Posted on June 4, 2020, 8:00 am, by Ivan G. Shreve, Jr., under
Birthday,
Classic movies,
Classic television,
Radio adventure,
Radio crime,
Radio drama,
Radio western.
The actor born Donald Alan Diamond in Brooklyn, NY on this date in 1921 was in real life a rather nondescript individual…but that is precisely the quality you want when you’ve decided you want to be a character actor. Diamond’s knack for dialects—Spanish ones in particular—kept him busy in radio during the 1940s, and with the […]
Posted on April 20, 2020, 8:00 am, by Ivan G. Shreve, Jr., under
Birthday,
Classic movies,
Classic television,
Radio adventure,
Radio comedy,
Radio crime,
Radio drama,
Radio horror,
Radio mystery,
Radio variety,
Radio western.
George Allen took over as director of the West Coast radio mystery anthology The Whistler beginning in the mid-40s, and one of the hallmarks of his tenure with the program was building a stock company that was facetiously referred to as “Whistler’s children.” He tailored the casting of many of radio’s finest performers to the needs of […]
During the Golden Age of Radio, it was standard practice for the comedians headlining the most popular programs to work 39 weeks out of the year (which is kind of fitting when you work Jack Benny into the equation) and then take a summer break in the interim. Mr. District Attorney, one of the medium’s most […]
Posted on April 2, 2020, 8:00 am, by Ivan G. Shreve, Jr., under
Birthday,
Classic movies,
Classic television,
Radio adventure,
Radio crime,
Radio drama,
Radio mystery.
Actress Fran Carlon—born in Indianapolis, Indiana on this date in 1913—was married to actor-announcer Casey Allen for many years. The couple even occasionally worked together on radio programs like Radio City Playhouse and Theatre Five. On the day of their nuptials, another couple drove Fran and Casey to a secluded spot outside of North Tarrytown (the burg in which the […]
Posted on February 16, 2020, 8:00 am, by Ivan G. Shreve, Jr., under
Birthday,
Classic movies,
Classic television,
Radio comedy,
Radio crime,
Radio drama,
Radio mystery,
Radio variety.
Chester Morris starred in several Boston Blackie movies during the 1940s (Alias Boston Blackie, Boston Blackie and the Law, etc.). In a number of these films, Morris allowed his character Horatio “Boston Blackie” Black to be quite a skilled practitioner of prestidigitation. (That’s a fancy way of saying “magician.”) Chet had a lifelong love for magic, and he would […]
Posted on February 15, 2020, 8:00 am, by Ivan G. Shreve, Jr., under
Birthday,
Radio comedy,
Radio crime,
Radio drama,
Radio variety,
Radio western.
Actress Mary Lee Robb’s first professional radio job in 1947 was a small one. She was hired to play Pearl, the daughter of Abner Peabody (Norris “Tuffy” Goff) on the long-running comedy serial Lum ‘n’ Abner. In a 1988 interview with author-historian Chuck Schaden (Speaking of Radio), Robb still remembered the two lines she had as […]
Posted on January 11, 2020, 8:00 am, by Ivan G. Shreve, Jr., under
Birthday,
Classic movies,
Classic television,
Radio comedy,
Radio crime,
Radio drama,
Radio variety.
Lionel Stander, the character actor best remembered by fans as chief-cook-and-bottle-washer Max on the TV detective drama Hart to Hart, also had a lengthy radio career—notably playing “stooge” to Fred Allen on The Hour of Smiles and Town Hall Tonight in the 1930s. Stander—born in The Bronx on this date in 1908—used his trademark gravelly voice and skill with dialects […]
Posted on January 6, 2020, 8:00 am, by Ivan G. Shreve, Jr., under
Anniversary,
Classic movies,
Radio adventure,
Radio crime,
Radio drama,
Radio mystery.
His creator described him as “a buccaneer in the suits of Savile Row, amused, cool, debonair, with hell-for-leather blue eyes and a saintly smile.” That creator was author Leslie Charteris, and the “buccaneer” in question was Simon Templar—a roguish ex-thief who had gone straight and now made it his mission to relieve the “ungodly” (those […]