The birth of one of radio’s most prolific and celebrated writers occurred on this date one hundred and two years ago.  David Friedkin, whose ambitions of being an actor-musician (he studied violin at the famed Julliard School) eventually took a back seat to writing for radio…and later television and movies as well.  It’s a little […]

Diane Parrish (Harriet Hilliard) has commissioned art dealer Eric Allison (Walter Soderling) to sell a valuable statue at an auction…but has no inkling that Allison and two of his confederates (Ralph Theodore, Kenneth MacDonald) are actually going to fob off a copy of the art treasure and keep the original for themselves.  She learns of […]

In the fictional town of Mayberry, North Carolina—as seen on the popular situation comedy The Andy Griffith Show—the locus of the town’s goings-on was usually the humble barber shop run by garrulous Floyd Lawson.  Floyd, a fey, gentle soul who looked at the world around him with a sense of awe and bewilderment, would become […]

He’s acknowledged by many to have been one of the finest straight men in comedy—if not the finest.  This, however, does George Burns a disservice.  The man born on this date in 1896 immodestly attributed the success of his hit comedy teaming with wife Gracie Allen to Gracie herself…but at the height of their popularity, […]

Radio Spirits has just released a brand-new CD collection of broadcasts featuring Boston Blackie, a lighthearted detective drama based on the famed reformed safecracker-jewel thief introduced by author Jack Boyle in 1914.  The program was heard on radio from 1944 to 1950, and although Richard Kollmar was the actor who played the role of Horatio […]

One of radio’s most prolific character actresses was born in Oklahoma City on this date in 1919: Amzie Strickland.  That first name is pronounced AIM-zee, by the way, and during her lengthy show business career (close to six decades) it was estimated that she appeared on nearly 3,000 broadcasts…not to mention racking up a slew […]

When radio actress Cathy Lewis—born on this date in Spokane, Washington in 1916—married actor-director-producer Elliott Lewis (who would later become known as “Mr. Radio”) in 1943, she didn’t even have to take her husband’s surname.  That’s because Cathy Lewis was actually born “Cathy Lewis,” and their union (making them “Mr. and Mrs. Radio”) would bear […]

When radio’s popular family sitcom The Aldrich Family came to television in the fall of 1949, it soon established a reputation as being a sort of “revolving door” as far as acting talent went.  During its four-year run on NBC, they went through five Henrys, three Mrs. Alice Aldrichs, three Mary Aldrichs and three Homer […]