Voice Impersonator: Boston Blackie (December 17, 1946)

“Voice Impersonator” is an episode of Boston Blackie, the old-time radio show, first broadcast December 17, 1946. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Boston Blackie receives a visit from Jim Martin, who asks to borrow ten thousand dollars and then claims he needs to borrow something else—Blackie's voice. An actor named Tom Jenkins practices imitating Blackie's distinctive speech patterns. Using the imitation, Jenkins makes phone calls pretending to be Blackie, telling Mike Burns that Jim Martin plans to kill him and directing Burns to an abandoned gas station, where police are waiting in ambush. When Burns survives the trap and discovers what happened, he arrives at Blackie's place seeking revenge, convinced that Blackie himself orchestrated the setup.

A city theater, Boston Blackie's apartment, and an abandoned gas station on Route 20

Characters: Boston Blackie, Jim Martin, Tom Jenkins, Mike Burns, Inspector Faraday, Mary, Tony

Listen for: The repeated voice imitation practice sessions as Tom Jenkins perfects his impersonation of Boston Blackie's distinctive saying, 'So long, keep your head on the water'; the phone calls made using the fake Blackie voice; and the confrontation at Blackie's apartment when Mike Burns arrives seeking vengeance.

Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.