Episode 364 - Jack Kruschen

Jack Kruschen earned an Oscar nod for his performance as Jack Lemmon's kindly and concerned neighbor in The Apartment, but before that he was a busy and very versatile radio performer. With a knack for accents and dialects, it wasn't uncommon for Kruschen to play multiple roles in the same thirty minutes. We'll hear him as a gangster who prepares an explosive Christmas gift for a rival in "A Present for Benny" (originally aired on CBS on December 14, 1955). Then, he's a nightclub mind reader who tries to use his powers to find the man who killed his wife in "With Murder in Mind" (originally aired on CBS on June 24, 1962). Plus, as a holiday bonus, we'll hear an adaptation of "Back for Christmas" from Escape (originally aired on CBS on December 24, 1947).