Golden Age of Radio

Eugene Register-Guard – Jul 17, 1971 Voice artist dead at 58 LOS ANGELES Funeral services will be held Tuesday for William Thompson, character voice artist best known for his creations on the old “ Fibber McGee and Molly ” radio show. Thompson, 58, died Thursday at St. Vincent’s Hospital. He had been an executive with the Union Oil Co. for the past 14 years. Thompson was the voice of “The Old Timer” and “Wallace Wimple.” He was also the voice of the white rabbit in Walt Disney’s movie “Alice In Wonderland,” and did voices in the Disney movies “Lady and the Tramp” and “The Aristocats.”

CHARLES RUSSELL —forsook a lucrative job in hometown Tarrytown, N. Y., for the stage. After starving several years in Little Theater roles, Charles wangled a screen test and subsequently made several pictures. He recently made his radio debut in the new mystery series Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar (10:30 P.M. EDT, Fri., CBS ). Actress Nancy Guild is his wife.

Popular Mechanics, June 1951 Rochester Designs Own Speedster Tired of “driving” the boss’ horse-and-buggy Maxwell, Eddie Anderson , famed Rochester of Jack Benny ’s show, designed himself a sleek sport car that will hit more than 100 miles an hour. Its power plant is a highly tuned Cadillac engine, Anderson proved himself to be no slouch as an engineer, coming up with such innovations as dual soft springs in the rear for a gentle, firm ride. Said to cost about $20,000, the speedster was made by Emil Diedt, builder of the Blue Crown Special racers. <Motor Trend Magazine drawing > Frame of the Rochester car is principally chrome- moly tubing. Seats are low, being mounted within frame members. Car has 6 ½ -inch ground clearance. Below, Rochester and his car. Note the “clamshell” fenders

Say Hello To- GEORGE PUTNAM—the announcer for Portia Faces Life , on CBS this afternoon. George was born in Deposit, N. Y., but soon went westward with his family, stopping in San Diego, Calif. George studied to be a history teacher, but jilted that profession in favor of a WPA drama group. Later he Toured the coast with a Shakespearian troupe headed by Tyrone Power’s mother. Then came six months of highly unsuccessful searching for gold before he got a job as announcer on a San Diego station. Three years ago he joined the CBS staff in New York. last June he married Ruth Carhart, the popular radio songstress.

Patricia Ryan -began her radio career at eight and a year later joined the Let’s Pretenders, where she still is heard, most often as a Fairy Godmother, a role she also played in real life during war years when she was a Nurse’s Aid and visitor to injured seamen in New York ’s hospitals. Pat has regular featured roles on Theater of Today. Grand CentralStation , Aunt Jenny and Big Sister , all Columbia programs .

Reading Eagle – May 1, 1940 ‘Kidnaping’ Starts Riot at Harvard Rochester, Benny’s Stooge, Center of Fracas Cambridge, Mass.. May 1 (AP)— The first riot of spring occurred in Harvard Square last night and seven Harvard students were arrested for disturbing the peace. The riot, which embodied all the usual features of Harvard Square spring disturbances, apparently developed from a combination of the warm evening air and the fact that a group of Massachusetts Institute of Technology students put one over on the Harvards by “abducting” Eddie “Rochester” Anderson , Negro comedian on the Jack Benny radio program . Rochester, scheduled to appear at a Harvary smoker, turned up instead at the Delta Kappa Epsilon House at M. I. T., after being persuaded by a group of Dekes to leave his plane at Providence, R. I., and motor to Cambridge. The comedian thought he was at Harvard until two hours later. The riot, which found some 200 students milling around in the s

ON THE AIR TODAY: ZaSu Pitts , playing the role of Aunt Mamie in the CBS serial, Big Sister , at 11:30 A.M., E.S.T. (rebroadcast at 11:00 A.M., Pacific Time), sponsored by Rinso. That wistful little lady in Columbia’s Studio Four, eyeing the microphone so distrustfully, is ZaSu Pitts, who Eric Von Stroheim always insisted was the finest dramatic actress in America. She has been in the movies since 1917, and never has appeared on the screen, even in a small role, without bringing a delighted murmur from audiences. She is utterly without temperament or stuffiness, and has a heart as big as Radio City. She hasn’t given up movie work for radio , by any means. But she isn’t under contract to any one studio in Hollywood , and when the opportunity came along to spend a few months in New York and act in Big Sister it sort of appealed to her, she says. Asked if she has any movie plans for the future, ZaSu doesn’t commit herself. “I’m hoping,” she says. “I’ve been hoping for twent