Eddie Rochester Anderson

When Radio Ruled #151 – A 1930s Christmas

~ partnic ~ Leave a comment

Holiday Spirit from 1937, 1938, and 1939
as served up by Old Time Radio!

Christmas Time is here again. A time when us older folks reconnect with the child we once were. Moments from past Christmases relived, smiles and tears remembered. Longing and gratitude and the laughter of those we’ve lost.

At least that’s what happens to me. Every Christmas that passes magnifies the memories of Christmases from a lifetime ago.

Old Time Radio like this helps me through the bittersweet nostalgia for days that no longer exist.

Starring Santa Claus and The Christian God

Also Appearing

Don Wilson

Mary Livingstone

Jack Benny

Eddie “Rochester” Anderson

Kenny Baker

Rudy Vallee

Fred Allen

Shirley Temple

Nelson Eddy

Orson Welles

Eddie Cantor

Dennis Day

Robert Young

Baby Snooks and Daddy

Lionel Barrymore

Reginald Owen

And More!!

Click Here to Visit Christmas in the 1930s!!!

When Radio Ruled #147 – SoundScape 1939 part 20

~ partnic ~ Leave a comment

Curated clips of live broadcasts from popular radio shows of the day. Radio highlights originally broadcast live October 8 through October 15, 1939.

A tapestry of History through the eyes of people as they lived it, reported by radio.

In today’s SoundScape:

What the Jack Benny cast did on Summer Vacation!

Dennis Day Joins the Jello Cast!

Orson Welles takes us to Tangiers!

Bert Lahr visits Fred Allen!

Andy Devine visits Jack Benny!

And More!!

Featuring:

Jack Benny

Eddie “Rochester” Anderson

Mary Livingston

Phil Harris

Don Wilson

Dennis Day

Orson Welles

Paulette Goddard

Fibber McGee and Molly

Fred Allen

Portland Hoffa

Wynn Murray

The Merry Macs

Bert Lahr

Andy Devine

And More!

SoundScape 1939 part 20 is just a Click Away!!!

When Radio Ruled 143 – Birth of the SitCom

~ partnic ~ Leave a comment

Early American entertainment included the circus, the minstrel show, vaudeville, broadway revues, all popular forms of the variety show.

And it was talent from those stage shows that created radio.

But radio wasn’t the same as the stage.

Radio was different manifesting new possibilities for entertainment.

An opportunity to entertain with new formats.

The situation comedy was one such format, brand new, a child of radio, never before seen in the history of man.

Although the situation comedy format is only a hundred or so years old, there is still a mystery surrounding who was the first and when.

My research indicates three radio shows have claim to be the first situation comedy. But the early recordings that exist casts some doubt on each claim.

That is, according to my definition of Situation Comedy.

If you know others who might be the first, or have recordings I have failed to discover, or want to argue a different definition of SitCom, please let me know in a comment on BeforeTvBlog.com.

FEATURING:

Sam ‘n Henry

Jim and Marion Jordan

George Burns

Gracie Allen

Fibber McGee and Molly

Groucho Marx

Chico Marx

Jack Benny

Phil Harris

Mary Livingstone

Kenny Baker

Eddie “Rochester” Anderson

And More!!

Click Here if You Got Time to Sit and Learn of SitComs!

When Radio Ruled #132 – SoundScape 1939 part 12

~ partnic ~ Leave a comment

Curated clips of live broadcasts from popular radio shows of the day.

History through the eyes of people as they lived it, reported by radio.

In today’s SoundScape:

The Town Hall News!

A Newsreel Camera Man!

Fred Allen Bad Mouths Jack Benny!

Life Begins at 40!

And More

Featuring:

Cecil B DeMille

Dr. Ronald W. McCorkle

Fibber McGee and Molly

Harry Van Steeden

Fred Allen

Portland Hoffa

The Merry Macs

Jack Benny

Don Wilson

Phil Harris

Mary Livingstone

Andy Devine

Eddie “Rochester” Anderson

Edgar Bergen

Charlie McCarthy

Don Ameche

Ginger Rogers

And More!

Click Here To Take a Trip to 1939!

When Radio Ruled #130-SoundScape 1939 part 11

~ partnic ~ Leave a comment

Curated clips of live broadcasts from popular radio shows of the day.

History through the eyes of people as they lived it, reported by radio.

In today’s SoundScape:

Royalty are just regular folks!

Jack Benny with the Hollywood Gossip!

The Patent Office is Your Friend!

Frank Morgan talks Wizard of Oz and World Fairs!

A Big Dose of Great Swing Music!

And More

Featuring:

Cecil B Demille

Fibber McGee and Molly

Jack Benny

Mary Livingstone

Don Wilson

Kenny Baker

Orson Welles

Zasu Pitts

The Green Hornet

Barney Rapp and His New Englanders featuring Ruby Wright

Baby Snooks and Daddy

Frank Morgan

Connie Boswell

Doris Day

Phil Harris

Eddie “Rochester” Anderson

Andy Devine

And More!

Click Here for a Radio Journey Down Memory Lane!

When Radio Ruled #120 – SoundScape 1939 part 6, March 17-26 1939

~ partnic ~ Leave a comment

History through the eyes of people as they lived it, reported by radio.

