterious Mr. Moto (1938), number 5 in the Mr. Moto series, opens a mystery double-bill with Grand Central Murder (1942), starring Van Heflin and Virginia Grey.

All films in the series begin at 7 pm in a special screening room at the Spaghetti Warehouse Restaurant, located at 689 North Clinton Street in Syracuse, New York. Parking is available in the lot beside the restaurant.

Planning to come for dinner before the show? The Cinephile Society recommends arriving no later than 6 pm in order to finish dinner by 7 pm.

Directions to the Spaghetti Warehouse Restaurant are available on the Cinephile Society's website.

Admission to the Syracuse Cinephile Society event is $3.50 for Cinephile members, and $4 for non-members. Annual membership in the Syracuse Cinephile Society may be purchased for $5.

The 2023 Fall Schedule began on Monday, September 11, and will run until Monday, December 4, 2023. The full schedule for the Monday Night Series is available on the Syracuse Cinephile Society website.

In the pages of The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre, Stephen D. Youngkin discusses the making of the Mr. Moto series, including interviews with Norman Foster, who directed Mysterious Mr. Moto (1938) and five other Moto films; and Harvey Parry, who doubled for Peter on stunts throughout the Moto series, as well as several movies at Warner Bros. in the 1940s.

Although initially interested in playing the globe-trotting Japanese importer for whom detecting is a hobby, Peter soon grew of the character. Continually addressed as "Mr. Moto" by the public, playing Mr. Moto in sketches on the radio variety series of the late 1930s, and getting few opportunities to appear in non-Moto projects at 20th Century-Fox all added to Peter’s disappointment with the series.

In 2006 and 2007, 20th Century-Fox remastered and restored all eight of the Moto films, hired John Cork and his production company Cloverland to produce a unique documentary – including interviews with Stephen Youngkin – for each movie, and released the series in two DVD box-sets with additional extras.

Each box-set, as well as The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre, may be purchased through the DVD section of The Lost One website.

Spooky October with Lorre Movies on TV

October brings Halloween, and although Peter Lorre was not considered a "horror film actor", but a supporting player in mystery and suspense films, Lorre fans will find a number of his movies on the Turner Classic Movies channel, as well as other channels, including Talking Pictures TV.

American times shown are Eastern Standard.


October, 2023

October means horror films, on TCM, and that includes Peter's Mad Love and the Halloween classic comedy, Arsenic and Old Lace, with more Lorre treats on the Movies!Network and Britain's Talking Pictures TV.

Oct 1 (Sun), 5:30 pm, Movies! Network – Arsenic and Old Lace (1944). The Halloween classic comedy is the story of a theatre critic (Cary Grant) who marries the girl next door (Priscilla Lane) and find out his sweel elderly aunts in Brooklyn (Jean Adair and Josephine Hull) have an unusual "charity". Complicating the situation are the murderous brother (Raymond Massey) and his personal plastic surgeon (Peter Lorre).

Oct 2 (Mon), 6 am, TCM – The Story of Mankind (1957). TCM salutes the birthday of comedian Groucho Marx with a day of Marx Brothers movies, including this all-star Irwin Allen extravaganza.

Oct 3 (Tues), 1:30 am, Movies! Network – Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961).

Oct 5 (Thurs), Movies! Network – The channel presents a mini-LorreFest with four Lorre movies back-to-back, including ~

• 12:45 pm – Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)
• 2:10 pm – The Face Behind the Mask (1941)
• 3:40 pm – The Mask of Dimitrios (1944)
• 5:45 pm – The Conspirators (1944)

Oct 5 (Thurs), 2 am, Movies! Network – The Mask of Dimitrios (1944). Lorre stars as a mild-mannered author of detective novels who finds himself investigating a real murderer.

Oct 6 (Fri), 11:45 am, Movies! Network – Arsenic and Old Lace (1944).

Oct 7 (Sat), 10 pm, TCM – Arsenic and Old Lace (1944). The TCM primetime features a "Josephine Hull Double Feature" of Harvey (1950), followed by the Halloween classic Arsenic and Old Lace. Note – In Canada, TCM will show Four Wives (1939) instead of Arsenic and Old Lace.

Oct 10 (Tues), 9:25 am, Movies! Network – Arsenic and Old Lace (1944).

Oct 11 (Wed), 12:15 pm, Talking Pictures TV – Beat the Devil (1954).

Oct 12 (Thurs), Movies! Network – The channel presents a mini-LorreFest with three Lorre movies back-to-back, including ~

• 10:05 pm – Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)
• 11:30 pm – The Conspirators (1944)
• 1:40 am – The Mask of Dimitrios (1944)

Oct 15 (Sun), 7 am, Antenna TV – The Jack Benny Program (Jan 22, 1963).

Oct 16 (Mon), 10:05 am, Movies! Network – Arsenic and Old Lace (1944).

Oct 18 (Wed), 00:55 am, Talking Pictures TV – Face Behind the Mask (1941). Cellar Club with Carolin Munroe introduces the movie.

Oct 19 (Thurs), Movies! Network – The channel presents a mini-LorreFest with four Lorre movies shown, including ~

• 6 am – Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)
• 11:40 am – The Conspirators (1944)
• 8 pm – The Mask of Dimitrios (1944)
• 10:05 pm – The Conspirators (1944)

Oct 22 (Sun), Movies! Network – The channel presents a mini-LorreFest with two Lorre movies in the same day, including ~

• 6:25 am – Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
• 8 pm – Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)

Oct 22 (Sun), 8:55 am, Talking Pictures TV – I Was an Adventuress (1940).

Oct 26 (Thurs), Movies! Network – The channel presents a mini-LorreFest with three Lorre movies in the same day, including ~

• 12:15 pm – The Conspirators (1944)
• 4:55 pm – The Face Behind the Mask (1940)
• 6:25 pm – Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)

Oct 28 (Sat), 8 pm, Movies! Network – Arsenic and Old Lace (1944).

Oct 28 (Sat), 10:15 pm, TCM – The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934). The TCM primetime is "Remake and Original" of Alfred Hitchcock's remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1950) with James Stewart and Doris Day, followed by the original The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) with Peter Lorre in his first English-speaking role, and Leslie Banks and Edna Best.

Oct 29 (Sun), Movies! Network – The channel presents a Lorre double-feature ~

• 8 pm – The Face Behind the Mask (1941)
• 9:30 pm – The Mask of Dimitrios (1944)

Oct 30 (Sat), 9 am, TCM – Mad Love (1935). The TCM daytime theme is "TCM Terror-Thon" of classic horror movies, including Peter's first American film Mad Love (1935). Note – In Canada, The Beast With Five Fingers (1946) will be shown instead of Mad Love.


Sneak Peek at November, 2023

Here's a look at Lorre films on TCM in November.

Nov 15 (Wed), 1:30 pm, TCM – You'll Find Out (1940). The daytime theme is "Murder in the House" with a day of horror and mystery films set in spooky houses, including this Kay Kyser musical-comedy in which bandleader Kay and his band play at a debutant's 21st birthday, attended by Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff, and Bela Lugosi.

Nov 17 (Fri), 1:30 pm, TCM – The Maltese Falcon (1941). The daytime theme is "Film-Noir", with a day of noir detective films, including this Lorre classic involving a fabulous golden jewel-encrusted statuette.

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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!