Thursday Night - Old Time Radio

The program opens with radio advertising from the listeners’ viewpoint. Find out
what the listeners liked and disliked about radio commercials during the golden age.
Rounding out the hour is an unusual non-broadcast. Hosted by Edward R. Murrow, he
tries to persuade the people of Standard Oil of New Jersey in sponsoring the New
York Philharmonic radio program. Was he successful? Come to the Commercial Corner
and find out.

Sherlock Holmes has had many incarnations both on radio and in movies. As early as
the late 1890’s Americans had an idea of how he looked and sounded as there was already
an early edition of “The Hound Of The Baskervilles,” presented as an early Broadway
stage play. Here at “Cruising The Classics,” we too haven’t forgotten Sherlock Holmes
and this Thursday we shall present a full hour of Holmesean drama. If you’re thinking
it’s two Rathbone episodes we threw together no it’s not. But what is it?

This time on Radio Out Of The Past we’re going to salute the arrival of spring which
has finally reached most of the country. Two things that spring brings are color
and bugs. Accordingly, we will have two crime-fighting shows with the names of colors
and bugs in their titles. If you can’t guess the first show you are definitely not
paying attention. But can you figure the second offering?

The presentation concerns a decade-by-decade look at how radio advertising changed
during radio’s golden age. It will focus on how the sponsors got their products mentioned
over the airwaves when network radio began in 1926 and how the radio commercials
were presented during the 1930’s, 1940’s, 1950’s, and 1960.
In closing out the hour, there are also 3 4-minute commercials for New Evergreen
Spray (an insecticide) starring Chester the Cutworm and Millicent the Rose Beetle.

There is much excitement in the Radio Out of the Past community as word has been
received that special guest Chuck McKibben’s will be joining the virtual audience
Thursday, April 17 during the weekly gathering of old time radio enthusiasts.
Chuck McKibben’s 45-year career in show business has always been centered around
voiceover work…the first nine years as a radio personality, and then, while still
only in his mid-20’s, as the studio manager and personal recording engineer for the
most fabled voice artist of all, Mel (“Bugs Bunny”) Blanc. Chuck will recount for
us his unforgettable times working in Hollywood with “The Man of 1,000 Voices” and
many other legends, such as Jack Benny, Kirk Douglas, Jack Palance, Vincent Price
and Rod Serling. Add to this Chuck’s 30 years as a producer, director and voice artist
in New York, plus known today as an accomplished audiobook actor, and you have a
program not to be missed by any OTR fan!

Next time on Memory Lane:
As we take our stroll down Memory Lane we’ll do something a little
Different. For the sake of comparison We are going to listen to the premier
Episode of The Fat Man from January 21st 1946, from the ABC Radio Network
With J (Jack) Scott Smart as the Fat Man. Then we’ll follow this with
Another premier episode of The Fat Man, this one is from September 9th,
1954, from another ABC, The Australian Broadcasting Corporation featuring
Lloyd Berrell as the Fat Man.

The first is from the program Grand Central Station and the title is Moon Blind,
a nice romantic drama. The second show will have you tapping your
feet and singing along with my favorite cowboy Gene Autry. He will have a story for
you as well. The only date I can give you on this one is 1953 because it is an Arm
Forces Radio broadcast. So join me and sit back relax and listen, as we venture in
to another What Once Was Radio.

This time it’s radio from A to Z. We’ll lead off with “A Date With Judy” from radio’s
first golden age. This will be followed by “Zero
Hour” from radio’s mini-revival in the 70’s. So why not join us for an hour of comedy
and intrigue?

In May of 1929, a book was published that to this date is considered by some, the
greatest war epic of our time. It was written while the author spent some time during
his many adventures abroad at a relative’s home in Arkansas. The book is written
in five books and tells the story of Frederick Henry and Catherine Barkley and it
takes place during World War I on the Italian front. If you haven’t figured it out
the book is “A Farewell to Arms,” and its author is Ernest Hemingway. When I first
looked at tackling this classic I had many questions to consider. Which old time
radio dramatization to play? Is there a dramatization out there that not only has
the action and romance the book carries along with being fairly faithful to the book?
Actually there are several but one stood out. One truly showed the classic with its
depth and length and did it in just under an hour. Now to find out which one I picked
Matt Cox