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Happy Birthday, Luis Van Rooten!(Post)
Actor Luis Van Rooten received a unique compliment on his thespic talents after his performance as a psychiatrist on ABC’s Exploring the Unknown in 1946. On the broadcast, Van Rooten’s character ...
“Visualize ace counterspy of them all as David Harding…”(Post)On this date in 1942, the man who brought Gang Busters and Mr. District Attorney to radio consoles “added one more jewel to his Triumvirate of Tension,” according to historian Jim Harmon in The Gre ...
Happy Birthday, Bernard Lenrow!(Post)When the popular radio crime anthology known as The Mollé Mystery Theatre premiered over NBC in the fall of 1943, the host of that series—”annotator” Geoffrey Barnes—was portrayed by an actor name ...
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, 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 Anniversary, George & Gracie!(Post)By 1922, entertainer George Burns was a vaudeville “veteran.” He knew enough about show business to understand what would work in a stage act and what wouldn’t, although his own career was disting ...
Review: Meet Boston Blackie (1941)(Post)Radio Spirits has just released a brand-new CD collection of broadcasts featuring Boston Blackie, a lighthearted detective drama based on the famed reformed safecracker-jewel thief introduced by a ...
The Robin Hood of Modern Crime(Post)His creator described him as “a buccaneer in the suits of Savile Row, amused, cool, debonair, with hell-for-leather blue eyes and a saintly smile.” That creator was author Leslie Charteris, and t ...
Happy Birthday, Jack Kruschen!(Post)Character great Jack Joseph Kruschen was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on this date in 1922. A dues-paying member of the “Hey! It’s That Guy!” show business fraternity, you’ve seen Jack in scores o ...
Happy Birthday, Brace Beemer!(Post)On April 8, 1941, an actor named Earle Graser was killed in an automobile accident. A tragic event to be sure, but what compounded this tragedy was that Graser had a devoted fan following as the ...
Leave Us Not Forget This Anniversary(Post)On this date in 1941, radio audiences made their first visit to a dingy, dank East Side watering hole affectionately known as Duffy’s Tavern. The half-hour sitcom, created by and starring Ed Gardn ...
Happy Birthday, Jeff Corey!(Post)In May of 2017, the memoirs of character actor Jeff Corey—born Arthur Zwerling in Brooklyn on this date in 1914—were published to much critical acclaim. Written with his daughter Emily, Improvisi ...
That reckless, red-headed Irishman…(Post)Sixty-nine years ago on this date, Mutual-Don Lee West Coast listeners got their first taste of Brett Halliday’s sleuthing creation in a half-hour detective series appropriately titled Michael Sha ...
“Under the cold, glaring lights pass the innocent…the vagrant…the thief…the murderer…”(Post)The introduction of Jack Webb’s Dragnet to NBC Radio’s schedule in June of 1949 would soon inspire several imitators focused on the meticulous details of police procedure. There was Broadway’s M ...
Happy Birthday, Joseph Julian!(Post)At the time I borrowed Joseph Julian’s This Was Radio from my hometown public library as a kid, I wasn’t all that familiar with the distinguished actor born Joseph Shapiro in St. Marys, Pennsylvan ...
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 ...