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Hop Harrigan |
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The
opening was pure radio, with the drone of a plane and Hop's voice asking for
clearance to land: CX-4 to Control Tower. CX-4 to Control Tower,
standing by - Control Tower back to CX-4. Wind South East,
ceiling twelve hun-dred. All clear! OKAAAY, this Hop Harrigan coming in! Hop
Harrigan - "America's Ace of the Airwaves" - made his debut in All-American Comics #1 in 1939. Hop Harrigan had been orphaned by his
father, a legendary pilot, who disappeared on a flight to South America to
see his wife. By the time Hop Harrigan had almost grown, his neighbor tried
to destroy a biplane that once had been in the possession of Hop's father.
Seeing this, Hop angrily knocked the old man to the ground and escaped in the
biplane, not planning to return. He arrived at an airport where he saved the
life of mechanic Tank Tinker, who became his friend and companion. Tank gave
Harrigan his nickname when he said, "Some hop, Harrigan." Later,
Hop, Tank along with help from a heiress (who later became Hop's girlfriend),
set up the All-American Aviation Company, a company that dealt with a variety
of exciting adventures. Right
off the bat, there was a club devoted to Hop Harrigan - with Flying Club wings, a patch, a membership
certificate, and more. It
wasn't long before Hop made his way to radio, voiced by Chester Stratton, and the air ace ran on the air from 1942 - 1948 on
ABC and the Mutual network. In fact, World War I flying aces and creators of
Jimmie Allen and Captain Midnight, Bob Burtt and Bill Moore, even contributed
to a few of Hop's adventures! Now,
Hop started his radio years amid World War II - and his adventures reflected
it. With his mechanic buddy Tank Tinker at his side, he travelled around the
world fighting Nazis and other Axis powers with brilliant heroism. The
occasional quiz was even thrown into the show to keep listeners sharp. And
each episode always began with a word from announcer Glenn Riggs, who emphasized the importance of aviation with
various stories from real missions. He would always end his spot by
declaring, "America needs fliers." Needless to say, an entire generation of future
aviators was inspired by these messages! Once
the War ended, Hop continued to battle assorted evildoers. Lack of war proved
not to mean a lack of adventure! In fact, 1946 even saw the release of a
15-episode Hop Harrigan movie serial from Columbia Pictures (available from
the Serial section of this website). As you can imagine, Hop's reign produced
plenty of merchandise and premiums : model planes, rings, advertisements, fun
books, patches, photos, badges and in 1947, a Compass Ring. They are all
highly prized by collectors today. Now
to what's survived: Unfortunately,
episodes from the Hop Harrigan Radio Show prior to July 1947 are in short supply and lack
continuity because they aren't sequential - not good for a serial but
nonetheless these episodes are full of dramatic worth - battling Nazis and
Japs, Hop & Tank encounter secret weapons, spies, Russian guerrillas, the
French Underground etc Only
42 episodes have survived from this period - not a lot from a 5 year period,
but FUN and worth a listen! On
7th July 1947 a new series
of The Hop Harrigan Radio
Show began. Hop was still played by
Chester Stratton, with Jackson
Beck playing Tank and Hop's (girl?) friend, Gail Nolan, voiced by Mitzi Gould. Glenn Riggs provided narration and interesting
information about post WWII flying in the USA. He "talked up"
innovative uses for war surplus planes, as well as the latest scientific
developments in aviation. The
15 minute episodes ran on the Mutual Network 5 days per week until 6th
February 1948. In that time 155 episodes were broadcast embodying 7 different
adventures. Thankfully all but 3 episodes of this great 1947/48 series
survive. And luckily, those missing 3 episodes aren't all from the same
adventure, are neither the first nor last episode of a particular adventure
