Golden Age of Radio

St. Peterburg Times – Jan 31, 1950                   RADIO IN REVIEW Phil Harris es Re-Estimated, And the Verdict Is ‘Good’ By JOHN CROSBY Probably no show in radio ever started out less auspiciously than the Phil Harris – Alice Faye operation back in the Fall of 1946. Radio critics everywhere shuddered in rare unison. Looking back through my yellowing clippings on this program, I discover that first few episodes were largely kissing games, which immensely simplified the task of the writers. Either Phil was kissing Alice. Or both of them were kissing the children. What little dialogue there was revolved around this osculation, more or less reviewing it. “Ya ain’t giving, honey,” Mr. Harris would mutter, a bad notice for Miss Faye. Or he’d exclaim –there’s no more exclamatory comedian in the business than Harris—“You blond beautiful bundle of dynamite! Put your arms around me and tell me how much you love me!” While not exactly opp

Elliott Lewis Among some actors—always the less successful ones—to regards directors as frustrated performers who, because they, themselves, have no talent, take delight in lousing up the performances of those more gifted. Not even the most disgruntled thespian in Hollywood , however, would think of muttering such a charge against Elliot Lewis, the new producer-direcer of Auto-Lite’s award-winning “ Suspense ” series, heard Thursday evening on CBS . Lewis can play the leading role, write the script or handle the direction with facility—and if an engineer or sound effects man were turn up missing, he could handle their jobs, too. The 34-year-old producer-actor-writer is unquestionably the most formidable triple-threat man to emerge in radio since Orson Welles —and he has the same zeal, imagination, and boundless energy. As an actor, his range is staggering. This is the Elliot Lewis who won a following of sophisticates throughout the nation with his smooth, romantic narrati