The Ravenna, Ohio native born on this date 101 years ago had no way of knowing he would take on two acting jobs that would make him a hero to millions of kids glued to both radio and early TV screens.  But, that’s exactly what happened to Albert E. “Al” Hodge when he took a […]

Seventy years ago on this date in history, the literary sleuth created by Drexel Drake made his radio debut on the Blue Network with a series that would entertain listeners until November 29, 1954: The Adventures of the Falcon.  No one ever really explained to the radio audience’s satisfaction why a shamus named Michael Waring adopted the […]

The actor fondly remembered by old-time radio fans as the reporter who covered the “night beat” for the fictional Chicago Star was born 101 years ago today.  OTR devotees take pride in being able to identify certain voices while listening to broadcasts from long ago…and Frank Lovejoy had one that was unmistakable.  From his earliest […]

In 1930, Oswald George Nelson—who would have been celebrating his 107th birthday today—graduated with a law degree from Rutgers University in New Jersey, and was ready to hang out his shingle for business.  Sadly, the world would soon know one less lawyer…though there are no doubt a few of you reading this who are remarking that this […]

Ninety-seven years ago today, the performer that would win a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her very first feature film was born.  As Sadie Burke, the tough female assistant to ambitious politician Willie Stark (Broderick Crawford) in the movie adaptation of Robert Penn Warren’s Pulitzer Prize-winning All the King’s Men, Mercedes McCambridge was able to […]

Georgia Ellis, the actress who co-starred on what is fondly remembered by legions of old-time radio fans as the definitive Gunsmoke (namely, the radio version), would have celebrated her ninety-sixth birthday today.  It was Ellis who first played the part of Kitty Russell, the Long Branch Saloon proprietress made famous by Amanda Blake when the […]

Seventy-two years ago on this date, radio audiences made their first visit to a dingy, dank East Side watering hole affectionately known as Duffy’s Tavern.  The half-hour sitcom, created by and starring Ed Gardner, would become show business’ most famous “place where everybody knows your name” until the television show Cheers premiered some forty years […]

Today is Valentine’s Day.  You’ve been seeing TV commercials for weeks now, and I’ll bet dollars to donuts most of the stores had their Valentine’s Day displays up the day after New Year’s.  Everyone proclaims it as “a holiday for love”—though some of the more cynical among us would argue it’s all a plot by […]