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In this thrilling old time radio program, Box 13 is filled with adventure and mayhem, Actor Alan Ladd portrays retired newspaperman and mystery novelist Dan Holiday. The series was first aired in December 31, 1947 in New York City at WOR network. The show begins when Holiday's thirst for new ideas prompts him to place an intriguing advertisement in the classified ads that reads "Adventure wanted, will go anywhere, do anything -- write Box 13, Star-Times." Of course this sort of ad calls out to all the crazies and weirdos who come into contact with the ad and Box 13 gets filled up with more requests and adventures than Holiday bargained for. All of which he sees as more research material. Produced by Mayfair Productions in , a pinch of levity was injected into this series of old radio shows with the delightful, if somewhat eccentric ramblings of his scatter-brained secretary, Suzy who is played by Sylvia Picker.

Alan Ladd plays Dan Holiday, retired newspaper man turned fiction writer and adventurer extraordinaire. To gain ideas for his books, he places an ad in the paper "Adventure wanted – will go anywhere, do anything – Box 13."

Needless to say, Box 13 becomes jammed with adventures galore, from psycho killer letters to birds carrying secret messages beneath their wings. Mr. Holiday always had more adventure than he had originally sought, because those who responded to his ad never revealed all of their glorious, unusual, and sometimes creepy details until they met in person and the adventure had already begun.

Suzy (played by Silvia Picker), Holiday's scattery secretary, adds touches of humor to this mystery-adventure seat-clinching program.Box 13 was produced by Mayfair Productions, a company run by Alan Ladd and Richard Sandville. The name came from Mayfair Restaurant, which Alan and Richard owned during WWII. Mayfair Productions also produced the hair-raising show, The Unexpected. In addition to producing Box 13, Alan Ladd also wrote most of the Box 13 shows.

See also The Alan Ladd Collection, Douglas of the World, and Hardboiled Detectives.

Enjoy the strange and wacky misadventures of the motley cast and crew of Box 13 today!

Click here to read more about Box 13


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Please enjoy these 55 old time radio episodes:

Air Date Title Synopsis Rating
 01.23.1949 three to die

+Program #23. Mutual net origination, Mayfair syndication. "Three To Die". Dan Holiday turns into ...
 01.30.1949 the philanthropist

+Program #24. Mutual netm origination, Mayfair syndication. "The Philanthropist". Dan Holiday take...
 02.06.1949 last will and nursery rhyme

+Program #25. Mutual net origination, Mayfair syndication. "Last Will and Nursery Rhyme". Where is...
 02.13.1949 delinquents dilemma

+Program #26. Mutual net origination, Mayfair syndication. "Delinquent's Dilemma". A sixteen-year-...
 02.20.1949 flash of light

+Program #27. Mutual net origination, Mayfair syndication. "Flash Of Light". A hick gets into seri...
 02.27.1949 hare and hounds

+Program #28. Mutual net origination, Mayfair syndication. "Hare and Hounds". Dan Holiday is frame...
 03.06.1949 hunt and peck

+Program #29. Mutual net origination, Mayfair syndication. "Hunt and Peck". Dan saves a man from t...
 03.13.1949 death is a doll

+Program #30. Mutual net origination, Mayfair syndication. "Death Is A Doll". A man is slowly dyin...
 03.20.1949 113 5

+Program #31. Mutual net origination, Mayfair syndication. "113.5". Murder and a wealthy recluse w...
 03.27.1949 dan and the wonderful lamp

+ Program #32. Mutual net origination, Mayfair syndication. "Dan and The Wonderful Lamp". A charit...
 04.03.1949 tempest in a casserole

+Program #33. Mutual net origination, Mayfair syndication. "Tempest In A Casserole". A good story ...
 04.10.1949 mexican maize

+ Mutual net origination, Mayfair syndication. "Mexican Maze". A frame for murder, south of the bo...
 04.17.1949 sealed instructions

+Program #35. Mutual net origination, Mayfair syndication. "Sealed Instructions". A trip to Manila...
 04.24.1949 find me find death

+ Program #36. Mutual net origination, Mayfair syndication. "Find Me, Find Death". A homicidal man...
 05.01.1949 much too lucky

+Program #37. Mutual net origination, Mayfair syndication. "Much Too Lucky". How to find out the w...
 05.08.1949 one of these four

+Mutual net origination, Mayfair syndication. "One Of These Four". Afloat with a murderer, but who...
 05.15.1949 daytime nightmare

+Mutual net origination, Mayfair syndication. "Daytime Nightmare". Dan is railroaded into an asylu...
 05.22.1949 death is no joke

+Program #40. Mutual net origination, Mayfair syndication. "Death Is No Joke". A series of practic...
 05.29.1949 treasure of hang lee

+ Program #41. Mutual net origination, Mayfair syndication. "The Treasure Of Hang Lee". A trip to ...
 06.05.1949 design for danger

