Newsletter April 2026

Carl’s Corner

by Carl Amari

It is hard to understand how anyone in 1952, from the vantage point of 2024 and all of the political events of seven decades later, could even think of being involved in a program with such a premise. This is one of radio’s most impressive series, yet its reputation has been tarnished over the decades by circumstances not of its making. How could actor Dana Andrews be associated with a production like I Was a Communist for the FBI? His presence actually brought nearly-instant credibility to the project. He was a well-known Hollywood union activist, speaking out and taking action against witch-hunts, and was a defender of free speech. He protested Blacklists and how hints of rumor alone could ruin reputations and livelihoods. There was interest in showing that one could be patriotic without using Blacklists, be in support of free speech, show gratitude for freedom, yet be aware that the actions of totalitarian powers could pose a looming threat in the post WWII world.

Matt Cvetic, an FBI informant-for-hire, was just one among a thousand or so other informants. After years of faithful and dependable reporting to the Bureau, he became reckless, unreliable and untrustworthy. How does he become the inspirational “hero” of a hit 1951 Warner Brothers movie? How did his experience become the focus of one of radio’s biggest-ever syndication successes? He eventually falls from grace with the FBI and from Ziv productions itself.

It was the creativity of skilled radio writers, exceptional supporting actors, and Ziv’s top-notch production team that had more to do with the quality of the series than the chronicling of Cvetic’s life.

Matt Cvetic, Flawed “Hero”?

One might think that Matt Cvetic’s best contribution to the radio series was his detailed experiences as an informant. These were outlined in his 1950 testimony to the House Un-American Activities Committee. (HUAC was formed before WWII, in 1938). The series of Saturday Evening Post articles that appeared after the HUAC testimony created attention in Hollywood as producers and studio heads believed it could be the foundation of an exceptional screen event.

It was Cvetic’s personal turmoil, stirred by his informant activities, that made the radio series so compelling. He lost his marriage, important family relationships, and suffered great loneliness. He endured the mistrust of both his FBI handlers and the Communist believers he had infiltrated. His informant assignment may have been a springboard for imaginative fictional story ideas, but it was these tensions with the FBI and his family, known to the writers of the series, that gave the fiction of the scripts the realistic touch that connected with the audience.

Dana Andrews: His Own Demons

Dana Andrews was one of the few movie actors who had a great voice for radio and the acting techniques to match it. Many of Hollywood’s best movie actors had great difficulty using their voice in the nuanced way radio required, but Andrews was highly capable of it. The series came to Andrews at a good time. His alcoholism, revealed years later, was starting to limit his film opportunities. This series kept his talent in public view. (He would later overcome his problems, resume a successful career, and become an advocate for those struggling with addiction).

How interesting it is that the success of the series relied on the combination of a “hero” whose personal life was falling apart, and a well-known star with his own problems holding onto his notoriety. It was melded together by a genius radio entrepreneur… and it worked.

The Program’s High Production Standard

Frederic W. Ziv never skimped on production for what he believed would be a big success. He already had successful radio series such as Boston Blackie and Philo Vance, but it was his big bankrolling of Bold Venture with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall that was a leap ahead. That series came at a time when the networks were starting to shift their long term plans and financial resources into television. Ziv saw an opportunity to provide radio stations with a program that the networks would be reluctant to fund at the level that Ziv would. Ziv would become a successful television entrepreneur, himself, but, in the early 1950s, he knew that radio stations were hungry for content, whether they were network affiliates or independents. He realized his time window of opportunity for his radio programs would close in a few years. He was confident that it was the right time for a big budget offering that had the flexibility of syndication at a time when the networks would not consider such an approach. He was right. Over 600 stations, big and small, bought licenses for Bold Venture. It was the biggest financial success for a syndicated program at that time. He thought he could do it again.

Ziv was attracted to the Cvetic story. In his mind, the 1951 I Was a Communist for the FBI movie publicity provided a fertile ground for a compelling radio series. In the 1953 Radio Daily Annual Yearbook, Ziv wrote about the success of the radio series and its 600 stations and said “There is nothing wrong with radio that showmanship won’t cure.” He was defying the conventional network radio wisdom.

The series was a big budget enterprise. It was $12,500 per episode, which is nearly $150,000 in current dollars (US$2026). Ziv was paying $1,000 per script, about $11,500 each in today’s dollars. It was among the highest payment rates in radio, even for network shows.

