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Showing posts from April, 2016

April 30: Happy Birthday, Eve Arden

She was Our Miss Brooks ; she played a pickpocket in The Marx Brothers flick At The Circus ; and for an encore, turned in memorable performance s as the wacky high school principal in Grease and its sequel. Eve Arden , born on this day in 1908, was multi-talented and loved by millions for her roles in radio , TV, and film. The lovely strawberry blonde began her show biz career on the stage, as a teenager. But before long she was on the silver screen, finding a niche as the sidekick, witty and wise-cracking. Her prolific late- 30's film output inlcuded Oh, Doctor , Stage Door, Cocoanut Grove , and Having Wonderful Time. In 1948, after nearly two decades fighting in the show business trenches as a comic character actress, Arden landed a starring role, that of high school teacher Connie Brooks in Our Miss Brooks . The literature teacher was likeable--in fact, praised by organizations of actual teachers--a strong female character who stood up to the shenanigans of the ske...

April 27, 1937: The start of 'Lorenzo Jones' two-decade run

April 27, 1937: NBC aired the initial broadcast of Lorenzo Jones on this day. Lorenzo Jones  was a radio comedy   soap opera which featured Karl Swenson as the title character. Jones was an auto mechanic who cannot focus on his work because of thinking about what to invent next. Among his inventions were an outdoor vacuum. an automated foot-warmer, a teapot that spouts weak, medium, and strong tea. In the series, he also had a loving wife named Belle, which was portrayed by Bette Garde, and later by Lucille Wall. The show lasted for 18 years.