Old Time Radio

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Fibber McGee and Molly at Home in Chicago

Jim and Marian Jordan perform Fibber McGee and Molly on NBC News of their impending assault on the screen capital had just broken when I called on Jim and Marian Jordan, who are Fibber McGee and Molly as well as sundry other quaint characters on a weekly radio program. I found them at a modest but quite fetching home in Peterson Woods, an attractive, spic-and-span district of Chicago's North Side, neither exclusive nor ritzy. It is the Wistful Vista of the McGee radio script. No ... (read more)

2020/06/29

Radio Jingle Moves 1 Million Barrels of Burgermeister Beer

Burgermeister, Burgermeister It's so light and golden clear, Burgermeister, Burgermeister It's a truly fine pale beer This jingle has proved to be worth about $4 million a word so far. Sung to the tune of "Clementine" on a host of California radio stations, it has impelled thousands of Californians to switch to Burgermeister. Sales for 1951 are up 33% over 1950 with annual sales of close to one million barrels. That wasn't the situation in 1944 when 55-year-old German-born Henry E. ... (read more)

2020/06/29

WDAF Nighthawks and the Merry Old Chief

"Station WDAF, the Kansas City Star Nighthawks, just doing a little hawking" is a phrase familiar to radio listeners all over the United States and other parts of the world. For when the Merry Old Chief starts to dispense his happiness and good cheer at 11:45 p.m., fans invariably dial for Kansas City. The Merry Old Chief is the most popular feature of the Nighthawks program. His original style of announcing, his ready wit, his million-dollar laugh and his unusual singing voice have ... (read more)

2020/06/28

Phil Harris: Why Alice Faye Moved from Movies to Radio

Alice Faye and Phil Harris with daughters Phyllis and Alice Jr. in 1948 Maybe I never should have taken Alice Faye as my bride on that day in May seven years ago. Until then, all this beautiful, big hunk of talent talks about is show business. Then she marries me, gets a house, has babies, and all she wants is to push one of those wire carts around the grocery store. First thing you know I'm not allowed to make tours with my band any more, either. "We're through living by an upside down ... (read more)

2020/06/27

Bing Crosby Wants His Records Banned from Radio

Bing Crosby on CBS Radio How many times a day do you tune in your radio and hear records being played? Would you feel deprived if the station you listened to no longer played these records of your favorites? That is the situation you may soon be facing. It's important enough for several of the networks' biggest stars to have joined hands in a concerted action to ban the records they have made from the air. In January a decision was handed down in a Philadelphia court which forbade a ... (read more)

2020/06/26

Ida Bailey Allen Cooks on the Radio

Radio cook Ida Bailey Allen Ida Bailey Allen, known as the Nation's Homemaker, was found in her sunshiny and electrically equipped kitchen testing a recipe for Scotch soda scones, which was sent by a member of her National Homemaker's Club, which she organized last June, and of which she is now president. Each of her members are on their toes submitting their recipes in hopes of winning the monthly prize she offers for the best recipe. This kitchen, located on the 15th floor of an office ... (read more)

2020/06/25

Orson Welles is Not a Communist

Orson Welles performs War of the Worlds on CBS radio in 1938 Almost any week in Hollywood Orson Welles is the main topic of conversation. Personally, your editors don't like Welles. He is the seven-year-old kid next door who has a vocabulary twice his size. He is the good-looking young man who walks off with your best girl. He is the braggart who says impossible things and then does them. Your editors are average people. That's why they personally are not fond of the man who is too good and ... (read more)

2020/06/24

Mandel Kramer Commits Crimes on TV, Solves Them on Radio

Mandel Kramer during his years on CounterSpy Ordinarily, on other programs in which he appears, Mandel Kramer is a two-faced, ornery killer, as likely to be erased on a show as not. It is seldom Kramer lasts to the end of any show -- except on CounterSpy, where he is Harry Peters, the hard-working associate of David Harding. At a time when TV has made tremendous inroads into the entertainment world, the 35-year-old Harrison, New York, gentleman is one of the handful of actors who has not ... (read more)

2020/06/23

Bob Sylvester and his Orchestra Featuring Olga Vernon

Associated Radio Artists ad from 1937 Five feet, five inches of scintillating personality, a voice with soft, mellow depths and a soothing quality, red hair (though she insists it's auburn), a creamy complexion. In short, an eyeful. That's Olga Vernon, the Sophisticated Lady of Song, who appears with Bob Sylvester and his Orchestra on a hand-picked network of Southern stations. You can hear her every Tuesday night at 10 p.m. EST over WJSV, Washington; WRAV, Richmond; WBT, Charlotte; ... (read more)

2020/06/22

Mexican Police Band Performs Concert to Entire U.S. on Radio

The WJAZ broadcast control room in 1922 The Zenith-Edgewater Beach Hotel broadcasting station in Chicago on the evening of Sunday September 30 gave to its listening audience throughout the United States a rare treat which was fully appreciated, as evidenced by the thousands of letters pouring into the station. The official Mexican police band of 87 pieces, sent to this country by President Álvaro Obregón, appeared in full uniform and rendered a concert of continuous playing, lasting ... (read more)

2020/06/21

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