Skip to main content

December 27: Happy Birthday, Cathy Lewis

December 27: Happy Birthday, Cathy Lewis

Cathy Lewis (December 27th, 1916-November 20, 1968) was best known for her numerous radio appearances.

Lewis moved from her hometown of Spokane, Washington to Chicago and found work on The First Nighter Program. Eventually, Lewis moved back across the country to Hollywood, where she had starring roles in the Pasadena Playhouse productions of Stage Door, Winterset, and To Quito and Back.

In 1943, Cathy met and married Elliot Lewis, a radio actor and writer. They both became staples of the vintage radio scene, regulars among the group known as Hollywood’s Radio Row. The pair appeared both together and separately on programs such as The Whistler. Together they co-created the respected anthology series On Stage and helped to steward the popular mystery's program Suspense. Cathy and Elliot began to be billed as “Mr. and Mrs. Radio.”

Cathy is most remembered for her role as Jane Stacy, a sensibly droll woman that roomed with Irma Peterson in the television comedy My Friend Irma. A lot of Lewis’ early film work was uncredited, but she was eventually able to get bigger roles, such as the female lead in Double Trouble and of course the role in My Friend Irma.

Lewis died of cancer on November 20th, 1968.

Comments

  1. She played Jane on My Friend Irma. I loved her. She was great. She also appeared on the Great Gildersleeve and a few others. You could always recognize her voice. She was too young when she passed away.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

1946 Great Crepitation Fart Contest

Not for the faint of heart, here is the remarkable 1946 Crepitation (Fart) Contest (part of the 1946 News Broadcasts Collection ). You'll enjoy the fart-off between champion Englishman Lord Windsmear, and  challenger, Australian Paul Boomer who had stowed aboard a cabbage freighter. The hilarious comedy recording was apparently created a spoof by two Canadian radio sportscasters in 1946, but this 15 minute recording definitely has some gems in it.  Apparently they made several copies, but it was not for distribution. The recording was copied again and again on disc and reel to reel tape. It was distributed underground and played in dark rooms and back alleys around the world. If you cannot see the audio controls, your browser does not support the audio element This recording is available with many other delightful treats on Random Rarities #7 available on   MP3 CD ,  Audio CD , and  instant download .

April 27, 1932: The First Performance of Ed Wynn on Texaco Fire Chief Show

April 27, 1932:  Ed Wynn , the Texaco fire chief, graced the airwaves for the first time on Texaco Star Theater. Wynn, who enjoyed popularity as a vaudeville performer, gave as a condition to his switch to radio, that a live audience react to his humor.His condition was granted by the network and so began Wynn's career as the first true superstar of radio. Ed Wynn was hosted a popular radio show  on Tuesday nights for most of the 1930s. The radio show was heard in North America and sponsored by Texaco gasoline. On the show Wynn played  as the " Texaco Fire Chief ". He was often seen wearing a fireman's helmet. For this show, Wynn would turned down the offer form The Wizard in MGM's adaptation of The Wizard of Oz , to play a role on that show.

January 27, 1948: Wire Recording introduced the 'Wireway'

  January 27, 1948: The first magnetic tape recorder was introduced by Wire Recording Corporation of America.  ‘Wire Way,’ as it was called, had an integrated oscillator and was sold for $149.50 at the time.