In the second movie version of the NBC radio show, Harold Peary is on jury duty against a yegg caught with soup -- that's a safecracker carrying nitroglycerin. Peary thinks thinks that the evidence is circumstantial and holds out for 'Not Guilty', to everyone's annoyance. He doesn't know he has received a letter offering him $1000 if he does so.
Fans of Old Time Radio may comment more knowingly about whether this was how the radio show proceeded, but the general silliness and presence of innumerable catchphrases make it a marker of its time. Just as we can now figure what week a tweet was posted by its memes, catchphrases might have equally evanescent existences, sure to convulse fans of the show and meaningless to outsiders, like Richard LeGrand's mild "Well, I wouldn't say that." The radio cast is eked out with performers like Jane Darwell. The directing duties are managed by Gordon Douglas, and the director of photography is Jack McKenzie. Both are competent, neither inspiring, and the series was popular enough for RKO to make two more. Someone took the 'Radio' in 'Radio-Keith-Orpheum' seriously.
Certainly popular radio shows were a source of material for the ravenous movie studios, but they rarely were made into A pictures. That can be deduced from the humor here of Peary wandering around town in his underwear.