and their lack of occurrence doesn't detract from the narrative flow. The
last episode of the seventh and final adventure (The Airline Protection
Racket) was broadcast on 6th February 1948. At the conclusion of the
adventure, announcer Glenn Riggs indicates that after 6 unbroken years,
"the boys are taking a well earned break" and that "if you
want them back" then "drop a line to the radio station". Hop
and Tank then say goodbye in what turns out to be the final US broadcast of
Hop Harrigan - not a happy moment. Want
to check out a few episodes of this wonderful 1947/48 series? - why not
"taste & try"? These
episodes are the first 4 of the new 1947/48 series which began The Mystery
of the Vanishing Men adventure -
great listening - they can be freely downloaded to your computer - just right
button click on any link below and chose "Download Linked File" (or
words to that effect). The file is on an average about 9Mb - download time
will depend on your (broadband) speed: HHVM-1947-07-07
Episode No.1.mp3 HHVM-1947-07-08
Episode No.2.mp3 HHVM-1947-07-09
Episode No.3.mp3 HHVM-1947-07-10
Episode No.4.mp3 The Australian Radio Series But
Hop did return to the airwaves 6 years later in Australia with The Air
Adventures of Hop Harrigan. It
broadcast here in Australia on the Macquarie Network from 1954 to 1958. The
series was at first based on American scripts, but later it was written as an
original. Artransa produced the series and both Bruce Stewart & Stewart
Ginn played Hop during the 5 year run. John Ewart played Tank and Marcia
Hathaway played Gail Nolan. There
were 1024 episodes of the Australian series but alas only 22 have survived,
but of those that have survived: Episode
Nos. 1 & 2 from 1954 have been found, two consecutive episodes from 1955,
a good 8 episode run from 1956, a nice 6 episode run from 1957 as well as a 4
episode run from 1958 (which concludes the Antarctic Adventure) In
1999 noted Australian radio historian Bruce Leonard as part of his Theatre of the Mind radio series broadcast a documentary about the
Australian edition of Hop Harrigan
- itŐs a very informative 30 minute listen which includes two episodes from
the radio show (the last two from the Antarctic Adventure) Want
to check out a few episodes of this Australian series? - why not "taste
& try"? These
episodes are the last 4 of Hop's Antarctic Adventure from 1958 - exciting listening and a good basis for
comparison with the 4 episodes from the US series above - they can be freely
downloaded to your computer - just right button click on any link below and
chose "Download Linked File" (or words to that effect). The file is
on an average about 10Mb - download time will depend on your (broadband)
speed: HHA_1958-02-04
An Ideal Firing Position.mp3 HHA_1958-02-05
Alternate Strategy.mp3 HHA_1958-02-06
A New Iceberg.mp3 HHA_1958-02-07
Unlikely Rescue.mp3 These
three MP3 Discs contain all 7 complete adventures from the 1947/48 series
(152 episodes), all 42 surviving episodes from the pre July 1947 era, the 22
episodes of The (Australian) Air Adventures of Hop Harrigan and the 30 minute
Bruce Leonard documentary on Hop Harrigan. A. The Mystery of the Vanishing Men (18 episodes) B. The Riddle of the Ghostly Avengers (19 episodes) C. The Channel Wing Plane Adventure (34 episodes) -
missing Episode No. 7 D. Hop & Tank in the Movies (23 episodes) E. The Mystery of the Wailing Witches (25 episodes) -
missing Episode No. 13 F. The Secret of Lakeville Bell (24 episodes) -
missing Episode No. 10 G. The Airline Protection Racket (12 episodes) H. Pre July 1947 Episodes: 1.
HH_1942-09-04 The
Plastic Plane.mp3 2.
HH_1942-09-08 The
Black Raider.mp3 3.
HH_1942-09-17 Island
Escape.mp3 4.
HH_1942-09-23 Meeting
with Karl Strasser.mp3 5.
HH_1942-09-24 Gestapo
Treachery.mp3 6.
HH_1942-10-01 On a
Train to Paris.mp3 7.
HH_1942-10-05 Unmasked
and With No Way Out.mp3 8.
HH_1942-10-07 An
American Sleep Inducer.mp3 9.
HH_1942-10-08 The
Aerial Cannon.mp3 10.
HH_1942-10-09 Moving
and Disappearing Houses.mp3 11.
