Golden Age of Radio

ARLENE FRANCIS –who is the emcee on What’s My Name?, Saturdays, ABC, and Blind Date, Thursdays, ABC-TV was born in Boston, Mass., educated at the Finch School and made her first stage success in “Street Scene.” She made her air debut in 1933 and since then has been heard on many programs. Her husband is well-known actor and novelist, Martin Gabel; they have a son, Peter.

JANE FROMAN . . . an alluring, blue-eyed brunette, started out to be a newspaper reporter at the University of Missouri School of Journalism located in her home town of Columbia where her father was mayor and her mother a music teacher in a college. She studied first from her mother; then at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music where Powell Crosley, Jr., president of WLW, heard her sing at a party and signed her up. Later NBC and then CBS got her. Despite the fact that she stutters, Jane now sing’s on more commercial programs than any other girl soprano. And she’s making movie-shorts, too. Husband Don Ross, baritone, sings over CBS. 

SAY HELLO TO . . . AL GOODMAN —who is back on the air after too long an absence, directing the music for Fred Allen’s program on CBS tonight. Al used to be the late Flo Ziegfeld’s favorite musical comedy maestro, and broke into radio when Flo brought his shows to the air. Since then he’s led the orchestra for virtually every singing star in opera and concert. Al is short, stocky and genial. He manages to get along with only four or five hours of sleep and does most of his work at night. He was born in Russia, but fled from there when he was a boy, hidden in a load of vegetables in a cart. His family settled in Baltimore. 

Say Hello To- RICHARD GORDON—who plays “The Bishop” in tonight’s serial on NBC-Blue, The Bishop and the Gargoyle. Richard started his career in 1898 as a reporter and cartoonist for a Bridgeport, Conn., paper. In 1900 he switched to the stage, and began a long succession of increasingly important Broadway roles. In 1930 he joined NBC’s staff of actors, and won fame as Sherlock Holmes —but after a while he refused to play the part any longer for fear of being typed. He and his wife (she was his leading lady in 1905) live in Piermont, N.Y., in a home with a big basement where Richard pursues his hobby of carpentry.

Say Hello To- WALTER GROSS—the very busy conductor of a CBS band which provides the music for many of the network’s sustaining features. The piano is Walter’s own instrument, and on it he can perform the classics, popular dance music, hot jazz and boogie-woogie with uniform ease. He first joined CBS eight years ago, playing in a band which included Raymond Scott, Benny Goodman , Artie Shaw, Will Bradley, Bunny Berigan, and Jerry Colonna (who played trombone). That was an all-star group, although no one knew it at the time, and Walter thinks the same is probably true of his present band. When his radio schedule permits it, Walter likes to spend weekends with his wife at their new country home.

SAY HELLO TO- KEN GRIFFIN—the actor you’ve all been wanting to hear about, judging from your letters. Ken plays Larry Noble in Backstage Wife and Dr. Jim Brent in Road of life —two of radio’s drama’s fattest roles. He landed in Chicago a few years ago without any previous dramatic experience and with only one dollar in his pocket, and secured a $15-a-week job as an actor at the Chicago Fair. Later he took an audition that started him on his radio career. Ken’s on extravagance, now that he’s a success, is his sloop, Revenge , one of the finest racing boats on the great Lakes. He’s 29 years old, weighs 180 pounds and is six feet tall.