Golden Age of Radio

Marie Wilson is heard on CBS , Mondays at 10:00 P.M. EST, and My Friend Irma , the kindest, sweetest, dumbest blonde ever to wander across the airwaves. Marie left Anaheim, Calif., for Hollywood when she was fifteen, to become a dramatic actress. Fate handed her a comedy part in “Miss Pacific Fleet” and she has played sad-eyed lovable nitwit ever since on the screen, and now on the air.

John Stanley Sherlock Holmes : Sundays, 7 P.M. EST, MBS stations. When you hear the clipped, British accent of John Stanley as Sherlock Holmes (Mutual, Sundays, 7 PM, EST) you can almost see the fog swirling and eerie as it blanket Baker Street. It’s a cinch for actor Stanley to sound as though he was born in London, because he was born in London. Not only that, but during his early childhood, John lived only a half-mile from the famed Baker Street, hangout of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s celebrated sleuth. Although Stanley was born in England, he was an American the moment he came into the world. John’s father was Professor Henry W. S. Stanley and John was born while his parent was teaching diction at St. Mark’s College, London. The wife of Professor Stanley was also an American and all of their four children were raised in England. John graduated from Malvern College. “When I was twenty-one years old,” he explains, “the urge to come to my own country suddenly ...

The Best Radio Gag of the Week Heard on the “ Fibber McGee and Company ” program Tuesday at 7:30 p. m. over WTMJ-NBC. Fibber McGee—Pardon me, Miss Lombard, but your slip is showing, if I may say so. Carole Lombard—Well, if I may say so, McGee, your show is slipping!

Say Hello To- MARY YOUNG—a former ZiegfeldFollies girl who is now bringing glamor to the role of Lily, the Creole, on Arnold Grimm’s Daughter, heard today on NBC . Mary began her theatrical career as a dancer in a Russian ballet, switch to the Follies, and then in 1935 successfully auditioned for a radio job in Detroit. Two years later she married radio writer Charles Gussman, and they moved to Chicago to live. Mary was born in Chestnut Mound, Tenn., 22 years ago, and was educated in Detroit. When she isn’t acting in the Chicago radio studios she’s very busy being the mother of a little daughter who arrived in the world just six months ago.

Lina Romay-now the featured vocalist on the Dick Haymes Show . Thursdays, 9 P.M., EST. CBS. She made her first appearance as a singer unexpectedly in Detroit, when an < in.e. > invited her on stage; reached national prominence as the singer in Xavier Cugat’s Band ; has since appeared in nine pictures. Lina is a Manhattan-born Latin, the daughter of Portirio A. Romay. Mexican diplomat. 

Introducing HENRY MORGAN He auctioned off a network—vice-president by vice-president! WHAT is this Henry Morgan —the brash young man who has injected the first real touch of originality into radio comedy with his wit, sharp satire? The only way to find out—because interviewing him won’t tell you—is to listen to his program on ABC , Wednesdays at 10:40 PM, EST. A good looking, blue-eyed, brown-haired chap, neatly dressed, Morgan might be mistaken for what he likes to call “the average man.” That is, until he opens his mouth. According to Morgan, he was born if mixed parentage—man and woman—on the day before April Fools Day, 1915 . A native New York er, he started poking fun at radio years ago when, at the age of 17, he went to work as a page boy’s opinions concerning programs, announcer or talent were not only not solicited, they were not welcome. In spite of a bit of discomfort here and there on the staff, however, Morgan did work himself up to an announcer’s job at W...

Top Ten Reasons to Listen to Spooky Radio Shows 1.) Have a Halloween Party? Get instant download to your order and pop in those spooky shows for all your guests! 2.) Radio shows are the perfect solution to waiting for Trick or Treaters. Listen to a great scary radio shows while you wait for the little goblins and ghouls to some get their treats.  3.)  Have a radio listening party! Pick your favorite spooky radio show and listen by the fire with some warm apple cider.   4.) Best of old time radio! Many consider mystery and horror radio shows to be the the best for the theater of the mind. Check out our best of collections:  5.) Lights out Everyone - There is nothi...

Tom Scott CBS, 8:15 Mon, - Fri. WQXR, 11:45 A.M. Mon, - Fri. TOM SCOTT, American troubadour, whose broadcasts are heard over CBS from 8:15 to 8:30 A.M. Monday through Friday and daily over WQXR from 11:45 to 12 Noon, features folk songs that almost all Americans are glad to hear and didn’t know they had as part of their national heritage. The first time you hear this Kentucky born six-footer you somehow get the impression of meeting and talking with a young beardless edition a Abraham Lincoln . It’s not so much a matter of skin-deep facial resemblance as heart-deep love of people and the love of the land. Tom gives to the simplest folk songs the dignity of a sound musicianship, plus a sincere and natural interpretation. His musical education was obtained at the University of Kentucky and the Louisville Conservatory of Music. Before that, he had learned to play the saxophone, clarinet, violin, tuba, guitar and piano. Scott first learned many of his songs during his boyhoo...

