Golden Age of Radio

Sunday, December 27, 1942       THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL—SCREEN and RADIO Building a Bob Hope Radio Show Comedy half hour is put together piece by piece, rough edges trimmed By Kate Holliday “THAT was a boff . Leave it in!” Such a cry might barrel through the NBC control room in Hollywood at a preview of Bob Hope’s radio show . A boff, for your information, is a joke so funny it brings a belly laugh. What is a radio show preview? Just that: A show before a show—to which the public is invited and at which Hope and company test the merit of gags they have concocted. It explains, to a large degree, Hope’s continued success. A comedian’s life is usually not a happy one, evidence to the contrary. A guy like Hope, say, doesn’t just amble toward a microphone come Tuesday night and be funny. Instead, he builds his show gag by gag . It all begins on the Thursday or Friday of the week preceding the program. At that point Hope and his seven writers meet and discu

Radio’s New Top Gal, A Modern Jenny Lind May 30, 1942 By Dorothy Roe Pretty,- brown – eyed Dinah Shore , the girl soldiers write during their off-duty hours, is having a wonderful time singing for servicemen all over the country and out of it. The little southern girl has been warbling since she was 10years old, but has been recognized as a top flight singer for only a few years. Today Dinah is known as the modern Jenny Lind, and her most recent title—the Elsie Janis of World War II “EXCUSE me, please. It’s the navy.” Dinah Shore rose from the table and followed the head waiter to the door, where an embarrassed young sailor waited with apparent eagerness. We had been talking about life in Tennessee , where she was born, about the war and the songs the soldiers like. I had been asking her questions, because I wanted to know the real girl behind that moody voice on the radio, that voice that forms a link with home for American soldiers and sailors from Iceland to the B

The Milwaukee Journal – Oct 4, 1942 She’s Really Anything but a Dope By Carlton Cheney DOWN through the ages countless millions of words have been uttered or written about the manifold advantages of being smart. But one may look in vain to the advice of sages and pundits for single observation , a friendly tip extolling the manifold virtues of being dumb. This, it appears, is a gross and deplorable omission which we right here and now set about to correct, being moved to the effort by a visit we paid the other day to the home of Gracie Allen , that darling dunce of the air waves , on the eve of her return to radio with husband-partner George Burns . Gracie and George , as you no doubt know, have been taking a summer vacation, but they will be back on the ether Tuesday night, again supported by Paul Whiteman and his orchestra; Jimmy Cash, the Arkansas Singer; Bill Goodwin, announcer and stooge, and Clarence Nash as Herman the Duck. White the show this season w

The Miami News – Feb 4, 1947 On The Wing With GRACE WING ARCHIE: It was a far cry from Duffy’s Tavern to the palatial yachts over which I climbed to find Ed (Archie) Gardner yesterday afternoon. But Archie himself turned out to be the dyed-in-the-wool image of just what you hear on the radio. Reason is that Gardner doesn’t tailor his personality to fit the role of Archie the Malaprop. The part was written for him in the first place. His good-natured, slightly bewildered drawl sounds just the same whether he’s stewing over a telephone call from Duffy or regaling luncheon guests with spicy stories as he was doing yesterday. “How’d you get to be Archie?” I asked him. He told me he used to be a radio producer and writer, and that he dreamed up a serial about New York as seen through the eyes of a rich man and a bum. “Respective eyes, I mean—there were two characters,” he chuckled. “We auditioned a lot of guys for the part of the rich man and I always read the

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

THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL—SCREEN and RADIO          Sunday, April 4, 1943 In a Forthcoming movie, radio’s Dinah Shore will not only sing, she will dance and she will act. Dinah’s a favorite with the soldiers Oh, Dinah—Is There Anyone Finer? By Janice Gaines KNARAVELLA is Dinah Shore ’s cool. She receives a salary of $28 a week. She gets all day Sunday off, half day Wednesday, half day Friday and occasionally when she wants to do some shopping she gets a few hours here and there. “But Knaravella is worth that to me,” says Dinah Shore , the singing radio beauty, “because I’m strictly a home girl and she’s a good cook, and any sort of cook is hard to get these days.” Knaravella has had two raises in three months. She started at $21, mentioned defense work a month later, was raised to $25, was caught looking through the Lockheed want ads, she was jumped to $28. She does not know it set (and you must not send her this column), but Dinah would raise her again at th

The Milwaukee Journal – Jun 5, 1938 Bob Hope is scheduled to be radio’s next topline comedian. Following successes on “Your Hollywood Parade,” Bob is set to take the place of the “Mickey Mouse” show next fall. He will get one of NBC ’s top Sunday night periods. The Milwaukee Journal – Jun 5, 1938 Bob Hope Is Radio’s Newest Comedy Star BOB HOPE , comedian heard last on Dick Powell ’s “Your Hollywood Parade,” will be back in the fall—with a program of his own, according to west coast reports. Arrangements now are being made for Bob to replace the “Mickey Mouse” program on NBC next October. So—radio gets another new topline comedian. Actually, Bob Hope is no beginner. He is just about the last of the top row vaudeville and musical comedy stars to come over to radio. He has played in shows with Bea Lillie, Jimmie Durante , Ethel Merman, George Murphy, Fannie Brice, Bing Crosby and Eddie Cantor, all of whom preceded him to Hollywood and most of whom