Old Radio

  November 7, 1937: The Vaseline sponsored  the radio show Dr. Christian premiered on this date on CBS. Jean Hersholt starred in the leading role of caring  Dr. Christian   remaining on air until 1954.  His assistance nurse, Judy, was played by Rosemary De Camp, Laureen Tuttle, Kathleen Fitz and Helen Kleeb. The theme song of the series was "Rainbow on the River." Dr. Christian   was a radio series broadcasted on CBS until 1954. It starred Jean Hersholt as the title character, a physician who worked in the small but peaceful town of River's End. Hersholt's role as Dr. Christian was so popular among people that some of them actually sent mails asking for medical advice.  The series inspired the making of six films and one television series.

Leonard Franklin Slyke, better known by his stage name of Roy Rogers , was born on November 5th, 1911 in the Midwest city of Cincinnati, Ohio. Slyke began his career by moving to California to sing, performing in the music group the Sons of the Pioneers. After making his first film appearance in 1935, he steadily worked in western films. While working on a film with Gene Autry in 1938, Slyke was rechristened Roy Rogers after Autry walked out on his contract. Roy came from a shortening of Leroy and Rogers came from the last name of Will Rogers, an American cowboy and humorist . His radio show, The Roy Rogers Show , ran for 9 years before moving to TV from 1951-1957 and starred his wife, Dale Evans . Over the years it changed its format. Originally it appeared as western music and variety show. There was always an element of action in the programs, and usually the episodes are broken up with songs, performed by The Sons of the Pioneers. Rogers, “King of the Cowboys,” passed away on

In the world of show biz bios, you can either be a lower-working class kid from Bumble Bluffs, Illinois who hopped on a tomato truck and rode out to L.A. hoping to make it big, or you can come from one of the big cities and be drawn to the entertainment world around you. Burt Lancaster wasn't from Bumble Bluffs.  He was born in New York City and was very affected by Joan Crawford and Lon Chaney in the 1927 silent film The Unknown.  From there it was a stint working for the circus (OK, maybe he was a bumpkin from the corn belt), Hollywood, and eventually his huge roles in Elmer Gantry, Atlantic City, and The Birdman of Alcatraz. If you were a radio listener at the time and you wanted to hear Burt's voice, you could tune in to The Bob Hope Show , Hedda Hopper 's Hollywood , Lux Radio Theatre , and The Cavalcade of America .

Happy Halloween - Click here to enjoy some Free Old Time Radio...

Vass You dere, Sharlie?  That was the question, at least from Jack Pearl 's Baron Munchhausen character to the straight man, Charlie, brought to life by Ben Bard and the Cliff Hall, who didn't always believe the good Baron's tall tales. Pearl, born in one of the world's show biz capitals, New York City, started in Vaudeville and took his comedy act to radio in 1932 on The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air .  It was on that program that the outlandish German caricature, Baron Munchhausen, was born.  Let's recall, though, that he also starred as the host of The Lucky Strike Hour from '32-'34. Today we celebrate the 1894 birth of the comedy star Jack Pearl.

October 27, 1947: Radio soap opera   This is Nora Drake  debuted on NBC. The show mainly revolved around solving domestic, communal, and child upbringing issues. The program reached its end in January of 1959. Airing for over a decade, This is Nora Drake  featured the story of Nora, portrayed initially by Charlotte Holland and then later by actresses Joan Tompkins and Mary Jane Higby.

October 26: Happy Birthday, Winston Churchill One of the most quotable men of all time, Winston Churchill , contributed to old time radio with his amazing speeches. One such speech came on the occasion of Hitler 's invasion of Russia on June 22, 1941. " Hitler is a monster of wickedness," Churchill intoned into BBC microphones, "insatiable in his lust for blood and plunder. So now, this bloodthirsty gutter snipe must launch his mechanized army at the new fields of slaughter, pillage, and devastation." Also broadcast on the BBC were speeches that go by the titles "War of the Unknown Warrior," "Give Us the Tools," and "These are Great Days," "We Shall Never Surrender." Some rumors hold that it wasn't Churchill himself who delivered the speeches, but an actor, perhaps Norman Shelley, who did actually claim to have done so. In either case, it was Churchill who wrote the inspiring words. The Prime Minister&#