Old Time Radio
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Milwaukee Firemen Scale Musical Heights on Radio
Milwaukee's Engine Company No. 3 building in the 1920s Most people associate firemen with music only in connection with those two immortal ditties, "Fireman, Save My Child," and "Oh, for the Life of a Fireman." It's all wrong. The truth is that firemen -- Milwaukee firemen, that is are likely to be known in the future as challengers of the world in the catch-as-catch-can music, no holds barred and the winner to take all the purse. For they have burst into the radio firmament through the ... (read more)Popeye Gave Up Spinach for Wheatena Toasted Wheat Cereal
Ad for Wheatena toasted wheat cereal from the 1930s Radio was a magical media for the children who heard it during its golden age. Just like the adults had their favorite programs, the small fry also had theirs. For the most part, these programs featured the children's favorite comic strip characters. Not only could they read about them in the Sunday newspaper, the children could also hear them live and in person over the airwaves. One of the comic strip characters is the subject of this ... (read more)Texaco Star Theater Became Radio's Biggest Hit Show
Fred Allen, host of radio's Texaco Star Theater (sometimes called Texaco Star Theatre) How many persons throughout the United States wonder what has become of Theda Bara, most glamorous of the movie sirens of more than a decade ago? And how many others are intrigued by the idea of hearing the bewhiskered Santa Claus of Hollywood's famed Santa Claus Lane on the air; or George McManus, creator of the popular comic strip dealing with the doings of Jiggs and Maggie; or Tom Mix, hero of a thousand ... (read more)Hedy Lamarr Saved Radio Show That Found Homes for Orphans
Movie poster for Nobody's Children (1944) I can tell you now the poignant story of how a complete half hour radio program was kept on the air for 13 weeks through one rather famous listener's impulsive and sentimental gesture. The story begins on a Sunday in July a year and a half ago, with the first broadcast over the Mutual network of a half hour program called Nobody's Children. Its studio setting was unique, for it broadcast from the reception room of the Children's Home Society of ... (read more)David Freedman: How to Make Visual Comedians Funny on Radio
A memoir about Beatrice and David Freedman by their daughter-in-law Nancy Freedman It has been my good fortune as a radio writer to be associated with such stars as Eddie Cantor, Lou Holtz, Fanny Brice and Al Jolson. In every case I strove to transplant the magic personality of these stars to the medium of the air by creating a sound substitute for those qualities that were purely visual. Cantor's electric personality with eyes popping, hands vibrating and every part of his being reaching out ... (read more)Jack Benny Tells on Wife Mary Livingstone
Jack Benny and Mary Livingstone in Radio and Television Mirror magazine I'm glad of this opportunity to write the lowdown on Mary Livingstone, because at home or on the air I never get the chance to say anything. There's a gal that always has to have the last word, and trouble is, it's usually funny. Yes, Mary and I have our differences, but about the only time we ever really clash is on Wednesday night. As far as I'm concerned the only good thing about that program is Kenny Baker, who, ... (read more)NBC Announcer Ben Grauer's Book Collection Goes Back to 1555
Ben Grauer in DC's Real Fact Comics 9 (1946) Reporting an eclipse of the sun from the jungles of Brazil, giving listeners a tense description of the state-by-state returns during a hotly contested presidential election, commentating with quiet dignity on the next selection of the NBC Symphony orchestra, bringing the theatre into your own living rooms each weekday morning on his WNBT Footlights and Klieglights program and covering the news wherever and whenever it happens is the day-by-day job ... (read more)Radio: The Cure for Juvenile Delinquency
Monitor brand wooden radio from the 1920s Justice James Church Cropsey, one of the leading jurists of the state of New York, recently sentenced several young men, some of them scarcely more than boys, to long terms in Sing Sing Prison. Justice Cropsey, in making an address from the bench, offered the following to the boys: We can lessen the crimes in our midst by giving our attention to the youths. They need a man's guiding hand and helpful personality. They need the example of a true man's ... (read more)The Great Radio Detectives of the 1950s
Variety Detective cover in December 1939 Richard Diamond, Private Detective is a tough private eye played to perfection by a former crooner Dick Powell. Before he started specializing in rugged roles such as the famous CBS sleuth, Dick had built up a world-wide reputation as a singer. Born in Mountain View, Arkansas, he was spotted in Hollywood in 1933 and spent the next 10 years starring in musicals. He wanted a change -- and got it in Murder, My Sweet, his first detective role. In 1945, Dick ... (read more)Last Call for Radio's Grand Central Station on CBS
Grand Central Station producer and director Hiram Brown in 1943 After more than 16 years of good entertainment, the voice of Grand Central Station on CBS is no longer heard in the land. What stilled it was not any sudden drying up of human interest drama in Manhattan's great railroad terminal, but rather the fact that Grand Central on the radio just couldn't compete any longer with the overwhelming force of TV playhouses. No doubt about it, the radio theaters are dwindling. Which is too bad ... (read more)Subscriptions
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This blog has been published since May 29, 2020 (a span of 1,449 days).
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