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One of radio’s great artistic voices was silenced today, October 18, 2011 at the age of 101. Norman Corwin is widely regarded as the “Poet Laureate” of Radio. Perhaps no writer since Shakespeare used as much skill crafting the spoken word.

Corwin had worked as a newspaper reporter and in independent radio before coming to CBS in 1936. An early success was Norman Corwin’s Words Without Music. This was the first time a writer’s name had been featured in the title of a radio program. The program gave us “the Plot to Overthrow Christmas”, a fanciful piece done in rhyme which became a CBS Christmas tradition.

Recognizing the value of their rising star, CBS turned over the resources of the Columbia Workshop to Corwin for a period of 6 months. The Columbia Workshop was conceived to expand the possibilities of the radio medium. The “26 by Corwin” were broadcast without sponsorship and no creative interference from the network. Given his journalistic interest in events, it must have been hard for Corwin to move on other projects less than a month before the attack on Pearl Harbor.

However it was to be a marvelous project; Corwin’s “We Hold These Truths”. The US government commissioned a program to celebrate the 150^th anniversary of the Bill of Rights. Norman Corwin would write and produce the program which would be broadcast simultaneously on the four major radio networks. Major Hollywood movie and radio talent would be featured along with the national anthem conducted by Leopold Stokowski. President Franklin D. Roosevelt would be be call upon to provide the closing remarks.

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While Corwin was engrossed in writing while traveling on a cross country train when he remembered there was to be a rebroadcast of one of his shows. In those days it was common to rent radios on trains. When he asked the porter to get him one, the porter stared aghast. “Ain’t you heard? You can’t get a radio today, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor!” Corwin was no longer sure that “We Hold These Truths” would still go on as planned, but the word came down from the President himself. With less than a week to handle rewrites, the program was now thought to be more important than ever.

CBS sent Corwin to London soon afterwards to gave Americans the view of the British people who were already facing the horrors of war An American in England. When he returned Stateside he continued to write both light and serious feature for Columbia Presents Corwin as well as 13 of the scripts for the multi-network broadcast This is War.  His wartime masterpiece would be On a Note of Triumph. Intended as a moral booster to the troops as the war seemed to be winding down, Corwin was told to hurry the project because victory in Europe could come at any time. The program was heard by an estimated 60 million listeners.

After the war Corwin was the first to receive the One World Award. As part of the prize he was given a flight around the world, and he took with him a sound technician and 225 pounds of recording equipment. His recordings were transcribed into 3700 pages and used for a thirteen part documentary series, One World Flight.

During the 50s Corwin wrote a number of screenplays, including “Lust for Life” (1956) which received an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay.

During the 90′s he returned to radio, producing a number of plays for NPR, and was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1993. He lectured at the USC school of Journalism as a guest professor. He celebrated his 101^st birthday on May 4, 2011.

Good Night Norman. And thank you.

If you’ll check the record, the first Femme Fatale was a lady named Eve. Since then, Fatal Females have come in all shapes and sizes. It is fun to list the famous ones: Salome, Jezebel, the Sirens, Delilah, Morgan le Fay, Cleopatra. As beautiful as these ladies were, we can’t help but remember what happened to the good men who became involved with them.

The real danger of a Femme Fatale is of course her powers of seduction. This implies that the trouble that men get into isn’t really their fault; they would never be lead astray by a virtuous woman. Yet it is little surprise that men aren’t all that interested in virtuous a woman. The danger of a Femme Fatale is part of her attraction, sort of a role reversal of Good Girl’s attraction to the Bad Boy. The classic Femme Fatale is at least somewhat exotic, like the Eastern allure of spy Mata Hari, or the bombshell good-looks of a moll from a Hard-boiled Noir-detective story. In any case the male victim knows that here is a dame he should have nothing to do with, but he can’t help himself.

Our collection of Fatal Females starts with Academy Award Theater and Lux Radio Theater‘s productions of “Jezebel” with Bette Davis. Lux goes on to give us a number of femme fatale stories, including “Samson and Delilah” and “All About Eve”.

