The actor born Frank Winfield Russell Marion Derwent Readick, Jr. (that’s what he called himself in a 1932 issue of Radio Guide) on this date in Seattle, Washington in 1896 was already a performin ...
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 ...
“If trouble is around, yours truly will most likely get a chunk of it.”(Post)On this date in 1949, actor Dick Powell whistled his very first rendition of “Leave it to Love” on NBC’s Richard Diamond, Private Detective—a light-hearted radio crime drama that successfully blend ...
“They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate.” — President Franklin D. Roosevelt(Post)On this date in 1944, the landing operations of the Allied invasion of Normandy got underway in one of the most pivotal battles of World War II. The largest seaborne invasion in history, “Operati ...
Happy Birthday, Jay Novello!(Post)Radio actors learned practically from their introduction to the medium that their fortunes were set if their talents included a mastery of dialects. Take Jay Novello, who was born in Chicago on th ...
Happy Birthday, Bill Thompson!(Post)When he was five years old, actor Bill Thompson lost his voice campaigning around the country selling Liberty bonds (America had just entered World War I). Now, if you’ve ever listened to a broad ...
Happy Birthday, Milton Berle!(Post)At the height of his phenomenal fame on television as the star of The Texaco Star Theatre, Milton Berle was the target of a hilarious barb from fellow comedian Joe E. Lewis: “Milton Berle is respo ...
Happy Birthday, Lucille Ball!(Post)One hundred and four years ago on this date in Jamestown, NY, the woman who would become virtually synonymous with television situation comedy entered this world as Lucille Désirée Ball. October 1 ...
Happy Birthday, Alfred Hitchcock!(Post)It was a story that he frequently told in interviews: when Sir Alfred Hitchcock was only five years old, his father (who referred to his son as a “little lamb without a spot”) sent him to the loca ...
Happy Birthday, House Jameson!(Post)When radio’s popular family sitcom The Aldrich Family came to television in the fall of 1949, it soon established a reputation as being a sort of “revolving door” as far as acting talent went. Du ...
Happy Birthday, Shirley Booth!(Post)There’s an oft-repeated observation that purportedly came from Oscar-winning actress Hattie McDaniel on the controversial topic of her satisfaction with playing subservient domestic roles througho ...
Happy Birthday, Charles Boyer!(Post)Any self-respecting impressionist attempting to imitate actor Charles Boyer—born in Figeac, Lot, France on this date in 1899—had only to utter this phrase: “Come wiz me to the Cazbah…” It’s a ref ...