| Show Name: | Alias Jimmy Valentine |
| Format: | Crime drama |
| Runtime: | 15 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Syndicates: | NBC-Blue |
| Starring: | Bert Lytell James Meighan |
| Announcer: | Dick Joy |
| Producer: | Frank and Anne Hummert |
| Narrated: | Ford Bond |
| First Aired: | January 18, 1938 |
| Last Aired: | February 27, 1939 |
| Othertheme: | If I Should Love You |
| Sponsor: | Edgeworth Tobacco Dr. Lyon's Tooth Powder |
Alias Jimmy Valentine is an old-time radio crime drama in the United States. It was broadcast on NBC-Blue January 18, 1938 - February 27, 1939.[1]
The concept for Alias Jimmy Valentine came from writer O. Henry in his short story "A Retrieved Reformation".[1] That story was adapted into the 1909 play Alias Jimmy Valentine by Paul Armstrong.[2] [3]
The program's stories focused on Lee Randall, described by Jim Cox in his book, Radio Crime Fighters: More Than 300 Programs from the Golden Age as "an ex-con and reformed safecracker [who] applied his talents and enormous underworld contacts to abet the forces of law and order".[1] While doing so, he became an honest bank clerk and fell in love with the daughter of the banker.[4]
The series was produced by Frank and Anne Hummert, who were described by Jim Cox in his book, Frank and Anne Hummert's Radio Factory: The Programs and Personalities of Broadcasting's Most Prolific Producers as "the most prolific creatives in eight decades of broadcast history".[5] They originated more than 100 radio series, about half of which were soap operas.[5]
Cox wrote that Alias Jimmy Valentine episodes raised "the never-to-be-resolved query: 'Can a protagonist go straight and overcome his impasse?'"[1] That query, Cox wrote, "was true formulaic Hummert".[1]
Bert Lytell and James Meighan each played the lead at different times.[6] William Bennett Kilpack[7] and Earle Latimore also appeared on the program.[8]
Dick Joy was the announcer. Doris Halman was the writer.[1] Ford Bond narrated.[9]