On a cold December night in 1915, young Marian Driscoll—born on this date in Peoria, Illinois in 1898—had no idea that after that evening’s choir practice at St. John’s Catholic Church, a lively j ...
The Men From Laramie(Post)Before actor Raymond Burr stepped into his first courtroom in the fall of 1957 as TV’s Perry Mason, he was known primarily as a movie heavy (if you’ll pardon the obvious pun). He practiced villai ...
Happy Birthday, Rudy Vallee!(Post)We’re all familiar with the timeless movie classic Casablanca (1943), and its unforgettable theme song As Time Goes By, crooned by Dooley Wilson (who portrayed the piano-playing “Sam” in the film) ...
Happy Birthday, Boris Karloff!(Post)Born on this date in 1887, William Henry Pratt no doubt had little inkling that he was destined to become a horror film icon and one of the silver screen’s most beloved performers. After being ed ...
“America’s favorite young couple…”(Post)On this date in 1935, bandleader Oswald George Nelson (we know him as “Ozzie Nelson”) tied the knot with Peggy Sue Snyder (we know her as “Harriet Hilliard”), the female vocalist that he hired for ...
Happy Birthday, Margaret O’Brien!(Post)At Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the motion picture studio where she was employed, child star Margaret O’Brien and her fellow MGM stablemate June Allyson were known as “The Town Criers.” “We were always in ...
Happy Birthday, Jimmy Durante!(Post)From the 1920s and onward, James Francis Durante—born in Manhattan on this date in 1893—was the entertainer who advised audiences that they have to start off each day with a song. Durante’s large ...
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, 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, Eve Arden!(Post)At the height of her fame as the tart-tongued schoolmarm of radio and TV’s Our Miss Brooks, Eve Arden—born in Mill Valley, CA on this date in 1908—got more than a few offers from school boards acr ...
Happy Birthday, Berry Kroeger!(Post)Berry Kroeger’s initial show business ambition was to become a concert pianist. Kroeger didn’t lack for talent, you understand—but being painfully shy and terrified of performing threatened to si ...
Happy Birthday, Norman Corwin!(Post)The man born Norman Lewis Corwin on this date in 1910 is universally recognized as “the poet laureate of radio.” Norman Corwin wrote and produced many of the most memorable broadcasts in the aura ...
“More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of…”(Post)The man officially known as The Reverend Father Patrick Peyton, C.S.C. was chaplain of the Holy Cross Brothers of the Vincentian Institute in Albany, New York during World War II. Father Peyton es ...
Happy Birthday, Verna Felton!(Post)It’s a bit of a stretch but try to imagine Verna Felton—the actress who appeared on Jack Benny’s radio/TV show as Dennis Day’s mother and later as “Hilda Crocker” on December Bride—as “Baby Felton ...
The Return of the Whistler (1948): “Yes, I know the nameless terrors…”(Post)On a night that’s raining felines and canines, Theodore “Ted” Nichols (Michael Duane) and his French fiancée Alice Dupres Barkley (Lenore Aubert) reach the home of the justice of the peace who’s g ...
Happy Birthday, Raymond Edward Johnson!(Post)He was a respected Broadway thespian who depended on radio to pay the bills…and for Raymond Edward Johnson, born on this date in 1911, his contributions to the aural medium would make him immortal ...