Old Radio

Happy Birthday to Andy Devine!   Andy Devine was born on this day in 1905. He was a character actor in Western radio and TV, Andy Devine was the sidekick of the greatest stars in Hollywood.

October 5, 1934: " Hollywood Hotel " aired on CBS. It was one of the earliest radio programs to be transmitted directly from Hollywood. The program " Hollywood Hotel " was hosted by Dick Powell and featured   hollywood gossip radio star,   Louella Parsons in a starring role.   Dick Powell  also performed his song and and kibitzed withLouella and her movie star guests.  Louella Parsons   with her power, could get various stars to come as features of the program. The impressive collaboration between Dick Powell and Louella Parsons gave the  Hollywood Hotel  mass appeal, pushing it to become one of the highest rated radio shows on the air. The program, broadcast on CBS, only lasted until 1937 because of a problem with the American Federation of Radio Artists. Powell and Louella then moved to other radio stations. The whole story is featured in the Tony Thomas book, The Films Of Dick Powell .

Let's give an oldtime radio happy birthday to Damon Runyon , the creator of "The Seldom Seen Kid," "Dave the Dude," "Harry the Horse," and "Benny Southstreet."   The author of Guys and Dolls also penned many short stories on characters one could find around Broadway in Depression-era NYC. Damon Runyon Theatre soared the airwaves in 1949, bringing to life such works as "Barbecue," "Lonely Heart," and "Blond Mink."  Frank Gallop served as the announcer. We salute the stylish prose of Damon Runyon !

  October 3, 1942: Radio show Thanks to the Yanks was presented on CBS for the first time by Bob Hawk, later becoming one of the most famous war shows of its time. Thanks to the Yanks was considered one of the greatest war-themed programs to ever hit the airwaves during war-time era. It was aired for three years from 1942 to 1945. It was succeeded by The Bob Hawk Show which basically followed the format of its predecessor.

Though he lived just fifty-one years (1900-51), actor Barton Yarborough racked up an awful lot of mileage with appearances on a variety of programs. Joe Friday's partner Ben Romero on Dragnet ; Doc Long on Dragnet , and Clifford Barbour on One Man's Family : jeez, Barton, save some parts for someone else. Yarborough was born in Goldthwaite, Texas, and early on decided that he wasn't going to be a cowpoke.  He ran away and joined the vaudeville circuit.  Just like a computer software reviewer or recipe expert experiencing a boon with the advent of the blog, Yarborough flourished when radio was invented for him. And we're glad he did! Happy Birthday, Big B!

  September 30, 1939: A popular show Captain Midnight was heard on radio for the first time on Mutual. The Captain flew his single-engine plane all over the place fighting crime. Captain Midnight was sponsored by Skelly Oil and by Ovaltine, which dropped its sponsorship of Little Orphan Annie to climb on board with this show. Captain Midnight , an adventure franchise, was a radio aviation serial that debuted in 1938 as a syndicated show. Sponsored by the Skelly Oil Company, it was initially aired on a few radio stations in the Midwest area. When Ovaltine took over sponsorship in 1940, it became a national hit. The show was broadcast on the Mutual Radio Network. Captain Jim ""Red"" Albright, a World War I U.S. Army pilot, was the title character. The show moved to another network from 1942 until 1945 when it was aired back on Mutual and remained there until its final run in 1949.

Today marks the birthday, in 1907, of Gene Autry , song-writer, singer, cowboy, singing cowboy , actor, radio star, and baseball team owner. A teenage Autry took a job operating a telegraph wire, sending people's messages for them.  One day, in walked the comedian Will Rogers .  Autry, a good worker though he may have been, happened to have been playing a guitar between customers.  Rogers was impressed with what he heard and encouraged Autry to go into show biz. To Autry this meant landing a spot of Tulsa's KVOO, billed as "Oklahoma's Yodeling Cowboy." From there it was a successful radio career that would then propel Autry into the role of radio host, taking the helm of a show sponsored by Wrigley's.  The CBS show put on a spread, not just of music and comedy, but even drama.  It lasted a lot longer than a stick of gum: 16 years in all. In the spirit of honoring that kind of longevity, we take off our hats and offer a cowboy salute to Gene Autry .

