A lot of folks have this episode mislabeled in their collection, or don't have this one at all. It's kind of scarce and not included correctly in most collections.

Louella Parsons (August 6, 1881 – December 9, 1972) was an American movie gossip columnist who had her own radio show which featured interviews with Hollywood celebrities.

 

Day after Pearl Harbor with Lum and Abner.

Another show from the day of the Pearl Harbor attack!

The broadcast from the night of the attack on Pearl Harbor!

Edward Everett Horton (March 18, 1886 – September 29, 1970) was an American character actor with a long career in film, theater, radio, television and voice work for animated cartoons. From 1945 to 1947, Horton hosted radio's Kraft Music Hall. During the 1950s, Horton worked in television. One of his most famous appearances is an I Love Lucy episode, where he is cast against type as a frisky, amorous suitor. (Horton, a last-minute replacement for another actor, received a special, appreciative credit in this episode.) Beginning in 1959 he narrated the "Fractured Fairy Tales" segment of the Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoon show. In 1965 he played the medicine man, Roaring Chicken, in the sitcom F Troop. He parodied this role, portraying "Chief Screaming Chicken" on Batman as a pawn to Vincent Price's Egghead in the villain's attempt to take control of Gotham City. His last role, as a moribund tobacco company president in a wheelchair, was in the motion picture Cold Turkey, released after his death.

50 years ago this week, out west, with kind of a scary title! :)

Eddie Cantor appeared on radio as early as February 3, 1922, as indicated by this news item from Connecticut's Bridgeport Telegram: Local radio operators listened to one of the finest programs yet produced over the radiophone last night. The program of entertainment which included some of the stars of Broadway musical comedy and vaudeville was broadcast from the Newark, N. J. station WDY and the Pittsburgh station KDKA, both of the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing company. The Newark entertainment started at 7 o'clock: a children's half-hour of music and fairy stories; 7:[35?], Hawaiian airs and violin solo; 8:00, news of the day; and at 8:20 a radio party with nationally known comedians participating; 9:55, Arlington time signals and 10:01, a government weather report. G. E. Nothnagle, who conducts a radiophone station at his home 176 Waldemere Avenue said last night that he was delighted with the program, especially with the numbers sung by Eddie Cantor. The weather conditions are excellent for receiving, he continued, the tone and the quality of the messages was fine. [3] Cantor's appearance with Rudy Vallee on Vallee's The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour February 5, 1931 led to a four-week tryout with NBC's The Chase and Sanborn Hour. Replacing Maurice Chevalier, who was returning to Paris, Cantor joined The Chase and Sanborn Hour on September 13, 1931. This hour-long Sunday evening variety series teamed Cantor with announcer Jimmy Wallington and violinist Dave Rubinoff. The show established Cantor as a leading comedian, and his scriptwriter, David Freedman, as “the Captain of Comedy.” Cantor soon became the world's highest-paid radio star. His shows began with a crowd chanting, "We want Can-tor, We want Can-tor," a phrase said to have originated when a vaudeville audience chanted to chase off an opening act on the bill before Cantor. Cantor's theme song was the 1903 pop tune "Ida, Sweet as Apple Cider," dedicated to his wife. Indicative of his effect on the mass audience, he agreed in November 1934 to introduce a new song by the songwriters J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie that other well-known artists had rejected as being "silly" and "childish." The song, "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", immediately had orders for 100,000 copies of sheet music the next day. It sold 400,000 copies by Christmas of that year. His NBC radio show, Time to Smile, was broadcast from 1940 to 1946, followed by his Pabst Blue Ribbon Show from 1946 through 1949. He also served as emcee of The $64 Question during 1949-'50, and hosted a weekly disc jockey program for Philip Morris during the 1952-'53 season. In addition to film and radio, Cantor recorded for Hit of the Week Records, then again for Columbia, for Banner and Decca and various small labels. He was a founder of the March of Dimes, and did much to publicize the battle against polio. Cantor also served as first president of the Screen Actors Guild. His heavy political involvement began early in his career, including his quick rush to strike with Actors Equity in 1919, against the advice of father figure and producer, Florenz Ziegfeld. Cantor's career declined somewhat in the late 1930s due to his public denunciations of Adolf Hitler and Fascism. Wishing to distance themselves from any political controversy, many sponsors dropped Cantor's shows (most notably his 1938-'39 series for Camel cigarettes). However, it soon bounced back with the United States' entry into World War II.

Our first episode in the summer daily assault of the war years with Bob Hope!

One week before the attack on Pearl Harbor! Our first episode in our daily trek through the war years with Jack and the gang!

60 years ago Tony Martin was the guest. He was a featured vocalist on the George Burns and Gracie Allen radio program. On the show Gracie Allen playfully flirted with Tony, often threatening to fire him. She'd say things like "Oh Tony you look so tired, why don't you rest your lips on mine." In the movies, he was first cast in a number of bit parts, including a role as a sailor in the movie Follow the Fleet (1936), starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. He eventually signed with 20th Century-Fox and then Metro Goldwyn Mayer in which he starred in a number of musicals. At the same time, between 1938 and 1942, he made a number of hit records for Decca. Martin was featured in the 1941 Marx Brothers film (their last for MGM), The Big Store. In it, he played a singer performing the notorious (to some) "Tenement Symphony", written by Hal Borne who became his long-time musical director.[1] In World War II, he first joined the United States Navy, but as a result of rumors (without any factual basis) that he had gotten an officer's commission through bribery he left the navy and joined the United States Army Air Forces. Though he had an outstanding record in the military, the rumors hurt his professional reputation and the major record labels refused to sign him. He eventually signed with Mercury Records, then a small independent run out of Chicago, Illinois. He cut 25 records in 1946 and 1947 for Mercury, including a 1946 recording of "To Each His Own" which became a million-seller. This prompted RCA Victor records to offer him a contract, which he signed in 1947 after satisfying his contract obligations to Mercury. He appeared in many film musicals in the 1940s and 1950s. His rendition of "Lover Come Back To Me" with Joan Weldon in Deep in My Heart - based on the music of Sigmund Romberg and starring José Ferrer - was one of the highlights of that film.[citation needed] As of 2009, he is still doing live performances. [edit] Singing career today The last of the old Hollywood musical actor-singers still alive, Tony Martin continues to perform on tour today. Two recent performances in New York City took place on October 21, 2007, and October 22, 2007, at Feinstein's at the Regency Hotel. Martin, then 94 years old, got good reviews. He told stories of his days in Hollywood performing alongside iconic names such as Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Rita Hayworth, Judy Garland, Lana Turner and his wife, who was still alive at that time, Cyd Charisse. He then performed noted songs from his career, including: "Begin the Beguine," "Let's Face the Music and Dance," "You Stepped Out of A Dream" and "A Foggy Day."[citation needed] After the death of his wife, Cyd Charisse, he chose to call his agent and get back into entertaining. On January 8, 2009, Tony Martin, now 96, returned to the stage at San Francisco's Hotel Nikko in the Rrazz Room to sing many of his hit songs of the motion pictures he had been in.

60 years ago with Miss Brooks!

Monday with Mel!

It's still a woman's prerogative isn't it?

More fun with Jack Paar!

Independence day, what a good day to be set free!

Out west with Jimmy!

Ralph Edwards produced dozens of game shows, including About Faces, Knockout, Place the Face, It Could Be You, Name That Tune (1970s version) and The Cross-Wits. In 1981, with Stu Billett, he executive produced The People's Court, the first program of its type. Edwards is probably best known for creating and hosting This Is Your Life. Each week Edwards would surprise some unsuspecting person (usually a celebrity, sometimes an ordinary citizen) and review the subject's personal and professional life. The show drew great interest from viewers, because the identity of the subject wasn't revealed until the show went live. Throughout the half-hour Edwards would guide the narrative of the show, ushering visitors on and off stage, and eventually prompting the honoree to recall a personal turning point. Edwards was showman enough to draw upon his Truth or Consequences experience: he emphasized the sentimental elements that appealed to viewers and listeners at home. His on-air tributes would often recount some heroic sacrifice or tragic event, bringing the audience (and sometimes the subject) to the point of tears. Edwards burnished the career of another game show host -- his protege, Bob Barker. The TV version of Truth or Consequences had featured Edwards, Jack Bailey and Steve Dunne in the 1940s and 1950s. When the show returned for another NBC run in late 1956, Edwards enlisted Barker, a popular West Coast radio and TV personality. During the 2001 Daytime Emmy Awards, Barker told backstage reporters that Edwards told him to be no one else but himself. Barker would host Truth on NBC until 1965, and later in daily syndication until 1975, by which time he had also taken over a revival of The Price is Right on CBS from 1972 onward. As a result, thanks to Edwards's "be yourself" admonition, Barker became as familiar with a generation of Truth and Price viewers, as earlier fans had with Edwards and original Price host Bill Cullen during the original versions of the shows in the 1950s and 1960s. Until his death, Edwards had lunch with Bob Barker every December 21st at exactly 12:05 PM, according to Bob Barker, for Barker's December birthday, and the anniversary of Edwards hiring Barker as host of Truth or Consequences, which according to Barker, started a long and enduring friendship between the two men.

60 years ago today Phil and Alice had their season finale.

70 years ago with Fibber in Ultra High Quality!

70 years ago jack went back to his hometown, Waukegan, for his '38-'39 season finale.

Out west 50 years ago this week!

Last show of the '36-'37 season.

Lucy and Television, a great mix!

More with Mel Blanc!

60 years ago with Miss Brooks!

Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (June 14, 1909 – April 14, 1995) was an Academy Award winning American actor, writer and folk music singer. The prominent music critic John Rockwell has been quoted in the New York Times as saying that "Ives's voice... had the sheen and finesse of opera without its latter-day Puccinian vulgarities and without the pretensions of operatic ritual. It was genteel in expressive impact without being genteel in social conformity. And it moved people."

During World War II, as part of a special services company entertaining troops in the South Pacific, Paar was a clever, wisecracking master of ceremonies. More than once, his pointed jibes at officers nearly got him into trouble. After WWII, he came to the attention of RKO Radio Pictures, which hired him to emcee Variety Time (1948), a compilation of vaudeville sketches. Paar later recalled that RKO didn't know what to do with him. His producers, trying to decide what kind of screen characters he could play, compared Paar with other RKO stars. Finally, according to Paar, one of the executives had an inspiration, and figured out who Jack Paar really was: "Kay Kyser, with warmth." Paar projected a pleasant personality on film, and RKO called him back to emcee another filmed vaudeville show, Footlight Varieties (1951). Paar was featured in a few films, including a role opposite Marilyn Monroe in Love Nest (1951). Like fellow humorists Steve Allen and Henry Morgan, Jack Paar dabbled in motion pictures but was much more comfortable behind a studio microphone, broadcasting. Paar found loyal listeners nationally, beginning as Jack Benny's 1947 summer replacement, then as the 1950-51 host of radio's The $64 Question on NBC. He appeared as a standup comic on The Ed Sullivan Show and hosted two TV game shows, Up To Paar (1952) and Bank on the Stars (1953), before hosting The Morning Show (1954) on CBS. In 1956 he hosted The Jack Paar Show on the ABC Radio network.

Wouldn't you like to be unbound from the things that tie you down?

It's Saturday time for more Jimmy Stewart.