HH_1942-10-30
Successful Diversion.mp3 12.
HH_1942-11-03 Joining
the Russian Guerrillas.mp3 13.
HH_1942-11-04 The
Nazi's Mystery Panzers.mp3 14.
HH_1942-11-06 Arrival
in Murmansk.mp3 15.
HH_1942-11-24 Meeting
in a Red Barn.mp3 16.
HH_1942-12-09 The Nazi
Bribe.mp3 17.
HH_1943-02-01 Cargo
Planes Crash.mp3 18.
HH_1943-02-18 Hop and
Tank Trapped in Mine Shaft.mp3 19.
HH_1943-03-11 Danger
from the Skies.mp3 20.
HH_1943-04-01 Train on
Fire.mp3 21.
HH_1943-06-07 Hospital
Attack.mp3 22.
HH_1944-01-18 The Gray
Ghosts.mp3 23.
HH_1944-01-24 Stolen
Patrol Car.mp3 24.
HH_1944-01-25 Tank's
Medical Condition.mp3 25.
HH_1944-02-02 In
Berlin.mp3 26.
HH_1944-02-07 The
Berlin Adventure.mp3 27.
HH_1944-10-04 Mission
over Germany.mp3 28.
HH_1944-11-07 Shot
Down by the RAF.mp3 29.
HH_1944-11-09
Zaltsmare.mp3 30.
HH_1944-12-25 Bailed
Out over Austrian Alps.mp3 31.
HH_1945-04-24 Heading
for Okinawa.mp3 32.
HH_1945-04-25 Captured
by Japs.mp3 33.
HH_1945-09-15 Renegade
Nazis.mp3 34.
HH_1945-11-08 Prisoner
in Nazi Camp in Mongolia.mp3 35.
HH_1945-12-14 Buzzed
by Airplane.mp3 36.
HH_1945-12-17 Night
Takeoff.mp3 37.
HH_1945-12-19 Wreckage
Disappears.mp3 38.
HH_1946-03-29 Fire
Set.mp3 39.
HH_1946-04-08 To
Transport Circus By Air.mp3 40.
HH_1946-07-01 Dropping
Atom Bomb on Bikini Island.mp3 41.
HH_1947-03-07 Escaping
from Jungle Island.mp3 42.
HH_1947-03-27 Plane on
Fire.mp3 I. Australian Episodes: 1.
HHA_1954-05-24
Universal Air Race.mp3 2.
HHA_1954-05-25 The
Silver Star.mp3 3.
HHA_1955-11-07
Diversionary Tactics.mp3 4.
HHA_1955-11-08 The
First Bag of Gold.mp3 5.
HHA_1956-06-05 Plans
Afoot.mp3 6.
HHA_1956-06-06 Cody or
Hitchcock.mp3 7.
HHA_1956-06-07 William
is Snatched.mp3 8.
HHA_1956-06-11
Helicopter Hop.mp3 9.
HHA_1956-06-12
Camouflaged Truck.mp3 10.
HHA_1956-06-13
Sergeant Released.mp3 11.
HHA_1956-06-14 The
Conqueror Escapes.mp3 12.
HHA_1956-06-18 Ambrose
Captured.mp3 13.
HHA_1957-10-17 Meeting
Bernard Frank.mp3 14.
HHA_1957-10-18
Confrontation with da Silva.mp3 15.
HHA_1957-10-21 Bound
for Brazil.mp3 16.
HHA_1957-10-22
Refuelling in Honduras.mp3 17.
HHA_1957-10-23
Passports Taken.mp3 18.
HHA_1957-10-24 The Fat
Prefect.mp3 19.
HHA_1958-02-04 An
Ideal Firing Position.mp3 20.
HHA_1958-02-05
Alternate Strategy.mp3 21.
HHA_1958-02-06 A New
Iceberg.mp3 22.
HHA_1958-02-07
Unlikely Rescue.mp3 J. Hop Harrigan Documentary: 1.
TM_1999-xx-xx Hop
Harrigan Documentary.mp3 |