Golden Age of Radio

Harlow Wilcox Your Announcer PITY poor Harlow Wilcox , NBC announcer whose voice is heard on a variety of programs origination in that network’s Chicago studios. Harlow earns an enviable salary-and practically every cent of it goes on the horses. No-Harlow never has bet on a race in his life. The nags which preempt his income are polo ponies. Not that Wilcox courts commiseration. For what else should he spend his money? After all, he’s only 35 and he’s in that state of blessed singleness in which he can fold up his trousers at night with serene assurance that (barring burglars) they will not be rifled by hands that leave telltale finger-nail polish. There was a time when Harlow lavished his excess funds on Persian carpets, but that was before he fell victim to the more rugged diversion of equine croquet. And there is more than mere love of the game in the Wilcox addiction. He is one of a small group of young Chicagoans who are eager to show the world that polo need not...

That Laugh Tells You ‘G’ Day’s Here Again THE Great Gildersleeve , the big man with the basso profundo laugh, is coming back to the air today at 5:30 p. m. over WMAQ-NBC. And his faithful followers will be happy-or will they? – to learn he is fully recovered from the near romance with Window Ransome. Under present plans, she will not even be on the show this year. Gildy’s life, however, will still be very much taken up with the schemes of nephew Leroy and the affairs of nice Marjorie. The break with Window Ransome came shortly before the program went off the air for the summer. When husband Beauregard returned to save Throckmorton P. from the bonds of matrimony. It was two seasons ago that Gildy and his crew took to radio on their own, causing more than a mild furor in one of America’s oldest families, the proud and ancient clan of Gildersleeve. This clan. whose founders built the American fleet that helped defeat the British in 1812 and whose fame has depended on its importa...

BIOGRAPHY Vincent Price “The Saint” From Missouri to London and Huck to U.S.A.—and Recognition Vincent Price  had to journey all the way from Missouri, U.S.A., to London, England, to be discovered. The actor, who portrays the debonair gentleman-adventurer, Simoa Templar, in NBC’s “The Saint” on Sundays 7.30 p.m., FDD, just couldn’t get a break in the States. But years later, in New York, he was hailed as a new British discovery. Born in St. Louise and educated in private schools, Price decided at an early age that acting was for him. After attending Yale, he went to the University of London. He had been deeply discouraged by New York producers who seemed to have no regard for his talents. Price figured if a break not forthcoming in England at least he could study his second love, history. But in England he was signed to play role of an American in a production of “Chicago”. He did well. When New York producer Gilbert Miller began casting for the Broadway version o...

Boogeymen in Comedy (Screamstars playing for laughs) Mention these names: Vincent Price , Bela Lugosi , Peter Lorre and Boris Karloff . And you would have a congregation of horror-inflicting characters who would surely induce fear and discomfort in this collection. It must be noted that all these actors assumed roles which inspired horror and terrors to their audience. However, in real life, they were nothing like the scary characters they portrayed in the movies, that’s for sure. Actually, they were all nice and often cast a funny demeanor. Their roles in the movies would surely give us scary pictures of them, and they were abominable people you would not want to meet. But the scary characters they played in films have always been spoofed which never failed to delight the audience. Boris Karloff was an English actor who did a great job in each of his horror films. His first acting role on a horror film that made him a star came with Frankenstein in 1931 as Frankenstein...

It all began by a terrible freeze in the winter of 1921. An avocado, orange and lemon grower Sam Mosher had lost all his crops and was going broke. At this same time one of the largest oil fields ever found in CA. Had just been discovered on Signal Hill near Long Beach. Sam Mosher along with many other curious people went to see what was going on. As Sam watched the wildcat wells being exposed he noticed all the fires at the tops and the natural gasoline that was going up into the atmosphere. He thought what if I could capture that stuff and sell it. It was all history after that. During this first week I will cover this part a little each day from 1922 to 1931. Below is a picture of what Signal Hill looked like in the 1920's. Most people think of Signal as the company with the stop light symbol. However, the first symbol was crossed flags like the ones pictured on the rail cars below. Sam Mosher had one problem with his idea to capture this natural gasoline he ne...