The actor born Arthur Harvey Van Berschot in Chicago, Illinois on this date in 1883 had much in common with the fictional Victor Rodney Gook, the laid-back patriarch Art played for so many years o ...
Radio’s laugh novelty(Post)Writer Goodman Ace made a solid living in the early 1930s reviewing plays and movies for The Kansas City Post for a $75-a-week salary. To supplement this income, Goody hosted a radio show on Kansas ...
Inner Sanctum at the movies(Post)In 1943, Universal Pictures was reaping the rewards from a revived horror movie cycle, so the studio decided in June of that year to ink a deal with Simon and Schuster to institute a film series b ...
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 ...
“…that most famous of all manhunters…”(Post)Nick Carter received the first knock at his radio door on this date in 1943. I know this sounds like an odd statement, but I’m referring to the memorable opening that signaled the start of Nick C ...
Happy Birthday, David Friedkin!(Post)The birth of one of radio’s most prolific and celebrated writers occurred on this date one hundred and two years ago. David Friedkin, whose ambitions of being an actor-musician (he studied violin ...
Happy Birthday, Everett Sloane!(Post)In the 1941 movie classic Citizen Kane, Kane’s business manager Mr. Bernstein makes an observation that remains in the memories of movie fans long after Kane’s final reel has unspooled: “One day, ...
Happy Birthday, Conrad Binyon!(Post)“Why are you so extra nice to me?” asked sixteen-year-old Conrad Binyon of his mother in 1947. Ma Binyon wouldn’t admit it…but she was still trembling from her son’s recent experience involving a ...
Happy Birthday, Jeanne Bates!(Post)Character great Jeanne Bates—born in Berkeley, California on this date in 1918—started her show business career as a billboard and magazine model (while attending San Mateo Junior College)…but it ...
Happy Birthday, Judy Canova!(Post)At the height of her popularity in the 1940s, Judy Canova—born in Starke, Florida on this date in 1913—started a pigtails-and-calico fad among female students on college campuses. Juliette Canova, ...
“Heavenly days!”(Post)The day that writer Don Quinn crossed paths with Jim Jordan at WENR in Chicago would prove to be a most fortuitous one for both men…and for Jim’s wife Marian as well. The Jordans arrived on radio ...
Celeste Holm (1917-2012)(Post)A surviving excerpt of radio’s The Fitch Bandwagon from April 23, 1944 features Broadway sensation Celeste Holm singing (complete with Brooklyn accent) the song written by Duffy’s Tavern’s Ed Gar ...
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, Steve Dunne!(Post)Certified couch potatoes have seen today’s birthday boy guest star in a number of TV classics: Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Batman, The Andy Griffith Show, The Brady Bunch…and so many more. Classic ...
Happy Birthday, Rosa Rio!(Post)In Leonard Maltin’s old-time radio memoir The Great American Broadcast, veteran announcer Jackson Beck recalled a most amusing anecdote involving today’s birthday celebrant. “There was a time Ros ...
Happy Birthday, Reed Hadley!(Post)The man born Reed Herring on this date in Petrolia, Texas in 1911 had one of the most instantly recognizable voices in show business. Actor Reed Hadley was the go-to man for narrating film noirs; y ...