Old Radio

February 7: Happy Birthday, Eddie Bracken Just read through the episode titles of The Eddie Bracken Show and you know there's been a mix-up and that hilarity is about to ensue. There's "Switching Beauty Contestant Pictures, " "The Pretend Marriage and Baby Scales," and "To Borrow a Pig." On that note, we celebrate the 1915 birth of Eddie Bracken , radio star who also shone on the stage and screen. The oldt ime radio show bearing Bracken's name aired on Sundays from 1945-1947. The man who always had a sarcastic expression on his face also put in guest appearances on Suspense , Academy Award Theatre , Kraft Music Hall , and NBC University Theatre . The winsome film star is today's birthday boy. He was able to live a long, full life--his death was in 2002.

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.