CBS Radio Mystery Theater
CBS Radio Mystery Theater brought large-scale scripted radio drama back to network listeners in the 1970s, long after the medium’s classic dramatic schedule had faded. Producer Himan Brown built the series as a nightly anthology of mystery, crime, supernatural stories, science fiction and literary adaptation. E. G. Marshall’s measured introductions became a major part of its identity, with Tammy Grimes later serving as host. The GRH archive is exceptionally deep, so this page is less about locating a handful of surviving episodes and more about helping listeners navigate a huge, varied body of later radio drama.
Where to Start
Researched entry points from recordings already in the Golden Radio Hour archive.
Deadly Honeymoon
A bride discovers that police are watching her new husband because they suspect he murdered his previous wife. This early 1974 episode is an accessible introduction to the revival because the premise is classic domestic suspense and requires no special genre knowledge. It also places the listener close to the central uncertainty from the beginning, which suits the program’s hour-long format.
Episode details →Possessed by the Devil
This 1974 supernatural story demonstrates that CBS Radio Mystery Theater was never limited to realistic crime. “Possessed by the Devil” moves the anthology toward horror while preserving the same host-and-drama structure, making it useful for listeners who want to understand why GRH connects the series to both mystery and horror collections.
Episode details →House Without Mirrors
By 1979 the series was well established, and “House Without Mirrors” provides a midpoint sample far removed from the opening months. The recommendation is useful less as a claim about fame than as a way to hear continuity across years: the anthology can change cast and premise while the presentation still feels recognizably part of Himan Brown’s project.
Episode details →The Boatman and the Devil
“The Boatman and the Devil” comes from 1982 and gives the four recommendations a broad chronological spread. Hearing it after early and middle-period episodes makes the scale of the project tangible. It also reinforces that this is later network radio drama, not a 1940s preservation set, while the supernatural premise shows the anthology still working across genre boundaries.
Episode details →Program History
Himan Brown's hour-long dramatic anthology revived radio mystery for a later generation with stories of crime, horror, the supernatural, science fiction, and suspense, most famously hosted by E. G.
Himan Brown’s CBS dramatic anthology revived network radio drama in 1974. The archive distinguishes 1,399 numbered original programs from later repeat broadcasts.
The run breaks into several distinct periods: E. G. Marshall host era (January 6, 1974 to January 29, 1982) on CBS Radio Network and Tammy Grimes final host era (February 1, 1982 to December 7, 1982) on CBS Radio Network.
Names that turn up again and again in the surviving run include E. G. Marshall (host and performer), Himan Brown (director, producer, and host), Ian Martin (performer, writer, and radio adaptor), Sam Dann (writer, radio adaptor, and author), Robert Dryden (performer), Bryna Raeburn (performer), and Marian Seldes (performer).
Across its run, the surviving broadcasts are tied to CBS Radio Network.
The stories often return to Murder, Supernatural phenomena, War and military conflict, Medicine and psychology, Occult and curses, and Trials and legal process.
The show also sits in a wider radio history that includes Network radio drama revival in the television era, Sponsor-supported national radio drama in the 1970s, and Golden-age radio veterans alongside newer stage and screen actors.
If you are following the same actors and creative circles, related programs worth opening next include Theater Five, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, X Minus One, Columbia Workshop, and The Chase.
All Episodes & Recordings
Search this program or browse in its validated catalog order.
A Ring of Roses
A young couple witnesses a disturbing supernatural scene that pulls them into an old murder and a family curse.
The Girl Who Found Things
A troubled young girl taken in by a couple reveals an uncanny ability to locate missing things, including the dead.
The Chinaman Button
A desperate man is offered a fortune in exchange for committing a murder without ever meeting his intended victim.
Dead for a Dollar
Two swindled men plan revenge on the businessman who cheated them, only to find someone else has killed him first.
A Very Old Man
A mysterious old man can ease suffering with a touch and seems able to see through the people around him.
And Nothing but the Truth
A professor tries to accept blame for his son's fatal hit-and-run while a young detective struggles to prove the truth.
Deadly Honeymoon
A bride discovers police are watching her new husband because they suspect he murdered his previous wife.
