“If I had known it would last this long, I would never have created the darn thing.” So observed John Meston, the writer who—along with director-producer Norman Macdonnell—can claim responsibilit ...
Happy Birthday, Penny Singleton!(Post)She had stiff competition for the film role that would make her a household name: actresses Gloria Blondell and Una Merkel had both been approached to breathe life into Blondie, the titular heroin ...
Happy Anniversary, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz!(Post)“Whatta hunk of woman!” That was Desi Arnaz’s initial reaction upon spotting future wife Lucille Ball at R-K-O in 1940, where the two of them would appear in that studio’s adaptation of the Broadw ...
Happy Birthday, Alonzo Deen Cole!(Post)Before radio audiences eagerly anticipated each week the memorably unsettling sound of a creaking door (on Inner Sanctum Mysteries) or an ominous gong signaling that they should dim the lights (Li ...
Happy Birthday, Fanny Brice!(Post)Show business’ original “Funny Girl” was born Fania Borach in New York City on this date in 1891. As Fanny Brice, she dominated the worlds of stage, screen and radio: as a major headliner with the ...
Happy Birthday, Lurene Tuttle!(Post)“The First Lady of Radio.” That’s the fitting appellation given to actress Lurene Tuttle, born Lurene Susie Tuttle in Pleasant Lake, Indiana on this date in 1907. Lurene was, without question, a ...
Happy Birthday, Joseph Kearns!(Post)In the 1950s, with technological strides being embraced by the dying medium of radio, the Columbia Broadcasting System started using Hammond electric organs for “fill music” on their broadcast pro ...
Happy Birthday, William N. Robson!(Post)Though September 30, 1962 is often acknowledged as the date when The Golden Age of Radio ended, director-producer-writer William N. Robson had a decidedly different take in an interview with Dick ...
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, 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, Mary Lansing!(Post)“The Big Easy” (New Orleans, Louisiana) welcomed actress Mary Lansing on this date in 1911. From 1933 until 1970, Lansing was the wife of fellow thespian Frank Nelson, whom she met while the two o ...
Happy Birthday, Jim Backus!(Post)He was an actor who did it all: stage, television, movies…and for us fans of the aural medium, plenty of old-time radio. James Gilmore Backus arrived in Cleveland, OH on this date in 1913, and fo ...
Happy Birthday, Basil Rathbone!(Post)Basil Rathbone was born on this date in 1892—and I’ll come clean right from the get-go: I am a tremendous fan of the actor’s work. Basil possessed a suavity and menace that made him one of the ci ...
Happy Birthday, Richard Crenna!(Post)The go-to actor for radio’s squeaky-voiced adolescents was born in Los Angeles, California on this date in 1926. Richard “Dick” Crenna established his bona fides in the aural medium with co-starri ...
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 ...
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.