“Do you, James Fowlkes, take Cora Dennison to be your lawfully wedded wife, to....”  October 14, 1928. James Fowlkes married Cora Dennison in Des Plaines, IL.  It was the first wedding ever broadcast over the radio in the USA.

The Milwaukee Journal – May 25, 1941 BILL HOFFMAN has the strangest job in radio. His task is to create sound effects giving life to Yehudi, the little man who wasn’t there, and to various assorted ghosts , goblins and ghouls on Mutual’s “Who Knows,” a dramatization of psychic phenomena . Radio has many sound effect men, but none with a job like Bill’s. People can disagree with authenticity of the noises he uses to identify sundry spooks, but no one can prove he’s wrong. And that’s an attractive novelty in the business of broadcasting. “After all, who really knows what a spook sounds like?” Hoffman says “When you think up sound effects for ordinary everyday things, you have something to go by. If you have to imitate the sound of horses’ hoofs, you know what a real horse’s hoofs sound like. But ghosts and goblins? You just have to have a lot of imagination, and then some.” One of Hoffman’s most frequent assignments is to get the sound of a “voice from the dead.” At f...

September 29, 1940. A huge day in radio game show history . The radio quiz program “Double or Nothing” debuted.  On it, contestants would answer quiz questions, then be asked if they want to go for “Double Or Nothing” all the way up to a top cash prize of $64.  Fifteen years later, the top prize of $64 would become the starting prize on a game show that was basically the same as “Double or Nothing”, but was called “The $64,000 Question”. It would turn out to be one of the blackest eyes of the quiz show scandals of the late 50s

KENNETH ROBERTS . . . a real New Yorker – born there and always lived there. He’s two inches over six feet, weighs 175 pounds and has black curly hair and brown eyes. Through only 23 years old, he’s married (love will find a way). Frequently poses before wooden mikes, just for atmosphere. Columbia has him. You hear him announcing lots of dance bands.

The Miami – May, 1974 Actress Agnes Moorehead , 67 RADIO AND SCREEN star Agnes Moorehead was nominated for an Oscar five times. In the 1950s she starred in the CBS radio program “Suspense.” Associated Press ROCHESTER, Minn,_ Agnes Moorehead ,, an outstanding and highly versatile character actress of stage and screen for half a century, died yesterday at the age of 67. Cause of her death was not revealed. The red-haired Miss Moorehead made her movie debut with Orson Welles in “Citizen Kane,” in 1941 . She won the New York Film Critics award for best actress of the year in 1942 for “The Magnificent Ambersons.” Miss Moorehead five times was nominated for an Oscar—in “The Magnificent Ambersons,” “Mrs. Parkington .” “Johnny Blinda.” “All That Heaven Allows,” and “Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte.” One of Miss Moorehead’s most memorable roles was that of a woman past 100 years of age in “The Lost Moment,” in 1947 . The actress had been a patient at the Mayo Clinic her...

HOLLYWOOD. GARRY MOORE is a calm, pleasant, normal acting young man who does the weirdest things. He plays golf in his bare feet because “it’s more comfortable that way.” He has surrounded himself with several hundred dollars’ worth of tropical fish because they’re “fascinating, dreamlike, and soothing.” He also owns two parakeets and two lovebirds which he can’t bear to cage and which are liable to make dive bombing attacks on visitors from the curtain rod. Garry also earns a handsome living—more than $100,000 a year—by working just an hour and a half once a week, on Sunday evening. He’s the new emcee of the quiz show “Take It or Leave It.” Garry confesses, “I feel a little guilty, having such an easy life, and may take on a daily show too.” He’s known as “The Haircut” because he wears his unruly dark thatch in a brushlike stubble—it’s either that or plaster it down with goo. I found Garry in the green walled study of his Brentwood home, where he lives with his wife a...

DAVID ROSS . . . tried his hand as newsboy, reporter, actor and teacher before he took up radio . Writes poetry . Born in New York in 1895. Struggled against poverty; worked his way through college. He’s 5 feet 5 inches tall. DAVID ROSS ANNOUNCER AND POETRY – LOVER IT should take a casr-iron set of vocal chords to withstand the strain of the different assignments and excitements in an announcer’s life. Yet the silver-bell tones of David Ross sound as mellifluous as ever, after more than fifteen years spent on the air. His mellow voice is still heard caressing the air waves as announcer for such shows as the Andre Kostelanetz program on CBS every Sunday afternoon at 4:30 E.W.T. The long-lasting melody in David’s voice may seem from the fact that he has a poet’s soul. It was his habit of carrying around a collection of poetry that got him his start in radio . The very first program he’d ever seen was the one on which he made his debut. Instead of watching t...

