Inner Sanctum

Inner Sanctum Mysteries was a popular old-time radio program that ran from January 7, 1941 to October 5, 1952. Its creator was Himan Brown, who later created the long-running CBS Radio Mystery Theater. It featured stories of mystery, terror and suspense told, in sharp contrast to shows like Suspense and The Whistler, with a broad tongue-in-cheek approach. A total of 526 episodes are known to have been produced, a great many of which are lost today.

Each show opened with a jovial greeting from the host, Raymond, played initially by Raymond Edward Johnson and then by Paul McGrath beginning in 1945. Speaking in an exaggeratedly "spooky" voice, Raymond would spout jokes and puns over a melodramatic organ score that one can easily imagine being played by a skeleton. As the series progressed, even the advertisers would get into the act, trading banter with Raymond before the story proper began.

Its campy comedy notwithstanding, the stories were often effective little chillers, mixing horror and humor in equal doses. Memorable episodes include "Terror by Night" (9/18/45) and "The Tell-Tale Heart" (8/3/41) with Boris Karloff. Quite a number of established stars appeared over the years, such as Karloff, Peter Lorre, Richard Widmark, and Mary Astor.