Golden Age of Radio

  Lux Radio Theater   "The Bishop's Wife"  from May 11, 1953 This is my favorite Cary Grant film. Its difficult to beat a combination of  Cary Grant , David Niven and Loretta Young all in the same movie! In the film,  Cary Grant  plays an angel who comes down to earth to help Bishop David Niven.  Loretta Young   plays "The Bishop's Wife". Enjoy this special Christmas radio broadcast of  Lux Radio Theater script of "The Bishop's Wife" from 1953:

The Milwaukee Journal – Aug 10, 1941    Fibber McGee and Molly are just plain Jim and Marion Jordan this summer as they enjoy their air vacation. The top comedians are show above in McGee version of gardening at their San Fernando valley (Calif.) home McGee Goes Incognito HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Mr. and Mrs. JimJordan , at their home in Hollywood suburb, packed up their trailer for the annual vacation trip. But they seemed sunk in gloom. So the kids rallied them. “Gee, Pop,” said their son, “you and Mom don’t act like yourselves.” “That’s right,” said Sis. “Every year when you pack up to go traipsing around you’re so gay. But now.” It was true, too—true those annual vacation jaunts through the western mountains had always perked up the Jordans. They’d get to thinking about the streams they’d fish, the places they’d camp, sometimes by themselves, sometimes in auto camps with jolly people all around. “Just good friendly folks,” Jim Jordan always used t...

AMOS 'N' ANDY Christmas Radio Episode, 1941 (15 minute version of story.) In this special Christmas broadcast of Amos and Andy , Amos tells Arbadella the true meaning of Christmas. This version aired shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor and doesn't include the "special doll for Arbadella" subplot,which I have always thought was nothing more than filler. In my mind, this is the best version of their Christmas radio show !

'Tis the season to enjoy some favorite Radio Mystery Theater   Christmas Radio Shows episodes: 1975-12-24 0402 Christmas Carol (A) E.G. Marshall spotlights as Scrooge in this dramatic retelling of Charles Dickens' classic... 1977-07-25 0688 Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle (The) The gift of a Christmas goose with a valuable jewel inside and an old hat send Sherlock Holmes...  1980-06-09 1092 That Magic Touch Christmas works a miracle for a beautiful divorcee and her cold and standoffish husband... 1980-12-25 1140 Holiday Visit (A) En route to visit her parents for Christmas, a couple is waylaid by a highway accident...

The Milwaukee Journal – Apr 27, 1941         Bob Hawk Quiz Whiz SOME persons may shine at answering questions on a radio contest of wits—when they are seated by their own firesides. They can make allowances for themselves, conceding this and that, and there is nobody to contradict them. But let these same people step on a stage before a microphone, with one eye on the adlibbing Bob Hawk and the other on a large and enthusiastic audience. Then their knees are wabbly and their brains befogged, as the master of ceremonies of the radio game show “ Take It Or Leave It ” volleys questions at them. However, as Bob says, this broadcast is offered in the spirit of good fun and not as any real test of an individual’s intelligence. A simple question begins each series. Occasionally it baffles a nervous contestant, who is more or less in a daze through the thought of his voice being heard by millions, including his friends and his employer, and also b...

Aimee Semple McPherson Scandal Uses  court documents, affidavits, articles and other well referenced materials in considerable detail to explore the missing weeks and subsequent events of Aimee Semple McPherson in 1926. Kenneth Ormiston actually left the Temple several months before the Mrs. McPherson disappearance.  Most accounts erroneously imply he left at the same time Mrs. McPherson disappeared.  Moreover, Ormiston presented himself to the police headquarters  May 27 to deny he had "went into hiding" he also indicated his name connected to the evangelist was a gross insult to a noble and sincere woman.  He gave a detailed description of his movements since May 19.  He took other assignments, about two weeks before Aimee McPherson 's January 11, 1925 trip to Europe [Cox Page 37-38] Shortly thereafter, on June 23, Mrs. McPherson stumbled out of the desert in Agua Prieta, Sonora, a Mexican town across the border from Douglas, Arizona. The Mexica...

The Miami News – Mar 30, 1941 Win With a Wife! America’s Ace Radio Comedians Find Success Was Aided by Their Mates IF YOU want to succeed in radio get a wife. That is the advice of Jack Benny , George Burns , Jim Jordan (Fibber McGee) and a score of other top radio stars whose acts on the air wouldn’t be possible without their “ever loving” wives. Imagine, if you can, Jack without his constant heckler. Mary: George without Gracie’s stupidities: or McGee with no Molly to admonish him with, “T’aint funny, McGee,” and you begin to see what marriage means to the comics. Many a radio funny man has taken a woman unto himself and thereby reaped a fortune. No happier or more profitable union in radio exists than that of Jack Benny  and Mary Livingstone .The antics of this celebrated couple send laughter rolling from coast to coast and brings dollars rolling into their pockets. But it wasn’t always that way. Jack’s first clear impression of his acid to...