60 years ago, Agnes Moorehead kept us in Suspense! In this episode A woman seems to be going crazy, caused by someone trying to force her into taking a long vacation. Agnes Moorehead's early career was unsteady, and although she was able to find stage work she was often unemployed and forced to go hungry. She later recalled going four days without food, and said that it had taught her "the value of a dollar." She found work in radio and was soon in demand, often working on several programs in a single day. She believed that it offered her excellent training and allowed her to develop her voice to create a variety of characterizations. Moorehead met the actress Helen Hayes who encouraged her to try to enter films, but her first attempts were met with failure. Rejected as not being "the right type," Moorehead returned to radio. Moorehead met Orson Welles and by 1937 was a member of his Mercury Theatre Group, along with Joseph Cotten. She appeared in his radio production Julius Caesar, had a regular role in the serial The Shadow as Margo and was one of the players in his The War of the Worlds production. In 1939, Welles moved the Mercury Theatre Group to Hollywood, where he started working for RKO Studios. Several of his radio performers joined him, and Moorehead made her film debut as his mother in Citizen Kane (1941). She also appeared in his films Journey into Fear (1943) and The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), based on a novel by Booth Tarkington. She received a New York Film Critics Award and an Academy Award nomination for her performance in the latter film. Moorehead played another strong role in The Big Street (1942) with Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball, and then appeared in two films that failed to find an audience, Government Girl with Olivia de Havilland and The Youngest Profession with Virginia Weidler. By the mid 1940s, Moorehead joined MGM, negotiating a $6,000-a-week contract with the provision to perform also on radio, an unusual clause at the time. Moorehead explained that MGM usually refused to allow their actors to play on radio as "the actors didn't have the knowledge or the taste of the judgment to appear on the right sort of show."[2] In 1943-1944, Moorehead portrayed "matronly housekeeper Mrs. Mullet", who was constantly offering her "candied opinion", in Mutual Radio's The Adventures of Leonidas Witherall; she inaugurated the role on CBS Radio.[3] Moorehead skillfully portrayed puritanical matrons, neurotic spinsters, possessive mothers, and comical secretaries throughout her career. Moorehead was part of Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre on the Air radio program in the 1930s and appeared in Broadway productions of Don Juan in Hell in 1951-1952, and Lord Pengo in 1962-1963. She played Parthy Hawks, wife of Cap'n Andy and mother of Magnolia, in MGM's hit 1951 remake of Show Boat. She was in many important films, including Dark Passage and Since You Went Away, either playing key small or large supporting parts. During the 1940s and 1950s, Moorehead was one of the most in demand actresses for radio dramas, especially on the CBS show Suspense. During the 946 epsisodes run of Suspense, Moorehead was cast in more episodes than any other actor or actress. She was often introduced on the show as the "first lady of Suspense". Moorehead's most successful appearance on Suspense was in the legendary play Sorry, Wrong Number, written by Lucille Fletcher, broadcast on May 18, 1943. Moorehead played a selfish, neurotic woman who overhears a murder being plotted via crossed phone wires who eventually realizes she is the intended victim. She recreated the performance six times for Suspense and several times on other radio shows, always using her original, dog-eared script. In 1952, she recorded an album of the drama, and performed scenes from the story in her one-woman show in the 1950s. Sorry, Wrong Number also inspired writers of the CBS television series The Twilight Zone to script an episode with Moorehead in mind.[4] In "The Invaders" (broadcast 27 January 1961) Moorehead played a woman whose isolated farm is plagued by mysterious intruders. In "Sorry, Wrong Number" Moorehead offered a famed, bravura performance using only her voice, and for "The Invaders" she was offered a script where she had no dialogue at all. In the 1960-1961 season, Moorehead made guest appearances as Aunt Harriet in the short-lived CBS sitcom My Sister Eileen starring Shirley Bonne and Elaine Stritch as Eileen (an aspiring actress) and Ruth Sherwood, respectively, two single sisters living in New York City. That same season, she appeared in Pat O'Brien's ABC sitcom Harrigan and Son. In the 1963-1964 season, she appeared in an episode of the ABC series about college life, Channing. In 1967, she portrayed an Indian named Watoma on the ABC military-western series Custer with Wayne Maunder in the title role. As Endora in Bewitched (1965) In 1964, Moorehead accepted the role of Endora, in the situation comedy Bewitched. She later commented that she had not expected it to succeed and that she ultimately felt trapped by its success. However, she had negotiated to appear in only eight of every twelve episodes made, therefore allowing her sufficient time to pursue other projects. She also felt that the television writing was often below standard and dismissed many of the Bewitched scripts as "hack" in a 1965 interview. The role brought her a level of recognition that she had not received before as Bewitched was in the top 10 programs for the first few years it screened. Moorehead received six Emmy Award nominations, but was quick to remind interviewers that she had enjoyed a long and distinguished career. Despite her ambivalence, she remained with Bewitched until its run ended in 1972. She commented to the New York Times in 1974, "I've been in movies and played theater from coast to coast, so I was quite well known before Bewitched, and I don't particularly want to be identified as a witch." Later that year she said that she had enjoyed playing the role, but that it was not challenging and the show itself was "not breathtaking" although her flamboyant and colorful character appealed to children. She expressed a fondness for the show's star, Elizabeth Montgomery, and said that she had enjoyed working with her. Co-star Dick Sargent, who in 1969 replaced the ill Dick York as Samantha's husband, Darrin Stephens, had a more difficult relationship with Moorehead, and described her as "a tough old bird...very self-involved."

It seems like what's going on today, again.

70 years ago. this was the penultimate episode of the 1938-1939 season.

60 years ago today with Phil and Alice recorded in Ultra High Quality sound!

70 years ago today was the last episode for Kenny Baker as a regular on Jack's show! Say goodbye to Kenny with this penultimate episode of the 1938 - 1939 season.

It's Thursday and time for more Judy Garland!

Another ultra high sound quality episode of Fort Laramie with Raymond Burr!

50 years ago this week out west!

One of my first Podcasts! Eddie Anderson's first time playing the Rochester character by name! He wont appear again as Rochester again for months!

During World War II, Bob Crosby spent 18 months in the Marines, touring with bands in the Pacific. His radio variety series, The Bob Crosby Show, aired on NBC and CBS in different runs between the years 1943 to 1950, followed by Club Fifteen on CBS from 1947 through 1953 and a half-hour CBS daytime series, The Bob Crosby Show (1953-1957). He introduced the Canadian singer Gisele MacKenzie to American audiences and subsequently guest starred in 1957 on her NBC television series, The Gisele MacKenzie Show. On September 14, 1952, Bob replaced Phil Harris as the bandleader on The Jack Benny Program, remaining until Benny retired the radio show in 1955 after 23 years. In joining the show, he became the leader of the same group of musicians who had played under Harris. According to Benny writer Milt Josefsberg, the issue was budget. Because radio had strong competition from TV, the program budget had to be reduced, so Bob replaced Phil. Prior to joining Benny on the radio, Crosby, who was based on the East Coast, would often play with Benny during Benny's live New York appearances, and he was seen frequently throughout the 1950s on Benny's television series. As a performer, Crosby had tremendous charisma and wit combined with a laid back persona. He was able to swap jokes competently with Benny, including humorous references to his brother Bing's wealth and his string of losing racehorses. Crosby was married and had five children, three girls and two boys. The enduring popularity of the Bob Crosby Orchestra and the Bob Cats - whose biography was written by British jazz historian John Chilton, was evident during the frequent reunions in the 1950s and 1960s. Bob Haggart and Yank Lawson organized a band that kept the spirit alive, combining Dixieland and swing with a roster of top soloists. From the late 1960s until the mid-1970s, the group was known as The World's Greatest Jazzband. Since neither leader was happy with that name, they eventually reverted to The Lawson Haggart Jazzband. The Lawson-Haggart group was consistent in keeping the Bob Crosby tradition alive. Bob Crosby died in 1993 due to complications from cancer.[1]

Marilyn Maxwell (August 3, 1921 – March 20, 1972), born Marvel Marilyn Maxwell, was an American actress and entertainer. Noted for her blonde hair and sexy persona she appeared in several films and radio programs, and entertained the troops during World War II and the Korean War on USO tours with Bob Hope.

Monday with lovely and loony Lucy!

Monday with Mel!

60 years ago with Miss Brooks!

Wow! Three of the greatest monologists ever on the same show, Jack Benny, Fred Allen, and Jack Paar!

Special Sunday episode of Suspense! John Lund (6 February 1911, Rochester, New York - 10 May 1992, Los Angeles) was an American film actor of Norwegian ancestry who is probably best remembered for his role in the film A Foreign Affair (1948), directed by Billy Wilder. In the 1950's he played insurance investigator Johnny Dollar in the popular radio series " Yours Truly ,Johnny Dollar " ( the man with the action packed expense account). The series can be heard at htpp://www.otr.net John Lund's father was a Norwegian immigrant and glassblower. Lund did not finish high school, and he tried several businesses before settling on advertising in the 1930s. He began acting in 1939, appearing on Broadway in William Shakespeare's As You Like It two years later. It was his appearance in the play The Hasty Heart (1945) that got him recognized by Hollywood. His first film was To Each His Own (1946) with Olivia de Havilland for Paramount where he played dual roles. Another notable role in Mitchell Leisen's comedy The Mating Season (1951) costaring Gene Tierney, Miriam Hopkins, and Thelma Ritter. The blonde-haired, blue-eyed actor started as a leading man in the 1940s but later took on supporting roles in films in the 1950s. He also acted on Broadway and radio. Lund retired to his house in Coldwater Canyon in the Hollywood Hills in 1963 and died of heart problems in 1992.

A special Sunday with Jimmy Stewart!

Armed for battle?

With the Supreme Court in the news quite a lot, this seems timely!

70 years ago, Fibber the wrestler, a scary thought!

60 years ago today with Phil!

70 years ago today, more fun with Sherlock Holmes!

A musical with Judy Garland, sounds like a good idea to me. Let's get all the kids on the block and put on a show!

50 years ago this week out west!

High quality sound out west with Raymond Burr at Fort Laramie.

Yes, over 70 years ago Mary Livingstone had a movie. THIS WAY PLEASE (Paramount, 1937), directed by Robert Florey, is an enjoyable little "B" musical noted for its introduction of the radio voices of Mary Livingston (Mrs. Jack Benny), James and Marian Jordan (as Fibber McGee and Molly of Wistful Vista) to the silver screen. Top-billing goes to Charles "Buddy" Rogers, a popular singer in the early days of Paramount musicals, making a possible comeback attempt to recapture those glory days, but in the long run, he is overshadowed by an up-and-coming Betty Grable, only three years away from her achieving popularity with those lighthearted Technicolor musicals for 20th Century-Fox during the World War II years beginning with DOWN ARGENTINE WAY (1940). As for the storyline, Betty Grable plays Jane Morrow, a young girl who applies for a job as a theater usherette, hoping to someday get her big chance performing on the stage. She encounters Brad W. Morgan (Charles "Buddy" Rogers), a matinée idol and singer who is master of ceremonies at the local first run movie house. After taking an interest in her, Brad arranges in giving her a chance with an audition, and in the long run, she attracts much attention while Brad starts to lose his credibility. After Jane becomes engaged to marry Stu Randall (Lee Bowman), with a big wedding ceremony arranged to take place at the movie theater, it will be up to Brad to try to break into the theater to claim her. The musical program features: "This Way Please?/ "Delighted to Meet You" (sung by chorus during opening credits); "This Way Please?" (voiced by Buddy Rogers on a record); "Is It Love or Infatuation?" (sung by Buddy Rogers and chorus); "Delighted to Meet You" (sung and tap danced by Betty Grable); "What This Country Needs is Voom-Boom" (sung and performed in comedic style by Romo Vincent, Jerry Bergen and Wally Vernon as Trumps, Bumps and Mumps); "This Way Please?"/ "Delighted to Meet You" (sung by Mary Livingston); "I'm the Sound Effects Man" (sung by Rufe Davis) and "Is It Love or Infatation? (instrumental during wedding ceremony). While this is a 1930s musical, much of the score, especially "Is It Love or Infatuation" (the big song plug here, particularly one big scene when there are multiple Betty Grable images on the movie screen within a movie screen to help promote her) plays at a slower tempo, giving the impression that this is a 1940s musical during the big band era. The supporting cast includes Porter Hall as S.J. Crawford, the theater manager; Cecil Cunningham as Mrs. Eberhart, his secretary; and unbuckled, Akim Tamiroff seen briefly as a tartar chieftain on the movie screen in the theater; and James Finlayson, a familiar character actor who frequently co-starred in numerous Laurel and Hardy comedies for Hal Roach in the 1930s, appearing as Jim O'Toole, a policeman who is to give Fibber McGee and Molly a ticket for illegally parking their car where it shouldn't be, only to find himself agreeing to let them park on that spot with him minding the car, thanks to Molly. And speaking of character actors, there is Ned Sparks, in his usual droll manner, playing as "Inky" Welles, the "love interest" to Maxine (Mary Livingston), the head usherette, who wants to marry him. Classic television fans will be quick to take notice and recognize Rufe Davis (Floyd Smoot, the train engineer, from the 1960s TV sitcom, PETTICOAT JUNCTION starring Bea Benadaret and Edgar Buchanan), making his movie debut as a radio technician encouraged by Mr. Crawford to sing in front of an open mike, "I'm the Sound Effects Man," and true to his word, comes up with more sound-effect noises, ranging from duck sounds, dog fights, cows and factory whistles, plus much, much more. While THIS WAY PLEASE is no cinematic masterpiece, this "B" musical-comedy, which runs at a swift 72 minutes, is a cinematic boost to the career of the very young Betty Grable. On a final note, the radio personalities of Fibber McGee and Molly would reappear in several likable comedies in the early 1940s for RKO Radio. Other than their one liner exchanges throughout the movie (Molly: "McGee, a man winked at me." McGee: "Ah, we all make mistakes"), the one thing that certainly stands out is Molly's contagious laugher. (**1/2)

Lucy in the hospital, it doesn't get much better than that! Remember when she had Little Ricky?

