Golden Age of Radio

Oh, Henry-y! ABOUT four years ago Clifford Goldsmith wrote and George Abbott produced a play about the doings of a harum-scarum high school lad with a penchant for getting into ludicrous trouble. The play was “What a Life,” but many people have since forgotten the original title in favor of the name of its hero, which was Henry Aldrich . Young Master Aldrich has become a bit of a national figure, whose doing on the screen and over the airwaves are followed by millions. He has ever been a “fat” part for the actors who have portrayed him. Above are pictured some of the principal Henry Aldriches of stage, films and radio. At the upper left is Ezra Stone, who had the original role in the play and for more than two years was Henry Aldrich in the tremendously successful “ Aldrich Family ” of radio. The bumptious young Stone crashed Broadway when he was only 20 years old, and now, at the ripe old age of 24, is through with the Aldrich setup for the duration of the war. He ente...

Henry, bitter rival of. . . George Bigelow, favorite to win. . . The great race, in spite of Dizzy. . . And Henry’s mother. . . And loyal father. In a story as gay as the Aldrich Family broadcasts themselves, lovelorn Henry, down for Cupid’s count, finally triumphs with the aid of Dizzy and bicycle build (after a fashion) for two HEN—RY! Henry Aldrich!!” His mother’s voice, poured with practiced pitch down the narrow basement stairs, summoned the chubby young man from the silence of day dream which had already begun to vex his companion, a thin boy about his own age, who was industriously oiling the sprocket of a tandem bicycle upended on the cellar floor. “Yes, Mother?” Henry’s reply was almost automatic. “Mary and I are going to the movies. Do you and Dizzy want to come along or are you going to work on that bicycle all night?” Henry roused his attention sufficiently to introduce a slightly offended tone ...