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 […]

  At 7:30am EDT this Saturday morning, July 7th, Turner Classic Movies will show the 1942 WW2 musical comedy Seven Days’ Leave (1942), starring Victor Mature and Lucille Ball   It’s a romantic comedy whose premise seems to have been borrowed from the Buster Keaton classic Seven Chances (1925): Mature is GI Johnny Grey, who stands to inherit $100,000 […]

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) […]

The small town of Tyrone, Pennsylvania added Fredrick Malcolm Waring to its population 103 years ago on this date—of course, Fredrick would shorten his name to the friendlier “Fred,” and during his teenage years he formed a band (with his brother Tom and friend Poley McClintock) which soon achieved local renown as Fred Waring’s Banjo […]