Radio Drama · Old Time Radio Researchers · Mystery & crime · Horror & the supernatural · Drama

Sealed Book

Networks
Mutual (as its archives name them)
Heard
1945
Episodes
58
Language
English

THE SEALED BOOK

More about it

The Sealed Book was a radio series of mystery and terror tales, produced and directed by Jock MacGregor for the Mutual network. Between March 18 and September 9, 1945, the melodramatic anthology series was broadcast on Sundays from 10:30pm to 11:00pm. Each week, after "the sound of the great gong," host Philip Clarke observed that the mysteriously silent "keeper of the book has opened the ponderous door to the secret vault wherein is kept the great sealed book, in which is recorded all the secrets and mysteries of mankind through the ages, Here are tales of every kind, tales of murder, of madness, of dark deeds strange and terrible beyond all belief." After this introduction, the dramas began, occasionally interrupted by curiously extended organ solos. Although this anthology series did not have recurring characters (other than the Narrator and the Keeper of the Book), the writers often used the same names for different characters from week to week, including "Hester," "Drake," and most especially "Roger." At the end of an episode, Clarke told listeners to tune in the following week when "the sound of the great gong heralds another strange and exciting tale from... the sealed book." Scripts were by Robert Arthur, Jr. and David Kogan, who also were responsible for The Mysterious Traveler, and recycled many of the more popular stories from that parent program. "The Hands of Death" was the first of the 26 episodes which concluded with "Death Laughs Last."…

Episodes, in broadcast order

  1. The Hands of Death

    · No. 1 · 30 min

  2. King of the World

    · No. 2 · 30 min

  3. Death Spins a Web

    · No. 3 · 30 min

  4. Devil Island

    · No. 4 · 30 min

  5. Escape by Death

    · No. 5 · 30 min

  6. Death at Storm House

    · No. 6 · 30 min

  7. The Accusing Corpse

    · No. 7 · 30 min

  8. Stranger in the House

    · No. 8 · 30 min

  9. Out of the Past

    · No. 9 · 30 min

  10. Welcome Home

    · No. 10 · 30 min

  11. I'll Die Laughing

    · No. 11 · 30 min

  12. Design for Death

    · No. 12 · 30 min

  13. The Ghost Maker

    · No. 13 · 30 min

  14. Broadway Here I Come

    · No. 14 · 30 min

  15. Queen of the Cats

    · No. 15 · 30 min

  16. Death Rings Down the Curtain

    · No. 16 · 30 min

  17. Till Death Do Us Part

    · No. 17 · 30 min

  18. The Man with the Stolen Face

    · No. 18 · 30 min

  19. My Beloved Must Die

    · No. 19 · 30 min

  20. Beware of Tomorrow

    · No. 20 · 30 min

  21. Murder Must Be Paid For

    · No. 21 · 30 min

  22. To Have and to Hold

    · No. 22 · 30 min

  23. Murderer Unknown

    · No. 23 · 30 min

  24. Time on My Hands

    · No. 24 · 30 min

  25. Death Laughs Last

    · No. 25 · 30 min

  26. You Only Die Once

    · No. 26 · 30 min

  27. The Hands of Death

    · No. 1 · 28 min

  28. Program \#2 - The King of the World

    · No. 2 · 30 min

  29. Program \#3 - Death Spins a Web

    · No. 3 · 30 min

  30. Devil Island

    · 30 min

  31. Program \#4 - Devil Island

    · No. 4 · 30 min

  32. Program \#5 - Escape by Death

    · No. 5 · 30 min

  33. Death At Storm House

    · No. 6 · 31 min

  34. Accusing Corpse

    · No. 7 · 30 min

  35. Stranger in the House

    · No. 8 · 30 min

  36. Program \#9 - Out of the Past

    · No. 9 · 30 min

  37. Program \#10 - Welcome Home

    · No. 10 · 30 min

  38. I'll Die Laughing

    · 30 min

  39. I'll Die Laughing

    · No. 11 · 30 min

  40. Program \#12 - Design for Death

    · No. 12 · 30 min

  41. Program \#13 - The Ghost Makers

    · No. 13 · 30 min

  42. Program \#14 - Broadway Here I Come

    · No. 14 · 30 min

  43. Program \#15 - Queen of the Cats

    · No. 15 · 30 min

  44. Program \#16 - Death Rings Down the Curtain

    · No. 16 · 30 min

  45. Program \#17 - Till Death Do Us Part

    · No. 17 · 30 min

  46. Man With the Stole

    · No. 18 · 29 min

  47. Program \#19 - My Beloved Must Die

    · No. 19 · 30 min

  48. Program \#20 - Beware of Tomorrow

    · No. 20 · 30 min

  49. Program \#21 - Murder Must Be Paid For

    · No. 21 · 30 min

  50. To Have and to Hold

    · No. 22 · 29 min

  51. Murderer Unknown

    · No. 23 · 29 min

  52. Program \#24 - Time On My Hands

    · No. 24 · 30 min

  53. Death Laughs Last

    · 30 min

  54. You Only Die Once

    · No. 25 · 30 min

  55. You Only Die Once

    · 30 min

  56. Death Laughs Last

    · No. 26 · 30 min

  57. Death at Storm House

    No date given · No. 6 · 30 min

  58. Beware of Tomorrow

    No date given · 30 min

Where it comes from 4

The archive items its episodes are played from, best first, with each one’s rights as its archive states them. An episode two sets both hold is played from the first.

  1. Sealed Book - Single Episodes

    Old Time Radio Researchers · Old Time Radio Researchers Group · 26 episodes here · archive.org (opens in a new tab)

    CC BY-NC-ND 3.0: CC BY-NC-ND 3.0, as its uploader states it at the Internet Archive.

  2. The_Sealed_Book_OTR

    Old Time Radio · 26 episodes here · archive.org (opens in a new tab)

    Uploader’s mark: Public domain (Creative Commons dedication): Marked Public domain (Creative Commons dedication) by its uploader at the Internet Archive; the record gives no basis for it.

  3. The Sealed book

    Listeners' uploads · 1 episode here · archive.org (opens in a new tab)

    the Internet Archive states no licence or rights for it.

  4. The Sealed Book (1945 Radio Program)

    Listeners' uploads · The Sealed Book · 5 episodes here · archive.org (opens in a new tab)

    Uploader’s mark: CC0 1.0: Marked CC0 1.0 by its uploader at the Internet Archive; the record gives no basis for it.

3 more sets hold only episodes played here from a set above.

A set by the Old Time Radio Researchers Group (otrr.org), at the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio collection.

More Mystery & crime

Radio drama, old-time radio and historic broadcasts from the Internet Archive (its Old Time Radio collection with the Old Time Radio Researchers' sets, WWII Era Audio Recordings, the Pacifica Radio Archives, the Radio Haiti Archive, German radio plays and listeners' uploads), Wikimedia Commons (with the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision's broadcasts) and the Library of Congress. Every episode plays from its archive, which this site does not copy; rights are as each archive states them. Nothing here is called public domain on this site's say-so. In the United States, sound recordings first fixed before 15 February 1972 have federal protection under the Music Modernization Act of 2018, for most until 2067 at the latest, so most American radio of the 1930s to the 1950s is not in the public domain there. Each set shows the licence, mark or statement its archive gives, and says whose it is. Horror, crime, war and westerns are for teenage and adult profiles, racist caricature for adults only, and children’s profiles hear what was made for children. More about these archives.