Golden Age of Radio

St. Peterburg Times – Jan 31, 1950                   RADIO IN REVIEW Phil Harris es Re-Estimated, And the Verdict Is ‘Good’ By JOHN CROSBY Probably no show in radio ever started out less auspiciously than the Phil Harris – Alice Faye operation back in the Fall of 1946. Radio critics everywhere shuddered in rare unison. Looking back through my yellowing clippings on this program, I discover that first few episodes were largely kissing games, which immensely simplified the task of the writers. Either Phil was kissing Alice. Or both of them were kissing the children. What little dialogue there was revolved around this osculation, more or less reviewing it. “Ya ain’t giving, honey,” Mr. Harris would mutter, a bad notice for Miss Faye. Or he’d exclaim –there’s no more exclamatory comedian in the business than Harris—“You blond beautiful bundle of dynamite! Put your arms around me and tell me how much you love me!” While not exactly opp

NO SUPERMAN —BUT GOOD For a long time, the American Broadcasting Company’s Terry and the Pirates—Monday through Friday from 5 P. M. to 5:15 EST—a show ostensibly for the kids, has been up among the most adult programs on the air. Terry—the leading character—has been carrying on a relentless fight against fascism, a fight started months before the actual war began and now, continuing with sensible warnings against the enemy which has not been completely routed everywhere, nor completely conquered. Terry is played by Owen Jordan, a medium height young man, with dark, curly hair and grinning brown eyes. And, in a way, Owen is a kind of perfect choice for the part. He’s really interested in children. Last fall, for instance, he appeared at some seventeen high schools in and around New York, lecturing to students of the drama on the possible use of radio in child education. His lectures were based on more than the dramatic aspects of radio, too. He’s been a teacher and made use

February 16, 1951 Pitts-Post Radio and Television in Review:  Intelligence, Wit and Charm By JOHN CROSBY “Young people are children callously pulling the wings off butterflies. The chief purpose of education is to impart an understanding of the butterfly’s viewpoint ,” observed Dr. William Todhunter Hall, president of Ivy College. <John Crosby> That fairly well sums up the point of view of “ Halls of Ivy ” a surprisingly sophisticated one, on which RonaldColman impersonates Dr. Hall, and Mr. Colman’s real wife, Benita, engagingly plays his liberal and humanitarian philosophy expressed in “ Halls of Ivy ,” ( NBC -KDKA, 8 p. m. Wednesday) is not anything that would provoke controversy even in the bar of the Union League Club. Just the same, it is a rare and wonderful thing to find such mature and worthy sentiments expressed so repeatedly and so wittly on a radio program. *   *    * “ Halls of Ivy ” has been on the air a year now and—let’s face

Man & Moppet The rogue most beloved in the U. S. is a precocious, conceited, impertinent, fast-cracking ventriloquist’s dummy named Charlie McCarthy . On Sunday nights from eight till nine EST, when the U. S. radio audience reaches its peak for the week, almost a third of the nation tunes in on the Chase and Sanborn Hour to hear Charlie make rude and clever remarks to important people. < McCARTHY & BERGEN  A wood-carving barkeep was important> Last week the Chase and Sanborn troupe broadcast from Manhattan’s Radio City—the first time the program had originated from anywhere but Hollywood in nearly two years on the air. When the plan to do this was announced to the press, 60,000 Charlie McCarthy fans besieged NBC and the agency producing the show for admission to Radio City’s I , 3I8-seat Studio 8-H. A crowd of 5,000 was at the station when the troupe arrived, but Charlie was nowhere to be seen. Photographers grouped Master of Ceremonies Don Ameche, da

                         RADIO                              13 RWG’s Scribblers Teach Pro Methods CHICAGO, March 1,--Radio Writers’ Guild here is attempting to teach would-be radio writers how to write professionally by the simple method of having its top writers demonstrate pro techniques. Local RWG is only Guild chapter in the country which actually undertakes to teach commercial radio writing, directing and production to hopefuls. Advanced course in script analysis, production, etc, which began yesterday (28), has the city’s top radio men such as Sherm Marx ( TheWhistler ), Orin Tovrov ( Ma Perkins ), and Myron Golden (Grant Advertising) teaching more advanced neophytes secrets of script salesmanship. Reason Guild sponsors course in Chi, and nowhere else, is that it would like to develop more paying members in a city where admittedly radio writing and production has declined. Reasoning is that altho competition is less keen in Chi than in New York and Hollywood,

Basic Stats Concept: Situation Comedy, Spin-Off from " Fibber McGee and Molly ". A pompous bachelor takes domestic charge of his young niece and nephew in the fictional town of Summerfield. 30-minute episodes. Aired: On NBC Red Network, Sundays at 6:30 PM, later, Wednesdays 8:30 PM. From 8/31/41 - 6/2/54 Program Sponsor: The Kraft Food Company Main Characters/Players: Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve played by Harold Peary , and later Willard Waterman Marjorie Forrester played by Lurene Tuttle , and later Louise Erickson Leroy Forrester played by Walter Tetley Birdie Lee Coggins played by Lillian Randolph (with sister Amanda Randolph filling in) Judge Horace Hooker played by Earle Ross Richard Peavey played by Richard LeGrand Floyd Munson played by Arthur Q. Bryan Radio Show History Actor Harold Peary was a much appreciated talent on the old Harold Peary radio series, "Fibber McGee and Molly". Over the course of time, he played a number of different characters, like a

CLAGHORN’S THE NAME BUT CALL HIM KENNY – DELMAR, THAT IS BY TWEED BROWN THAT grinning whirlwind whipping in and out of Radio City isn’t a refuge from the sound effects cabinet. On closer inspection it will prove to be a bushy-haired young gent out of Boston by name of Kenneth Frederick Fay Howard, attempting to keep up with his radio commitments. This bustling Bostonian has ample reason to rush, for under the professional name of “Kenny Delmar” his actor-announcer talents are in such demand as to require would be sponsors to queue up for considerable distances. Not only is Delmar sought for more announcing chores than he can shake a Social Security card at, but his brainchild, “Senator Claghorn” (That’s a joke, son!) is currently the “hottest” thing in radio. If you don’t immediately identify “the Senator” as the unreconstructed tenant of Allen’s Alley—on the Fred Allen program—then he is the person responsible for normally sane citizens from Wenatchee, Wash.,