SmorgShow Theater is a collection of classic, old-time radio dramas from the golden age of radio. Sit back and relax, turn off your lights and let us transport you to a world where your imagination takes over.
This episode is dedicated to Domenico DeFazio (1948-2021)
To close out the year, we are proud to look back on our archives and present once again, our radio adaptation of Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life”.
We apologize for being absent for the past couple of months. We had a death in our immediate family. My stepdad, Domenico DeFazio passed away unexpectedly while on a business trip in Italy. We thought that it would be fitting to dedicate this episode to him.
Mimmo played the character of Martini the bartender in this radio play of “It’s a Wonderful Life”. We originally released this exactly 10 years ago back on episode 66. This is perhaps one of our most elaborate radio plays we ever made for SmorgShow Theater. Listening back to this now warms our hearts, particularly given the number of friends and family members who came together to make this production possible.
Mimmo, you certainly had a wonderful life. We love you.
In our 11th installment of SmorgShow Theater, we re-enact ‘Knock at the Door’, which originally aired in 1942 on the ‘Lights Out’ radio drama series that centered around horror and the supernatural.
This tale is narrated by Ella who describes her descent into madness – how she married a nice fellow and mama’s boy Jay who adores his mother to the point of Ella feeling pushed out of the way. Our narrator, after hearing some convincing voices in her head, pushes her poor mother-in-law down a well and seemingly doesn’t have to deal with her anymore. But how wrong she is when the couple hears a knock at the door while eating dinner one night…
The SmorgShow Players are: Ally Bockay (Ella), Chris Bockay (Jay), Kim Bockay (Mrs. Kruger)
We are so excited to finally present our latest radio play that we have been working on since August. Normally the SmorgShow players re-enact classic radio dramas, but in this episode, we aim to deliver something a bit different. This time, we present to you a radio adaptation of “Rope”, a 1948 American psychological crime thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock, based on the 1929 play of the same name by Patrick Hamilton.
In our story, just before hosting a dinner party, Philip Morgan and Brandon Shaw strangle a mutual friend to death with a piece of rope, purely as a Nietzsche-inspired philosophical exercise. Hiding the body in a chest upon which they then arrange a buffet dinner, the pair welcome their guests, including the victim’s oblivious fiancée and the college professor whose lectures inadvertently inspired the killing.
The Cast (In Order of Appearance):
As we prepare for Christmas and to close out 2016, we present to you the 10th installment of SmorgShow Theater. “Letter from Cynthia” is a re-enactment of an episode from “The Whistler” old-time radio drama series.
Originally aired on 12-25-1949, “Letter from Cynthia” finds a medical intern receiving a letter from a lost love, the love he lost to his best friend. In a strange turn of events, the man who took his love, his best friend, ends up in an accident at the hospital where he is interning. He has to make a decision between getting revenge and doing what’s right.
This episode has a different feel to it when compared with our previous radio plays. We hope you take some time out this holiday season to kick back and listen. Turn out your lights, bask in the glow of your fireplace or Christmas tree lights and let our story transport you back to a simpler time when families sat around their radio for entertainment.
The Cast
We then discuss Ally’s performance in the “Let It Be Christmas” musical and play a clip of her promoting the show on the Steve Cochran radio show on WGN-AM 720.
We are excited to bring you our 9th installment in the SmorgShow Theater series. This time around we bring to you a re-enactment of 1943’s radio classic ‘Sorry, Wrong Number’, originally starring Agnes Moorehead.
But wait a minute, you say! Didn’t you guys already do this one before? As a matter of fact, yes we did…way back in 2010 on Episode 9 of the SmorgShow Podcast. However, back then Ally was only 11 years old and we were working with really basic editing equipment.
It sounded good at the time, but listening to it now, we’ve come to realize that we really didn’t do this classic play justice. We decided to tackle this project again. Coincidentally, the date this is being aired is April 11, 2015 (or 4-1-1).
