Old Radio

July 19, 1946: Jezebel, the first dramatized story, featured  Bette Davis  in a starring role. This day saw the introduction of the concept of the Academy Awards. Bette Davis was born on April 5, 1908 and died on October 6,1989. She was a famous American actress of television, theater, and film. She was renowned all over the world for her unsympathetic characters in drama. In 1999 Davis appeared at 2nd place on American Film Institute's list of greatest female stars of all time.

Richard Bernard “Red” Skelton came to be on July 18, 1913. This comedy genius made performing a part of his early years. If anything could be said suggest what began Skelton’s interest in performing it would have been his newspaper hawking days as a young boy. Red liked to patter off his “papers for sale” repeatedly until someone came by to buy his tabloid.  He was a classic buffoon inspired by his teens spent as a circus clown. By way of vaudeville and the stage, Skelton continued his artistry for undermining the ticket bone of Americans due his sixth sense for timing and ad-lib. As he grew, many of character creations (like Freddy the Freeloader) would make-up much of Skelton’s anthology of comic performance. Red Skelton made his appearance nationwide in films in 1932 when he came to Hollywood. After a couple of films, he made his entrance into radio 1937. he was such a hit from his first appearance on the Rudy Vallee Show , that he was asked to come back twice more to perform.

William (Bill) Gargan was born July 17, 1905. He would become one of America's most prolific choices for playing the tough private detective. Whether it was on the screen or radio, Gargan made an impression of the tough Irishman. Gargan’s on stage and screen work, in a way, resembled his activities in true life. After he finished school, Gargan dealt with bootleg whiskey during the Prohibition years.  Later he got a job with a detective agency which may have added color to his years as a performer of law and crime. Truth of that fact played into one of his most popular portrayals, as Martin Kane, Private Eye . This ran from 1949-1951 on both radio and television. NBC radio brought gargan over to a similar radio detective from 1951-1955. This character was Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator .  In the Craig persona he narrated much of the radio series, adding extra color to the program. The names may have changed but his performances of the tough determined detectives d

July 14, 1957: Comedian Stan Freberg started a weekly entertainment show on CBS. However, the program continued for only a short while before the origination of TV. That's Rich was a show that focused on a cynical, careless man who worked for a paper product company. Later, after Jack Benny , Stan Freberg was also featured on the  Stan Freberg Show .