Golden Age of Radio

FORD BOND . . . since his thirteenth year has earned his own way as a musician. Not that he had to, but he wanted to. To humor his parents, he pretended to study medicine, but by 19 was directing choirs and glee clubs. Radio claimed him in Louisville, Ky. New York got him in 1930. On the side he still sings in a church.

The part of Al was played by John H. Brown, another native English actor, born at Hull, Great Britain, on April 4, 1904. Later, in America, while attempting to break into radio, he derived his principal livelihood as mortician’s clerk in New York City. It seems ironic, since one of the most unforgettable roles he would later play—in dual mediums—was as an undertaker. As a sideline, Brown turned up in a handful of pithy New York stage productions, including Peace on Earth (1933-34 and a reprise in the following spring). The Milky Way (1934) and The Pirate (1942-43). Meanwhile, when the call finally arrived for a radio audition, it didn’t take him long to reach the big time. Brown’s dossier could have given rise to the backyard expression “Well I’ll be John Brown!” The industrious the plan packed a normal lifetime for most audio entertainers into an all-too-brief 52 years, ending with his demise on May 16, 1957, at West Hollywood, California. Brown might not have been stretching t...

Kay Campbell __has played on almost every network program originating from Chicago. Currently she’s Martha Logan on ABC’s Breakfast Club , Ellie Fits on the CBS Ma Perkins broadcast and Kas Benning of Breakfast with the Bennings, a feature on Chicago’s local station, WMAQ. It all adds up to a day which begins at 7:30 a.m. and ends at 11:30 p.m. and leaves her poised, blonde and beautiful. She finds time to be local secretary of the American Federation of Radio Artists, too.

SAY HELLO TO . . . MARION CLAIRE—soprano star of the Chicago Theater of theAir , on Mutual tonight at 10:00. Chicago is Marion’s hometown, and she returns to it for these broadcasts after a glamorous career in opera and movies. She was a child violinist when she was ten, playing with symphony orchestras. Later, applying her talents to singing, she went to Milan, Italy, to study, and made her debut there in 1926. Once she appeared at a command performance before the Crown Prince of Italy. In America, she’s sung with Chicago Civic Opera Company, and in the movies you saw her as Bobby Breen’s mother in “Make a Wish.”

John Conte __the announcing voice on both the Screen Guild and SilverTheater  programs on CBS, is one of the youngest announcers on the air. To be exact, he’s twenty-three, with years of experience behind him—including a year of being the object of Gracie’s radio affections on the Burns and Allen show. He sums up: “I always know what I wanted so I went shead and did it.”

Bill Cullen __was a pre-med student at the University of Pittsburgh when lack of funds made him turn to radio. His first job was as an announcer at KDKA. This made too tough a schedule along with his pre-med work so be switched and became a Bachelor of Arts. Next he tackled New York and joined CBS. Now he’s m.c. on the Winner Take All program and announces several of the other popular shows of that network.