The Adventures of Christopher Wells

{{Short description|CBS radio crime drama}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}

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{{Infobox radio show

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| image = Vicki Vola 1937.jpg

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| caption = Vicki Vola portrayed Stacy McGill,
assistant to Christopher Wells.

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| format = Crime drama

| runtime = 30 minutes

| country = United States

| language = English

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| syndicates = CBS

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| first_aired = September 28, 1947

| last_aired = June 22, 1948

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The Adventures of Christopher Wells is a 30-minute radio crime drama broadcast on CBS from September 28, 1947, to June 22, 1948.Terrace, Vincent (1999). Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows. McFarland & Company, Inc. {{ISBN|978-0-7864-4513-4}}. P. 9.

It debuted at 10 p.m. Eastern Time on Sunday{{cite news |title=Premiere in Fall for 'Christopher Wells' -- New Panel for 'Pursuit of Happiness' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1947/07/04/archives/premiere-in-fall-for-christopher-wells-new-panel-for-pursuit-of.html |access-date=December 15, 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=July 4, 1947 |page=26|url-access=subscription }} and remained there through January 1948. Beginning on February 3, 1948, it aired on Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m. E. T. The move was part of a CBS "mood programming" strategy, which put dramatic programs on Tuesday evenings, comedy shows on Friday nights, and musical offerings on Sunday afternoons.{{cite news |title=The News of Radio; ' Christopher Wells' and 'Studio One' Moved to Tuesday Night Spots on CBS Chain |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1948/01/20/archives/the-news-of-radio-christopher-wells-and-studio-one-moved-to-tuesday.html |access-date=December 15, 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=January 20, 1948 |page=46|url-access=subscription }} The shift to Tuesday was fatal, as it placed the drama opposite Fibber McGee and Molly on NBC.

Sponsored by DeSoto-Plymouth, the program was created and directed by Ed Byron, who also created the more successful Mr. District Attorney.{{cite magazine |date=October 1, 1947 |page=24 |title=Christopher Wells |magazine=Variety |url=https://archive.org/details/variety168-1947-10/page/n23/mode/1up |accessdate=November 5, 2024 }}

Myron McCormick had the title role of globe-trotting journalist Wells, and Charlotte Lawrence portrayed Stacy McGill, Wells' assistant. Les Damon and Vicki Vola took over those lead roles in February 1948. Edward A. Byron was producer-director. Peter Van Streeden furnished the background music.{{cite news|title=Wells Cast|newspaper=Harrisburg Telegraph |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3083765/harrisburg_telegraph/|agency=Harrisburg Telegraph|date=January 10, 1948|page=19|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = August 24, 2015}} {{Open access}}

Robert Shaw's scripts usually placed Wells in a different country each week. For Newsweek, Byron offered a back story on Wells, noting that he was born September 28, 1912, sold newspapers and worked as a $16-a-week cub reported on a New York daily newspaper before becoming a featured columnist with traits of Nellie Bly, Richard Harding Davis and Walter Winchell.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EwtRbXNca0oC&dq=%22The+Adventures+of+Christopher+Wells,+crime+drama%22&pg=PA8 |last=Dunning |first=John |author-link=John Dunning (detective fiction author) |title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio |date=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-0-19-507678-3 |page=8 |edition=Revised |access-date=2019-10-25}}

In its original time slot, the show's competition included Take It or Leave It.