The writing of the series was critical. Cvetic’s life as an informant was mostly filled with finding documents and conversations and sitting through meetings. It was not always the stuff of exciting and memorable radio series. No, Cvetic’s radio life would be quite different and more exciting, and highly fictional. The shows were created by writers who could turn almost any plotline, like hum-drum grocery shopping, into a cat-and-mouse, spy versus spy, double- and triple-cross adventure while the world’s safety hung in the balance with danger at every turn. One of the reasons there was so much paranoia in the plotlines was that in real life there were so many FBI informants in the Party that members were always suspicious of each other. The informant’s life was tedious, but that could not be the life of the radio Matt Cvetic. The writers created a world that may have had Cvetic’s name, but not his life; the fictional one was more heroic.

• Milton Geiger was the most veteran of the series writers. He had written for radio for almost 20 years. His credits included variety, comedy, and drama for shows like Royal Gelatin Hour, Columbia Workshop, Inner Sanctum, Cavalcade of America, Molle Mystery Theater, The Doctor Fights, Hollywood Star Time, Adventures of Philip Marlowe, Hallmark Playhouse, Screen Director’s Playhouse, The Line-Up, Lux Radio Theatre, Suspense, Eternal Light, and others. He also wrote for many 1950s and 1960s television series.
• Don Brinkley had writing credits for Have Gun – Will Travel, Mr. & Mrs. North, and others. He later had a successful television career, writing for The Untouchables, The Fugitive, Have Gun – Will Travel, Kraft Suspense Theatre, The FBI, The Virginian, Ben Casey, Bat Masterson, The Man From UNCLE, Rawhide, Ironside, and many others.
• William “Bill” Hampton’s writing credits included Proudly We Hail, Screen Guild Theatre, Family Theater, and Hollywood Star Theater.

People Behind the Scenes and in the Control Room

Ziv producers Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee were radio veterans who became noted playwrights. Their work on radio included Columbia Workshop, Railroad Hour, Presenting Charles Boyer, Halls of Ivy, Hallmark Playhouse, and other programs. Their first notable collaboration with Ziv was Favorite Story. They would eventually write the famous Broadway play that became a movie, Inherit the Wind, and the hit play Auntie Mame. They had many other successes. They won Peabody Awards for distinguished Achievement in Broadcasting, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Theatre Association. Lee was a co-founder of the Armed Forces Radio Service and taught playwriting at UCLA. (Classic radio fans may better recognize him as “Mr. Janet Waldo.”)

Henry P. Hayward was the director of the series. He had a long career in radio production, on the advertiser and the broadcaster side of the business starting in the 1930s. He was considered to be Ziv’s right hand when it came to production of the company’s biggest shows. His experience on the advertising and broadcasting side gave him a unique perspective of the challenges and opportunities faced by station owners and the benefits that syndicated programming could offer them.

The music was by David Rose, a highly regarded arranger and orchestra leader, who became the music director of the Mutual network. A meeting while in the Army with fellow soldier Red Skelton began a collaboration with Skelton on radio and television that lasted more than two decades. When contracted for I Was a Communist for the FBI, Rose’s career was rising and he would have great success in the later 1950s and the 1960s.

Truman Bradley was the announcer for the series. Most classic radio enthusiasts know him for his time on the Suspense series under the sponsorship of Roma Wines. In just seconds, he could change his voicing from strong and authoritative tones that conveyed the excitement of the Suspense episode to a soft and delicate description of what wines would enhance a special meal, even a wartime scarcity meal like bean casserole. His commanding voice and presence in this series underscored the excitement and looming danger of the episodes.

Supporting Cast of Radio Stars and Pros

The supporting actors in the series were some of the biggest names and voices in radio. If you didn’t know their names, you knew their voices. Most all are immediately recognizable, just by hearing them say a few words. These actors were specifically identified in official Ziv show publicity:

• Parley Baer, Harry Bartell, Gail Bonney, Bill Bouchey, William Conrad, Paul Dubov, Sam Edwards, Betty Lou Gerson, Frank Gerstle, Virginia Gregg, Jonathan Hole, William Johnstone, Byron Kane, Jack Kruschen, Harry Lang, Mary Lansing, Peter Leeds, Sheldon Leonard, Forrest Lewis, Marvin Miller, Gerald Mohr, Barney Phillips, Paul Richards, Marian Richman, Jeffrey Silver, Olan Soule, John Stephenson, Herb Vigran, Barton Yarborough, and others.

These performers noted their participation in the actors directories that casting directors would use:

• Alice Backes, Jeanne Bates, Robert Boon, Jack Carol, Joel Davis, Eddie Doring, Alice Drake, Joe DuVal, John Frank, Paul Frees, Bobby Gilbert, Donna Hanor, Bert Holland, Gladys Holland, Jean Howell, Leroy Lennert, Paul Maxey, Tony Michaels, Bob O’Connor, Peter Rankin, Jerome Sheldon, John T. Smith, Eleanor Tanin, Janet Warren.