Mrs. Stevenson is a spoiled, bedridden daughter of a millionaire. The telephone is her sole connection with the outside world. One day, while listening to what seems to be a crossed phone connection, she eavesdrops on two men planning a woman’s murder. Mrs. Stevenson calls the phone company and police, only to be ignored. Adding to her dilemma is the fact that her husband is missing. After a number of phone calls, the terrorized Mrs. Stevenson begins to piece together the mystery.
The Cast:
In another feature, International News Correspondent, Baba Gonesh delivers the news to us in 90 seconds in a call from Mumbai – a story of Needle Man.
Featured Artist of the Week: Echosmith
This episode of the SmorgShow Podcast includes the latest installment of SmorgShow Theater where the SmorgShow Players re-enact Ray Bradbury’s classic short story, ‘The Ravine’. Written around 1936 during Mr. Bradbury’s formative high school years, ‘The Ravine’ emerged as a true story of his childhood fears of a dark, foreboding ravine that existed just a short distance away from his Waukegan, Illinois hometown. The SmorgShow Players:
Chris and Ally also catch up on events that have taken place since our last program one year ago!
On this episode, we travel back in time and take a special look at voyage of the RMS Titanic for this special 100th anniversary of that tragic night of April 14-15, 1912.
This episode originally streamed live at exactly 100 years after the Titanic struck the iceberg.
Our special episode is chock full of facts and statistics about the Titanic: the construction, the launch, the passengers and crew, the food that was served to both first class and third class passengers including the last meal. We discuss the tragic accident, the lifeboats, the sinking, and the wreckage. We get a flavor of what life on the Titanic was like by listening to readings of letters written by some of the passengers. Music was a special part of the voyage and we play a few tracks that were played on board. We close out the show with a special rendition of Ally singing, “My Heart Will Go On”.
SmorgShow Theater is proud to present its latest radio play production. This time, we bring you Frank Capra’s classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life” on the 65th anniversary of the original release. We had an absolute blast creating this! We had a cast of dozens out to the SmorgShow studio this past month to lay down their tracks. The main cast includes:
SmorgShow Theater returns with a new re-enactment of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”. We have updated our 2010 production so that we could include Dave Jackson in the performance.
The Cast:
Chris Bockay: Ebenezer Scrooge
Ally Bockay: Ghost of Christmas Past
Peet McCain: Marley, Ghost of Christmas Present, Nephew Fred
Geoff Wells: Bob Kratchit
Kim Bockay: Mrs. Kratchit
SmorgShow Theater Presents Ray Bradbury’s ‘Zero Hour‘, originally broadcast on April 5, 1955 as a part of the Suspense radio series. Dave Jackson from the original Chris and Dave Smorgasbord radio show narrates this science fiction installment of SmorgShow Theater.
Featured Artist of the Week: Jordan Martyn. Jordan has been featured on our program before, but on this episode we present a SmorgShow Exclusive: Jordan’s new studio version of “Runaway to Me”. We are honored that Jordan has selected the SmorgShow Podcast as the first venue to air his new song before it is made available to the public. Check out Jordan’s website at www.jordanmartyn.com.
The SmorgShow Players return to the stage this episode to present the 1944 old-time radio play, “The Sisters”. Mystical Melinda calls in to warn us about the retrograde of the planet Mercury. Baba Gonesh shares one of his favorite bed-time folk tales, and News Balls: Another possible explanation for the continued high unemployment rate; a pig-wrestling match is canceled in Great Falls, Montana; a man is shot in the head but doesn’t notice until five years later, and the corpse of a woman hoarder is finally found beneath a pile of her belongings.
Chris discusses his torn rotator cuff. The SmorgShow Players reenact the old-time radio drama, “On A Country Road”. Also, Baba Gonesh returns with another “Thought for the Day”.
The SmorgShow players recreate the classic 1943 radio drama, “Sorry, Wrong Number”. Also, strange news stories of the week, Baba Gonesh’s Indian Folk Tale of the week, and a 2010 remix of “Slime”, from the Cow Dung and Chicken Tongue collection.
