{{short description|American radio program}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox radio show | name = ''Cafe Istanbul'' | image = Marlene Dietrich in Morocco trailer 3.jpg | imagesize = 250px | caption = Marlene Dietrich | other_names = | format = Foreign intrigue/adventure | runtime = | country = United States | language = English | home_station = | syndicates = American Broadcasting Company | television = | presenter = | starring = Marlene Dietrich<br>Ken Lynch<br>Arnold Moss | announcer = | creator = | writer = | director = Marx Leebe | senior_editor = | editor = | producer = Leonard Blair | exec_producer = | narrated = | rec_location = | rem_location = | oth_location = | first_aired = {{Start date|1952|01|06}} | last_aired = {{End date|1952|12|28}} | num_series = | num_episodes = | audio_format = | opentheme = | othertheme = | endtheme = | sponsor = | website = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} --> | podcast = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} --> }} '''''Cafe Istanbul''''' is an old-time radio foreign intrigue and adventure program in the United States. It was broadcast on ABC January 6, 1952 - December 28, 1952.<ref name="dunningota">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fi5wPDBiGfMC&dq=%22Cafe+Istanbul,+foreign+intrigue%22&pg=PA130 |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 |pages=130–131 |edition=Revised |access-date=2019-10-04}}</ref>
==Format== ''Mademoiselle Madou'' was the singer in Cafe Istanbul, a cabaret located somewhere in the Far East. Patrons of the cafe included "spies, criminals and the Secret Police," and Madou became involved with some of them in each episode.<ref name=rp>Terrace, Vincent (1999). ''Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows''. McFarland & Company, Inc. {{ISBN|978-0-7864-4513-4}}. Pp. 57-58.</ref>
Jack O'Brian, a reviewer for International News Service, wrote in his radio-television column that the program, "which fills the air with a flavor mixed generously of throaty innuendo, sinister and exotic citizens of foreign extraction, is a fairly unbelievable mishmash but we have no complaints much on that score."<ref name="dt">{{cite news|last1=O'Brian|first1=Jack|title=Along The Radio-TV Bands|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8622245/the_daily_times/|work=The Daily Times|agency=International News Service|date=January 26, 1952|location=Ohio, New Philadelphia|page=7|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = January 28, 2017}} {{Open access}}</ref> He concluded that it was an "earful of sultry fun."<ref name=dt/>
==Personnel== Marlene Dietrich played Mademoiselle Madou, a role that was "created specifically for" her.<ref name="az">{{cite book|last1=Reinehr|first1=Robert C.|last2=Swartz|first2=Jon D.|title=The A to Z of Old Time Radio|date=2010|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=9780810876163|page=51|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AP_vpj40jC8C&dq=%22Cafe+Istanbul%22+radio&pg=PA51|accessdate=28 January 2017|language=en}}</ref> Dietrich was apparently the power behind the show. In the book ''Dietrich Icon'', Gerd Gemünden and Mary R. Desjardins wrote, "A radio executive told ''Colliers'': 'The radio show is her package. She got the idea for it — based on the role she played in ''The Blue Angel'' — and she hires the actors and writers with her own money."<ref name="di">{{cite book|last1=Gemünden|first1=Gerd|last2=Desjardins|first2=Mary R.|title=Dietrich Icon|date=2009|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0822389675|pages=91–94|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3sduqvD_0mAC&dq=%22Cafe+Istanbul%22+radio&pg=PA91|accessdate=28 January 2017|language=en}}</ref> They also cited an article in ''Time'' that described Dietrich as sitting up until 3 a.m. "pecking out 17 pages of script revisions for the first show."<ref name=di/>
Ken Lynch played ''Christopher Gard'', "an American young man of mysterious connections, who holds a unique place in the affections of Mlle. Madou".<ref name=drc>{{cite news|title=La Dietrich's 'Cafe Istanbul' On Air Sundays|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8620414/denton_recordchronicle/|work=Denton Record-Chronicle|date=January 6, 1952|location=Texas, Denton|page=18|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = January 28, 2017}} {{Open access}}</ref> Arnold Moss played police Colonel Raul Felki, who didn't know "whether to make love to Madou or throw her in jail."<ref name=drc/> Marx Leebe was the director, and Leonard Blair was the producer. Bernard Green provided the music.<ref name=drc/>
== References == {{Portal|Radio}} {{Reflist}}
<!--- Categories ---> Category:1952 radio programme debuts Category:1952 radio programme endings Category:ABC radio programs Category:American radio dramas Category:1950s American radio programs