Skip to main content

ON THE AIR TONIGHT

Image
By Old Time Radio Shows


ON THE AIR TONIGHT: Helen Hayes, starring in a different half-hour play each week, on CBS at 8:00, E.S.T., rebroadcast to the West Coast at 7:30, P.S.T, and sponsored by Lipton’s Tea.
Unless you’re a fanatical devotee of Charlie McCarthy (or unless you live in the Pacific Time Zone, where Helen and Charlie aren’t on at the same time), you couldn’t do better than to tune Helen Hayes in tonight. Most radio acting is good, but hers is magnificent.
You’d never guess than Helen was one of America’s greatest actresses if you watched her rehearsing her radio shows. She loves radio, but is quite willing to admit that other people know more about it than she does. No displays of temperament ever go on at a Hayes rehearsal, and afterwards, when the script has to be cut so it won’t run overtime (it always does have to be cut, too), Helen goes home and lets other people wield the blue pencils. “ I’d only get in their hair,” she explains.
Besides acting on the air, Helen is starring in a Broadway production of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night.” This means that she doesn’t have much time this winter to spend at her home in Nyack, N. Y. She usually stays in New York the latter part of the week, traveling up to Nyack Sunday evening after the repeat broadcast, and commuting between Nyack and New York Monday and Tuesday nights. Her playwright husband. Charles MacArthur, and her two children, Mary and Jamie, live in Nyack the week around.
Your first impression on seeing Helen offstage is one of disappointment. She isn’t as pretty, you think, as you expected. Then she begins to talk, and you realize she’s much prettier. Her whole face sparkles with animation; she tells a story, and her gestures and the intonation of her voice bring the characters in it to life right in front of your eyes. Just now, for her role in “Twelfth Night,” she is wearing her hair in a way that ought to be a fashion for small women—it curls in crisp, tiny blonde ringlets all over her head. You can see that style in the picture above.
Helen is a lot more domestic than you’d expect an actress to be. When she’s at Nyack, not working, she runs her home very efficiently—does the shopping herself, with special reference to her husband’s likes or dislikes in food; spends a lot of time with the children, putters around in the garden, and so on. 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Was Jack Benny Gay?": The Amount of Weight In Jack Benny's Loafers

By Jon
While doing research for an article I came across an unexpected search result: "Was Jack Benny Gay?" There was no more than the question as previously stated from the original poster, but the replies made for interesting reading, ranging from: Jack Benny Celebrating his 39th Birthday "Of course not, he was a well known skirt-chaser in his youth, and he was married to Mary Livingston for many years" "Sure he was, everyone in Hollywood with the possible exception of John Wayne was and is homosexual!" "Part of Benny's "schtick" was his limp-wristed hand-to-face gestures. He was not gay, but emphasized what his fans observed as "acting like a girl" for humor. While heterosexual Benny tried to gay it up, many really gay actors or comedians in those days tried to act as "straight" as they could muster." "... the idea behind his character was to have him a little on the ambiguous side. His charact
48 comments
Read more

OLD TIME RADIO ACTORS AND THEIR ROLES, AND OLD TIME RADIO PROGRAM

By Jon
Old Time Radio Actor's Name, Character Played, Program Aaker, Lee Rusty Rin-Tin-Tin Aames, Marlene McWilliams, Lauralee Story of Holly Sloan, The Abbott, Judith Lawson, Agnes Aldrich Family, The Abbott, Minabelle Sothern, Mary Life of Mary Sothern, The Ace, Goodman Ace, Goodman Easy Aces Ace, Goodman Ace, Goodman Mister Ace and Jane Ace, Jane Ace, Jane Easy Aces Ace, Jane Ace, Jane Mister Ace and Jane Adams, Bill Cotter, Jim Rosemary Adams, Bill Hagen, Mike Valiant Lady Adams, Bill Roosevelt, Franklin Delano March of Time, The Adams, Bill Salesman Travelin' Man Adams, Bill Stark, Daniel Roses and Drums Adams, Bill Whelan, Father Abie's Irish Rose Adams, Bill Wilbur, Matthew Your Family and Mine Adams, Bill Young, Sam Pepper Young's Family Adams, Edith Gilman, Ethel Those Happy Gilmans Adams, Franklin Mayor of a model city Secret City Adams, Franklin Jr. Skinner, Skippy Skippy Adams, Franklin Pierce Emcee Word Game, The Adams, Guila Mattie Step M
Post a Comment
Read more

Old Time Radio Shows "Transcribed" Explained

By Jon
What does it mean on old time radio shows when you hear the show is "Transcribed"? During the Golden Age of Radio , "transcribed" programs were recorded and sent to stations or networks on a disc running at 16 rps. The discs are larger than 33 1/3s. "Transcribed" means it was recorded on a disc. "Recorded" was a term that was known, of course, but not used very much in Radio's Golden Age. During the era, it was also considered very important to distinguish which shows went out live and which were recorded (transcribed), so if a show was transcribed it was announced as such.  "Transcribed" was a colloquialism of the era. One reason they came up with it was because there was still enough skittishness about recording that "pre-recorded" sounded a little obscene inside the industry. CBS and NBC were live through the '30s and '40s. Yet line transcriptions were made for either the sponsor or its ad agency.
8 comments
Read more