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 Inner Sanctum Mysteries is a fabulous show. The show started its run on the Blue Network (later to become A.B.C. Radio) on January 7, 1941 and would air its final episode on C.B.S. October 5, 1952. I think the best host of Inner Sanctum was Raymond Edward Johnson who starred in the show until 1945 (I'm not sure what ever became of him but I was told he was killed in World War Two). Inner Sanctum was sponsored by Carter's Pills while airing on the Blue Network. The show moved to C.B.S. in September 1943. While on C.B.S. there would be many sponsors. The first sponsor was Colgate Tooth Powder. Starting in January 1945 and through June 1946, the show sponsor was Lipton Tea and Soup. Lipton's introduced Mary as "pitchman" for Lipton's Tea and Soup. Mary interacted with the show's host, Raymond, and would always react to Raymond's ghoulish puns. The commercial breaks became great fun.
Inner Sanctum always opened with the famous squeaking door and the host spinning puns. As mentioned previously, during Lipton's sponsorship of the show, Mary always cringed at Raymond's grim humor. In the episode, The Judas Clock, Mary came back with a small joke of her own to which Raymond made a snide retort. Mary was not always a push over to Raymond's comments. In this clip from Song of the Slasher, Mary asks Raymond from where the people for the show come. She gets a surprising answer but Mary has the solution!
This sound bite is of the creaking door at the beginning of the episode Voice on the Wire, sponsored by Colgate Tooth Powder. From the same episode, listen to part of the conclusion including a different (from the one in the paragraph above) Colgate Tooth Powder commercial and an excellent quip and a pun from Raymond. Here's another one of Raymond's quips from the beginning of the June 10, 1944 broadcast of Death is a Joker.
You never quite knew who the bad guy was until the very end of the show. In one episode the audience is made to believe a man is being haunted by his dead wife's crying. The twist is the "crying" was only the wind blowing through a crack in the wall behind which he entombed his wife after murdering her. In another episode, starring Peter Lorre, he is in love with a woman his friend is going to marry. In a fit of rage, Lorre's character strangles his friend and believes him to be dead. After killing a "blackmailer", who turns out to be playing a practical joke, does Lorre's character learn his friend had only fainted and was not going to press attempted murder charges. The host/ghost of the Inner Sanctum would always wish his listeners pleasant dreams and shut the creaking door to conclude the show.
From September 1950 to June 1951, Inner Sanctum returned to A.B.C. and was sponsored by Mars Candy and then returned to C.B.S. from June to October 5, 1952 when the sponsor was Pearson Pharmaceutical.
Inner Sanctum, along with other successful Old Time Radio shows, joined Suspense, The Lone Ranger, and others on television. Inner Sanctum aired on A.B.C. and had at least two introductions:
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