Producer Himan Brown remembered a squeaky door in the basement that always gave him chills. One auditory trademark of the show was the squeaking door that opened and closed each episode. The 1945 season saw Lipton Tea coming on as sponsor, and featured cheery Mary Bennet as spokesperson who would chide Johnson and later McGrath for their dark and macabre humor. 'Raymond' would set the standard for later horror program hosts like Ernest Chappell on Quiet, Please and TV's Crypt Keeper on 'Tales from the Crypt.' The Host and the rest of the show would be accompanied by the voice of Lew White's organ, which could raise or darken the mood at will, and always provide a dramatic 'stinger' when Death was near.

'Raymond' delighted in painfully bad puns and poking fun at the audience who he was sure would soon be suffering from knee-knocking fright. McGrath dropped the 'Raymond' moniker, but 'Your Host' maintained his mocking humor. When Johnson left the show in the middle of the 1945 season for Army service he was replaced by Paul McGrath.

The original host of the show was Raymond Edward Johnson. The show takes a departure from other thriller anthologies by opening the episode with campy tongue in cheek humor.

Includes a Program Guide by radio historian Elizabeth McLeod!Įpisodes Include: The Death Ship 08-10-41 Death is a Joker 06-10-44 Song of the Slasher 04-24-45 Musical Score 05-29-45 The Murder Prophet 09-04-45 The Undead 12-18-45 I Want to Report a Murder 06-18-46 Murder Comes at Midnight 09-09-46 No Rest for the Dead 11-25-46 Death of a Doll 10-18-48 Fearful Voyage 01-03-49 The Deadly Dummy 01-24-49 Murder Off the Record 04-11-49 Pattern for Fear 07-04-49 Murder Rides the Carousel 09-05-49 The Vengeful Corpse 09-12-49.Raymond was a big part of the 'fright factor'. Come in! You'll never know what's going on behind the rust-metal shriek of the infamous Creaking Door until you open it… The razor-voiced Raymond Edward Johnson handles his hosting duties like an oily insurance salesman with a sideline in ax murder, while playful Paul McGrath brings forth an effortlessly exaggerated sense of black comedy. The only program on the air to combine pitch-dark horror with sardonic humor, sending forth its undead monstrosities with rotting tongue pressed firmly into cheek. Step into radio's legendary house of horrors.

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