+Program #42. Mutual net origination, Mayfair syndication. "Design For Danger". Ex-convict Johnny ...
 06.12.1949 the dead man walks

+Program #43. Mutual net origination, Mayfair syndication. "The Dead Man Walks". A man Dan sees de...
 06.19.1949 killer at large

+Box 13, C/o Star Times, If $50,000 is of any interest to you, come to see me. If it’s adventure ...
 06.26.1949 speed to burn

+ Program #45. Mutual net origination, Mayfair syndication. "Speed To Burn". Why shouldn't a 1938 ...
 07.03.1949 house of darkness

+Program #46. Mutual net origination, Mayfair syndication. "House Of Darkness". A shot in the dark...
 07.10.1949 double trouble

+Program #47. Mutual net origination, Mayfair syndication. "Double Trouble". A typed letter from a...

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Box 13 with Alan Ladd is a great series

Terry

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Box 13

Mike

Reply
Excellent program

Kathleen

Reply
This mystery-adventure series featured film star Alan Ladd as Dan Holiday, a writer who placed ads in newspapers looking for adventure. It was transcribed and syndicated by Mayfair Productions from 1948 to the early 1950s.

BOX 13

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Just got in on the middle of a Box 13 episode and heard a great line: "Another twist like that and I'd need a corkscrew to take off my hat."

Joe

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And I love hearing Alan Ladd deliver those lines.

Shelly

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The Box 13 Radio Program
Alan Ladd in publicity photo for Box 13 as Dan Holiday
To Dan Holiday. writer--and adventurer--comes a letter strangely worded. Secretary Suzy listens as he reads aloud directions to go to a certain antique shop and pick up a particular clock: one that has stopped at nine! But adventure is Dan's business: he gets his hat and goes.
Here is the shop--dark, crowded, somehow sinister for the clocks that fill it are all very old. And presently Dan cocks an ear and hears ... only si1ence. All of the clocks are set at nine o'clock, and a11 of them have stopped! How in Ihe world is he to decide which of the clocks his letter-writing client wants picked up?
With nobody around to answer his questions, Dan characteristically decides to investigate. Cautiously--for Dan is too experienced not to realize that he has been lured into a threatening situation--he begins to explore the dusty stockrooms at the back of the mysterious shop.
Suddenly he stumbles, and draws back. At his feet is the crumpled-up body of an elderly man, from whose hand Dan gently takes a scrap of paper. Pondering the paper's message--
When Dan revives, he faces a stranger who introduces himself as the owner of the shop.
Alan Ladd promoted Box 13 in several of the trade magazines and journals of the era. This full page promotion appeared in the September 13th 1947 issue of The Billboard
Still, Dan decides, no bona fide dealer in valuable curios would leave his shop untended and unlocked. Picking up an enameled vase, he remarks
With the
Dan raises his eyes from his discovery--and finds himself facing the
Dan deduces, from the fact that the bogus owner remained on the premises after murdering the real owner and striking Dan, that the clock must still be there too. After strenuous search, he finds it . . . and finds, too, a fortune of jewels hidden inside it. That's why it had been worth murder to the fake owner!
To a bewildered Suzy, Dan explains: two people knew of the fortune in the clock: his client, and the bogus
Recording session for Box 13 with Frances Robinson
Norge spot ad for Box 13
Recording session for Box 13 with Frances Robinson. Widely circulating as a supposed photo of Alan Ladd and Sylvia Picker, Frances Robinson was seven years younger than Sylvia Picker, and markedly more attractive.
The actual Sylvia Picker, a noted comedienne and actress, circa 1936. She can also be seen in the first panel of the storyboard above.
Earliest known publicity still of Alan Ladd circa 1939
Alan Ladd's second wife, Sue Carol the actress turned agent who 'discovered' Ladd and promoted Ladd's Radio and Film career circa 1937
Ladd served briefly in the Army during World War II but a double hernia cut his service short
Ladd's break-out role as 'Raven' the psychotic killer from 1942's This Gun for Hire
Alan Ladd much as we might imagine him in Box 13.
Recording session for Box 13 with erstwhile love interest Frances Robinson
Alan Ladd publicity still circa 1947
Alan Ladd, son David and wife, Sue Carol grabbing a quick lunch circa 1952
A couple 'a mugs, Humphrey Bogart and Alan Ladd--Film Noir style with two very mature 'babies circa 1943
Ladd's last known publicity still, at only 50--not his most flattering showing the effects of prescription drug and alcohol abuse on his features. Another of Hollywood's cautionary tales
BOX 13
BOX 13
Box 13
Box 13
Box 13, Star-Times.
Box 13
Box 13
Alan Ladd
Alan Ladd
Box 13
Alan Ladd as Dan Holiday
Luis Van Rooten cast member
Lurene Tuttle cast member
Sylvia Picker as Suzy
Alan Ladd
Box 13 Allan Ladd
The Professor And The Puzzle
Alan Ladd
Box 13
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