The ladies who show up on Suspense! are likely to be up to no good, but then again, almost everyone who turns up on Suspense! is pretty much suspect.

Speaking of suspects, Sgt. Joe Friday brings us more than his share of baddies in his pursuit of “just the fact’s, ma’am.” Private detectives of both the Hard and Soft Boiled variety get to deal with untrustworthy Dames, and we bring you examples from Sam Spade, The Fat Man, and Have Gun, Will Travel; Paladin’s adventure has the potential to be deadly but turns out even more dangerous, as the Lady falls for the gun fighter!

Of course we haven’t forgotten the classic Fatal Female, Cleopatra herself. Blackstone, the Magic Detective and Origin of Superstition deal with this deadly lady’s legend while Stroke of Fate reminds us what happens to one of her boyfriends in “Julius Caesar”.

Enjoy this episode of “Cat Wife” from Lights Out:

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The Carnation Contented Hour debuted at 8:00 p.m. on April 26, 1931. Originally broadcast over the west coast National Broadcasting Company (NBC), the show began to broadcast nationwide in January 1932. Taking its name from the longtime Carnation Milk Company slogan, “Milk from contented cows,” the company aimed to please listeners with a variety of musical programming.

The program initially featured conductor, Josef Pasternack. Unfortunately, Pasternack suffered a fatal heart attack during one of the rehearsal sessions. The network hurriedly began the search for his replacement. Eventually, network executives chose Percy Faith and his orchestra. Featured performers included Herman Larson and Gene Arnold, with the addition of Buddy Clark in October 1932. Regulars on the show included Josephine Antoine and Reinhold Schmidt.

Sadly, during World War II many servicemen and women did not have access to programs broadcast for the general public. In order to boost moral and ensure that military personnel had access to venues of entertainment, the newly created Armed Forces Radio Services (AFRS) received permission to rebroadcast several radio programs, including the The Carnation Contented Hour. Edited programs were recorded onto discs and sent to various military bases. The recorded rebroadcasts were commercial-free and the AFRS re-titled the program, The Melody Hour.

In 1949, the program was moved to the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) and Dick Haynes joined the line-up. Although broadcasting time was shifted to 10:00 p.m. in November of 1932, the show continued to enjoy popularity. The final broadcast of The Carnation Contented Hour was heard on December 30, 1951.

You can enjoy an episode of the The Carnation Contented Hour from 1949:

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Beulah first appears at 79 Wistful Vista on Jan 25, 1944. At her first utterances there are peals of laughter from the studio audience, almost before she has said anything funny. Fibber McGee and Molly hire Beulah for one day a week. On Tuesdays Beulah will cook, clean, wash, and respond to Fibber’s wise cracks. The McGee’s are so pleased with Beulah’s services that they intend to do more entertaining on Tuesdays. Tuesday is of course the night that they are on the air.

The new domestic help is in her 30s, perhaps a little over fond of her own cooking, a little bit man crazy, and tends towards short skirts and high heels. When she speaks for the first time during an episode, she gets more than her share of laughs. When she is called she replies with “Somebody bawl fo’ Beulah?” and answers McGee’s witticisms with “Love that Man!”

Beulah deserves most of the laughter for her comic lines and delivery. Many of the laughs are the studio audience’s surprise at seeing Beulah in the flesh for the first time. This black lady is played by a white male actor, Marlin Hurt.

Beulah became popular enough to be spun off to her own program, The Marlin Hurt and Beulah Show in 1945. Hattie McDaniel was the first black actress to play the part on the renamed Beulah Show beginning Nov 24, 1947. The NAACP praised the selection of McDaniel. When McDaniel became ill in 1952 she was replaced by Lillian Randolph, who would in turn be replaced the next season by her sister, Amanda Randolph.