Don't argue with me, just listen to Miss Brooks!

70 years ago Henry Fonda hung out with Dean and Jerry! Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American film and stage actor, best known for his roles as plain-speaking idealists. Fonda's subtle, naturalistic acting style preceded by many years the popularization of method acting. Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor, and made his Hollywood debut in 1935. Fonda's career gained momentum after his Academy Award-nominated performance as Tom Joad in 1940's The Grapes of Wrath, an adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel about an Oklahoma family who moved west during the Dust Bowl. Throughout six decades in Hollywood, Fonda cultivated a strong, appealing screen image in such classics as The Ox-Bow Incident, Mister Roberts and 12 Angry Men. Later, Fonda moved toward both more challenging, darker epics as Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West (portraying a villain who kills, among others, a child) and lighter roles in family comedies like Yours, Mine and Ours with Lucille Ball. Fonda was the patriarch of a family of famous actors, including daughter Jane Fonda, son Peter Fonda, granddaughter Bridget Fonda, and grandson Troy Garity; his family and close friends called him "Hank". In 1999, he was named the sixth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute.

When Mel speaks in his french accent, how can you not have fun?

60 years ago this was the season finale of Jack's show!

The show that has run for 72 years! This episode is 65 years old today! My last D-Day podcast!

 

 

 

Vic and Sade from the day after D-Day!

 

D-Day with Burns and Allen!

Red Skelton on D-Day.

Bob Hope on D-Day.

The President speaks on D-Day.

D-Day with Fibber.

NBC's Prime Time on D-Day!

 

 

 

The beginnings of D-Day coverage in high quality sound.

Tonight we begin our special D-Day coverage! This was the chat given by FDR on the eve of D-Day. He will refer to it at the beginning of his D-Day prayer speech, which we sill bring you tomorrrow.

70 years ago this week, Jack Benny was in Scotland Yard with Sherlock Holmes!

70 years ago today the Screen Guild Theater had it's last episode of the season.

Spend some time with Judy, Cary, and Mickey!

You won't get bored with Raymond Burr!

50 years ago today, with Matt Dillon!

Our last Orson Welles Wednesday for awhile.

More classic Jack and the gang!

60 years ago today Hallmark Playhouse signed off for the final time of the '48 - '49 season. Paul Lukas (May 26, 1895 – August 15, 1971) was a Hungarian-born Academy Award and Golden Globe-winning actor. Born Pál Lukács in Budapest, he arrived in Hollywood in 1927 after a successful stage and film career in Hungary, Germany and Austria where he worked with Max Reinhardt. He made his stage debut in Budapest in 1916 and his film debut in 1917. At first, he played elegant, smooth womanizers, but increasingly he became typecast as a villain. In 1933, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. He was very busy in the 1930s, appearing in such films as the melodrama Rockabye, the crime caper Grumpy, Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes, the comedy Ladies in Love, and the drama Dodsworth. He followed William Powell and Basil Rathbone portraying the series detective Philo Vance, a cosmopolitan New Yorker, once in 1935 in The Casino Murder Case, but his major role came in 1943's Watch on the Rhine, when he played a man working against the Nazis (he had played the same role on Broadway in 1941). He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the role. To modern viewers, Paul Lukas is best known for his role as Professor Aronnax in Walt Disney's classic 1954 film version of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. By that time, however (according to the featurette "The Making of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" on Disc 2 of the Special Edition DVD release), he was, at age 60, suffering from memory problems during the production, apparently leading him to lash out at cast and crew alike. Even fellow Hungarian and friend Peter Lorre was not immune to the abuse.

6o years ago with Archie and the gang!

Voyage with the Scarlet Queen if you are a fan of Star Trek or Gunsmoke.

If it's Sunday, then it's time for Sci-Fi!

There is a place for you at the table.

Originally broadcast April 19, 1951 on CBS and presented as program 365 in the “Suspense” series on Armed Forces Radio. Jimmy Stewart plays a businessman who is drawn into helping a young woman who says she is being pursued by a doctor that’s trying to kill her. The circulating copies of this show are missing the last ten minutes. (This would lead me to believe that they’re dubbed from a network copy of the show that was given to one of the staff or performers or done as an aircheck on 12″ 78 rpm discs and that one of the discs is missing.) This version of the show is complete - a real treat since this particular episode of “Suspense” has an ending that relies on sound effects and great acting to create a tense climax to the story. The show was dubbed directly from an AFRS vinyl disc. There’s a couple of sections with pops in the disc, but the sound is quite good otherwise.

60 years ago this week, Joan Crawford kept us in Suspense!

60 years ago this week Fredric March was on the playhouse. Fredric March won an Oscar nomination in 1930 for The Royal Family of Broadway, in which he played a role based upon John Barrymore (which he had first played on stage in Los Angeles). He won the Oscar for Best Actor in 1932 for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (tied with Wallace Beery for The Champ), leading to a series of classic films based on stage hits and classic novels like Design for Living (1933), Death Takes a Holiday (1934), Les Misérables (1935), Anthony Adverse (1936), and as the original Normain Maine A Star is Born (1937), for which he received his third Oscar nomination. March in A Star is Born (1937) March was one of the few actors to resist signing long-term contracts with the studios, and was able to freelance and pick and choose his roles, in the process also avoiding typecasting. He returned to Broadway after a ten year absence in 1937 with a notable flop Yr. Obedient Husband, but after the huge success of Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth he focused his work as much on Broadway theatre as often as on Hollywood film, and his screen career was not as prolific as it had been. He won two Best Actor Tony Awards: in 1947 for the play Years Ago, written by Ruth Gordon; and in 1957 for his performance as James Tyrone in the original Broadway production of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night. He also had major successes in A Bell for Adano in 1944 and Gideon in 1961, and played Ibsen's An Enemy of the People on Broadway in 1951. He also starred in such films as I Married a Witch (1942) and Another Part of the Forest (1948) during this period, and won his second Oscar in 1946 for The Best Years of Our Lives. March also branched out into television, winning Emmy nominations for his third attempt at The Royal Family for the series The Best of Broadway as well as for a television performances as Samuel Dodsworth and Ebenezer Scrooge. On March 25, 1954, March co-hosted the 26th Annual Academy Awards ceremony from New York City, with co-host Donald O'Connor in Los Angeles. March's neighbor in Connecticut, playwright Arthur Miller, was thought to favor March to inaugurate the part of Willy Loman in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Death of a Salesman (1949). However, March read the play and turned down the role, whereupon director Elia Kazan cast Lee J. Cobb as Willy, and Arthur Kennedy as one of Willy's sons, Biff Loman, two men that the director had worked with in the film Boomerang (1947). March later regretted turning down the role and finally played Willy Loman in Columbia Pictures's 1951 film version of the play, directed by Laslo Benedek, receiving his fifth-and-final Oscar nomination as well as a Golden Globe Award. Perhaps March's greatest late-in-life role was in Inherit the Wind(1960), opposite Spencer Tracy. Henry Drummond (Tracy, left) and Matthew Harrison Brady (March), right) in Inherit the Wind When March underwent major surgery for prostate cancer in 1970, it seemed his career was over, yet he managed to give one last great performance in The Iceman Cometh (1973), as the complicated Irish bartender, Harry Hope. Coincidentally, co-star Robert Ryan was entering the final stages of lung cancer, so the film was the last for both March and Ryan. March has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1616 Vine Street.

Turn up the fire and listen in.

Reginald Gardiner (27 February 1903 - 7 July 1980) was an English-born actor in film and television. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in Britain. He made his film debut in 1926 in the silent film The Lodger, by Alfred Hitchcock. Moving to Hollywood, he was cast in numerous roles, often as a British butler. One of his most famous roles was that of Schultz in Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator. Toward the end of his career, Gardiner made increasing guest appearances on the leading television sitcoms of the 1960s, including Fess Parker's ABC series, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington as the lead guest in the episode "Citizen Bellows". His last major role was alongside Phyllis Diller in ABC's The Pruitts of Southampton. He also recorded a curious and eccentric classic called "Trains" which was regularly played on a British radio program called Children's Favourites during the 1950s. This consisted of Gardiner, sounding slightly tipsy, reciting a monologue about steam railway engines (which he claimed were 'livid beasts') and impersonating both the engines themselves and the sound of trains running on the track. This latter he famously characterised as 'diddly-dee, diddly-dum' to mimic the sound pattern as the four pairs of bogie wheels ran over joins between the lengths of track. (A sound no longer heard since welded rail joins were introduced.) "Trains" was released as a 78 and 45 by English Decca Records (F 5278) which remained on catalogue into the 1970s. At the end of the record, Gardiner signs off with "Well folks, that's all: back to the asylum."

60 years ago today, Phil and Alice had a picnic. Today in the northwest, 60 years later, it's a great day for a picnic.

70 years ago this week with Fibber and Molly! Brought to you for the first time in ultra high quality! Huge 57 MB file!

70 years ago today! Alexander Graham Bell (3 March 1847 – 2 August 1922) was an eminent scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone. Bell's father, grandfather, and brother had all been associated with work on elocution and speech, and both his mother and wife were deaf, profoundly influencing Bell's life's work.[1] His research on hearing and speech further led him to experiment with hearing devices which eventually culminated in Bell being awarded the first U.S. patent for the telephone in 1876.[2] In retrospect, Bell considered his most famous invention an intrusion on his real work as a scientist and refused to have a telephone in his study.[3] Many other inventions marked Bell's later life, including groundbreaking work in hydrofoils and aeronautics. In 1888, Alexander Graham Bell became one of the founding members of the National Geographic Society.

Judy and the cast of OZ!

70 years ago today, Nelson Eddy was on he Screen Guild! Nelson Ackerman Eddy (June 29, 1901 - March 6, 1967) was an American singer and movie star who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclubs. A classically trained baritone, he is best remembered for the eight films in which he costarred with soprano Jeanette MacDonald. He was one of the first "crossover" stars, a superstar appealing both to shrieking bobby-soxers as well as opera purists, and in his heyday was the highest paid singer in the world.[citation needed] During his 40-year career, he earned three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (one each for film, recording, and radio), left his footprints in the wet cement at Grauman's Chinese Theater, earned three Gold records, and was invited to sing at the third inauguration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He also introduced millions of young Americans to classical music and inspired many of them to pursue a musical career.

50 years ago this week, out west with Matt Dillon and Chester!

Great sounding episode of one of the best adult westerns ever!

Quite a bit newer episode than usual!

This week Orson on the Fred Allen Show!

My son loves these spoofs!

From 60 years ago today! Charles Bickford (January 1, 1891 – November 9, 1967) was an American actor best known for his supporting roles. He was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for The Song of Bernadette (1943), The Farmer's Daughter (1947), and Johnny Belinda (1948). Other notable roles include Whirlpool (1948) and A Star is Born (1954).

60 years ago this week Ed Wynn visited Duffys! Although many gag writers later provided material for Ed Wynn's performances in radio, television and movies, it was his proud boast that every line he ever spoke during his early career as a stage performer was written by himself. He hosted a popular radio show, The Fire Chief for most of the 1930s, heard in North America on Tuesday nights, sponsored by Texaco gasoline. Like many former vaudeville performers who turned to radio in the same decade, the stage-trained Wynn insisted on playing for a live studio audience, doing each program as an actual stage show, using visual bits to augment his written material, and in his case, wearing a colorful costume with a red fireman's helmet. He usually bounced his gags off announcer/straight man Graham McNamee; Wynn's customary opening, "Tonight, Graham, the show's gonna be different," became one of the most familiar tag-lines of its time. Sample joke: "Graham, my uncle just bought a new second-handed car... he calls it Baby! I don't know, it won't go anyplace without a rattle!" Wynn was a radio superstar who reprised his radio character in two movies, Follow the Leader (1930) and The Chief (1933). Near the height of his radio fame he founded his own short-lived radio network, the Amalgamated Broadcasting System, which lasted only five weeks in 1933 and nearly destroyed the comedian, according to radio historian Elizabeth McLeod, who has written that the failed venture left Wynn deep in debt, divorced, and finally suffering a nervous breakdown. Wynn was offered the title role in MGM's 1939 screen adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, but he turned down the role, as did his Ziegfeld contemporary W. C. Fields. The part finally went to Frank Morgan.

60 years ago this week, great Dane, great Fun!

60 years ago this week, we all loved Lucy.

