Old Radio

December 25: Happy Birthday,  Humphrey Bogart Humphrey Bogart , born December 25th, 1899, was an American actor dubbed the greatest male star in the history of American cinema by The American Film Institute. Bogart attended a prestigious academy in Andover, Massachusetts as a young man, but he was eventually expelled from the institution. With no other options, Humphrey joined the Navy. While serving, he was injured in the bombing of the USS Leviathan. The partial facial paralysis that resulted from the attack gave him the signature vocal and facial style that he became famous for. Many people identify Bogart as a film actor, but he actually made numerous radio appearances after moving to Hollywood . Both Lux Radio Theater and Screen Guild Players featured famous actors in their starring roles, and Bogart made numerous appearances on these programs. He also performed on Command Performance , a post World War II program that let Bogart chat with Lauren and Frank Sinatra . In ...

By definition, all Radio Stars are voice actors. No one had as many voices as Mel Blanc . Or perhaps, all those voices had Mel Blanc . Several voice actors have been called “the man of a thousand voices” with some degree of exaggeration. Mel's son, Noel, claimed that Mel's count was closer to 1500. Mel was born in San Francisco, the second son of Frank and Eva Blanc, on May 30, 1908. The family moved to Portland, OR, where Mel attended Lincoln High school. Mel has been always fond of making up voices and clowning. At the age of 16,  he decided to change his last name because a teacher warned him that he could end up that way, a Blank, a nothing. It is hard to imagine someone as good natured being kept down by such a prediction. He began working in vaudeville throughout the Northwest, and at 17 was the youngest orchestra conductor in the country. Mel's radio career began at KGW in Portland on the show The Hoot Owls. Mel became  popular with his ability to so many voic...

A few days (and seven years) after the birth of William Powell, Myrna Loy realized if she wanted to star with him in fourteen films, she'd have to be born too.  So she was, on Aug. 2, 1905. Loy spent her childhood switching from Montana and Southern California, permanently settling into Culver City in 1918, after the death of her father.  She began playing vampy, exotic roles in less-than-stellar silent films like A Girl in Every Port. Her big break was her first role with Powell, in The Thin Man .  She'd soon become a sought-after actress, starring alongside Jimmy Stewart , Clark Gable , Clifton Webb, and--why not?--Shirley Temple. She hit the airwaves for a few adaptations of movies she'd starred in, produced by Lux Radio Theatre .  On Suspense she starred in "The Library Book," which probably sounded a lot more intriguing in 1945 than it would today, and she was part of an intrepid group of artists appearing on the 1947 special Hollywood Fights Bac...

December 27: Happy Birthday, Cathy Lewis Cathy Lewis (December 27th, 1916-November 20, 1968) was best known for her numerous radio appearances. Lewis moved from her hometown of Spokane, Washington to Chicago and found work on The First Nighter Program. Eventually, Lewis moved back across the country to Hollywood , where she had starring roles in the Pasadena Playhouse productions of Stage Door, Winterset, and To Quito and Back. In 1943, Cathy met and married Elliot Lewis, a radio actor and writer. They both became staples of the vintage radio scene, regulars among the group known as Hollywood ’s Radio Row. The pair appeared both together and separately on programs such as The Whistler . Together they co-created the respected anthology series On Stage and helped to steward the popular mystery's program Suspense . Cathy and Elliot began to be billed as “Mr. and Mrs. Radio.” Cathy is most remembered for her role as Jane Stacy, a sensibly droll woman that roomed with Irma Pe...

In the world of show biz bios, you can either be a lower-working class kid from Bumble Bluffs, Illinois who hopped on a tomato truck and rode out to L.A. hoping to make it big, or you can come from one of the big cities and be drawn to the entertainment world around you. Burt Lancaster wasn't from Bumble Bluffs.  He was born in New York City and was very affected by Joan Crawford and Lon Chaney in the 1927 silent film The Unknown.  From there it was a stint working for the circus (OK, maybe he was a bumpkin from the corn belt), Hollywood, and eventually his huge roles in Elmer Gantry, Atlantic City, and The Birdman of Alcatraz. If you were a radio listener at the time and you wanted to hear Burt's voice, you could tune in to The Bob Hope Show , Hedda Hopper 's Hollywood , Lux Radio Theatre , and The Cavalcade of America .

