Singer-actor Tony Martin, who starred in such films as Ziegfeld Girl and Casbah, left this world for a better one on Friday, July 27 at the age of 98…his career is examined in nice detail in this online obituary at The Los Angeles Times.  Radio Spirits mourns his passing, recognizing Martin’s radio work on such […]

A surviving excerpt of radio’s The Fitch Bandwagon from April 23, 1944 features Broadway sensation Celeste Holm singing (complete with Brooklyn accent) the song written by Duffy’s Tavern’s Ed Gardner, “Leave Us Face It, We’re in Love.”  It’s one of the earliest on-the-air showcases for the actress who passed away Sunday, July 15, at the […]

In 1979, veteran radio producers Fletcher Markle and Elliott Lewis made an attempt to resurrect the lost art of radio drama with The Sears Radio Theater, a program that followed in the footsteps of such 70s offerings as Zero Hour, Earplay and The CBS Radio Mystery Theater.  Five nights a week, offerings of comedy, drama, […]

The recurring character of Caroline Appleby, rival/nemesis of housewife Lucy Ricardo on the classic television sitcom I Love Lucy, was first introduced in the episode “The Club Election”—though the character’s first name was “Lillian” in that inaugural installment.  Actress Doris Singleton, who would play Caroline in nine additional Lucy episodes, was told by the show’s […]

It was her recurring role in M-G-M’s series of Andy Hardy films that firmly cemented Ann Rutherford’s onscreen “girl next door” persona.  In many of the movies, typical teenager Andy Hardy (played by Mickey Rooney) would find himself tempted by a young lovely (portrayed by such starlets as Judy Garland, Lana Turner and Esther Williams) […]

Bucolic was the watchword for many TV sitcoms during the 1960s: a trend that had actually started earlier (back in 1957) with The Real McCoys, but was in full swing at the start of the decade with the popular Andy Griffith Show.  Then in 1962, Paul Henning, a former writer for George Burns & Gracie […]

In his reference book The Great American Broadcast, author Leonard Maltin relates an anecdote of how future science-fiction/fantasy author Ray Bradbury talked himself into a “job” on George Burns & Gracie Allen’s radio show.  The brash youngster, fourteen at the time, coaxed straight man Burns into letting him and a friend attend the comedy duo’s […]