Golden Age of Radio

As a kid  my ear was practically glued to our Zenith . Almost every station in Philadelphia carried a singing commercial by a dentist: Dr . Algase. He must have been a pioneer since in those days it was not ethical for doctors and dentists, etc to advertise. After much searching I found on the sheet music the cover (right) . That song, Show a Sunny Smile,was composed by Dr. Algase himself and legend has it that he sang it as well!  He also founded a club  and even produced a radio wedding!  Attached is the cover of the music. If by some miracle there as a recording of that singing commercial I would be surprised and delighted.  The singer (Dr. Algae?) was a tenor backed by a 1920s or 1930s type orchestra.  I know that they should be very rare especially those that were local. If you happen to have such a recordings, please reply below!

  mary-margaret-mcbride-obituary-leader-herald-gloversville,johnsontown,ny-1976-01-19 Here's radio star, Mary Margaret McBride 's obituary from the Herald Glovers-Johnstown dated Jan 19, 1976.  Interviewing more than 30,000 people on the radio including Harry S. Truman and Eleanor Roosevelt . Her network program ended in 1954.

HERE IS A moment in the life of every person when he is on the verge of entering upon a ‘dark venture’ _a time when he hovers on the brink of committing a crime. Most of us never do it. ‘ Dark Venture ’ tells the stories of those who do.” This is producer Leonard Reeg’s explanation of the basic idea behind the weekly thrill series heard Each Tuesday evening over American, Produced by Reeg, narrated by scripters as Larry Marcus, Bob Light and Dwight Hauser, with music by Dean Fossler, “Dark Venture” offers realistic, psychological studies of me and women with troubled minds who choose the hard way, the fast way, the wrong way, to solve their problems. The series was conceived by J. Donald Wilson who, incidentally, has one of the finest libraries on psychology in the world. 1. PLAY PICTURED is “Holy Acrimony “. Scene is Bill’s apartment Sharon (Betty Moran) and Bill (Dwight Hauser) have been secret lovers for several months. Sharon’s husband, Elton, stands between them...

Sunday, March 21, 1943 THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL – SCREEN and RADIO              11 The Great Gildersleeve’s Big Break If Stage Hadn’t Been Too Wide, Hal Peary Mighty Not Have Jumped to Stardom By J. D. Spiro *Picture on page 1 THE HON. Throckmorton P.Gildersleeve , water commissioner of the widely known but mythical town of Summerfield, is today a considerable sort of person in the life of this nation. When at the appointed hour each Sunday (5:30 p. m. our time) he steps to the microphone in NBC’s Hollywood studios some 28,000,000 individuals over the country cock their ears toward their radio sets and eagerly wait to learn what the Great Gildersleeve is about to do next. Yet it was only yesterday, as time goes, that the  Great Gildersleeve   was but an unsung stooge for Fibber McGee and Molly . In truth, until one night in radio New Year’s week of 1939, the  Great Gilder...

The Milwaukee Journal – Jun 10, 1938 Erno Rapee Believes Radio Creates Music Lovers THE United States, claims Erno Rapee, director of the Radio City Music Hall symphony orchestra, is fast becoming a nation of highly discriminating music lovers, a country in many ways more hospitable to even the most revolutionary in modern music than any to be found in present day Europe. A few years ago in America, Rapee says, to the average man Tschaikowsky was merely an unpronounceable Russian name; Debussy, a radical French composer whom none but a few of the musically elect were supposed to be able to fathom, and Georges Enesco, modern Rumanian master, an artist in composition as well as in concert completely unknown. But now the tide has turned. The voice of a people, long frowned on by “friends of music” on the cultured continent, the accredited home of great art, is being culticated, Rapee believes. And more and more America calls for the masterpieces, both contemporary and cla...

The Milwaukee Journal – Feb 13, 1938   ‘Actors Are Not Egotists’ A Radio Comedian Turned Screen Actor Here Gives You His Evaluation of His Co-workers and, in the Benny Manner, Emerges With All Banners Flying in His Defense of This Maligned Profession By Jack Benny Jack Benny , as everybody but an unidentified man in French Indo-China knows, appears on NBC Sunday nights with his radio troupe. His next film for Paramount is called “Never Say Die.” HERE is something I’ve wanted to get off my chest for years, I expect to be given arguments about it. There will be many snorts of “Oh, yeah?” But a Benny never falters for mere snorts. He’s faced too many dead-on-their-seats audiences. I say actors as a class aren’t nearly so sold on themselves as nonprofessionals think. Here’s what I mean. An Irishman named Mike wanted to go for a sleigh ride but he didn’t have a sled. His friend Pat did Mike thought over the situation and he said to his wife “Sure i...

Listening to old time radio is in a way its own way to time travel.  Hearing live news events unfold take you back to 60+ years ago.  Additionally, the following old time radio episodes are time-travel themed you may enjoy: Buck Rogers Some old time radio listeners would debate Buck Rogers radio show  is not time travel story. The origin of Buck Rogers, the premiere broadcast, wouldn't be considered a time travel since he himself never "traveled." Buck was put into suspended animation which is considered by die-hard sci-fi buffs as a medical procedure to slow down the heart rate and other physical functions to: One, perform medical procedures such as heart surgery and Two, for long-term interplanetary travel (i.e. Planet of the Apes ). Some fish are capable of being frozen and re-animated after appearing lifeless for a few days in a block of ice. There have been debates regarding whether suspended animation would be considered time travel, but since they cannot go b...