One of radio’s most prolific character actresses was born in Oklahoma City on this date in 1919: Amzie Strickland. That first name is pronounced AIM-zee, by the way, and during her lengthy show b ...
Happy Birthday, Howard Culver!(Post)In the summer of 1949, with CBS working on the idea for what would eventually become Gunsmoke, an audition was recorded (“Mark Dillon Goes to Gouge Eye”) that starred Howard Brasfield Culver—born ...
Happy Centennial Birthday, Parley Baer!(Post)Simply put, the actor born in 1914 on this date in Salt Lake City, Utah possessed one of the most distinctive voices in the multiple mediums of radio, TV, and movies. Let me illustrate with a pers ...
Review: Gildersleeve’s Ghost (1944)(Post)One thing you can say about Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve (Harold Peary): his political ambitions are boundless, and in the 1944 film comedy Gildersleeve’s Ghost he’s determined to advance from his ...
Happy Birthday, Mercedes McCambridge!(Post)On this date in 1916, the performer that would win a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her very first feature film was born. As Sadie Burke, the tough female assistant to ambitious politician Wil ...
Happy Birthday, Philip Rapp!(Post)Comedy writer Phil Rapp was born on this date in 1907, and during his long show business career he would probably become best known for creating a constantly squabbling couple played on numerous s ...
Happy Birthday, Andy Clyde!(Post)The actor who entertained fans on radio, television and in the movies as Hopalong Cassidy’s sidekick California Carlson was born on this date in 1892 in Blairgowrie, Scotland. Yes, Andrew Allan Cl ...
Happy Birthday, Brace Beemer!(Post)On April 8, 1941, an actor named Earle Graser was killed in an automobile accident. A tragic event to be sure, but what compounded this tragedy was that Graser had a devoted fan following as the ...
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 ...
“Good girl!”(Post)Family members of all sizes and ages have watched with admiration and fascination at the adventures of the world’s most famous collie dog, Lassie, ever since the first of seven films produced at M-G- ...
Happy Birthday, Wyllis Cooper!(Post)Radio writer and playwright Arch Oboler once had these words of praise for the man he would eventually replace as the mind behind the mayhem that fueled the horror series Lights Out: “Radio drama ...
Happy Birthday, Sir John Gielgud!(Post)Sir John Gielgud made his cinematic debut in a 1924 silent film, Who is the Man? Yet the celebrated actor, born in South Kensington, London on this date in 1904, really didn’t commit to a movie c ...
Happy Birthday, Jack Johnstone!(Post)A September 24, 1938 edition of Radio Guide describes a “radio first” executed by actress Alice Frost and Jack Johnstone, the writer-producer of the popular Johnny Presents. The blurb describes ...
Happy Birthday, Al Hodge!(Post)The Ravenna, Ohio native born on this date in 1912 had no way of knowing he would take on two acting jobs that would make him a hero to millions of kids glued to both radio and early TV screens.
Happy Birthday, Don Diamond!(Post)The actor born Donald Alan Diamond in Brooklyn, NY on this date in 1921 was in real life a rather nondescript individual…but that is precisely the quality you want when you’ve decided you want to ...
“Two people who live together…and like it!”(Post)Old-time radio author-historian Jim Cox describes My Favorite Husband as “a dress rehearsal for the main event” in his indispensable reference book The Great Radio Sitcoms. “My Favorite Husband w ...