From 1939 to 1947, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes reached millions of listeners every week. When the voices of Basil Rathbone as Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson came to the microphone, America was ready to listen. Rathbone brought a sophisticated tone to the character that was hard to mimic. In fact, through the years whenever portrayed Sherlock Holmes in movies or on the air...it was hard to picture anyone but the irrefutable expertise of Rathbone in the role. Concurrently, Mr Bruce maintaining the base bellow of Dr Watson precluded anyone else from establishing similar credibility. Many tried, but no one had Nigel’s presence of portrayal. When Rathbone decided to leave the role, they brought in Tom Conway to continue the voice characterization. Later John Stanley came in to fill the boots. Although these fine performers extended the life of the program...they could not extend the same rapport Rathbone and Bruce developed. These same gentleman played the parts in many movi...

The Miami News – Jan 23, 1938      From Edgar Bergen — Revealing Facts of Hollywood Life To Charlie McCarthy Now that Casanova McCarthy has become a film star and has met Mae West on his Sunday night NBC program, his long-suffering better half decides it is time to take him aside and tell him a thing or two. The lecture and the outcome are recorded here, along with a photographic record of what happened when they visited Dorothy Lamour at Paramount studios. MY DEAR CHARLIE: It has been a long time since my last opportunity to talk to you like a father. Remember the night in the rainbow room of Radio City over a year ago when you bet Rudy Vallee you’d take that blond chorus girl home after the show? I had to pay that bet for you, Charlie, and you promised never to look at a woman again after I took you aside in the cloak room and impressed on your tender young nature some of the facts of life. “Ah, please stop, Mr. Bergen,” you cried in shame,...

Sunday, January 7, 1940           THE MILWAUKEE OURNAL –SCREEN and RADIO       11                  Radio Gagsters Won’t Laugh By Jack Sher MILTIE BERLINDER, aged 7, stood in front of the mirror in the Berlinger’s Bronx apartment making faces. He knitted his eyebrows furiously. He seriously studied his image in the mirror. He knitted his eyebrows furiously. He decided it was pretty good. Papa Berlinger put down his paper, pointed a long finger at Miltie and addressed Mama Berlinger. “Lookit our boy.” He wagged his head disapprovingly. “All day he’s gonna stand there and make monkeyshines in the mirror?” Mama Berlinger wagged a finger back at papa. “So if Miltie wants to make faces, it hurts you? Leave him alone. Something will come of this.” “From such foolishness comes nothing,” Papa Berlinger replied and went back...

DOWN WITH COMMON SENSE VOTE FOR “GRACIE ALLEN” The Pittsburgh Press – Jul 17, 1944 Gracie Allen Reporting – Dewey’s Eye on President’s Chair, But Look What Roosevelt Has on It By GRACIE ALLEN Written for North American Newspaper Alliance, CHICAGO, July 17—Well, here I am back in Chicago to report another political convention. This time, the Democrats are going to meet and try to figure out how to keep Mr. Dewey out of the White House. The Democrats I’ve seen so far don’t seem to look very worried. I guess they figure that if Dewey has his eye on that presidential chair . . . look what Roosevelt has on it. I Gracie Allen asked some one if the  Roosevelt  'sowned the White House and they said “No.” Too bad—think of the rent they could have saved. And by the way, this time my husband. George Burns, is with me. I was afraid George might object to my working as a newspaper reporter. The average husband doesn’t like his wife to work. ...

Here's a fascinating story from Fate Magazine written by Arch Oboler , one of the golden age of radio's premier radio authors and directors. Born in Chicago, Illinois on December 7, 1907 to parents Leon and Clara Oboler, Arch Oboler was a director, producer, and a prolific writer. He had his very first script sold when he was still in highschool. He started to become famous after being hired by NBC in 1936 as the writer for its extremely popular horror radio series called Lights Out, whose original writer Wyllis Cooper left the show. Oboler was considered by many as the father of radio drama. Apart from his work in the radio, he also worked as a writer for many films, theater, and television series. He also wrote a couple of books. Most of you here would probably remember Bill Crosby’s routine about one of Oboler’s radio plays entitled The Chicken Heart. Another of his popular works include the Bwana Devil, which was the world’s first full-length film in 3D. Oboler m...

In "Radiogram" Magazine, there is a brief article listing the Old Time Radio celebrities who should be in the government after this coming election: PRESIDENT: Edward Arnold, who starred as every president from George Washington to Calvin Coolidge on the show " Mr. President ." VICE-PRESIDENT: Senator Beauregard Claghorn . SECRETARY OF STATE: Truman Bradley, prolific announcer, once touted for the position by Gracie Allen when she ran for President . SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Red Albright, a.k.a. Captain Midnight ! SECRETARY OF EDUCATION: Osgood Conklin  ( Gale Gordon ). SECRETARY OF LABOR: Chester A. Riley . SECRETARY OF COMMERCE: Col. Lemuel Q. Stoopnagle . SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY: Jack Benny . SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: David Harding . SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: Henry Barbour . SECRETARY OF THE NAVY: Captain Silver . SECRETARY OF THE AIR FORCE: Jimmie Allen . SECRETARY OF THE ARMY: Major George Fielding Eliot. SECRETARY OF T...