| CBS Radio Mystery Theatre |
| E. G. Marshall: Host For CBS Radio Mystery Theatre |
The CBS Radio Mystery Theater was an ambitious effort by veteran radio producer Hiram Brown to revive interest in
American radio drama. Every night from 1974 to 1982, host E.G. Marshall (later Tammy Grimes) ushered listeners
through a creaking door -- similar to the one Brown used on Inner Sanctum decades earlier. Brown produced nearly
200 new episodes of Mystery Theater every year, using both original scripts and adaptations of classic stories by
Edgar Allen Poe, Mark Twain, Robert Louis Stevenson and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The Mystery Theater brought
many veterans from radio's golden age back before the microphone, including Agnes Moorehead, Richard Widmark,
Celeste Holm, Mercedes McCambridge and Howard daSilva. The show also featured performances from many
up-and-coming stage and film actors, including Tony Roberts, John Lithgow, Morgan Fairchild, Mandy Patinkin and
Sarah Jessica Parker. The CBS Radio Mystery Theater won the George A. Peabody Award in 1975. After eight years
and over 1,500 shows, the show ended its run on December 30, 1982.
Actors were paid union scale at around $73.92 per show. Writers earned a flat rate of $350.00 per show. The
production took place with assembly-line precision. Brown would meet with actors at 9:00 AM for the first reading of
the script. He would then assign roles and recording would begin. By noon the recording of the actors was
complete and Brown handed everyone their checks. Post-production would take place in the afternoon.
In 1975, CBSRMT won the prestigious Peabody Award, and in 1990 it was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame. In
1998, the still-active Brown attempted a brief revival of the series, rebroadcasting selected old episodes with his own
introductions replacing Marshall's.
American radio drama. Every night from 1974 to 1982, host E.G. Marshall (later Tammy Grimes) ushered listeners
through a creaking door -- similar to the one Brown used on Inner Sanctum decades earlier. Brown produced nearly
200 new episodes of Mystery Theater every year, using both original scripts and adaptations of classic stories by
Edgar Allen Poe, Mark Twain, Robert Louis Stevenson and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The Mystery Theater brought
many veterans from radio's golden age back before the microphone, including Agnes Moorehead, Richard Widmark,
Celeste Holm, Mercedes McCambridge and Howard daSilva. The show also featured performances from many
up-and-coming stage and film actors, including Tony Roberts, John Lithgow, Morgan Fairchild, Mandy Patinkin and
Sarah Jessica Parker. The CBS Radio Mystery Theater won the George A. Peabody Award in 1975. After eight years
and over 1,500 shows, the show ended its run on December 30, 1982.
Actors were paid union scale at around $73.92 per show. Writers earned a flat rate of $350.00 per show. The
production took place with assembly-line precision. Brown would meet with actors at 9:00 AM for the first reading of
the script. He would then assign roles and recording would begin. By noon the recording of the actors was
complete and Brown handed everyone their checks. Post-production would take place in the afternoon.
In 1975, CBSRMT won the prestigious Peabody Award, and in 1990 it was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame. In
1998, the still-active Brown attempted a brief revival of the series, rebroadcasting selected old episodes with his own
introductions replacing Marshall's.
| Tammy Grimes: Second Host For CBS Radio Mystery Theatre |
| Himan Brown at work 1970's |
Young Himan Brown
| Tammy Grimes and Himan Brown in 1978 |
| The CBSRMT Logo |
| CBS Studio |
Performer Anne Seymour
| Performer Casey Kasem |
| CBSRMT Page 1 |