Old Radio

Aug 24: Happy Birthday, Jimmie Fidler !   Fiddler turned  to tattling on the stars about their tantrums, foibles, affairs, births and divorces .   Jimmy Fidler was thought to be in the shadows of  gossip columnists  like  Hedda Harper  and  Louella Parsons , but he was generally more feared by the studios because he was more brazen in his reporting.  Jimmie Fidler is honored with a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to Radio at 6128 Hollywood Blvd.

August 23: Happy Birthday, Gene Kelly! Today would have have been Gene Kelly 's 100th Birthday!  Besides an avid dancer, actor, singer, film director and producer, Gene Kelly appeared on old time radio broadcasts including Cresta Blanca Hollywood Players , The Railroad Hour ,   Lux Radio Theater ,   Suspense! , and more!

August 23, 1923: The first comedians who ever performed on radio were Billy Jones and Ernie Hare . Their performance was broadcast on this day. They're also mentioned performing the commercial singing for the first time. The Happiness Boys was broadcast for the first time on New York's WEAF, and from 1926 to 1929 the show moved to NBC. Jone & Hare usually presented  light fare and comic songs, and they inserted humorous lyrics into their song. Their famous theme song was "How Do You Do" (1924). While they made  made changes to the lyrics of the song, the melody was used in various song before. Edison Records "Diamond Disc" label, presented the Happiness Boys in early 1920 featuring Dave Kaplan  as pianist and Fannie Heinline as guest banjo player.

August 22, 1947: Radio adventure series ‘ Jack Armstrong, The All American Boy ’ aired for a full thirty minutes for the first time on ABC. Previously it was only broadcast for fifteen minutes. Jack Armstrong can often be heard saying “Remember, if you want to grow up to be big and strong like Jack Armstrong, keep these three rules in mind: Get plenty of sleep, fresh air and exercise. Make a friend of soap and water, because dirt breeds germs, and germs can make people sickly and weak. And for sound nourishment and keen flavor, eat a big bowlful of Wheaties, the Breakfast of Champions, with plenty of milk or cream and some type of fruit.” " Jack Armstrong, The All American Boy ," started in 1933 and had its initial broadcast on WBBM, an AM radio station in Chicago, Illinois. It was later on aired on CBS, then in NBC, and eventually on ABC. The story revolved around the adventures of Jack Armstrong , a popular student of the Hudson High School, along with the Fairfield

Phyllis Diller passed away at the age of 95 this week.  Here is an old time radio episode starring Phyllis Diller (1917-2012) as a guest star contestant in the Jan 27, 1958 broadcast of Groucho Marx 's  You Bet Your Life .   Diller was just starting in show business at the Blue Angel. Here is the full old time radio episode: (Phyllis Diller appears in the broadcast half way at around the 11 minute mark)

Happy Birthday, Gene Roddenberry (1921-1991)! Gene Roddenberry was born 8/19/1921 and wrote 11 episodes of HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL on the radio in 1958 and 1959 , but best known for STAR TREK television series .

August 19, 1929: NBC network broadcast the Amos and Andy radio program that starred Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll for the first time. Amos 'n' Andy was a situation comedy set in the African-American community and was very popular in the United States from the 1920s through the 1950s on both radio and television. Amos and Andy  was the first radio comedy series, written and voiced by Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll in station WMAQ in Chicago. Amos and Andy grew and had a huge influence on many radio series that followed.