Triskaidekaphobia. I didn’t make this word up; it’s the technical term for fear of the number “13.” The man born Phillips Haynes Lord in Hartford, Vermont on this date in 1902, however, pooh-poohe ...
Happy Birthday, John Larkin!(Post)“If you think you want to be a radio actor, go to a small station.” That’s the advice that John William Larkin, born in Oakland, California on this date in 1912, gave in a 1952 article of Radio-TV ...
Happy Birthday, Dick Powell!(Post)Born in Arkansas on this date in 1904, the man christened Richard Ewing Powell would prove to be one of show business’ true chameleons. His career is highlighted by a series of reinventions—both ...
Happy Birthday, Brett Halliday!(Post)If we were to truly recognize the birthday of author Brett Halliday, we’d have to settle in for a series of blog posts. “Brett Halliday,” the author who brought the adventures of detective Micha ...
Happy Birthday, William Boyd!(Post)The man responsible for the motion picture career of actor William Lawrence Boyd—born in Hendrysburg, Ohio on this date in 1895—was without question Cecil B. DeMille. The famed director-producer c ...
Happy Birthday, Jack Carson!(Post)If you’re familiar with the career of the comic actor born John Elmer Carson on this date in 1910, you’ve no doubt heard Jack Carson constantly joke about the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Jack ev ...
Happy Birthday, Bert Lahr!(Post)In his indispensable reference book The Great Movie Shorts, film historian Leonard Maltin made this observation of Leon Errol: “There are comedians, comics, and a few clowns around, but funnymen a ...
Happy Birthday, Dale Evans!(Post)On January 14, 1953, TV’s This is Your Life paid tribute to “The King of the Cowboys”—none other than Roy Rogers himself. Host Ralph Edwards presided over some predictably teary-eyed moments duri ...
Happy Birthday, Mae West!(Post)It’s a textbook example of how a mediocre movie can be redeemed by the appearance of a personality whose mere presence dominates the motion picture screen. In an otherwise dreary 1932 film entitl ...
Happy Birthday, Brian Donlevy!(Post)With the competition from that problem child called television and the government-enforced breakup of their production and distribution monopolies, the motion picture industry started to take a fi ...
Review: Radio Stars on Parade (1945)(Post)Effervescent chanteuse Sally Baker (Frances Langford) is a success at a nightclub owned by racketeer Lucky Maddox (Sheldon Leonard)—but when Maddox’s attentions start to drift towards a more amoro ...
Happy Birthday, Bob Bailey!(Post)Robert Bainter Bailey was born in Toledo, OH on this date in 1913. Though some would argue he never fulfilled his ambition to become a motion picture star, old-time radio fans will trump that card ...