Old Radio

October 29: Happy Birthday, Jack Pearl !

"And now....here he is....the one....the only.....GROUCHO!"   You Bet Your Life debuted today in 1947 on ABC Radio. October 27, 1947: The quiz show You Bet Your Life  went on air for the first time on ABC. It was hosted by Groucho Marx  and George Fenneman. The show remained on radio from 1948 to 1959 and made the jump to TV from 1950 to 1961. The show included very easy questions, such as, “Who is buried in Grant's tomb?” Apart from hearing it on the radio, You Bet Your Life  could also be seen on television. The show featured teams of contestants consisting of one male and one female, usually selected from the audience. Sometimes, famous people were also invited to play. In the actual game, each team was given the chance to choose a category (from the 20 available), and their task was to answer the questions from that category. Every time they answered the question correctly, they earned money. For those who had earned $25 or less, a very easy question

Today we commemorate the birth--in 1931--of New York Yankee slugger Mickey Mantle. One of Mantle's main entrances into the starry galaxy of vintage radio came very much by accident.  In a still-preserved blooper , an announcer was discussing the phenomenon of "switch hitting," being able to bat with either the left or right hand, when he declared Mantle the best "swish hitter" of all time, with "swish" being slang for homosexual. The announcer comically overcorrected himself with a very enunciated "switch."

76 years ago today in 1937, the newspaper drama Big Town  premiered on CBS radio. Edward G. Robinson starred in it for the first 5 of its 15 year run. Here's what i find amazing. At its height of popularity, it attracted 20 million listeners a week. Currently on TV, only "NCIS" draws more fans week to week.

  October 18, 1943: Perry Mason was aired on CBS for the first time. The fifteen minute show was presented form Monday to Friday. John Larkin starred as the leading role of Perry Mason with Barlett Robinson, Santos Ortega, and Donald Briggs rounding out the rest of the cast. Perry Mason  has been mentioned in over 80 novels and short stories. There was also a popular television show made based on the radio one.

October 17, 1919: The founding of Radio Corporation of America RCA Corporation, established as Radio Corporation of America, was an electronics company that existed from 1919 to 1986. Now, the RCA trademark is owned by Thomson SA. The RCA Trademark is used by two companies, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Thomson SA.

  October 16, 1945: Barry Fitzgerald appeared in the leading role of Judge Barnard Fitz in His Honor, the Barber ,which aired for the first time on NBC. Barry Fitzgerald refused all other radio shows until this one cropped up. It featured Judge Fitz and some of his comedic cases. The show only lasted one season, but it did go on to become a Broadway play.

During Ike Eisenhower 's presidency, the economy boomed, cars rolled out of Detroit at an unstoppable pace, rock and roll captivated teen audiences, conflict raged in Korea , trouble began in Vietnam, and legions who'd become rebellious hippies toddled around their living rooms in modern comfort. Eisenhower's Great Society played itself out on the radio in the form of his frequent addresses.  He discussed his relationship with communist-hunter Senator Joseph McCarthy , the Geneva Conference of 1955, and the landing of marines in Beirut. Today, his addresses serve as great primary texts chronicling both the Great Society and the Cold War .

We salute the 1891 birth of Dear John star, Irene Rich .  Rich's co-star was Gale Gordon , star of Our Miss Brooks , and the show was broadcast Sunday nights on the Columbia Network. The flapper was a frequent contributor of Will Rogers , starring in such silent films as The Strange Boarder and Jes' Call Me Jim. Share your cherished memories of Ms.Rich in our "comments" section!

  October 11, 1936: On this day, the first national quiz called Professor Quiz aired for the first time on radio. This quiz continued to be aired until 1948. In this quiz, contestants posed questions to Dr. Craig Earl, otherwise known as Professor Quiz. If the contestant could stump Professor Quiz, they earned $25, or the equivalent of $382 in 2009. This quiz show was sponsored by Robert Trout and Velvet Pipe Tobacco Professor Quiz   was dubbed as the first real radio quiz program It aired first on NBC from 1936 to 1941, then on ABC from 1946-1948. It was hosted by Bob Trout, and featured Professor Quiz himself Dr. Craig Earl, along with his wife Mrs. Quiz and son Professor Quiz Jr. The show posing questions to Professor Quiz which, if he answered incorrectly, resulted in the contestant winning $25.

The First Lady of American Theater, the first stage actress to go on to win an Academy Award , Helen Hayes was born on this day in 1900.  Helen Hayes starred in Victoria Regina, The Sin of Madelon Claudet and Happy Birthday. In 1941, she took the helm as producer, actress and even casting director of the CBS radio series The Helen Hayes Theatre of the Air, a series running contemporary plays. Hayes starred in a 1938   Lux Radio Theatre production of Jane Eyre and turned in appearances on a wide variety of classic radio series such as The Campbell's Playhouse , The Silver Theatre , and Dupont Cavalcade of America .  Radio gave us all the big stars of the 30's, 40's, and 50's, delivered as just a voice to let our imaginations fill in the rest.  Helen Hayes was just one shining example.

Stretcher days, cars plasters with religious slogans, and gypsies in garish clothing: all the iconography of one Aimee Semple McPherson , whose birthday we celebrate. McPherson was a preacher whose message revolved around the "four-square Gospel."  She was well-spoken and charismatic, and she had a radio ministry.  In 1926, she disappeared from her Los Angeles home, alarming her followers, who called for a full-scale investigation. She later reappeared with a yarn about a kidnapping, while it seemed more likely she had run off for a romantic tryst with her radio operator. In any event, Aimee McPherson , with donations from her congregation, started station KFSG in 1924 to broadcast her message.  On the station, among other programming, she unleashed such sermons as "Big Bad Wolf," "I Found the Keys," and "Seven Sneezes In Shunnen."  That's worth a happy birthday and this brief recognition, right?

Today marks what would've been the one hundredth birthday of Walter Schumann!  Schumann was a composer in the television, radio, and film industries, noted for whipping up The Dragnet Theme. New York -born Schumann enlisted at the outbreak of the Second Great War, becoming the musical director of the Armed Forces Radio Service.  That made an improbable segue into his next gig, the job of writing scores for Abbott & Costello pictures.  From there it was the infamous Dragnet theme and work on The Night of the Hunter. Rock on, Walter. And happy birthday!