Golden Age of Radio

ATCHISON, TOPEKA & SANTA FE Johnny Mercer didn’t come to New York recently on the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe, but whatever he rode must have been going pretty fast because Johnny picked up some early speed that has spent him shooting to the celling of the entertainment world, his most immediate big splurge being on Your Hit Parade with Joan Edwards (Saturdays, CBS 9:00 P.M. EST). It was always in Johnny’s mind to be in the theater, but he was a wise young man and kept that to himself until it would do him some good. As a result, he submitted quietly to a formal education at the Woodbury Forest School in Virginia. His first acting was with an amateur group, the Savannah Players. In 1929, he landed a small part with the New York Theater Guild in its production of “The Hero.” His first song to capture the public’s fancy was “Out of Breath, Scared to Death of You,” which he wrote for the “Garrick Gaieties,” in collaboration with Everet Miller, who wrote the music.

Biography of Marvin Miller He Announces, Acts, Writes, Direct and Has Spare Time Announcer Marvin Miller, who began public appearances at the age of nine, had acquired such a repertoire by the time he applied for his first job that he was able to perform 42 parts in a single show which he wrote himself. That was back in 1931 in St. Louis. The following year he became a junior announcer and actor and, in 1919, he added continuity writing and dramatic directing to his assignments. Miller, now announcer-actor on NBC’s “ Father Knows Best .” “ TheRailroad Hour ” and “ Aunt Mary ,” moved to Chicago soon after and in 1944 to Hollywood, where he has been so busy that he has had only one two-weeks vacation . Featured roles in movies have been helped build that full schedule as well as many recordings in which Miller has been both narrator and actor for all the parts. He was born in St. Louis as Marvin Elliott Mueller and was graduated from Washington University there.