60 years ago this week, John Garfield was the guest star with Jerry and dean! John Garfield (March 4, 1913 – May 21, 1952) was an Academy Award-nominated American actor. Garfield was especially adept at playing brooding, rebellious, working-class character roles. Garfield is acknowledged as the predecessor of such Method actors as Marlon Brando, James Dean, and Montgomery Clift.

More Monday mayhem with Mel!

Sunday night with Jack!

Sunday time for some Sci-Fi!

It's Sunday time to sail on a voyage with the Scarlet Queen!

You are loved, do you show God's love to others?

More Six Shooter action with Jimmy Stewart!

60 years ago this week Lucy was on the playhouse!

60 years ago this week Fredric March kept us in suspense. Fredric March won an Oscar nomination in 1930 for The Royal Family of Broadway, in which he played a role based upon John Barrymore (which he had first played on stage in Los Angeles). He won the Oscar for Best Actor in 1932 for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (tied with Wallace Beery for The Champ), leading to a series of classic films based on stage hits and classic novels like Design for Living (1933), Death Takes a Holiday (1934), Les Misérables (1935), Anthony Adverse (1936), and as the original Normain Maine A Star is Born (1937), for which he received his third Oscar nomination. March in A Star is Born (1937) March was one of the few actors to resist signing long-term contracts with the studios, and was able to freelance and pick and choose his roles, in the process also avoiding typecasting. He returned to Broadway after a ten year absence in 1937 with a notable flop Yr. Obedient Husband, but after the huge success of Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth he focused his work as much on Broadway theatre as often as on Hollywood film, and his screen career was not as prolific as it had been. He won two Best Actor Tony Awards: in 1947 for the play Years Ago, written by Ruth Gordon; and in 1957 for his performance as James Tyrone in the original Broadway production of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night. He also had major successes in A Bell for Adano in 1944 and Gideon in 1961, and played Ibsen's An Enemy of the People on Broadway in 1951. He also starred in such films as I Married a Witch (1942) and Another Part of the Forest (1948) during this period, and won his second Oscar in 1946 for The Best Years of Our Lives. March also branched out into television, winning Emmy nominations for his third attempt at The Royal Family for the series The Best of Broadway as well as for a television performances as Samuel Dodsworth and Ebenezer Scrooge. On March 25, 1954, March co-hosted the 26th Annual Academy Awards ceremony from New York City, with co-host Donald O'Connor in Los Angeles. March's neighbor in Connecticut, playwright Arthur Miller, was thought to favor March to inaugurate the part of Willy Loman in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Death of a Salesman (1949). However, March read the play and turned down the role, whereupon director Elia Kazan cast Lee J. Cobb as Willy, and Arthur Kennedy as one of Willy's sons, Biff Loman, two men that the director had worked with in the film Boomerang (1947). March later regretted turning down the role and finally played Willy Loman in Columbia Pictures's 1951 film version of the play, directed by Laslo Benedek, receiving his fifth-and-final Oscar nomination as well as a Golden Globe Award. Perhaps March's greatest late-in-life role was in Inherit the Wind(1960), opposite Spencer Tracy. Henry Drummond (Tracy, left) and Matthew Harrison Brady (March), right) in Inherit the Wind When March underwent major surgery for prostate cancer in 1970, it seemed his career was over, yet he managed to give one last great performance in The Iceman Cometh (1973), as the complicated Irish bartender, Harry Hope. Coincidentally, co-star Robert Ryan was entering the final stages of lung cancer, so the film was the last for both March and Ryan. March has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1616 Vine Street.

Oscar Levant returns!

70 years ago,was Molly pregnant?

60 years ago today, boating with Phil, what could possibly go wrong?

70 years ago, continuing our Gunga Din saga!

interestingly different episode!

60 years ago Mary was sick.

Listen to the Masterpiece!

60 years ago Jimmy Stewart kept us in Suspense!

60 years ago Jimmy Stewart and Frank Capra were on the Playhouse!

Jack Haley (August 10, 1898 – June 6, 1979) (born John Joseph Haley, Jr.) was an American film actor best known for his portrayal of the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz. He also portrayed farmworker Hickory, who appeared in the Kansas sequences, in the film.

70 years ago this week.

Hear Jimmy Stewart sell nothingness, and tell us about the six shooter.

70 years ago today, at the Kentucky Derby!

Very Special Podcast with Great intros by me, Jimmy Stewart, and William Conrad! 50 years ago this week, not to be missed, introduction to the eighth season of Gunsmoke!

Another fantastic sounding western story in high quality 128/44!

Another Wednesday, another Welles performance!

Claudette Colbert (IPA: /koʊlˈbɛɹ/; September 13, 1903 – July 30, 1996) was a French-born American stage and film actress. Born in Saint-Mandé, France and raised in New York City, Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the 1920s, progressing to film with the advent of talking pictures. She established a successful film career with Paramount Pictures and later, as a freelance performer, became one of the highest paid entertainers in American cinema. Colbert was recognized as one of the leading female exponents of screwball comedy, but was also known for her versatility; she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her comedic performance in It Happened One Night (1934), and also received Academy Award nominations for her dramatic roles in Private Worlds (1935) and Since You Went Away (1944). Her film career began to decline in the 1950s, and she made her last film in 1961. She continued to act extensively in theater and briefly television during her later years. After a career of more than 60 years, Colbert retired to her home in Barbados, where she died at the age of 92, following a series of strokes. Colbert received theatre awards from the Sarah Siddons Society and also received lifetime achievement awards from Kennedy Center Honors, and in 1999, the American Film Institute placed her at number 12 on their "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars" list of the "50 Greatest American Screen Legends

Happy Mother's Day, Mary, from Jack, a little early!

60 years ago this week, and they are back with Madeleine Carroll. Widely recognized as one of the most beautiful women in films, Carroll's aristocratic blonde allure and sophisticated style were first glimpsed by British movie audiences in The Guns of Loos in 1928. Rapidly rising to stardom in England, she graced such popular films of the early '30s as Young Woodley, Atlantic, The School for Scandal and I Was A Spy. Abruptly, she announced plans to retire from films to devote herself to a private life with her husband, the first of four. She attracted the attention of Alfred Hitchcock and, in 1935, starred as one of the director's earliest prototypical cool, glib, intelligent blondes in The 39 Steps based on the espionage novel by John Buchan. The film became a sensation and with it, so did Carroll. Cited by the New York Times for a performance that was "charming and skillful",[citation needed] Carroll became very much in demand thanks, in part, to director Hitchcock, who later admitted that he worked very hard with her to bring out the vivacious and sexy qualities she possessed offscreen, but which sometimes vanished when cameras rolled.[citation needed] Of Hitchcock's heroines, as exemplified by Carroll, film critic Roger Ebert once wrote that they "reflected the same qualities over and over again: They were blonde. They were icy and remote. They were imprisoned in costumes that subtly combined fashion with fetishism. They mesmerized the men, who often had physical or psychological handicaps."[citation needed] The director wanted to re-team Carroll with her 39 Steps co-star Robert Donat the following year in Secret Agent, a spy thriller based on a work by W. Somerset Maugham. However, Donat's recurring health problems prevented him from accepting the role and, instead, Hitchcock paired Carroll with John Gielgud. Poised for international stardom, Carroll was the first British beauty to be offered a major American film contract; she accepted a lucrative deal with Paramount Pictures. She starred opposite Gary Cooper in the adventure The General Died at Dawn and with Ronald Colman in the 1937 box-office success The Prisoner of Zenda. She tried a big musical On The Avenue (1937) opposite Dick Powell, but others of her films, including One Night in Lisbon (1941), and My Favorite Blonde (1942) with Bob Hope, were less prestigious. She made her final film for director Otto Preminger, The Fan, adapted from Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan, in 1949. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Madeleine Carroll has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6707 Hollywood Blvd. A commemorative monument and plaques were unveiled in her birthplace, West Bromwich, to mark the centenary of her birth.

60 years ago this week Jack was in the desert! The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is John Huston's 1948 American feature film adaptation of B. Traven's 1927 novel of the same name, in which two American down-and-outers (Humphrey Bogart and Tim Holt) in 1920s Mexico hook up with an old-timer (Walter Huston, the director's father) to prospect for gold. The old-timer accurately predicts trouble, but is willing to go anyway. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre was one of the first Hollywood films to be shot almost entirely on location outside the United States (in Tampico, Mexico), although the night scenes were filmed back in the studio. The film is quite faithful to the novel.

Why does Mary weep? Our last Sermon by John Bergman for awhile, enjoy!

Jimmy Stewart on his first Lux Theater show!

60 years ago this week Ray Milland was in the Playhouse! Ray Milland (January 3, 1907 – March 10, 1986) was a Welsh-born American actor and director. His screen career ran from 1929 to 1985, and he is best-remembered for his Academy Award-winning portrayal of an alcoholic writer in The Lost Weekend (1945).

60 years ago this week Bob Hope and William Conrad (Marshall Matt Dillon) kept us in Suspense. How can you miss these two legends together?

Duffys Tavern meets Allens Alley!

Wow! 75 years ago this week! Spend some time with FDR!

So how did jack get the Maxwell in the first place? Like this!

Mel does a ton of impressions in this episode including James Mason. James Mason had quite a film career. From 1935 to 1948 he starred in many British quota quickies. A conscientious objector during World War II (something which caused his family to break with him for many years), he became immensely popular for his brooding anti-heroes in the Gainsborough series of melodramas of the 1940s, including The Man in Grey and The Wicked Lady. He also starred with Deborah Kerr and Robert Newton in 1942's Hatter's Castle. Mason starred in the critically acclaimed and immensely popular The Seventh Veil that set box office records in postwar Britain and catapulted him to international film stardom. In 1949, he made his first Hollywood film, Caught, and then went on to star in many more feature films and early TV shows. Nominated three times for an Oscar, he never won one. Mason's distinctive voice enabled him to play a menacing villain as greatly as his good looks assisted him as a leading man. His roles include the declining actor in the 1954 version of A Star Is Born, a mortally wounded Irish revolutionary in Odd Man Out, Brutus in Julius Caesar, General Erwin Rommel twice—in The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel, and in The Desert Rats—Captain Nemo in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, a small town school teacher driven insane by the effects of Cortisone in Bigger Than Life, a suave master spy in North by Northwest, a determined explorer in Journey to the Center of the Earth, Humbert Humbert in Stanley Kubrick's Lolita, a hired assassin sent to kill Peter O'Toole and thereby prevent him from leading a peasant uprising in Lord Jim, the vampire's servant, Richard Straker, in Salem's Lot, and a surreal pirate-ship captain in Yellowbeard. One of his last roles, that of corrupt lawyer James Concannon in The Verdict, earned him his third and final Oscar nomination. Mason was once considered to play James Bond in a 1958 TV adaptation of From Russia with Love, which was ultimately never produced. Despite being in his fifties, he was still under consideration to play Bond in Dr. No before Sean Connery was cast. He was also approached to appear as Bond villain Hugo Drax in Moonraker, however, he turned this down despite his renowned tendency to take any job offered him – which led to appearances in films such as The Yin and the Yang of Mr. Go, Bloodline and Hunt the Man Down. His final screen-work was playing the lead role in Dr Fischer of Geneva (adapted from the Graham Greene novel of the same title) as the eccentric wealthy businessman who played games with the Swiss upper class, such as offering gifts to his guests on the proviso they accepted some humiliating ritual activity (such as wearing a child's bib at the dinner table). Throughout his career, Mason remained a powerful figure in the industry and he is now regarded as one of the finest film actors of the 20th century. In the late 1970s, Mason became a mentor to up-and-coming actor Sam Neill. Late in life, he served as narrator for a British television series on the films of Charlie Chaplin, Unknown Chaplin, which was aired in the U.S. on PBS and later issued on home video

Why do two thieves get to spend the last moments with Christ?

Out west with Jimmy Stewart as The Six Shooter.

60 years ago this week Fred Astaire was in the Playhouse! Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz; May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987)[1] was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of seventy-six years, during which he made thirty-one musical films. He is particularly associated with Ginger Rogers, with whom he made ten films. According to another major innovator in filmed dance, Gene Kelly, "The history of dance on film begins with Astaire." Beyond film and television, many classical dancers and choreographers, Nureyev and Robbins among them, also acknowledged his importance and influence. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute.

60 years ago this week Mickey Rooney kept us in Suspense!

Sorry we had to skip a few chats, but I couldn't find them in anything but horrible quality, so here is the next good quality one I could find.

70 years ago this week with Fibber and Molly!

John Bergman's first sermon back at Newport Covenant Church, Bellevue, WA. after recovering from cardiac death and open heart surgery 6 weeks prior.

The last part in this early Jimmy Stewart classic!