Say Hello To- ANN THOMAS—a sweet-faced young miss of 23 who is radio’s expert in tough-gal roles. You hear her tonight as the thick-witted maid, Lily, in Meet Mr. Meek over CBS —and other days when you tune in a particularly tough feminine voice, the chances are that’s Ann too. She’s a veteran of same 35 productions on Broadway , and long since lost count of all her microphone characterizations. Her big-guest thrill recently came when Minerva Pious, Fred Allen ’s dependable comedy actress, had to go to Hollywood for two weeks and Ann was chosen to handle her roles on the Allen program. She’s blonde, New York born, and single.

The Pittsburgh Press- Jul 19, 1942 Inner Sanctum Host Isn’t a Bad Guy If You Look at Him Out of Character He’s been a caddy, a soda jerk, a bus boy, an insurance salesman, a bank teller and a tennis pro. His favorite composer is Sibelius, he is a profound a thinker as a college professor but he usually dresses in casual tweeds and sport jackets. His friends sum him up simply as “a heck of a swell guy.” That’s Raymond Edward Johnson, much-heard NBC actor. Currently Ray is heard in “The Story of Bess Johnson” as Clyde. Bess’ outspoken but sincere’ friend. That’s pretty close to real life, too. The real Bess Johnson (no relation) gave Ray his first radio job some years back. He also is “The Host” on the Blue Network’s “ Inner Sanctum ” and his fan mail brings carloads of oil cans for the famous squeaking door that opens the program *         *        * The first radio job Ray landed was in “T...

Eugene Register-Guard – Jul 17, 1971 Voice artist dead at 58 LOS ANGELES Funeral services will be held Tuesday for William Thompson, character voice artist best known for his creations on the old “ Fibber McGee and Molly ” radio show. Thompson, 58, died Thursday at St. Vincent’s Hospital. He had been an executive with the Union Oil Co. for the past 14 years. Thompson was the voice of “The Old Timer” and “Wallace Wimple.” He was also the voice of the white rabbit in Walt Disney’s movie “Alice In Wonderland,” and did voices in the Disney movies “Lady and the Tramp” and “The Aristocats.”

CHARLES RUSSELL —forsook a lucrative job in hometown Tarrytown, N. Y., for the stage. After starving several years in Little Theater roles, Charles wangled a screen test and subsequently made several pictures. He recently made his radio debut in the new mystery series Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar (10:30 P.M. EDT, Fri., CBS ). Actress Nancy Guild is his wife.

Popular Mechanics, June 1951 Rochester Designs Own Speedster Tired of “driving” the boss’ horse-and-buggy Maxwell, Eddie Anderson , famed Rochester of Jack Benny ’s show, designed himself a sleek sport car that will hit more than 100 miles an hour. Its power plant is a highly tuned Cadillac engine, Anderson proved himself to be no slouch as an engineer, coming up with such innovations as dual soft springs in the rear for a gentle, firm ride. Said to cost about $20,000, the speedster was made by Emil Diedt, builder of the Blue Crown Special racers. <Motor Trend Magazine drawing > Frame of the Rochester car is principally chrome- moly tubing. Seats are low, being mounted within frame members. Car has 6 ½ -inch ground clearance. Below, Rochester and his car. Note the “clamshell” fenders

Say Hello To- GEORGE PUTNAM—the announcer for Portia Faces Life , on CBS this afternoon. George was born in Deposit, N. Y., but soon went westward with his family, stopping in San Diego, Calif. George studied to be a history teacher, but jilted that profession in favor of a WPA drama group. Later he Toured the coast with a Shakespearian troupe headed by Tyrone Power’s mother. Then came six months of highly unsuccessful searching for gold before he got a job as announcer on a San Diego station. Three years ago he joined the CBS staff in New York. last June he married Ruth Carhart, the popular radio songstress.

Patricia Ryan -began her radio career at eight and a year later joined the Let’s Pretenders, where she still is heard, most often as a Fairy Godmother, a role she also played in real life during war years when she was a Nurse’s Aid and visitor to injured seamen in New York ’s hospitals. Pat has regular featured roles on Theater of Today. Grand CentralStation , Aunt Jenny and Big Sister , all Columbia programs .

Reading Eagle – May 1, 1940 ‘Kidnaping’ Starts Riot at Harvard Rochester, Benny’s Stooge, Center of Fracas Cambridge, Mass.. May 1 (AP)— The first riot of spring occurred in Harvard Square last night and seven Harvard students were arrested for disturbing the peace. The riot, which embodied all the usual features of Harvard Square spring disturbances, apparently developed from a combination of the warm evening air and the fact that a group of Massachusetts Institute of Technology students put one over on the Harvards by “abducting” Eddie “Rochester” Anderson , Negro comedian on the Jack Benny radio program . Rochester, scheduled to appear at a Harvary smoker, turned up instead at the Delta Kappa Epsilon House at M. I. T., after being persuaded by a group of Dekes to leave his plane at Providence, R. I., and motor to Cambridge. The comedian thought he was at Harvard until two hours later. The riot, which found some 200 students milling around in the s...