Golden Age of Radio

  HE MAKES LIKE SUPERMAN BUD COLLYER KEEPS A SCHEDULE THAT WOULD WILT EVEN THE COMIC BOOK HERO HE PLAYS ON THE AIR BY TWEED BROWN IT’S 10:45 most any week-day morning at the RCA building in Radio City. A studio door suddenly bursts open and out streams a human form—faster than a speeding bullet—and disappears into another studio three doors down the hall. It’s not a bird—not a plane—it’s not even Superman . This human chunk of greased lightning in Clayton (Bud) Collyer, a radio character who makes like Superman —both on the air and off. The above 100-foot sprint in occasioned by Bud’s super schedule which calls for him to appear on NBC’s “Road of Life,” from 10:30 to 10:45 five days a week and on ABC’s “Listening Post,” from 10:45 to 11 an equal number of days. There’s only a 30-second lapse between Bud’s last words as announcer-narrator on “Road of Life” and his opening lines on “Listening Post.” “It’s a good thing both studios are in the same bui...

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 ...

Camel Caravan: Come to the Clubhouse to enjoy Fine Tobacco and Great Jazz! Memories of Navy Boot Camp. It should have felt like an extended vacation to be in sunny San Diego in January and February, but it was Boot Camp. We were learning important things like how to march, the proper way to wear bell-bottomed jeans, and how to carry a very heavy rifle that hadn't been in a firing condition since the late 1940s. Many hours were expended contemplating important issues, like whether or not there was a naked lady drawn into the front leg of the Camel on the cigarette package. One day one of our Petty Officers posed a question which kept the barracks buzzing for several days. "If you were stuck in the desert on the front of the Camel cigarette package with nothing but the camel, the palm trees, and the pyramids, how would you survive?" Us Boots came up with a number of theories and guesses; of course all wrong. Sit in the shade of the palm trees? The pyramids? Drink th...

Tex Williams July 1950 Star of NBC’s “Western Caravan” When the faint wisps of the novelty song, “Smoke! Smoke! Smoke!” first attracted the attention of the entertainment world, few observers recalled the old saw about “where there’s smoke, there’s fire.” When the smoke cleared away, however, the song had sold over 2,000,000 copies and had established Tex Williams, one of its composers and singing star of NBC’s new dramatic Western series, “Western Caravan” (Sundays, 6:30 p.m., EDT) as one of the brightest stars on the entertainment horizon. A native of Ramsey.III., Tex had more than the ordinary obstacles to overcome before he could pursue his musical career. Stricken with polio as a child, it took years of long, grueling exercise to strengthen his body to the degree needed to carry out his ambition. In 1937, he joined a traveling band and. as has happened to many an aspiring artist. was stranded without funds, in this case in Oregon. A generous couple. Mom and Da...

I've yet to come across a good MP3 player that has a sleep timer to play your old time radio shows , but there are a few other alternatives: When you play the shows on your computer, you can create a playlist on a program such as WinAmp or Windows Media Player (and just put a single or two episodes in the playlist); you could have computer speakers piped into your room or by using a low-power AM-FM transmitter , you could play the shows on your computer and have them come out on a nearby radio. nother alternative would be to have a plug-in timer power the Mp3 player (and turn off after an hour or so). Many TV's have sleep timers on them - if you have a DVD player that plays the old time radio shows through your TV, you could have the sleep timer on the TV turn off the sound as well. An old time listener recently emailed this Timex alarm clock radio which plays old time radio MP3 files . I've never used this model before and couldn't vouch for its reliability, b...

Mar. 30, 1940 “BELIEVE IT OR NOT” (A Review) “ BELIEVE IT OR NOT .” With Robert L. Ripley, Linda Lee and the orchestra of B. A. Rolfe . Friday, Columbia Broadcasting System 10:30 p.m. EST, 9:30 p.m. CST, 7:30 p.m. PST Sponsored by Nehi Corp. for Royal Crown Cola, produced by Balten, Barton. Durstine and Osborn, Inc., New York, originates in New York CBS studios. Show reviewed was heard on March 8 DEFINITELY tempoed for the ice-gripped winter trade was this program of Ripley’s “Believe It or Not.” And its music, as well as its two dramatized unbelievables, had to do with tropical islands in sun-kissed seas. The Rolfe orchestra started the torrid program with a hot little number called “Holy Smoke.” followed by the first of the Ripley dramatizations. It was the story of how a French warship, in 1859, had been sent to subjugate a native island in the South Seas and, on the shoals off the very island, was shipwrecked, its sailors captured and sentenced to de...

I REMEMBER GROUCHO BY GEORGE FENNEMAN                                                                                          PART ONE Harry von Zell’s column “Memories” will not appear this issue because as we go to press Harry is hosting a Silver Circle cruise to the South Pacific. He’s asked his friend George Fenneman to be the guest columnist and to write about his experiences with Groucho Marx . Since the recent death of  Groucho Marx  , I’ve often been asked what he was like. And I have to say he was unique, and he was fearless. It was a great privilege to work with him for 15 years and to be his friend for 30. How did I start working with Groucho? I think it was sheer luck. I won the audition for “You Bet Your Life”...