March 31: Happy Birthday, Henry Morgan

March 31: Happy Birthday, Henry Morgan

Meet Mr. Morgan, a bow-tie wearing, wide-grinning, wise-cracking radio host who anticipated the post-modern, bite-the-hand-that-feeds-you attitude of David Letterman, Howard Stern and others who would criticize their own network and sponsors on the air.

Sponsor Adler Shoe Stores, for example, didn't like it much when Morgan said he wouldn't wear their new line of shoes to a dogfight. Asked by the owner himself to recant, Morgan said he would wear them to a dog fight.

Starting out as a page at WMCA, he worked his way up through announcing to getting his own show, even if it was only a fifteen-minute one, in 1940 for station WOR. He would kick off broadcasts by saying "Good evening, anybody, here's Morgan." This was as a sly piece of satire aimed at announcers who addressed "everybody" at the top of their broadcasts, assuming their audience was that all-encompassing.

ABC gave him his shot at a half and hour slot, and he gained a national reputation for his biting wit.

After years of antagonizing his sponsors, Morgan did the next logical thing and moved to Canada to work for CBC, public radio. There, he quickly drew the ire, not of a sponsor, but of a show producer. After the producer said that Morgan's comments had no beginning and middle and end, the cantankerous veteran host interrupted one of his own commentaries by shouting "this is the middle!!" and therefore stopped working for the CBC.

March 30, 1946: Academy Award makes its debut

 

March 30, 1946: It is on this day that Academy Award was first heard of Jezebel, was the first dramatized story and starred by actress Bette Davis.  It ran on CBS for 30 minutes.  The shows were adaptations of play, movies or novels.

March 28, 1912: Frank Lovejoy is Born, today is his 101st Birthday!

March 28: Happy Birthday, Frank Lovejoy!

Today is Frank Lovejoy's 101st birthday! A film and television star, he was also well known for his on air roles in the old time radio series Night Beat, Blue Beetle, and This is Your FBI.

March 27: Happy Birthday, Richard Denning!

Richard Denning, of My Favorite Husband fame,  was born on this day in 1914.

March 16: Happy Birthday Mercedes McCambridge

Happy Birthday to Mercedes McCambridge!  She was born this day on March 16, 1916

March 16, 1916 Mercedes McCambridge was born

On this day in 1916, Mercedes McCambridge was born.

March 12, 1900 Harlow Wilcox was born

On this day in 1900, Harlow Wilcox was born.

March 9, 1918 Mickey Spillane was born

On this day in 1918, Mickey Spillane was born.

March 8, 1910 Clair Trevor was born

On this day in 1910, Clair Trevor was born.

March 6, 1916 Virginia Gregg was born

On this day in 1916, Virginia Gregg was born.

March 4, 1951: The U.S. Steel Hour' features Sir John Gielud

 

March 4, 1951: NBC program  'The U.S. Steel Hour'  featured Sir John Gielgud in the well-known role of Hamlet.

Sponsored by the Unites States Steel Corporation, 'The U.S. Steel Hour' became a popular show for a decade. The show was an anthology series which continued on to television. Beginning in 1954, the series won several awards and Emmy nominations.

March 8: Happy Birthday Claire Trevor

Back on March 8, 1910, the beautiful "Queen of Film Noir" Claire Trevor was born. Playing roles as a husky-voiced blonde and seemed to fill the role of gun-moll, seductress or tough minded career woman with aplomb.

March 1, 1932: The broadcast of Charles and Anne Linbergh's son on CBS and NBC

March 1, 1932: Start of the greatest effort of on-the-spot news coverage of radio involving the kidnapping of Charles and Anne Lindbergh's baby. CBS and NBC rushed to Hopewell, NJJ to cover the incident.

On March 1, 1932,around 8:00 and 10:00 o'clock, son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh, was kidnapped from his nursery room. The kidnappers left a small note asked for ransom for the child.

By the next morning, news about the kidnapping had been broadcast to the world and reporters, cameramen, curious onlookers, and souvenir hunters swarmed over the Lindbergh estate. Unfortunately, the present of news hunter made some of evidence that has not yet retrieved by police was lost in the stampede.

Charles Lindbergh wanted the police to allow him to negotiate without interference with the kidnappers and he told that to Colonel H. Norman Schwarzkopf, head of the New Jersey State Police. Lindbergh used NBC to radio broadcast his message to the kidnapper or kidnappers. He promised to keep confidential any arrangements that would bring their baby back safely. There were no arrest have made until the ransom been paid and the baby return safely.

The child body of Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr. was later discovered and Bruno Richard Haptman was charged with the crime, convicted, and later electrocuted in 1936.