The lovely Joan Fontaine led a colorful and unusual childhood, alternately living in California and Japan. As soon as she struck adulthood she began auditioning for Hollywood film roles, racking up a spree of parts in B-movies.  A breakthrough role was in Hitchcock 's Rebecca, in which she co-starred with Laurence Olivier. The radio producers new she even sounded pretty, and snapped her up for parts in adaptations of contemporary dramas.  In this capacity, she appeared on Lux Radio Theater , Screen Guild Theater , and Theater Guild on the Air . Born in 1917, Fontaine is now an American treasure.

Hey, thrill seekers, did you know that superstar Gene Kelly appeared in several episodes of Suspense ? One of today's birthday boys did just that, lending his considerable acting chops to such episodes as "Thieves Fall Out," "The Man Who Couldn't Lose," and "The Most Dangerous Game."   But what's just as thrilling is that in 1946 Cresta Blanca wines launched its radio program Cresta Blanca's Hollywood Players , on which it very proudly rolled out its stable of top Hollywood stars . Bette Davis , Gregory Peck , Joan Fontaine , and Gene Kelly were among the players. The show brought to listeners recently-written productions, both dramas and comedies. These included "Heaven Can Wait," "Kitty," "Pride of the Yankees," and "The Glass Key." The latter, in November of '46, presented Kelly's debut on the show. This show's Kelly's versatility, since no one dances on the radio. Be...

Early American baseball never had quite the voice it did in announcer Bill Stern . Born on July 1, 1907, Bill Stern would lead a life of sportscasting and baseball announcing that very few in his genre ever eclipsed. By 1988, 17 years after his passing in 1971, Bill Stern would be inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame . Stern started doing on-air broadcasting in 1925 for a Rochester, New York radio station. in 1937, Stern went to work for NBC doing boxing commentating on the Colgate Sports Newsreel . As one of the big names in radio sportscasting, Stern developed a theme of making on-air stories that were never authenticated in any form. He would give the acknowledgement that whether the stories were true or not; “might be actual, may be mythical, but definitely interesting.” A car accident in 1935 caused Bill Stern to have one leg amputated; but, it never stopped him from his on-air work. He had opportunity to be the on-air sports commentator for NBC Newsreels....

Guizar was a classically-trained Mexican singer who starred with Roy Rogers and Bob Hope in Hollywood films. His acting and singing career spanned an astonishing seventy years. He's probably best known for his song "Alla en el Rancho Grande," the title song from a 1936 film. His radio appearances were on Duffy's Tavern , Hello Americans , Its Time to Smile , Mail Call , and Quiz Kids . His appearance on Duffy's Tavern had him singing "La Feria De Las Flores," just before Talullah Bankhead read from Boris Voitekhov's "The Last Days of Sevastopol." You just can't find radio like this anymore, folks!

Today's birthday salute goes to Joan Crawford , born today in 1904.  Crawford's career began kicking in 1924, when she worked as a dancer in traveling revues.  Spotted in a performances, she landed a gig in Innocent Eyes on Broadway.  It wasn't long before she landed her first movie role, in The Circle, and the rest is history. In 1934, Crawford made her first of many appearance on The Lux Radio Theatre , starring in an adaptation of the 1934 MGM film "Chained."  In 1938 it was "Anna Christie," with Crawford playing the role made famous by Greta Garbo .  She would later star in "A Doll's House" on the same program. The much-sought actress also lent her talents to Screen Directors' Playhouse , Stars Over Hollywood , Hollywood Star Playhouse , and Suspense . A happy birthday to Joan Crawford .