On a Sunday night a week after my Inauguration I used the radio to tell you about the banking crisis and the measures we were taking to meet it. I think that in that way I made clear to the country various facts that might otherwise have been misunderstood and in general provided a means of understanding which did much to restore confidence. Tonight, eight weeks later, I come for the second time to give you my report -- in the same spirit and by the same means to tell you about what we have been doing and what we are planning to do. Two months ago we were facing serious problems. The country was dying by inches. It was dying because trade and commerce had declined to dangerously low levels; prices for basic commodities were such as to destroy the value of the assets of national institutions such as banks, savings banks, insurance companies, and others. These institutions, because of their great needs, were foreclosing mortgages, calling loans, refusing credit. Thus there was actually in process of destruction the property of millions of people who had borrowed money on that property in terms of dollars which had had an entirely different value from the level of March, 1933. That situation in that crisis did not call for any complicated consideration of economic panaceas or fancy plans. We were faced by a condition and not a theory. There were just two alternatives: The first was to allow the foreclosures to continue, credit to be withheld and money to go into hiding, and thus forcing liquidation and bankruptcy of banks, railroads and insurance companies and a recapitalizing of all business and all property on a lower level. This alternative meant a continuation of what is loosely called "deflation", the net result of which would have been extraordinary hardship on all property owners and, incidentally, extraordinary hardships on all persons working for wages through an increase in unemployment and a further reduction of the wage scale. It is easy to see that the result of this course would have not only economic effects of a very serious nature but social results that might bring incalculable harm. Even before I was inaugurated I came to the conclusion that such a policy was too much to ask the American people to bear. It involved not only a further loss of homes, farms, savings and wages but also a loss of spiritual values -- the loss of that sense of security for the present and the future so necessary to the peace and contentment of the individual and of his family. When you destroy these things you will find it difficult to establish confidence of any sort in the future. It was clear that mere appeals from Washington for confidence and the mere lending of more money to shaky institutions could not stop this downward course. A prompt program applied as quickly as possible seemed to me not only justified but imperative to our national security. The Congress, and when I say Congress I mean the members of both political parties, fully understood this and gave me generous and intelligent support. The members of Congress realized that the methods of normal times had to be replaced in the emergency by measures which were suited to the serious and pressing requirements of the moment. There was no actual surrender of power, Congress still retained its constitutional authority and no one has the slightest desire to change the balance of these powers. The function of Congress is to decide what has to be done and to select the appropriate agency to carry out its will. This policy it has strictly adhered to. The only thing that has been happening has been to designate the President as the agency to carry out certain of the purposes of the Congress. This was constitutional and in keeping with the past American tradition. The legislation which has been passed or in the process of enactment can properly be considered as part of a well-grounded plan. First, we are giving opportunity of employment to one-quarter of a million of the unemployed, especially the young men who have dependents, to go into the forestry and flood prevention work. This is a big task because it means feeding, clothing and caring for nearly twice as many men as we have in the regular army itself. In creating this civilian conservation corps we are killing two birds with one stone. We are clearly enhancing the value of our natural resources and second, we are relieving an appreciable amount of actual distress. This great group of men have entered upon their work on a purely voluntary basis, no military training is involved and we are conserving not only our natural resources but our human resources. One of the great values to this work is the fact that it is direct and requires the intervention of very little machinery. Second, I have requested the Congress and have secured action upon a proposal to put the great properties owned by our Government at Muscle Shoals to work after long years of wasteful inaction, and with this a broad plan for the improvement of a vast area in the Tennessee Valley. It will add to the comfort and happiness of hundreds of thousands of people and the incident benefits will reach the entire nation. Next, the Congress is about to pass legislation that will greatly ease the mortgage distress among the farmers and the home owners of the nation, by providing for the easing of the burden of debt now bearing so heavily upon millions of our people. Our next step in seeking immediate relief is a grant of half a billion dollars to help the states, counties and municipalities in their duty to care for those who need direct and Immediate relief. The Congress also passed legislation authorizing the sale of beer in such states as desired. This has already resulted in considerable reemployment and, incidentally, has provided much needed tax revenue. We are planning to ask the Congress for legislation to enable the Government to undertake public works, thus stimulating directly and indirectly the employment of many others in well-considered projects. Further legislation has been taken up which goes much more fundamentally into our economic problems. The Farm Relief Bill seeks by the use of several methods, alone or together, to bring about an increased return to farmers for their major farm products, seeking at the same time to prevent in the days to come disastrous over-production which so often in the past has kept farm commodity prices far below a reasonable return. This measure provides wide powers for emergencies. The extent of its use will depend entirely upon what the future has in store. Well-considered and conservative measures will likewise be proposed which will attempt to give to the industrial workers of the country a more fair wage return, prevent cut-throat competition and unduly long hours for labor, and at the same time to encourage each industry to prevent over-production. Our Railroad Bill falls into the same class because it seeks to provide and make certain definite planning by the railroads themselves, with the assistance of the Government, to eliminate the duplication and waste that is now resulting in railroad receiverships and continuing operating deficits. I am certain that the people of this country understand and approve the broad purposes behind these new governmental policies relating to agriculture and industry and transportation. We found ourselves faced with more agricultural products than we could possibly consume ourselves and surpluses which other nations did not have the cash to buy from us except at prices ruinously low. We have found our factories able to turn out more goods than we could possibly consume, and at the same time we were faced with a falling export demand. We found ourselves with more facilities to transport goods and crops than there were goods and crops to be transported. All of this has been caused in large part by a complete lack of planning and a complete failure to understand the danger signals that have been flying ever since the close of the World War. The people of this country have been erroneously encouraged to believe that they could keep on increasing the output of farm and factory indefinitely and that some magician would find ways and means for that increased output to be consumed with reasonable profit to the producer. Today we have reason to believe that things are a little better than they were two months ago. Industry has picked up, railroads are carrying more freight, farm prices are better, but I am not going to indulge in issuing proclamations of over enthusiastic assurance. We cannot bally-ho ourselves back to prosperity. I am going to be honest at all times with the people of the country. I do not want the people of this country to take the foolish course of letting this improvement come back on another speculative wave. I do not want the people to believe that because of unjustified optimism we can resume the ruinous practice of increasing our crop output and our factory output in the hope that a kind providence will find buyers at high prices. Such a course may bring us immediate and false prosperity but it will be the kind of prosperity that will lead us into another tailspin. It is wholly wrong to call the measure that we have taken Government control of farming, control of industry, and control of transportation. It is rather a partnership between Government and farming and industry and transportation, not partnership in profits, for the profits would still go to the citizens, but rather a partnership in planning and partnership to see that the plans are carried out. Let me illustrate with an example. Take the cotton goods industry. It is probably true that ninety per cent of the cotton manufacturers would agree to eliminate starvation wages, would agree to stop long hours of employment, would agree to stop child labor, would agree to prevent an overproduction that would result in unsalable surpluses. But, what good is such an agreement if the other ten per cent of cotton manufacturers pay starvation wages, require long hours, employ children in their mills and turn out burdensome surpluses? The unfair ten per cent could produce goods so cheaply that the fair ninety per cent would be compelled to meet the unfair conditions. Here is where government comes in. Government ought to have the right and will have the right, after surveying and planning for an industry to prevent, with the assistance of the overwhelming majority of that industry, unfair practice and to enforce this agreement by the authority of government. The so-called anti-trust laws were intended to prevent the creation of monopolies and to forbid unreasonable profits to those monopolies. That purpose of the anti-trust laws must be continued, but these laws were never intended to encourage the kind of unfair competition that results in long hours, starvation wages and overproduction. The same principle applies to farm products and to transportation and every other field of organized private industry. We are working toward a definite goal, which is to prevent the return of conditions which came very close to destroying what we call modern civilization. The actual accomplishment of our purpose cannot be attained in a day. Our policies are wholly within purposes for which our American Constitutional Government was established 150 years ago. I know that the people of this country will understand this and will also understand the spirit in which we are undertaking this policy. I do not deny that we may make mistakes of procedure as we carry out the policy. I have no expectation of making a hit every time I come to bat. What I seek is the highest possible batting average, not only for myself but for the team. Theodore Roosevelt once said to me: "If I can be right 75 percent of the time I shall come up to the fullest measure of my hopes." Much has been said of late about Federal finances and inflation, the gold standard, etc. Let me make the facts very simple and my policy very clear. In the first place, government credit and government currency are really one and the same thing. Behind government bonds there is only a promise to pay. Behind government currency we have, in addition to the promise to pay, a reserve of gold and a small reserve of silver. In this connection it is worth while remembering that in the past the government has agreed to redeem nearly thirty billions of its debts and its currency in gold, and private corporations in this country have agreed to redeem another sixty or seventy billions of securities and mortgages in gold. The government and private corporations were making these agreements when they knew full well that all of the gold in the United States amounted to only between three and four billions and that all of the gold in all of the world amounted to only about eleven billions. If the holders of these promises to pay started in to demand gold the first comers would get gold for a few days and they would amount to about one twenty-fifth of the holders of the securities and the currency. The other twenty-four people out of twenty-five, who did not happen to be at the top of the line, would be told politely that there was no more gold left. We have decided to treat all twenty-five in the same way in the interest of justice and the exercise of the constitutional powers of this government. We have placed every one on the same basis in order that the general good may be preserved. Nevertheless, gold, and to a partial extent silver, are perfectly good bases for currency and that is why I decided not to let any of the gold now in the country go out of it. A series of conditions arose three weeks ago which very readily might have meant, first,a drain on our gold by foreign countries, and secondly, as a result of that, a flight of American capital, in the form of gold, out of our country. It is not exaggerating the possibility to tell you that such an occurrence might well have taken from us the major part of our gold reserve and resulted in such a further weakening of our government and private credit as to bring on actual panic conditions and the complete stoppage of the wheels of industry. The Administration has the definite objective of raising commodity prices to such an extent that those who have borrowed money will, on the average, be able to repay that money in the same kind of dollar which they borrowed. We do not seek to let them get such a cheap dollar that they will be able to pay bock a great deal less than they borrowed. In other words, we seek to correct a wrong and not to create another wrong in the opposite direction. That is why powers are being given to the Administration to provide, if necessary, for an enlargement of credit, in order to correct the existing wrong. These powers will be used when, as, and if it may be necessary to accomplish the purpose. Hand in hand with the domestic situation which, of course, is our first concern, is the world situation, and I want to emphasize to you that the domestic situation is inevitably and deeply tied in with the conditions in all of the other nations of the world. In other words, we can get, in all probability, a fair measure of prosperity return in the United States, but it will not be permanent unless we get a return to prosperity all over the world. In the conferences which we have held and are holding with the leaders of other nations, we are seeking four great objectives. First, a general reduction of armaments and through this the removal of the fear of invasion and armed attack, and, at the same time, a reduction in armament costs, in order to help in the balancing of government budgets and the reduction of taxation. Secondly, a cutting down of the trade barriers, in order to re-start the flow of exchange of crops and goods between nations. Third, the setting up of a stabilization of currencies, in order that trade can make contracts ahead. Fourth, the reestablishment of friendly relations and greater confidence between all nations. Our foreign visitors these past three weeks have responded to these purposes in a very helpful way. All of the Nations have suffered alike in this great depression. They have all reached the conclusion that each can best be helped by the common action of all. It is in this spirit that our visitors have met with us and discussed our common problems. The international conference that lies before us must succeed. The future of the world demands it and we have each of us pledged ourselves to the best Joint efforts to this end. To you, the people of this country, all of us, the Members of the Congress and the members of this Administration owe a profound debt of gratitude. Throughout the depression you have been patient. You have granted us wide powers, you have encouraged us with a wide-spread approval of our purposes. Every ounce of strength and every resource at our command we have devoted to the end of justifying your confidence. We are encouraged to believe that a wise and sensible beginning has been made. In the present spirit of mutual confidence and mutual encouragement we go forward.

George Jessel (3 April 1898 – 23 May 1981) was an American actor, singer, songwriter, and Academy Award-winning movie producer. He was famous in his lifetime as a multitalented comedic entertainer, achieving a level of recognition that transcended his limited roles in movies. He was widely known by his nickname, the "Toastmaster General of the United States" for his frequent role as the master of ceremonies at political and entertainment gatherings.

Happy Easter!

Out west with Jimmy Stewart!

