Old Radio

  December 5, 1952: Mutual Broadcasting System or MBS hosted The Green Hornet for the last time. Its broadcast took place fifteen years later on Mutual, ABC, and NBC. The Green Hornet aired on radio in the 1930's, then went on to comics, television, and film. Still captivating years later, the feature film was introduced in January 2011.

  December 4, 1933: Ma Perkins shifted its broadcast from WLW to the NBC Red radio network. Later on, the show’s fame led it to be transmitted on both NBC and CBS. Ma Perkins    was a 15-minute radio soap opera that aired on bothNBC (1933-1949) and CBS (1942-1960) during its 27-year run, during  which it had more than 7,000 episodes. The lead character was portrayed by actress Virginia Payne.  In the show,  Ma Perkins  was a widow who lived in the town of Rushville.  She had three children named John, Fay, and Evay, who were played by Gilbert Faust, Isabel Krehbiel (and later Rita Ascot), and Dora Johnson (and later Kay Campbell and Laurette Fillbrandt), respectively. The story focused on Ma Perkins' interaction with her children and townmates.

If anyone had the acting prowess to change characterizations over the years, that was embodied in Richard Crenna . Born November 30, 1926, Crenna started his early years as a character actor for radio, eventually moving on to film and television . He grew up in Los Angeles and served his tour of duty as a radio operator in WWII . Upon his return after the conflict, Crenna attended college and took up acting. Richard Crenna began his radio legacy on The Great Gildersleeve as Walter “Bronco” Thompson. He played that role for 9 years, 1948-1957. His stimulus as a comic actor carried him over to do a duel run on another radio program from 1948 to 1952, as Walter Denton on Our Miss Brooks . His portrayal as the affable and naive Mr Denton played well in attracting him handle television roles in similar character positions. He performed on the I Love Lucy program and   George and Gracie . In both guest star roles Crenna hit his mark as a “lacking worldly wisdom, but sure willing to learn