Although he was born Anton Morris Leader in Boston, Massachusetts on this date in 1913, Mr. Leader was always informally known as “Tony” to his friends and colleagues. This occasionally results in ...
Happy Birthday, Ray Bolger!(Post)Of the artist born Raymond Wallace Bolger on this date in 1904 in Dorchester, Massachusetts, authors Ephraim Katz and Ronald Dean Nolen note in The Film Encyclopedia: “Bolger’s acting, dancing, and ...
“The secret word is anniversary…”(Post)On this date in 1947, the program that finally found a way to make good use of the one-of-a-kind comic talent of Julius “Groucho” Marx premiered: You Bet Your Life. A “quiz show” that really serv ...
Happy Birthday, Norris Goff!(Post)One-half of the comedy team that served as my introduction to old-time radio was born one hundred and ten years ago on this date. With his lifelong partner Chester Lauck, Norris “Tuffy” Goff comp ...
Review: Boston Blackie and the Law (1946)(Post)Previously on the Radio Spirits blog, I discussed Alias Boston Blackie (1942), the third entry in the popular Columbia Pictures movie franchise—it’s a holiday-themed picture, with the events takin ...
Happy Birthday, Peggy Lee!(Post)Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington said it better than anyone possibly could: “If I’m the duke, man, Peggy Lee is the queen.” Sir Duke went on to further note: “I consider her as great a musician as F ...
Happy Birthday, Tom Conway!(Post)Thomas Charles Sanders was born on this date in 1904 to English parents in St. Petersburg, Russia. Old-time radio fans, of course, know him as Tom Conway, and know that he played two famous detec ...
Happy Birthday to the Chairman of the Board!(Post)Francis Albert Sinatra—Oscar-winning actor, Grammy-winning recording artist, and star of the Emmy Award-winning television special Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music (1965)—was born on this date i ...
Happy Birthday, Willard Waterman!(Post)This Saturday, August 31, will mark the 72nd anniversary of one of radio’s most popular and successful sitcoms, The Great Gildersleeve—a program that any old time radio fan worth their salt will t ...
“Out of the fog…out of the night…”(Post)It was on this date in 1941 that Captain Hugh “Bulldog” Drummond began what the announcer referred to as “his American adventures” on Mutual Radio. The need to stress “American adventures” stems f ...
Happy Birthday, Jan Miner!(Post)On radio, one of the rare daytime dramas to stand out from its weepy brethren and sistren was Hilltop House—a series that took place in an orphanage located in the fictional town of Glendale and s ...
Happy Birthday, Chester Morris!(Post)Chester Morris starred in several Boston Blackie movies during the 1940s (Alias Boston Blackie, Boston Blackie and the Law, etc.). In a number of these films, Morris allowed his character Horatio ...
“They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate.” — President Franklin D. Roosevelt(Post)On this date in 1944, the landing operations of the Allied invasion of Normandy got underway in one of the most pivotal battles of World War II. The largest seaborne invasion in history, “Operati ...
Happy Birthday, Kenny Baker!(Post)From 1935 to 1939, Kenneth Laurence Baker—born in Monrovia, California on this date in 1912—was welcomed into millions of homes as the popular tenor vocalist on radio’s The Jack Benny Program. Ke ...
Happy Birthday, Benita Hume!(Post)When Jack Benny and his writers concocted the script that would introduce actor Ronald Colman as Jack’s “next door neighbor” on The Jack Benny Program, the writers’ first inclination was to hire a ...
A ventriloquist…on the radio?(Post)On this date in 1936, The Royal Gelatin Hour’s Rudy Vallee introduced a very unusual guest:Why—people have been asking me for the last two days—why put a ventriloquist on the air? The answer is, ...