The first Fireside Chat! I want to talk for a few minutes with the people of the United States about banking—with the comparatively few who understand the mechanics of banking but more particularly with the overwhelming majority who use banks for the making of deposits and the drawing of checks. I want to tell you what has been done in the last few days, why it was done, and what the next steps are going to be. I recognize that the many proclamations from State Capitols and from Washington, the legislation, the Treasury regulations, etc., couched for the most part in banking and legal terms should be explained for the benefit of the average citizen. I owe this in particular because of the fortitude and good temper with which everybody has accepted the inconvenience and hardships of the banking holiday. I know that when you understand what we in Washington have been about I shall continue to have your cooperation as fully as I have had your sympathy and help during the past week. First of all let me state the simple fact that when you deposit money in a bank the bank does not put the money into a safe deposit vault. It invests your money in many different forms of credit-bonds, commercial paper, mortgages and many other kinds of loans. In other words, the bank puts your money to work to keep the wheels of industry and of agriculture turning around. A comparatively small part of the money you put into the bank is kept in currency—an amount which in normal times is wholly sufficient to cover the cash needs of the average citizen. In other words the total amount of all the currency in the country is only a small fraction of the total deposits in all of the banks. What, then, happened during the last few days of February and the first few days of March? Because of undermined confidence on the part of the public, there was a general rush by a large portion of our population to turn bank deposits into currency or gold. A rush so great that the soundest banks could not get enough currency to meet the demand. The reason for this was that on the spur of the moment it was, of course, impossible to sell perfectly sound assets of a bank and convert them into cash except at panic prices far below their real value. By the afternoon of March 3 scarcely a bank in the country was open to do business. Proclamations temporarily closing them in whole or in part had been issued by the Governors in almost all the states. It was then that I issued the proclamation providing for the nation-wide bank holiday, and this was the first step in the Government's reconstruction of our financial and economic fabric. The second step was the legislation promptly and patriotically passed by the Congress confirming my proclamation and broadening my powers so that it became possible in view of the requirement of time to entend (sic) the holiday and lift the ban of that holiday gradually. This law also gave authority to develop a program of rehabilitation of our banking facilities. I want to tell our citizens in every part of the Nation that the national Congress -- Republicans and Democrats alike -- showed by this action a devotion to public welfare and a realization of the emergency and the necessity for speed that it is difficult to match in our history. The third stage has been the series of regulations permitting the banks to continue their functions to take care of the distribution of food and household necessities and the payment of payrolls. This bank holiday while resulting in many cases in great inconvenience is affording us the opportunity to supply the currency necessary to meet the situation. No sound bank is a dollar worse off than it was when it closed its doors last Monday. Neither is any bank which may turn out not to be in a position for immediate opening. The new law allows the twelve Federal Reserve banks to issue additional currency on good assets and thus the banks that reopen will be able to meet every legitimate call. The new currency is being sent out by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in large volume to every part of the country. It is sound currency because it is backed by actual, good assets. A question you will ask is this—why are all the banks not to be reopened at the same time? The answer is simple. Your Government does not intend that the history of the past few years shall be repeated. WE do not want and will not have another epidemic of bank failures. As a result we start tomorrow, Monday, with the opening of banks in the twelve Federal Reserve Bank cities—those banks which on first examination by the Treasury have already been found to be all right. This will be followed on Tuesday by the resumption of all their functions by banks already found to be sound in cities where there are recognized clearinghouses. That means about 250 cities of the United States. On Wednesday and succeeding days banks in smaller places all through the country will resume business, subject, of course, to the Government's physical ability to complete its survey. It is necessary that the reopening of banks be extended over a period in order to permit the banks to make applications for necessary loans, to obtain currency needed to meet their requirements and to enable the Government to make common sense checkups. Let me make it clear to you that if your bank does not open the first day you are by no means justified in believing that it will not open. A bank that opens on one of the subsequent days is in exactly the same status as the bank that opens tomorrow. I know that many people are worrying about State banks not members of the Federal Reserve System. These banks can and will receive assistance from member banks and from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. These state banks are following the same course as the national banks except that they get their licenses to resume business from the state authorities, and these authorities have been asked by the Secretary of the Treasury to permit their good banks to open up on the same schedule as the national banks. I am confident that the state banking departments will be as careful as the National Government in the policy relating to the opening of banks and will follow the same broad policy. It is possible that when the banks resume a very few people who have not recovered from their fear may again begin withdrawals. Let me make it clear that the banks will take care of all needs—and it is my belief that hoarding during the past week has become an exceedingly unfashionable pastime. It needs no prophet to tell you that when the people find that they can get their money -- that they can get it when they want it for all legitimate purposes -- the phantom of fear will soon be laid. People will again be glad to have their money where it will be safely taken care of and where they can use it conveniently at any time. I can assure you that it is safer to keep your money in a reopened bank than under the mattress. The success of our whole great national program depends, of course, upon the cooperation of the public -- on its intelligent support and use of a reliable system. Remember that the essential accomplishment of the new legislation is that it makes it possible for banks more readily to convert their assets into cash than was the case before. More liberal provision has been made for banks to borrow on these assets at the Reserve Banks and more liberal provision has also been made for issuing currency on the security of those good assets. This currency is not fiat currency. It is issued only on adequate security -- and every good bank has an abundance of such security. One more point before I close. There will be, of course, some banks unable to reopen without being reorganized. The new law allows the Government to assist in making these reorganizations quickly and effectively and even allows the Government to subscribe to at least a part of new capital which may be required. I hope you can see from this elemental recital of what your government is doing that there is nothing complex, or radical in the process. We had a bad banking situation. Some of our bankers had shown themselves either incompetent or dishonest in their handling of the people's funds. They had used the money entrusted to them in speculations and unwise loans. This was of course not true in the vast majority of our banks but it was true in enough of them to shock the people for a time into a sense of insecurity and to put them into a frame of mind where they did not differentiate, but seemed to assume that the acts of a comparative few had tainted them all. It was the Government's job to straighten out this situation and do it as quickly as possible -- and the job is being performed. I do not promise you that every bank will be reopened or that individual losses will not be suffered, but there will be no losses that possibly could be avoided; and there would have been more and greater losses had we continued to drift. I can even promise you salvation for some at least of the sorely pressed banks. We shall be engaged not merely in reopening sound banks but in the creation of sound banks through reorganization. It has been wonderful to me to catch the note of confidence from all over the country. I can never be sufficiently grateful to the people for the loyal support they have given me in their acceptance of the judgment that has dictated our course, even though all of our processes may not have seemed clear to them. After all there is an element in the readjustment of our financial system more important than currency, more important than gold, and that is the confidence of the people. Confidence and courage are the essentials of success in carrying out our plan. You people must have faith; you must not be stampeded by rumors or guesses. Let us unite in banishing fear. We have provided the machinery to restore our financial system; it is up to you to support and make it work. It is your problem no less than it is mine. Together we cannot fail.

50 years ago this week out west!

Join Gene Autry as he sings his way through the old west! Talent with the guitar and his voice led to performing at local dances. After an encouraging chance encounter with Will Rogers, he began performing on local radio in 1928 as "Oklahoma's Yodeling Cowboy." He signed a recording deal with Columbia Records in 1929. He worked in Chicago, Illinois, on the WLS-AM radio show National Barn Dance for four years, and with his own show, where he met singer/songwriter Smiley Burnette. In his early recording career, Autry covered various genres, including a labor song, "The Death of Mother Jones" in 1931. Autry also recorded many "hillbilly"-style records in 1930 and 1931 in New York City, which were certainly different in style and content from his later recordings. These were much closer in style to the Prairie Ramblers or Dick Justice, and included the "Do Right Daddy Blues" and "Black Bottom Blues," both of which contain substantial similarity to "Deep Elem Blues." These late-Prohibition era songs deal with bootlegging, corrupt police, and women whose occupation was certainly vice. These recording are generally not heard today, but are available on European import labels, such as JSP Records. His first hit was in 1932 with That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine, a duet with fellow railroad man, Jimmy Long. Autry also sang the classic Ray Whitley hit "Back in the Saddle Again," as well as many Christmas songs including "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town," his own composition "Here Comes Santa Claus," "Frosty the Snowman," and arguably his biggest hit "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Autry also owned the Challenge Records label. The label's biggest hit was "Tequila" by The Champs in 1958, which started the rock-and-roll instrumental craze of the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Here is the Audition for the Martin and Lewis Show with Bob Hope as guest star.

Burns and Allen visit Jack and the gang!

60 years ago today Elizabeth Taylor appeared on the Hallmark Playhouse! She was trying leave her child actor image behind her. When released in 1949, Conspirator bombed at the box office, but Taylor's portrayal of 21-year-old debutante Melinda Grayton (keeping in mind that Taylor was only 16 at the time of filming) who unknowingly marries a communist spy (played by 38-year-old Robert Taylor), was praised by critics for her first adult lead in a film, even though the public didn't seem ready to accept her in adult roles. Taylor's first picture under her new salary of $2,000 per week was The Big Hangover (1950), both a critical and box office failure, that paired her with screen idol Van Johnson. The picture also failed to present Taylor with an opportunity to exhibit her newly-realized sensuality. Her first box office success in an adult role came as Kay Banks in the romantic comedy Father of the Bride (1950), alongside Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett. The film spawned a sequel, Father's Little Dividend (1951), which Taylor's costar Spencer Tracy summarised with "boring...boring...boring." The film was received well at the box office but it would be Taylor's next picture that would set the course for her career as a dramatic actress. In late 1949, Taylor had begun filming George Stevens' A Place In The Sun. Upon its release in 1951, Taylor was hailed for her performance as Angela Vickers, a spoilt socialite who comes between George Eastman (Montgomery Clift) and his poor, pregnant factory-working girlfriend Alice Tripp (Shelley Winters). The film became the pivotal performance of Taylor's career as critics acclaimed it as a classic, a reputation it sustained throughout the next 50 years of cinema history. The New York Times' A.H. Weiler wrote, "Elizabeth's delineation of the rich and beauteous Angela is the top effort of her career," and the Boxoffice reviewer unequivocally stated "Miss Taylor deserves an Academy Award." "If you were considered pretty, you might as well have been a waitress trying to act - you were treated with no respect at all", she later bitterly reflected. Even with such critical success as an actress, Taylor was increasingly unsatisfied with the roles being offered to her at the time. While she wanted to play the leads in The Barefoot Contessa and I'll Cry Tomorrow, MGM continued to restrict her to mindless and somewhat forgettable films such as: a cameo as herself in Callaway Went Thataway (1951), Love Is Better Than Ever (1952), Ivanhoe (1952), The Girl Who Had Everything (1953) and Beau Brummel (1954). Taylor had made it perfectly clear that she wanted to play the role of Lady Rowena in Ivanhoe, but the part had already been given to Joan Fontaine and she was handed the thankless role of Rebecca. When she became pregnant with her first child, MGM forced her through The Girl Who Had Everything (even adding two hours to her daily work schedule) so as to get one more film out of her before she became too heavily pregnant. Taylor lamented that she needed the money, as she had just bought a new house with second husband Michael Wilding and with a child on the way things would be pretty tight. Taylor had been forced by her pregnancy to turn down Elephant Walk (1954), though the role had been designed for her. Vivien Leigh, to whom Taylor bore a striking resemblance, got the part and went to Ceylon to shoot on location. Leigh had a nervous breakdown during filming, and Taylor finally reclaimed the role after the birth of her child Michael Wilding, Jr. in January 1953. Taylor's next screen endeavor, Rhapsody (1954), another tedious romantic drama, proved equally frustrating. Taylor portrayed Louise Durant, a beautiful rich girl in love with a temperamental violinist (Vittorio Gassman) and an earnest young pianist (John Ericson). A film critic for the New York Herald Tribune wrote: "There is beauty in the picture all right, with Miss Taylor glowing into the camera from every angle...but the dramatic pretenses are weak, despite the lofty sentences and handsome manikin poses." Taylor's fourth period picture, Beau Brummell, made just after Elephant Walk and Rhapsody, cast her as the elaborately costumed Lady Patricia, which many felt was only a screen prop — a ravishing beauty whose sole purpose was to lend romantic support to the film's title star, Stewart Granger. The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954) fared only slightly better than her previous pictures, with Taylor being reunited with The Big Hangover costar Van Johnson. The role of Helen Ellsworth Willis was based on that of Zelda Fitzgerald and, although pregnant with her second child, Taylor went ahead with the film, her fourth in twelve months. Although proving somewhat successful at the box office, she still yearned for meatier roles.

