Golden Age of Radio

The Milwaukee Journal – Jul 19, 1942      Browse this newspaper>> Browse all papers>> The D. A.’s a Stickler for Accuracy Eye for the Little Things Keeps Ed Byron’s Show Well Up in Surveys NEW YORK , N. Y. –If somebody must get shot on NBC’s “ Mr. District Attorney ” program, the guy with the shooting irons must tell Director Eddie Byron where he intends to plug the victim. The victim may even select the spot—through the chest, for example, or deep in the tummy. But once he has made up his mind how he wants to get shot, he has to act the part. “If you’re going to get shot through the chest, then you’ve got to talk with a sort of whistle,” Byron explains to the victim. “If you want it in the stomach, you better throw in that death rattle. Where a person is shot affects his manner of speech.” Byron is the same way about a member of the cast who must go crazy. The unfortunate player can choose his favorite form of insanity but hi...

Jane and Goodman Ace. WTMJ’s “ EasyAces ,” give their script a once over before the broadcast The Milwaukee Journal – Apr 23, 1939 Aces Are High in Radio Comedy WHAT makes a radio program click? Goodman Ace is a good one to ask. His “ Easy Aces ” have been grand slamming across the networks for almost a decade, setting a high standard for comedy serials of family life. If you want to go into the subject with a scholarly approach, to get the viewpoint of writer, producer and actor. Mr. Ace is still your man. He’s all three in his Easy Aces program, broadcast Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 6:30 p. m. over WTMJ. But to get back to the question: What makes a radio program click? Well, let’s go behind those cleverly humorous situations on the Easy Aces show and see. Mr. Ace is one of those conscientious comedians who keeps an ear close to listener taste and reaction. In this connection, he has arrived at some interesting conclusions. Listeners, he bel...

<Demure, lady like and looking far aloof from crime, Alice Frost plays Pam North in the NBC mystery series, “ Mr . and Mrs. North ”> Faithful Frost Fans Are Alice’s Pride THE Alice Frost Fan club will be five years old in June. In that time Alice, reversing the recipe for a well behaved child, has been heard but not seen in a variety of roles ranging from saint to sinner to siren. Currently she is whimsical Pam North of NBC ’s “ Mr . and Mrs. North ,” (WTMJ, Wednesdays, 7p. m.). Thorough it all the 150 in the limited membership of her fan club have remained unwaveringly loyal. Listeners have a way of associating actresses with the parts they play, but the Frost fans can take changes in their stride. The women who visualized Alice herself as the very personification of the sweet, high minded girl she played so long in “ Big Sister ,” now accept her with equal enthusiasm as that gay amateur sleuth, Pam North. And when she’s heard, as she often is, as the e...

The Milwaukee Journal – Jan 28, 1945 Unveiling  DUFFY’S TAVERN “ DUFFY’S TAVERN , where the elite meet to eat, Archie the manager speaking . . .” That’s Ed Gardner, Archie himself, who has got himself and his tavern into the movies after winning nation-wide laughter as a radio comedian (7:30 p. m. Fridays, WTMJ) Gardner is a former WPA worker who mangled English so intelligently that the radio industry figured he really was worth $5,000 a week. Hollywood raised the ante so the tavern, with its characters and free lunch, is now before the cameras at Paramount. Everybody from the radio show is there except Duffy himself, the disembodied voice who calls Archie on the phone. And it includes Clifton Finnegan, the well known moron; Eddie, the waiter, and the enchanting Miss Duffy herself. To give the hangout a little style, Paramount has chipped in with Bing Crosby and the four Crosby kids, Dorothy Lamour , Veronica Lake, Eddie Bracken , Victor Moore, Barry...