  September 28, 1939: After a decade of entertaining radio, the final broadcast of The Fleischmann Hour was heard. Rudy Valle , the star of the show, wrapped things up. The top-rated musical variety radio show The Fleischmann Hour was a pioneering radio program aired on NBC. The broadcast showcased the hosting skill of Rudy Vallee, who was both a singer and an actor.  The show became the staging platform of many future stars of America, such as Milton Merle, The Mills Brothers, and Burns and Allen , to name a few. Rudy Vallee concluded the show's final broadcast after a decade of great radio entertainment.

  September 27, 1938: The NBC Red Network aired "Thanks for the Memory" on The Bob Hope Show  for the first time on this day. "Thanks for the Memory" was a song written by Ralph Ringer and Leo Robin. It was performed by Bob Hope and Shirley Ross, and was used in the film The Big Broadcast of 1938, where it won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. The song has also become Bob Hope's signature piece. Due to its extreme popularity, other well-known singers such as  Bing Crosby , Ella Fitzgerald , Harry Nilsson , and Frank Sinatra made their own versions of the song.

September 15: Happy Birthday, Agatha Christie ! Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple could solve the most amazing crimes and mysteries. However, these fictional characters would not have been known by anyone if not for the pen of Miss Agatha Christie . Born in 1890, Miss Christie would use the name of her first husband (Colonel Archibald Christie)as her authorship name to perplex the world with her imaginative characters and beloved tales. Eventually mantled with the name, “Queen of Crime”, Agatha Christie would write more than 70 mystery novels based upon her Belgian champion or English matriarch as crime solvers.  Various mystery radio programs would carried some of Agatha Christie's more intriguing forays into the realm of her literary works. After her divorce from the Colonel, Miss Christie married a notable archaeology professor and would travel with him extensively. It was these journeys that impacted many of her books.  In 1952, her work, The Mousetrap, made it

In 1898,three years before her brother, Fred Astaire , was born, Adele Astaire entered the world on Sept 10. A child raised in a New York boardinghouse and educated at the Alviene Master School of the Theatre and Academy of Cultural Arts, Adele began performing on the Vaudeville circuit with her sibling at the tender age of seven. Astaire appeared on the sustaining program Magic Key on Jan. 12, 1936. The episode also showcased the Pickens Sisters .

Dick York , the tall, willowy actor who played Darrin on "Bewitched," was born today in 1928.  To look at the extensive, prolific TV career of York, take this quiz. Which of these TV series did York not appear in: "The Twilight Zone," " Dr. Kildare ," "The Virginian," "Wagon Train." You're absolutely correct if you said he appeared in all of them. He also played occasional roles in "Rawhide," "The Flintstones (himself)," and "Simon & Simon." Dick York was born at the right time to catch the tail end of radio's comet, and appeared in series such as The Cavalcade of America , Tales of Tomorrow , and Meet the Meeks . York is widely quoted as saying that Lux Radio Theater inspired him to puke, but it's unclear what he meant by this.

Perhaps once when you were enjoying the swinging dance music of Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys, you wondered "how did one get to be a Playboy?" Well, being Bob's brother was the way Johnnie Lee Wills chose. The banjoist joined his brother on the road and in the studio, where the band hosted a show on Tulsa's KVOO.  Brother Bob set his compass for Hollywood, the band became " Johnnie Lee Wills and His Boys " and the show went on. Were they no longer playboys? Had they turned a new leaf and started practicing temperance? Probably not. In any event, the show ran exactly a quarter of a decade on KVOO, and did syndicated broadcasts after that. He also took the boys on the road. He and his family also ran a store that sold Western clothing. So let's salute a great musician and long-time radio host, born on this day in 1912.