Many of these voices were regulars on other Ziv programs, too, and they often didn’t mind not getting announced credit for their appearance. From a scheduling standpoint, Ziv was accommodating to the busy schedules of top actors. Because the shows were being recorded using the latest tape technology, and there was no specific broadcast time, it was common for Ziv to have sessions on weekends or times during the week when the actors would have fewer network radio assignments. 

The Curious Life of Matt Cvetic and How the Program Arose

Cvetic’s assignments as an informer provided a general framework to the series. He was recruited by the FBI in the early 1940s to become an informant about Communist activities in his native Pittsburgh. He came to their attention when he was working at an employment agency. They were intrigued by his Slovenian heritage and upbringing. He spoke the language and was familiar with other Eastern European languages. He joined the FBI as an informant; it is important to remember that he was never an agent. 

He was successful in his early years, and they were pleased with his work. He was working his way up the Party infrastructure, and winning the confidence of leaders and his fellow members. The FBI was concerned about Pittsburgh because it was a center of manufacturing, especially for steel. That product was essential for many different industries, like automotive, aviation, shipbuilding, and construction, but was also a key material in military defense equipment. The Communist Party had targeted unions as a general opportunity for political and practical influence, especially in defense industries. Having the Party gain control or direction of unions in critical industries was considered to be a great threat to the country, hence the FBI interest.

There were other informers as part of the FBI effort. Cvetic was just one of the many. These were not easy positions to fill for the Bureau. They needed competent people with strong and resilient psychological make-up. They were being called to live a lie, every day, and to manipulate the people they met to get the information and insight the Bureau needed. There was great pressure to constantly prove their loyalty to something they did not actually believe in. The work may have been tedious, but the pressure was incessant. Cvetic eventually broke down, and had to leave. His greatest loss over the years was family. His childhood was in a family of 11 children. Many of his siblings refused to associate with him once he affiliated himself with Communist activities. His own family was torn apart, and he fell into alcoholism. He had to leave. The FBI had slowly become dissatisfied with him, and he with them, and it ended.

The first time the general public heard of Cvetic was his House Un-American Committee testimony in 1950. It must have shocked his Communist acquaintances who attended the meeting with him. They learned for the very first time that he was undermining the Party, and them, for many years. They sat in the gallery, listening, realizing that his personal relationship with each of them was part of his cover.

Shortly thereafter, a three-part series appeared in the Saturday Evening Post, written by their best long-time writers and editors, Pete Martin. That three-part series, “I Posed as a Communist for the FBI,” was quickly sought as a movie property. Even though he was just one among more than a thousand informers, he was the one who testified at HUAC and turned it into a story in a leading weekly national magazine. Thus, the I Was a Communist for the FBI franchise was born. 

The FBI wanted nothing to do with a movie project, such was their distrust of Cvetic. They warned everyone they could in the press and the movie studios that they had no role in or approval of the production. They feared his actions would put their network of informants in personal jeopardy and stop the flow of information they so dearly wanted.

First Step: the Movie

LEND ME YOUR EARS by Lisa Wolf

Shame on the Moon, by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band (1982)

Watch On YouTube

“It’s more like a western song – a cowboy song – than it is a country & western song. And the track is flawless, the best and tightest track on the album. We cut it in like two hours, and everyone decided it was the miracle track. But then we had to decide whether to use it or not because The Distance was going to be a real rock album.” ~ Seger

“Shame on the Moon”: Bob Seger’s Quiet Departure from the Road

Released in 1982 as the lead single from The Distance, “Shame on the Moon” stands out as one of Bob Seger’s most understated and emotionally restrained recordings. At a time when Seger was widely known for rock anthems like “Night Moves” and “Old Time Rock and Roll,” this song revealed a softer, more introspective side of his artistry.

Written by Rodney Crowell, “Shame on the Moon” blends folk, country, and pop influences, built around gentle acoustic guitars and a subtle rhythm that allows Seger’s vocal to carry the emotional weight of the song. Lyrically, it explores vulnerability, mistrust, and the fear of intimacy, captured in a refrain that suggests regret not just for love lost, but for love attempted.

The track is enhanced by backing vocals from Glenn Frey of the Eagles. Despite its quiet approach, the song was a major commercial success, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reaching No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart, becoming one of Seger’s most successful singles of the era.

“Shame on the Moon” remains a defining example of Seger’s ability to communicate power through restraint, proving that his strength as an artist extended well beyond arena-ready rock to moments of subtle emotional honesty.

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