Speak of the Devil
After attending a séance shortly before her wedding, a young bride becomes the target of a terrifying demonic presence.
The Ring of Truth
A father pressures his daughter to testify against the man she loves in a fatal driving case, with devastating consequences.
Time and Again
A clock repairman discovers a timepiece that can add an hour to each day, but the gift demands blood in return.
Three Women
A novelist fears the heroine of his book may somehow be real when his publisher pressures him to rewrite her fate.
The Man Who Heard Voices
Years after ending his dying wife's suffering, an attorney begins hearing her voice, threatening the new life he has built.
Mother Love
Unable to have a child, a young woman turns to a fortune teller who promises a solution for money and a disturbing favor.
The Man Who Asked for Yesterday
After being shot by his wife, a dead man pleads for the chance to relive the final portion of his life.
Dead Ringer
A woman discovers a stranger who looks exactly like her husband and recruits him into a deadly scheme.
A Ghostly Game of Death
A ghost hunter is hired to clear a haunted house before redevelopment, but the spirit of a sea captain's wife refuses to leave.
The Sign of the Beast
An archaeologist disregards a tribe's customs and steals sacred artifacts, only to face the consequences of her actions.
Here Goes the Bride
A new bride arrives at her husband's estate and encounters the lingering spirit of his first wife, whose death was suspicious.
The Lady Was a Tiger
An unemployed American reporter in France is framed for murder by a dangerous double agent.
After the Verdict
A young defense lawyer learns that the client he helped acquit was actually guilty and must decide how to set things right.
Conspiracy to Defraud
A federal narcotics agent follows a heroin pipeline to France, where a ruthless dealer threatens both him and the woman he cares about.
The Deadly Hour
A deeply insecure man recounts to a psychologist the horrifying fate he arranged for his unfaithful wife and her lover.
Dead Man's Mountain
A developer determined to exploit a mountain learns that everyone who climbs it is said to lose what they love most.
A Dream of Death
A professor who believes in reincarnation fears he is destined to pay for a promise broken two centuries earlier.
Dig Me Deeply
When archaeology students uncover an unusual corpse in the Arizona desert, a female detective is called in to investigate.
Under Grave Suspicion
A professor responds violently to his wife's affair, only to find himself trapped by a hurricane after the killings.
A Lady Never Loses Her Head
An American newlywed moves into her aristocratic husband's manor and is haunted by a headless rider who looks disturbingly familiar.
The Walking Corpse
Honeymooners stumble into a dictator's plan to seize control of an island nation with an army of zombies.
Blizzard of Terror
A troubled couple fleeing a blizzard takes shelter in an isolated cabin already occupied by a man who may be a killer.
Sea Fever
A violently jealous sea captain punishes any man who shows interest in his wife, with deadly results.
The Walls of Jericho
An elderly club attendant discovers that figures from his imagination can materialize as ghostly beings.
The Horla
A man becomes obsessed with a vessel in the harbor, convinced it carries a supernatural force capable of destroying humanity.
The Horse That Wasn't for Sale
After her father's death, a woman must sell his horses but refuses to part with his prized animal, angering his rivals.
The Edge of Death
A desperate farmer believes a faceless stranger possesses the cure that could save his dying wife.
A Choice of Witnesses
A seasoned blackmailer becomes the target when several former victims join forces to turn his own methods against him.
Out of Sight
A pioneering space mission is threatened by unseen alien forces that the crew cannot locate or understand.
Prognosis Negative
A fraudulent medium brings a psychologically dangerous military subject into her act while authorities race to find him.
This Will Kill You
A newspaper critic is cursed by an occultist and learns the only escape is to transfer the deadly curse to someone else.
A Long Time to Die
A criminologist and a Native American somehow exchange lives, forcing each to navigate the other's unfamiliar world and obligations.
The Sending
A college professor secretly drains the youth of unsuspecting students in order to restore his wife's vitality.
Cast, Crew & Contributors
Every relationship below is backed by the current Golden Radio Hour smart index. Open a profile, or use the broadcast count to see the exact recordings connecting that person to this program.
E. G. Marshall
Norman Rose
Mandel Kramer
Bret Morrison
Bob ReadickMore Mystery Radio
Programs connected through the most specific listening path for this show.
