Old Time Radio

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Hazel Dopheide's Journey From Chautauqua to Radio

Hazel Dopheide on the cover of Stand By magazine in 1935 Both the training school and the practical school of experience made Hazel Dopheide the finished actress whom radio listeners know. After graduating from the dramatics department of McKendree College and the School of Speech at Northwestern University, Hazel entered Chautauqua and lyceum work. This was shortly before the rise of radio and Chautauqua was in its heyday. At 18, Dopheide was billed as the youngest dramatic reader of plays on ... (read more)

2024/04/07

The Biggest Boners from Radio's Golden Age

Cover of Nick Carter Magazine Ever feel like pushing yourself under the rug when your tongue tripped, slipped or balked and turned up with a neat little phrase you never should have uttered? Or hopelessly muffed an important introduction, or stuttered on the snappy comeback that should have panicked your dinner guests? Then you can readily sympathize with the poor announcer or actor who suddenly finds themself pulling what they are sure must be radio's prize "boner." Though they can be laughed ... (read more)

2024/04/03

How Two CBS Sound Technicians Created a Horde of Rats

Cliff Thorsness of CBS Radio in 1952 When the script for CBS' Escape called for the sound of a horde of rats attacking a lighthouse, squealing, clawing at the windows, gnawing through a trap door and boarding a ship, it would seem almost enough to stump even a veteran radio soundperson. Escape's two veteran radio technicians, Bill Gould and Cliff Thorsness, admit that creating this effect was certainly about their toughest challenge. Their work on it deserves a Distinguished Achievement Award. ... (read more)

2023/05/22

Bobby Benson Star Jimmy Halop Led the Dead End Kids

Bobby Benson was one of those rare network shows that had two distinct radio series, with over a decade separating both runs. The original show was aired on CBS from 1932 to 1936. Thirteen years after its demise, it was resurrected with a new cast on Mutual in 1949 and it continued on the air until 1955. Despite the fact that both versions were of relatively short tenure, and were aimed almost exclusively at a juvenile audience, the Bobby Benson show did accomplish at least two ... (read more)

2023/03/26

The Doctors Talk It Over Envigorates Medical Audience

The Doctor, a 1947 3 Cent U.S. Stamp They laughed when the after dinner speaker, talking about the shows and ratings, referred to Lederle Laboratories' The Doctors Talk It Over. When the snickers died down, an advertising agency executive remarked, "The program must have something. It's in its third year on the air and the American Cyanamid Company (Lederle's parent company) doesn't throw away a quarter of a million dollars a year for anything, not even a broadcast program." Lederle spends more ... (read more)

2023/03/25

The Old Maestro Ben Bernie Was a Lousy Violin Salesman

Ben Bernie, The Old Maestro, in 1932 It was really aversion to silence that resulted in the professional debut of Ben Bernie. Years ago, but not too many says the Old Maestro, in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge in a tiny blacksmith shop, a son with a rhythmic cry was born. The father, a master smithy, wanted him to become an engineer, but the mother, a gentle-voiced little person who was sometimes discovered gazing entranced into a violin store window, held out for their son to be a musician. ... (read more)

2023/03/22

Will Rudy Vallee Quit Music to Become Governor of Maine?

Rudy Vallee and his wife Fay Webb Will Rudy Vallee abdicate his throne as King of the Crooners? He will. But when Vallee steps away from the microphone for the last time, he will march into a high executive post in the radio world. Vallee may become the highly paid chieftain of the artists' bureau in a great network. Many believe it is more likely that he will be enshrined as the first Will Hays of radio -- the dictator of the air needed to pour oil on the so frequently troubled ether ... (read more)

2023/03/21

The Little Detrola Radio That Brought Magic Into My Home

Detrola CM 429 wooden table tube radio (1941) I remember the Detrola table model radio being on the end of the kitchen counter close to the window. Part of the morning ritual was turning it on to hear the mellow voice of Clint Buehlman giving the weather and traffic reports. If I was real lucky he would be giving the school closings, and maybe, just maybe, he would be closing mine. The radio was magic. I didn't know how it worked. I could figure out the gas stove. Just a pipe to the burner, ... (read more)

2023/03/20

Radio Singer Frank Parker's Secret of Success: 'Be Ready'

Singer Frank Parker, an early Jack Benny regular Frank Parker already is an outstanding tenor, and under the tutelage of that master jester Jack Benny, he is garnering laurels as a comedian. Now they would make of him an oracle -- and Parker doesn't want any part of that. Even if he's the current matinee idol of the air, Parker is so level-headed that he has no idea that his achievements have equipped him to advise those whom fortune has spurned. What's more, he doesn't think people should ask ... (read more)

2023/03/19

Lum and Abner Performed at 1935 Indiana State Fair

Chester Lauck and Norris Goff at the 1935 Indiana State Fair Saturday August 31, 1935, was the beginning of the Indiana State Fair, and was also quite a gala night for two boys from Mena, Arkansas. The Indianapolis Star and the State Board of Agriculture sponsored an amateur contest, to be held in the coliseum of the fairgrounds. And out of the world of headline radio stars, Lum and Abner were the unanimous choice to act as masters of ceremony. There they were, keeping the audience laughing and ... (read more)

2023/03/14

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