The premiere of NBC Radio’s Dimension X on this date in 1950 was inspired by the phenomenal box office success of Universal-International’s Destination Moon, produced by the legendary George Pal ...
Happy Birthday, Ben Wright!(Post)“Ben was one of the last of the true English gentlemen in the Edwardian sense of the word, with an accent on the gentle,” remarked Joe Bandille in 1989 on the passing of his good friend, actor Ben ...
Happy Birthday, Lou Krugman!(Post)It seems odd that an actor who claimed to have emoted on over 10,000 radio broadcasts and provided voiceovers for 700 commercials doesn’t even rate an entry at Wikipedia…it’s a crime against the a ...
“Herewith, an Englishman’s account of life and death in the West…”(Post)On this date in 1958, a western — that old-time radio historian John Dunning once described (in Tune in Yesterday) as “the only serious rival to Gunsmoke in the radio Hall of Fame” — premiered over ...
Ray Bradbury (1920-2012)(Post)In his reference book The Great American Broadcast, author Leonard Maltin relates an anecdote of how future science-fiction/fantasy author Ray Bradbury talked himself into a “job” on George Burns &am ...
Happy Birthday, Howard McNear!(Post)In the fictional town of Mayberry, North Carolina—as seen on the popular situation comedy The Andy Griffith Show—the locus of the town’s goings-on was usually the humble barber shop run by garrulo ...
Happy Birthday, Jack Webb!(Post)The infamous poaching of radio stars from NBC—known to old-time radio fans as the “talent raids”—was perpetrated by rival CBS. They seduced big names like Jack Benny, Red Skelton, and Amos & An ...
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 ...
“The story of your police force in action.”(Post)Joe Friday: Room 5. That was the title of the script for a proposed TV pilot, written by Herb Ellis and Jack Webb, as 1948 was marching to a close. If this treatment about a “private eye” had bee ...
Happy Birthday, Paula Winslowe!(Post)The untimely death of “platinum blonde” Jean Harlow at the age of 26 was devastating news to moviegoers…but since the motion picture business is a business, MGM (Harlow’s employer) soldiered on by ...
“...and now…a tale well-calculated to keep you in…SUSPENSE!”(Post)When “the Golden Age of Radio” came to what many recognize as its official end on September 30, 1962—there were only two major network dramatic offerings left standing. One was Yours Truly, Johnny ...
Happy Birthday, Barney Phillips!(Post)Although there was certainly a note of melancholy involved, replacing the departed Barton Yarborough as Jack Webb’s new partner on Dragnet (as Sgt. Ed Jacobs) must have been a dream assignment for ...