Old Radio

Well, you've heard today is Ed Sullivan 's birthday, and that has a special meaning for old time radio buffs.  Sure, Sullivan was one of the giants of the world of television, but he had a huge radio career too. He began with interview shows and with his program "Ed Sullivan Entertains."  This fifteen-minute show ran from fall of 1943 to summer of 1944.  On this program, sponsored by Mennen, the gossip columnist had spirited conversations with popular personages. One reason Sullivan may have resonated so well with the general public, particularly once he became a TV star, was that he didn't look or even sound like someone who'd make his living in front of a microphone.  He was too serious and seemed to be of a different world.  But as a TV host, he would go down in history as the man who hosted and introduced a panoply of amazing entertainers such as the Beatles, Elvis Presley, Pearl Bailey, The McGuire Sisters, Perry Como , Peggy Lee , you name 'em.

Thanks for stopping by to help us celebrate the birthday of quintessential radio character actor William Conrad , who entered the world in 1920. If you're remembering Conrad as Matt Dillon from Gunsmoke you're probably in good company.  However, Conrad once estimated he'd played more than 7,500 roles.  How did he find the time?  We do know for sure that he appeared on Fibber McGee and Molly , Lux Radio Theater , Suspense .  He also spent a few years as the announcer for Escape , bringing listeners in and asking them if they'd like to get away. Resembling Orson Welles , Conrad was deep-voiced, a rugged man's man.  He was also a mainstay in the world of classic radio.

St. Louis native Thomas Stearns Eliot was born on this day in 1888. He is a Nobel Prize-winning author and favorite of poets and other writers and readers.  He is best known for The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Four Quartets, and The Waste Land. All of these have been performed on the radio at one time or another, with The Waste Land being a particular target.  Four Quartets was read on Columbia Workshop in 1946. Happy birthday, T.S.  Or, perhaps we should say ts.

If ever an author's words were tailor-made for the airwaves, it was those of William Faulkner , whose lyrical phrasings with their attention to rhythm were meant for the ear. Faulkner, born on this day in 1897, is, of course, one of the greatest American authors who ever lived, the creator of timeless classics such as As I Lay Dying , Go Down, Moses , Light In August , and The Sound and the Fury . Humphrey Bogart , Lauren Bacall , and Anne Diamond all got a chance to bring Faulkner stories to life on such radio programs as NBC Theater and Lux Radio Theater .   Wild Palms , Honor, and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam were all adapted for radio.  It's another way the words of this brilliant writer touched a nation.

Howard Hughes wanted his money to work for him.  Or maybe he wanted it to play for him.  His philosophy was to take the fortune earned by his dad and to parlay it into opportunities to pursue seemingly incompatible hobbies: making movies and building airplanes. It was the former that gave us Two Arabian Knights, The Outlaw and The French Law. The latter wasn't quite able to give us the XF-11, Hughes's attempt at a military plane, an attempt that would land him in a spot of hot water with the Senate. Built with pine and nicknamed the "Spruce Goose," the jalopy crashed upon a test run and earned Hughes the opportunity to be grilled a Senate that thought its funding had been squandered. The hearings were broadcast on ABC and make up one little chapter in the wide, wide world of old time radio.  Happy birthday, Howard!

  September 22, 1957: Radio Workshop on CBS lasted only for 18 months with critics declaring it "ingenious radio programming." While ingenious, the show didn't last due to television. The workers on the show were dedicated to the last ditch effort to keep old time radio alive. It took sometimes up to four men and five hours to create sounds that would only be heard for 30 seconds on the show.