June 20 of 1909, Robin Hood and Captain Blood was born in the visage of Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn . Born and raised in Australia, the entrepreneur turned performer made his way to the USA via time performing theatre and movie work in England. Flynn made a major impression upon the American scene for motion pictures due to his swarthy good looks and care-free attitude to life. It was during his short, but action-filled life that Errol Flynn created the roles of Captain Blood, Don Juan and Robin Hood. His sword-play was considered some of the best Hollywood magic of the time and earned him more roles as a 200.000 dollar a film performer. Flynn was able to handle less swash-buckling of on-screen roles in war and western themed motion pictures. During the 1940’s Errol Flynn attempted to serve the country that had made him famous by trying to enlist, but heart and health issues prevented that from happening. However, in 1937 he did serve as a reporter during the Spanish Civil Wa...

March 1: Happy Birthday, David Niven While countless men have been inspired by 007, James Bond, David Niven is said to have been the inspiration for the famous fictional spy. In the Bond film You Only Live Twice, Niven is called the only true gentleman in Hollywood. Legend has it the novelist Ian Fleming had Niven in mind as a bit of a prototype for the suave, playboy type who Bond would become in the novels and then the films. The British-born  Niven  , a soldier who experienced the D-Day invasion before becoming an actor, is of relevance to us here because of his appearances on Lux Radio Theatre , The Rudy Vallee Royal Gelatin Hour , and The Bob Hope Show . Perhaps most noteworthy, the debonair Brit voiced George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984 on NBC University Theatre on Aug. 27, 1949.

February 1: Happy Birthday, Clark Gable Both before and after his epochal role in 1939's Gone With The Wind, Clark Gable made more than a dozen appearances of popular radio shows including Lux Radio Theatre , Cavalcade of America , and Good News . One of his earliest roles was in a 1936 performance of "The Legionnaire and the Lady" on the Lux Radio Program . This was an adaptation of the film Morocco, and starred, in addition to Gable, Marlene Dietrich . On May 5, 1937, Gable starred with Josephine Hutchinson and Jack LaRue in a Lux production of "A Farewell To Arms." On May 5, 1938, he starred in "Manhattan Melodrama" on Good News . In all, Gable's radio performances allowed him to work with Ginger Rogers , Bob Hope , Lucille Ball , Lana Turner , and Judy Garland . We honor the King of Hollywood for his sterling on-air performances.

January 6: Happy Birthday, Loretta Young Born as Gretchen Young on January 6th, 1913, Loretta Young was a famous American actress. After the separation of her parents, Loretta moved to Hollywood along with her mother and sisters at the age of 3. She quickly started acting, playing a small role in The Primrose Ring as a fairy at her young age. The name “Loretta” was given to her by actress Colleen Moore, who explained that it was the name of her favorite doll. The newly dubbed Loretta Young was a highly prolific actress who made as many as nine movies a year starring alongside big name actors. In 1935, she starred in Gone With the Wind alongside Clark Gable , who she would later have a secret love affair with. The tryst ended up begetting a child, Judith Young. Loretta won an Oscar for her performance in The Farmer’s Daughter, and she also had starring roles in The Bishop’s Wife and Mother is a Freshman. Eventually, Young’s career moved to television, where she became the ho...

December 15: Happy Birthday, Jeff Chandler! Jeff Chandler , born Ira Grossel, in 1918 could play any range of character’s and was most remembered for his portrayal of Apache Indian Chieftain Cochise in Broken Arrow (1950). His swarthy good looks made him an early sensation in Hollywood and a popular contract player for any studio that could get him onboard. Born into a Jewish family, Chandler gained a love for acting early on in his youth. Before becoming big on the stage and cinema, Chandler had for a time spent working in radio. In fact, in Rogue’s Gallery, Chandler performed with the notable Dick Powell on the air. his movie history included playing the parts of a gangster, Israeli soldier and an Arab chieftain, before his Academy Award nomination for his casting as the Apache leader. This had been the first time an actor had received such high accolades for portraying an Indian. During the late 50’s and before his death in 1961, Chandler’s hair began to turn gray prematurel...