Old Radio

Join us in celebrating the nativity of one of Old Time Radio's most beloved and recognizable character actors, Mr. Eddie Anderson . The actor so many of us love as Jack Benny 's sidekick Rochester was born on September 18, 1905. In a less enlightened time,  we might say that Eddie Anderson did very well for one of his races. It might even be said that Eddie would never have gone as far if not for his association with Jack Benny . To a certain extend both of these sentiments were true, but when we look at Eddie Anderson's achievements it becomes pretty obvious that Eddie would have found the opportunities and resources to do great things no matter what. Eddie was born into a show business family in Oakland. “Big Ed” Anderson was a minstrel performer and his wife Ella Mae was a tight rope performer until a fall put an end to her career. As a boy Eddie sold newspapers on the street corner. The newspaper boys believed that whoever would yell the loudest would get the mo...

Born July 25, 1898, Al Pearce would early on become a name to remember...both musically and comically. The man who eventually penned the catchphrase, “Nobody home, I hope, I hope, I hope,” as a nervous door to door salesman, came to be one of the early on favorites to reach America at home. Pearce began his work history as a real estate salesman; but also did sang on-air for a glee club in San Francisco in 1928. He would later change over to comedy for KFRC in the Bay area, doing a sketch as a nervous door-to-door salesman...Elmer Blurt. 1928 was a busy year as Al Pearce began the Happy Go Lucky Hour for KFRC as Pearce and his gang grew in popularity as a musical-comedy hour. In 1932, the program moved over to a new network, Blue Network, airing Saturday evenings and twice weekday evenings. By the mid-30’s, his program brought on-board talents such as Arlene Harris and Morey Amsterdam. Pepsodent came along as a new sponsor and the show continued strong on NBC . His program bounced...

December 26: Happy Birthday, Steve Allen Born December 26th, 1921, Steve Allen was an American television personality, actor, and comedian best known for the Steve Allen Show . Allen was born in New York City, but grew up on the south side of Chicago with his mother’s Irish Catholic family. His first radio job came in Phoenix, Arizona on station KOY. After his job as an announcer for KFAC in Los Angeles, Allen moved to Mutual Broadcasting System in 1946, where he starred in a five-nights-a-week comedy show, Smile Time, with Wendell Noble. Allen moved again, this time to CBS radio, where he hosted an hour long talk show. His popularity skyrocketed, and audiences were often standing room only. In 1950, Allen’s program replaced Our Miss Brooks , exposing him to a national audience for the first time in his career. Making the leap to TV, Allen helped to create the Tonight Show with Sylvester “Pat” Weaver. Several years later, NBC offered him his own prime time slot that would com...