60 years ago this week Martin and Lewis with guest William Bendix. William Bendix (January 14, 1906 – December 14, 1964) was an American film actor. Bendix, named for his paternal grandfather, was born in Manhattan, New York City, the only son of Cleveland-born Oscar and London-born Hilda (nee Carnell) Bendix. As a youth in the early 1920s, Bendix was a batboy for the New York Yankees and said he saw Babe Ruth hit more than a hundred home runs at Yankee Stadium. In 1927, he married Theresa Stefanotti. Bendix worked as a grocer until the Great Depression, before making his film debut in 1942. He played in supporting roles in dozens of Hollywood films, usually as a soldier, gangster or detective. He started with appearances in film noir films including a memorable performance in The Glass Key (1942), which also featured Brian Donlevy and Veronica Lake. He soon gained more attention after appearing in Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat (1944) as Gus, a wounded and dying American sailor. Bendix's other well-known movie roles include his portrayal of baseball player Babe Ruth in The Babe Ruth Story (1948) and Sir Sagramore opposite Bing Crosby in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949), in which he took part in the famous trio, "Busy Doing Nothing". He also played Nick the bartender in the 1948 film version of William Saroyan's The Time of Your Life starring James Cagney. Bendix had also appeared in the stage version, but in the role of Officer Krupp (a role played on film by Broderick Crawford). Bendix was also well known in that era for his radio work, starring as "Chester A. Riley" in the radio situation comedy series The Life of Riley from 1944 through 1951. He also played the title role in the second television version of the series, which ran from 1953 to 1958 (Jackie Gleason played Riley in a short-lived 1949 version). On the 1952 television program This Is Your Life, it was claimed that he was a descendant of the 19th century composer Felix Mendelssohn.[1] In 1958, Bendix played the lead role in Rod Serling's "The Time Element." "The Time Element" was a time travel adventure about a man named Peter Jenson who travels back to Honolulu in 1941 and unsuccessfully tries to warn everyone about the impending attack on Pearl Harbor. In 1960, Bendix starred in seventeen episodes of the NBC western series Overland Trail in the role of Frederick Thomas "Fred" Kelly, the crusty superintendent of the Overland Stage Company. Doug McClure, later Trampass on NBC's The Virginian co-starred as his young understudy, Frank "Flip" Flippen. The program was similar to another offering on ABC the following season, Stagecoach West. Bendix died in Los Angeles from lobar pneumonia in 1964 and was interred there in the San Fernando Mission Cemetery. Bendix was survived by his wife Theresa and two children (Lorraine and Stephanie) from their 37 years of marriage

Come on, you want eternal life don't you?

Bob Hope!

Part three of Jimmy on this early radio appearance on Silver theater.

Out west with Jimmy Stewart.

Today Robert Taylor stars in, Suspense, in our second scariest OTR episode of all time! Robert Taylor, Cathy Lewis, Hans Conried, Jim Backus, Howard Duff, Paul Frees, Wally Meher. A young couple has just purchased a home. They believe that a werewolf is prowling outside when they start to hear a dog howl and blood starts oozing from underneath the door. Robert Taylor made his film debut in the 1934 comedy, Handy Andy, opposite Will Rogers (on a loan-out to 20th Century Fox). After appearing in a few small roles, he appeared in one of his first leading roles in Magnificent Obsession, with Irene Dunne. This was followed by Camille, opposite Greta Garbo.[6] Taylor and Jean Harlow, 1937 Throughout the late 1930s, Taylor appeared in films of varying genres including the musicals Broadway Melody of 1936 and Broadway Melody of 1938, and the British comedy A Yank at Oxford with Vivien Leigh. In 1940, he reteamed with his A Yank at Oxford co-star Vivien Leigh in Mervyn LeRoy's drama Waterloo Bridge. In 1941, Taylor began breaking away from his perfect leading man image and began appearing in darker roles. That year he portrayed Billy Bonney (better known as Billy the Kid) in Billy the Kid. The next year, he played the title role in the film noir Johnny Eager opposite Lana Turner. After playing a tough sergeant in Bataan in 1943, Taylor contributed to the war effort by becoming a flying instructor in Naval Air Corps. During this time, he also starred in instructional films and narrated the 1944 documentary The Fighting Lady.[4] In 1950, Taylor landed the role of General Marcus Vinicius in Quo Vadis, opposite Deborah Kerr. The film was a hit, grossing USD$11 million.[6] The following year, he starred opposite Elizabeth Taylor in the film version of Walter Scott’s classic Ivanhoe, followed by 1953's Knights of the Round Table and The Adventures of Quentin Durward, all filmed in England. By the mid-1950s, Taylor's career began to wane. He starred in a comedy western in 1955 co-starring Eleanor Parker called Many Rivers To Cross. In 1958, he formed his own production company, Robert Taylor Productions, and the following year, he starred in the ABC hit television series The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor (1959-1962).[3] Following the end of the series in 1962, Taylor continued to appear in films and television including A House Is Not a Home and two episodes of Hondo. In 1965, after filming Johnny Tiger in Florida, Taylor took over the role of narrator in the television series Death Valley Days, when Ronald Reagan left to pursue a career in politics.[8] Taylor would remain with the series until 1969 when he became too ill to continue working.

Wednesday, time to go out west, from 50 years ago this week!

Eddie "Rochester" Anderson's first ever appearance. Eddie Anderson Biography Part 1 Eddie Anderson (comedian) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Birth name Edmund Lincoln Anderson Born September 18, 1905(1905-09-18) Oakland, California, USA Died February 28, 1977 (aged 71) Los Angeles, California, USA Show The Jack Benny Program Station(s) NBC, CBS Style Comedian Country United States Edmund Lincoln Anderson (September 18, 1905 – February 28, 1977), often known as Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, was an American comic actor who became famous playing "Rochester van Jones" (usually known simply as "Rochester"), the valet to Jack Benny's eponymous title character on the long-running radio and television series The Jack Benny Program. Birth and early career He was born in Oakland, California, USA on September 18, 1905 into a family of performers, Anderson began his show business career at age 14 in a song-and-dance act with his brother Cornelius and another performer. They billed themselves as the Three Black Aces. At a young age, Anderson permanently damaged his vocal cords (he had to yell loudly for his job selling newspapers), leading to his trademark "raspy" voice. Benny's ordering of his "valet" and Anderson's responses (sometimes a resigned "Yes, Boss", but just as often a snappy joke at Benny's expense) were among the weekly highlights of the long-running show. Anderson's role as a servant was common for Black leads in the popular media of that era, such as Ethel Waters in Beulah. The stereotyping of Blacks (or any ethnic group) had been standard practice in the entertainment business for generations. The relationship between Anderson and Benny became more complex and intimate as the years went by, with Rochester's role becoming both less stereotypical (in early episodes he carried a switchblade and shot craps) and less subservient (though he remained a valet), reflecting changing social attitudes toward Blacks. According to Jack Benny's posthumous autobiography, Sunday Nights at Seven, the tone of racial humor surrounding Rochester declined as a conscious decision between Benny and the writing staff during World War II, once the enormity of the Holocaust was revealed. In short, Benny didn't find such humor funny anymore, and he made an effort to erase it from the character of Rochester. The high esteem in which the two actors held each other was evident upon Benny's death in 1974, in which a tearful Anderson, interviewed for television, spoke of Benny with admiration and respect. Benny was often protective of Anderson, and this led to conflict. For instance, in World War II, Benny toured with his show, but Rochester did not, because discrimination in the armed forces would have required separate living quarters. Interestingly, though, during performances of the radio program staged before armed forces audiences at bases and military hospitals, the appearance of Rochester routinely drew enthusiastic applause that arguably often outstripped that received by other members of the cast. Stateside, a similar incident was defused by Benny when, according to reporter Fredric W. Slater, Rochester was denied a room at the hotel that Benny and his staff were planning to staying in Saint Joseph, Missouri. When it was announced that Anderson could not stay there, Benny replied "If he doesn't stay here, neither do I." The hotel eventually allowed Anderson to remain as a guest. Even though some of the humor was stereotypical, it was always done so that the racial element of the joke came from Anderson and no one else. For instance, when Jack takes a vacation, he takes Rochester along; but as a guest, not a servant, because Jack drives just as often as Rochester does. When they get to Yosemite to go skiing, Jack says "Don't wander off now, you're not used to being in the woods, you'll get lost in all the snow." Rochester replies "Who me?" Thus the race element of the joke was provided by Anderson. Among the most highly-paid performers of his time, Anderson invested wisely and became extremely wealthy. Despite this, he was so strongly identified with the "Rochester" role that many listeners of the radio program mistakenly persisted in the belief that he was Benny's actual valet. One such listener drove Benny to distraction when he sent a scolding letter to Benny concerning Rochester's alleged pay, and then sent another letter to Anderson, which urged him to sue Benny. A similar letter came from a correspondent in the South who was angered that on an episode of the radio show where Benny was sparring with Anderson, that Benny allowed himself to be struck by Anderson. Benny retorted in a letter that it would not have been humorous the other way around.

Richard Conte (March 24, 1910 – April 15, 1975) was an American actor who appeared in numerous films from the 1940s through 1970s, including I'll Cry Tomorrow and The Godfather.

60 years ago this week, Van Johnson was Jack's guest star. Van Johnson (August 25, 1916 – December 12, 2008) (born Charles Van Johnson) was an American film and television actor and dancer who was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios during World War II. Johnson was the embodiment of the "boy next door," playing "the red-haired, freckle-faced soldier, sailor or bomber pilot who used to live down the street" in MGM movies during the war years. At the time of his death in December 2008, he was one of the last surviving matinee idols of Hollywood's "golden age."

As John Lennon said, "Just give me some truth!"

Enjoy the second part in this four part original story from the Silver Theater.

After being hit in an Automobile accident, Ernest Bowers is taken to the Morgue ... But is Ernest really dead?

60 years ago with Phil and Alice! Presented in HQ 48kbs.

70 years ago today, now in High Quality 80 kbs, thanks to William and Barbara! Do you need a haircut, I do!

Some examples of examples of Oscar Levants controversial repartée: * "Roses are red, violets are blue, I am schizophrenic, and so am I."[cite this quote] * "I used to call Audrey Hepburn a walking X-ray." * "A few years ago someone suggested that I read Spinoza. The first chapter in this particular volume was about superstitions and rituals. Here was my faith! Spinoza said rituals are all based on fear. My faith destroyed, I put down the book." * "When Frank Sinatra, Jr. was kidnapped, I said, 'It must have been done by music critics.'" * "Not long ago, a well-known Hollywood savings-and-loan millionaire intruded on a conversation at my table at a restaurant. Worst still, he implied that he and I were equals. 'Compared to you, I'm a Habsburg,' I told him. But it didn't offend him. He thought Habsburg was a rival local banker." * "What the world needs is more geniuses with humility, there are so few of us left." * "I only make jokes when I am feeling insecure." * "So little time and so little to do..." * "I'm a concert pianist, that's a pretentious way of saying I'm unemployed at the moment." (From An American in Paris) * "I knew Doris Day before she was a virgin." (Levant was in the cast of Doris Day's first film, Romance on the High Seas, in which Day played a brassy showgirl very different from the virginal ingenue character that later brought her stardom.) * "I have one thing to say about psychoanalysis: fuck Dr Freud." * "The only difference between the Democrats and the Republicans is that the Democrats allow the poor to be corrupt, too." * "Everyone in Hollywood is gay, except Gabby Hayes — and that's because he is a transvestite." * "It's not a pretty face, I grant you but underneath its flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character." (From An American in Paris) * When asked by Jack Paar what he does for exercise, he replied, "I stumble, then fall into a coma." * "Leonard Bernstein is revealing musical secrets that have been common knowledge for centuries." * Asked by Jack Paar to describe his reaction to Milton Berle converting to become a Christian Scientist- "Our loss is their loss." * Overheard at a dinner party: "The best kind of guests are the ones that know when to leave!" * "Strip away the false tinsel from Hollywood, and you find the real tinsel inside."

