Old Radio

  September 25, 1933: The Tom Mix Ralson Straight Shooters  went on air for the first time on NBC and remained on the air waves until the mid-1950's. Thomas Hezikiah Mix, otherwise known as Thomas Edwin ""Tom"" Mix, was an early American western movie actor.  He was featured in 336 films between 1910 and 1935, nine of those being silent features. He was the first of Hollywood’s great Western actors. In 1933, Tom Mix made his radio debut. He was granted by Ralston-Purina  to produce his own radio series. The series was titled Tom Mix Ralston Straight Shooters . The series was popular throughout most of the 1930's through the early 1950's. Tom himself never performed on the series. His character was played by several different radio actors: Artells Dickson (early 1930's), Jack Holden (1937), Russell Thorsen (early 1940's) and Joe ""Curley"" Bradley (1944). Supporting cast included George Gobel, Harold Peary , and Willard W

F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is widely regarded as one of the greatest American novels of all time.  Fitzgerald gained a reputation as being urbane and sophisticated and a chronicler of the international experience of young socialites like him. His relationship with his wife Zelda caught the nation's attention and helped define some of the panache of the Roaring Twenties . In addition to Gatsby, Fitzgerald is the author of This Side of Paradise and The Beautiful and the Damned .  Since he was a celebrity author and author of legendary work, it was inevitable that his prose would be widely adapted for radio. We salute Francis Scott Fitzgerald's birth on this day in 1896.

Happy Birthday, Mickey Rooney !

September 22, 1943: Vocalist Kate Smith ’s campaign on the radio for war bonds came to an end. She accumulated an enormous thirty nine million dollars in thirteen uninterrupted hours of radio broadcast. Kate was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom due to her talents on radio and off. She was a spokesperson for many products and spread a message of peace.

  September 21, 1948: The comedy series Life With Luigi aired for the first time on CBS. J. Carroll Naish appeared in the lead role. He also starred as Luigi Basko in the TV form of the show in 1952. Life with Luigi was a radio sitcom that aired on CBS for four and half years, beginning in September of 1948 and ending in March 1953. It featured the story of Luigi Basco, an immigrant from Italy who became a newly-naturalized citizen of the United States. Irish-American actor J Carroll Naish was given the lead role. Other characters on the show included the German Shultz (played by Hans Conreid ), an immigrant and Luigi's classmate in his English class, and Pasquale (played by Allan Reed ), an Italian-American who had a daughter named Rosa, whom he always set up with Luigi.

September 20, 1953: Jimmy Stewart was starred as Britt Ponset on the Western in his first appearance in an NBC program radio western ‘ The Six Shooter ’. The well-known parts of the show were when Stewart would whisper during high drama scenes. Only 39 episodes aired on this show, lasting only one season. The classic radio western ended well, with Stewart's character proposing marriage.