‘Murder in the Mansion‘ radio play. After Ally’s recent birthday party where she hosted a murder mystery, the SmorgShow Players create a radio-play version of the party’s script.
This began the springboard for us in creating all the subsequent old-time radio dramas in our SmorgShow Theater series.
The SmorgShow Podcast originates from the Chris and Dave Smorgasbord radio show which aired on suburban Chicago high school radio station WDGC-FM between 1982-1984. The show was known at the time for its edginess for a high school radio program. Chris and Dave’s all-talk format broke the mold by deviating from the station’s rock genre and often pushed the boundaries of acceptable community standards.
In 2010, Chris resurrected the Smorgasbord brand name and paired up with his daughter, Ally to create a new podcast series staying true to the original spirit and variety format of the old radio show.
After serving as co-host and contributing to nearly 100 episodes, Ally is now grown up and has flown the coop, leaving Chris to fend for himself. As a result, the show has taken a bit of a different turn. Chris now pairs up regularly with original Smorgasbord Radio Show co-host Dave Jackson as well as Jerry Malauskas who serves as the show’s Chief Conspiracy Correspondent (CCC). And let’s not forget ‘Master of the Wide Open Spaces Between the Ears’, Baba Gonesh – who after 40 years of being featured on our show, serves as our International News Correspondent, sending his views and breaking news directly from his homeland of India.
While Seinfeld was said to be “a show about nothing”, the SmorgShow Podcast is a show about anything.
As we discussed in the last episode, we determined it would be extremely difficult to continue forward with the Smorgasbord Radio Show in its current form following the passing of co-founder Dave Jackson earlier this year. Have no dispair though, because Chris and Jerry will be launching a new podcast in early 2025.
In order to finish this podcast series properly, it only felt right to return to how it started in January 2010 – with Chris and his daughter Ally teaming up on the mic. In this final episode, Chris and Ally discuss all the life stages we have moved through and the milestones that we have achieved over these past 15 years. A lot of ground was covered during this time. After all, Ally was only 11 when we started the show and now she is only a couple weeks away from closing on her first home. We reflect upon how the podcast format began and all the challenges and learnings that we faced as we tried to get the show off the ground with the relatively primitive technology. From our first episode recorded in our kitchen, to seeing the show evolve over the next 15 years, we believe we hit all of the main highlights in our retrospective.
As mentioned in the show, we reserve the right to occasionally add an episode here and there to the catalog, but this episode essentially marks the end of our 42 year run (15 years in podcast form and the years 1982-1984 when the Chris and Dave Smorgasbord was heard on high school radio station WDGC-FM). We would like to thank everyone who has been on this journey with us at one point in our timeline or another. We certainly had fun bringing our creativity to you and we appreciate all your support and encouragement over the years.
It truly has been a great run!
Listen to the Wisdom of Baba Gonesh and understand why he is known worldwide as ‘The Master of the Wide Open Spaces Between the Ears’.
A Fashion-Conscious Monkey is cited on the streets of India and Baba Gonesh was there to capture it all.
SmorgShow Theater is a collection of classic, old-time radio dramas from the golden age of radio. Sit back and relax, turn off your lights and let us transport you to a world where your imagination takes over. If you have a favorite radio show that you would like to hear us present, email us at [email protected]. Check out Smorgasbord Radio (The SmorgShow Podcast) for more of our creative antics.
In our 11th installment of SmorgShow Theater, we re-enact ‘Knock at the Door’, which originally aired in 1942 on the ‘Lights Out’ radio drama series that centered around horror and the supernatural. This tale is narrated by Ella who describes her descent into madness – how she married a nice fellow and mama’s boy Jay who adores his mother to the point of Ella feeling pushed out of the way. Our narrator, after hearing some convincing voices in her head, pushes her poor mother-in-law down a well and seemingly doesn’t have to deal with her anymore. But how wrong she is when the couple hears a knock at the door while eating dinner one night…
The SmorgShow Players are: Ally Bockay (Ella), Chris Bockay (Jay), Kim Bockay (Mrs. Kruger)
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