Curated clips of live broadcasts from popular radio shows of the day.

In today’s soundscape:

Mary’s Springtime Poem!

Ed Sullivan wants to know! Is Jack Benny the real Jack Benny?!

And more!!!

This episode features:

Orson Welles

Laurence Olivier

Noah Beery

Cecil B DeMille

Clark Gable

Claudette Colbert

Eddie “Rochester” Anderson

Jack Benny

Mary Livingstone

Phil Harris

Kenny Baker

Columbia Workshop

Fibber McGee

Zasu Pitts

Fred Allen

The Merry Macs

Don Wilson

Ed Sullivan

And More!!

Listen to SoundScape 1939 part 6

When Radio Ruled #114 – SoundScape 1939 part 3 (January 24 – March 2, 1939)

~ partnic ~ Leave a comment

1939 was a year where everything changed. An uneasy peace became all out war.  Society and culture and government were questioned as never before. The evil inside the human race made itself known that year, as ferocious as in the past but applied with an improved efficiency.

Radio was there to witness it.

And I got to Live 1939 second hand through these radio voices from the past.

In my OTR collection I have hundreds of hours of 1939 broadcasts. I listened to them in Chronological order to research the documentaries, the year 1939 as seen through comedy, drama, music, and of course news broadcast at the moments the history happened.

Here are curated highlghts of that journey for you to experience. This Soundscape delivers January 24 – March 2 1939 as seen by Old Time Radio, presented by the following voices from the grave, alive again because you’re listening:

Fibber McGee

Harlow Wilcox

Orson Welles

George Kaufmann

Jack Benny

Don Wilson

Mary Livingston

The Phil Harris Orchestra

Andy Devine

Eddie “Rochester” Anderson

Nelson Eddy

Charlie McCarthy

Edgar Bergen

Don Ameche

Dorothy Lamour

Maureen O’Sullivan

The Family Doctor

The Billy Mills Orchestra

Helen Hayes

And more!

Give a Listen to SoundScape 1939 part 3!

When Radio Ruled #107 SoundScape 1938 part 33

~ partnic ~ Leave a comment

We’ve got both reassuring fantasy and unsettling reality in this episode. On one hand we’ll hear old friends Donald Duck and the Seven Dwarfs in a fairy tale setting, and we’ll hear our soon to be enemy, Nazi Germany take over the real world Austria.

Starring:

Orson Welles

Don Wilson

Jack Benny

Mary Livingstone

Phil Harris

Kenny Baker

Eddie “Rochester” Anderson

Mickey Mouse

Minnie Mouse

Goofy

Walt Disney

Snow White

The Wicked Queen

Donald Duck

The Seven Dwarfs

In this episode:

Orson Welles is Ebenezer Scrooge!

Jack Benny, Movie Star!

Jack is Building a new Beverly Hills Home!

God Bless You Mr. Chamberlain!

Donald Duck is Making Trouble!

Don’t Buy an Apple from the Wicked Queen!

The Disney Gang meets the Seven Dwarfs!

CBS News Reports on the European Crisis!

Why Doesn’t Britain do Something?!

And More!!

Click Here to Listen to SoundScape 1938 part 33

When Radio Ruled #106 – SoundScape 1938 part 32

~ partnic ~ Leave a comment

This Episode consists of a curated collection of Old Time Radio Clips originally broadcast live December 25 through December 29, 1938.

Starring:

Don Wilson

Mary Livingstone

Jack Benny

Eddie “Rochester” Anderson

Kenny Baker

Andy Devine

Phil Harris

Joan Bennett

Cecil B. DeMille

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Walt Disney

Robert Young

Bill Stern

Frank Morgan

Featured Songs Include:

Whistle While You Work –Snow White

The Digging Song – The Seven Dwarfs

In this episode:

Jack Benny throws a Christmas Party!

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs!

Walt Disney talks with Cecil B. DeMille!

Bill Stern talks about announcing Football Games!

And More!!

Click Here to Give episode #106 a Listen!

When Radio Ruled #105 – SoundScape 1938 part 31

~ partnic ~ Leave a comment

This Episode consists of a curated collection of Old Time Radio Clips originally broadcast live December 11 through December 22, 1938.

Starring:

The Cast of Family Doctor

Fred Allen

Santa Claus

Robert Young

Lionel Barrymore

Reginald Owen

Jack Benny

Eddie “Rochester” Anderson

Don Wilson

Mary Livingstone

Phil Harris

Kenny Baker

Andy Devine

Hanley Stafford

Fanny Brice

In this episode:

Fred Allen interviews Santa Claus!

Lionel Barrymore Narrates “A Christmas Carol”!

Jack and the Gang take the Train Cross Country!

Baby Snooks goes to the department store!

It’s Christmas in 1938!

And More!!

Please come with me on the time machine to the year 1938 and be entertained by these giants of show biz from long ago, alive again through the magic of the theater of the mind.

Soundscape 1938, part 31, from When Radio Ruled, offered without further commentary for your entertainment and education. But mostly for your entertainment.

Click here to give Episode 105 a Listen!