The third scariest episode in OTR history! "The Thing on the Fourble Board" Probably the most highly regarded episode of Quiet, Please! is "The Thing on the Fourble Board" (August 9, 1948), about an oil-field worker who encounters a mysterious subterranean being hiding on the derrick's catwalk. The unusual title is a bit of oil worker argot: the "fourble board" of an oil derrick is a narrow catwalk that is as high up as four lengths of drilling pipe placed vertically (two lengths of pipe are a "double", three are a "thribble" and four are a "fourble. "Quiet, Please! was an old-time radio fantasy and horror program created by Wyllis Cooper, also known for creating Lights Out. Ernest Chappell was the show's announcer and lead actor. Quiet, Please! was first broadcast by on June 8, 1947 by the Mutual Broadcasting System, and its last episode ran on June 25, 1949, by ABC. A total of 106 shows were broadcast, with only a very few of them repeats. Earning relatively little notice during its initial run, Quiet, Please! has since been praised as one of the finest efforts of the golden age of American radio drama. Professor Richard J. Hand of the University of Glamorgan (author of probably the most detailed critical analysis of the series) argues that with Quiet, Please, Cooper and Chappell "created works of astonishing originality" (Hand, 145); he further describes the program as an "extraordinary body of work" (Hand, 158), which established Cooper "as one of the greatest auteurs of horror radio." (Hand, 161) Similarly, radio historian Ron Lackmann declares that the episodes "were exceptionally well written and outstandingly acted" (Lackmann, 226), while John Dunning describes the show as "a potent series bristling with rich imagination." (Dunning, 559)

Abe Lyman (August 4, 1897 - October 23, 1957) was a popular bandleader from the 1920s to the 1940s. He made recordings, appeared in films and provided the music for numerous radio shows, including Your Hit Parade. His name at birth was Abraham Simon Lymon. Abe and his brother Mike changed their last name to Lyman because they both thought it sounded better. Abe learned to play the drums when he was young, and at the age of 14 he had a job as a drummer in a Chicago café. Around 1919, Abe was regularly playing music with two other notable future big band leaders, Henry Halstead and Gus Arnheim in California. In Los Angeles Mike opened the Sunset, a night club popular with such film stars as Mary Pickford, Norma Talmadge, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd. When Abe’s nine-piece band first played at the Sunset, it was a success, but the club closed after celebrities signed contracts stating they were not to be seen at clubs. For an engagement at the Cocoanut Grove in The Ambassador Hotel on April 1, 1922, Abe added a violinist and saxophonist. Opening night drew a large crowd of 1500 guests in the Cocoanut Grove, plus another 500 more outside. After the band cut their first record under the local label Nordskog Records, they moved a year later to Brunswick Records where they made many recordings. The Lyman Orchestra toured Europe in 1929, appearing at the Kit Cat Club and the Palladium in London and at the Moulin Rouge and the Perroquet in Paris. Abe Lyman and his orchestra were featured in a number of early talkies, including Hold Everything (1930), Paramount on Parade (1930), Good News (1930) and Madam Satan (1930). In 1931, Abe Lyman and his orchestra recorded a number of soundtracks for the Merrie Melodies cartoon series. Notable musicians in the Lyman Orchestra included Ray Lopez, Gussie Mueller, and Orlando "Slim" Martin. During the 1930s, the Lyman Orchestra was heard regularly on such shows as Accordiana and Waltz Time. When Lyman was 50 years old, he left the music industry and went into the restaurant management business. He died in Beverly Hills, California at the age of 60.

Jack Benny knew a little laughter is a great thing!

The second episode of The Six Shooter after the pilot. I love Jimmy Stewart in this series! he Six Shooter was a weekly old-time radio program in the USA. It was created by Frank Burt, who also wrote many of the episodes, and lasted only one season of 39 episodes on NBC (Sept. 20, 1953-June 24, 1954). Through March 21, 1954 it was broadcasted Sundays at 8 p.m. Beginning April 1, 1954 through the final episode it was on Thursday at 8 p.m. James Stewart starred as Britt Ponsett, a drifting cowboy in the final years of the wild west. Episodes ranged from straight western drama to whimsical comedy. A trademark of the show was Stewart's use of whispered narration during tense scenes that created a heightened sense of drama and relief when the situation was resolved. Some of the more prominent actors to perform on the program included Parley Baer, Virginia Gregg, Harry Bartell, Howard McNear, Jeanette Nolan, Dan O'Herlihy, Alan Reed, Marvin Miller and William Conrad. Some did multiple episodes playing different characters. Each episode opened with the announcer stating: The man in the saddle is angular and long-legged. His skin is sun-dyed brown. The gun in his holster is gray steel and rainbow mother-of-pearl, its handle unmarked. People call them both "the Six Shooter". The haunting theme music was "Highland Lament" by series composor Basil Adlam. The final broadcast "Myra Barker" provided a satisfying (if melancholy) finale to the series: Ponsett falls in love with Myra, and proposes marriage. Myra, after thinking it over, appears to accept -- but then tells Britt she's heard that Sheriff Jennings of Eagle Falls has asked for his help, and Britt admits that he feels obligated to go. Myra tells Britt to go and not come back -- telling him some adventure will always call him, and he'll always go, or regret not going. Britt goes, resuming his wanderings, but not before revealing to the audience that he knows he was *not* needed in Eagle Falls -- and knows Myra knows that too. The moment comes across of a moment of supreme self-realization by Britt that he always will be a wanderer.

I've been looking for a good quality copy of this episode. I found one, so here is the 8th scariest OTR show in history featuring The Shadow!

Sheldon Leonard played an eccentric racetrack tout on The Jack Benny Program in the late 1940s and early '50s. His role was to salute Benny out of the blue in railroad stations, on street corners, or in department stores ("hey Bud, come here a minute"), ask Benny what he was about to do, and then proceed to try to argue him out of his course of action by resorting to inane and irrelevant racing logic. Ironically, as "The Tout," he never gave out information on horse racing, unless Jack demanded it. One excuse the tout gave was "Who knows about horses?" He also appeared frequently on "The Adventures of the Saint," often playing gangsters and heavies, but also sometimes in more positive roles.

 

Over 70 years ago Jimmy Stewart and Rosalind Russell appeared on the very first broadcast of Silver Theater! This is the first part in a four part original story for the Silver Theater, and we will bring you the whole show every other week. Next week join us for another episode of the Six Shooter Starring Jimmy Stewart!

The first offical Allen's alley in an episode, starring George Jessel. George Jessel (3 April 1898 – 23 May 1981) was an American actor, singer, songwriter, and Academy Award-winning movie producer. He was famous in his lifetime as a multitalented comedic entertainer, achieving a level of recognition that transcended his limited roles in movies. He was widely known by his nickname, the "Toastmaster General of the United States" for his frequent role as the master of ceremonies at political and entertainment gatherings.

50 years ago out west!

Information Please was an American radio quiz show, created by Dan Golenpaul, which aired on NBC from May 17, 1938 to June 25, 1948. The title phrase was contemporarily used to request information such as directory assistance and time of day from telephone operators. The series was moderated by Clifton Fadiman (1904–1999). A panel of experts would attempt to answer questions submitted by listeners. If the panelists were stumped, the questioner earned five dollars and a complete edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. As the years went by, the prize money increased accordingly. Panel regulars included writer-actor-pianist Oscar Levant (1906–1972) and newspaper columnists and renowned wits and intellectuals Franklin P. Adams (1881–1960) and John Kieran (1892–1981). All the panelists were well-versed in a wide range of topics, though each had a specialty. Music and film questions were often addressed to Levant. Adams was well known for his mastery of poetry, popular culture and Gilbert and Sullivan. Kieran was an expert in natural history, sports and literature. A typical question would have three or four parts and would require the panelists to get a majority of the questions right, lest they lose the prize money. The show would always have a fourth guest panelist, usually either a celebrity, a politician or writer. Guest panelists included Fred Allen, Boris Karloff, Clare Boothe Luce, Dorothy Parker, S. J. Perelman, Sigmund Spaeth, Rex Stout, Jan Struther, Deems Taylor, Alexander Woollcott, Ruth Gordon, and Orson Welles. The show was as much a comedy as a quiz show. The panelists displayed a quick wit in answering the questions, reveling in puns and malapropisms. Due to the spontanteous nature of the program, it became the first show for which NBC allowed a prerecorded repeat for the West Coast. During World War II, the show frequently went on tours from its New York City base to promote the buying of war bonds. Instead of the usual cash prize, a question writer would win a bond. The show received several awards as an outstanding radio quiz show. In 1947, Golenpaul edited the Information Please Almanac, a reference book which continued through the years in different formats (including the website Infoplease).

70 years ago this week, Judy garland had a visit with Bob Hope!

Voyage of the Scarlet Queen was a radio adventure on the high seas, airing on Mutual from 3 July 1947 to 14 February 1948. James Burton produced the scripts by Gil Doud and Robert Tallman. Elliott Lewis starred as Philip Carney, master of the 78-foot ketch Scarlet Queen, with Ed Max as first mate Red Gallagher. The show seems to foreshadow Star Trek in a number of ways. Each episode opens with an entry from the ship's log: "Log entry, the ketch Scarlet Queen, Philip Carney, master. Position -- three degrees, seven minutes north, 104 degrees, two minutes east. Wind, fresh to moderate; sky, fair..." with a similar closing: "Ship secured for the night. Signed, Philip Carney, master." Arriving at an exotic port of call, the captain and first mate would go ashore and immediately run into trouble with local authorities, agents of rival merchants, or desperate women in need of rescue. After some investigation and at least one good fight they would solve the problem, get back on the ship and sail away, Carney and Gallagher sharing a laugh and a drink at the wheel before the captain's closing log entry. Technically the show was among the better radio productions of the time, employing realistic sound effects and sailing terminology, well paced stories and colorfully detailed settings. Most places visited by the Queen are real. Even the map coordinates given by the captain are mostly accurate, following a zigzag course around the South Pacific.

I have always thought that anyone listening to my podcasts should be committed! :)

The Six Shooter was a weekly old-time radio program in the USA. It was created by Frank Burt, who also wrote many of the episodes, and lasted only one season of 39 episodes on NBC (Sept. 20, 1953-June 24, 1954). Through March 21, 1954 it was broadcasted Sundays at 8 p.m. Beginning April 1, 1954 through the final episode it was on Thursday at 8 p.m. James Stewart starred as Britt Ponsett, a drifting cowboy in the final years of the wild west. Episodes ranged from straight western drama to whimsical comedy. A trademark of the show was Stewart's use of whispered narration during tense scenes that created a heightened sense of drama and relief when the situation was resolved. Some of the more prominent actors to perform on the program included Parley Baer, Virginia Gregg, Harry Bartell, Howard McNear, Jeanette Nolan, Dan O'Herlihy, Alan Reed, Marvin Miller and William Conrad. Some did multiple episodes playing different characters. Each episode opened with the announcer stating: The man in the saddle is angular and long-legged. His skin is sun-dyed brown. The gun in his holster is gray steel and rainbow mother-of-pearl, its handle unmarked. People call them both "the Six Shooter". The haunting theme music was "Highland Lament" by series composor Basil Adlam. The final broadcast "Myra Barker" provided a satisfying (if melancholy) finale to the series: Ponsett falls in love with Myra, and proposes marriage. Myra, after thinking it over, appears to accept -- but then tells Britt she's heard that Sheriff Jennings of Eagle Falls has asked for his help, and Britt admits that he feels obligated to go. Myra tells Britt to go and not come back -- telling him some adventure will always call him, and he'll always go, or regret not going. Britt goes, resuming his wanderings, but not before revealing to the audience that he knows he was *not* needed in Eagle Falls -- and knows Myra knows that too. The moment comes across of a moment of supreme self-realization by Britt that he always will be a wanderer.

Adolphe Jean Menjou (February 18, 1890 – October 29, 1963) was an American actor. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania of French and Irish descent,[1] he was raised Roman Catholic, and attended the Culver Military Academy and graduated from Cornell University with a degree in engineering. Attracted to the vaudeville stage, he made his movie debut in 1916 in The Blue Envelope Mystery. During World War I, he served as a captain in the ambulance service. Returning from the war, he became a star in such films as The Sheik and The Three Musketeers. When he starred in 1923's A Woman of Paris, he solidified the image of a well-dressed man-about-town. His career stalled with the coming of talkies, but in 1930, he starred in Morocco, with Marlene Dietrich. He was nominated for an Academy Award for The Front Page (1931). In 1947, Menjou cooperated with the House Committee on Un-American Activities in its hunt for Communists in Hollywood. Menjou was a leading member of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, a self-styled patriotic group formed to oppose Communist influence in Hollywood. Other members included Barbara Stanwyck (with whom he co-starred in Golden Boy in 1939) and her husband, actor Robert Taylor. Because of his political sympathies Menjou came into conflict with actress Katharine Hepburn, who was considered a radical left-winger by the actor's extremely conservative standards. Menjou appeared with her in the films Stage Door and State of the Union, which also starred Spencer Tracy. Mistakenly suspected of Communist sympathies, Hepburn was strongly opposed to Americans outing their fellow citizens. It is reported by William Mann in his biography; "Kate," that during the filming of State of the Union, she and Menjou only spoke to each other when required to in the film script. Menjou ended his career with such roles as French General George Broulard in 1957's Paths of Glory, and as the town curmudgeon in Pollyanna in 1960. In 1948, he published his autobiography, It Took Nine Tailors.

Fun Friday with Fibber from 70 years ago this week!