Dramatic suspense anthology (1946 - 48)

"Sunrise and sunset, promise and fulfillment, birth and death the whole drama of life is written in the sands of time."

Conceived and written by Lawrence Klee, this show is a study in the manipulation of our lives by time. In effect, each drama is a study in how something happens, but then is changed by the passage or manipulation of the moment. It is often very psychological, and nearly always very suspenseful.

The introduction to each half-hour remains the same, and is one that is remembered by those who listened to the show after the War, and before TV. It has its roots in thriller shows such as Suspense, Inner Sanctum, and Quiet Please, but the creator of the show, Lawrence Klee, along with Director Clark Andrews, fashioned an individual study each week with East Coast radio actors transcribed in New York.

In 1947, the production moved west to Hollywood, and the able William Spier, a major director of Suspense in the 1940's, took the director's chair. Actors included "Mr. And Mrs. Radio, Kathy and Elliott Lewis, Jeanette Nolan and many others who worked the Hollywood-originated old time radio shows.

The stories were narrated by a deep-voiced "Father Time" figure, to a ticking cadence. "In England they call me Ben, and I have a large and extremely showy flat in Westminster Tower but just between the two of us, I feel much more comfortable at the end of a chain and there's the quiet old lady who keeps a favored place for me in the corner of her room to her, I'm known as Grandfather." It foreshadowed writer Klee's suspense series The Chase, aired six years later had a decidedly different sound, but the themes were the same.

The Clock was a radio anthology narrated by Father Time and broadcast 80 half-hour episodes from November 3, 1946 to May 9, 1948. Its stories were mostly mystery and crime with a tiny smattering of supernaturally-themed episodes. The Clock originated in Australia and was syndicated to the United States. FIRST BROADCAST: November 3rd 1946 LAST BROADCAST: May 23rd 1948 CAST: Originally East Coast Radio Actors then West Coast acting talent notably Jeanette Nolan, Cathy and Elliott Lewis ANNOUNCERS: Gene Kirby PRODUCERS/DIRECTORS: Clark Andrews, Ed Rosenberg, Larry White, William Spier CREATOR/WRITER: Lawrence Klee MUSIC: Basil Adlam (Bernard Green’s themes) The Clock – 1946-1948 The Clock was a dramatic thirty-minute suspense and mystery series. It was written by Lawrence Klee and was first broadcast in November 1946. The story always began the same; “Sunrise and sunset, promise and fulfilment, birth and death … the whole drama of life is written in the sands of time”. Click here to read more about Clock, The