Dangerous Assignment
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “Otrr_Dangerous_Assignment_Singles”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
The run
- Network
- NBC
- Years active
- 1944–1959
- Surviving broadcasts
- 204
- Genre
- variety
This upload contains 180 episodes of the Old Time Radio show, You Bet Your Life starring Groucho Marx. Groucho was in his element interviewing guests while be given the freedom to ad lib. The dates, episode numbers and titles are believed to be correct based on available information, but any corrections are welcome.
1955 · 11954 · 11953 · 11952 · 21951 · 21950 · 31949 · 11944 · 1
Restoration quality — measured from the surviving files
Rough but complete · 31 of 31
Source collection
Internet Archive audio collections
Rights
Public domain — no renewed US copyright
Cataloguing
Air dates and notes from the Archive item record
Every broadcast below carries its own provenance sheet — transfer quality, file source and rights.Archive record: you-bet-your-life-1952-02-20-160-secret-word-heart
The shape of the run
What survives, year by year
12 dated broadcasts across 16 years on the air, with 8 years where nothing is known to survive. Brightness is transfer quality; empty cells are months lost to time.
JFMAMJJASOND
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
Clean transferListenableRough but complete No surviving recording
Episodes
Start here
Listen to the run in order
Restored broadcasts from 1944, in original transmission order.
- 1. MARX 1944-02-26 Guest - 43' Jack Benny · 26 Feb 1944
- 2. You Bet Your Life 1949-12-07 (71) Secret Word - Dust · 7 Dec 1949
- 3. You Bet Your Life 1950-02-15 (81) Secret Word - Sugar · 15 Feb 1950
- 01
MARX 1944-02-26 Guest - 43' Jack Benny
26 Feb 1944 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on NBC, 26 February 1944. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 02
You Bet Your Life 1949-12-07 (71) Secret Word - Dust
7 Dec 1949 · 28 min
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “you-bet-your-life-1952-02-20-160-secret-word-heart”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
- 03
You Bet Your Life 1950-02-15 (81) Secret Word - Sugar
15 Feb 1950 · 29 min
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “you-bet-your-life-1952-02-20-160-secret-word-heart”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
- 04
You Bet Your Life 1950-05-24 (95) Secret Word - Tree
24 May 1950 · 29 min
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “you-bet-your-life-1952-02-20-160-secret-word-heart”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
- 05
You Bet Your Life 1950-12-13 (111) Secret Word - Room
13 Dec 1950 · 29 min
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “you-bet-your-life-1952-02-20-160-secret-word-heart”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
- 06
You Bet Your Life 1951-04-11 (128) Secret Word - Room
11 Apr 1951 · 29 min
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “you-bet-your-life-1952-02-20-160-secret-word-heart”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
- 07
You Bet Your Life 1951-11-21 (147) Secret Word - Tree
21 Nov 1951 · 29 min
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “you-bet-your-life-1952-02-20-160-secret-word-heart”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
- 08
You Bet Your Life 1952-03-19 (164) Secret Word - Name
19 Mar 1952 · 29 min
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “you-bet-your-life-1952-02-20-160-secret-word-heart”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
Same night on the air
24 May 1950
Everything else the archive still holds from the night of 24 May 1950.
Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Chesterfield Show (49-52) 1950-05-24 (36) Guests - Perry Como, Arthur Godfrey and Bob Hope
24 May 1950 · 27 min
Originally broadcast on Syndicated, 24 May 1950. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
Also on NBC
NBC in 1944–1959
Other series the network carried while You Bet Your Life was on the air.
Same seasons
variety on the air then
Series in the same genre whose runs overlapped this one.
What it became
Friends in front of a microphone
Jack Benny and Fibber McGee sold intimacy: recurring characters, in-jokes, a house style. The modern hang-out show is the same trick without the script.
Lineage is written by our editors, not inferred from listening data.
Descendants
Working in the tradition of You Bet Your Life
Modern series carrying this form forward.
If you liked this
More to explore
Chosen by the same editors.