Beulah was adapted for TV in 1950 for three seasons. Along with the TV version of Amos ‘n’ Andy, the program was criticized for perpetuating stereotypical black characters. Actress Lillian Randolph, who along with Beulah played Birdie Lee Coggins, the cook for The Great Gildersleeve, replied to the criticism in the pages of Ebony magazine. It was Randolph’s contention that the roles were not harmful to the image or opportunities of African Americans; the roles themselves would not go away, but the ethnicity of those in them would eventually change.

Enjoy this episode of the first appearance of Beulah on Fibber McGee and Molly:

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Turner Classic Movies is airing some classic movies with some of our favorite old time radio stars.  Old radio shows listeners may enjoy these great film broadcasts this week:

Eddy Bracken was one of those actors who never seemed to have a huge success, but had an enjoyable life and career.

Born in 1915, by age 9 he was appearing in Vaudeville. He appeared in “Kiddie Troupers”, a series of movies trying to follow on the success of “Our Gang”. He made the move to Broadway and landed a starring role in the 1936 military drama So Proudly We Hail. The show opened to great fanfare and acclaim and closed after 14 performances. In 39 he appeared in the musical Too Many Girls, and got his “big break’ when the show was made into a movie starring Lucille Ball. During the 40s he starred in two comedies by Preston Sturges, one of the pioneers of Screwball Comedy. These films The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek and Hail the Conquering Hero were popular enough that Eddy Bracken became a household name. He also had considerable radio success during this period, notably The Eddy Bracken Show, a teenage comedy, and several appearances on Dorothy Lamour’s Seal Test Variety Show. He also appeared on Suspense and Academy Award Theater.

In 1953 Eddy left Hollywood to concentrate on stage work. He replaced Tom Ewell in the road company of “The Seven Year Itch”, in the 60′s he took over Art Carney’s role in “The Odd Couple”, he joined the road company of “Hello Dolly” during the 70s and replaced Ray Walston as the Devil in “Damn Yankees”. Eddy would later quip “I’m the theater’s No. 1 takeover guy for everybody.” He claimed to not mind the long tours on the road; “I’m only tired until the curtain goes up.” After 30 years away from Hollywood he returned to perform in a few character roles, including theme-park owner Roy Walley in National Lampoon’s Vacation.

Turner Classic Movies is airing some classic movies with some of our favorite old time radio stars.  Don’t miss these broadcasts this week:

Old Time Radio believes it appeals to a “Nostalgia Market”, which sadly often means that the market will dry up once the generation that remembers when the programs were broadcast moves on. Fortunately, a growing number of enthusiasts are joining the ranks of old time radio fans who are discovering these shows and what a treasure they are.

Some have no recollection of Jack Benny as a Radio or even a Television personality. But we did know him as a small rodent from the Merrie Melodies cartoon, “The Mouse That Jack Built”.

“Merrie Melodies” and “Looney Tunes” were the cornerstones of Warner Brothers animation from the 1930s onwards. Most of the short films were originally released in theaters as companions to Warner Brother’ feature films. Many of us grew to love the cartoons and the great characters when they were released to TV syndication during the 1950s and 1960s. They were also a staple of Saturday mornings on all three networks at different times.

“The Mouse That Jack Built” was released in 1959, directed by Robert McKimson. The plot was a parody of The Jack Benny Program. Most of the references in the cartoon were to the TV show rather than the radio program, but the program was such a close outgrowth of the Radio that most of the gags are familiar to Radio fans.

The story is a dream sequence of a mouse living in the walls of Jack Benny’s house. This mouse is of course Jack himself, and the cartoon hits a number of the running gags from The Jack Benny Program. These include “Jack as a Miser”, “The Vault”, “Jack’s Violin” and “The Maxwell”.

The sound effect for the Maxwell jalopy had been voiced by Mel Blanc since its radio introduction, so it wasn’t much of a stretch to add it to the cartoon. “The Mouse” would be only the second time that on-screen acting credit would be given to someone besides Mel Blanc.

There is a rumor that the only payment Jack Benny asked for the project was a copy of the cartoon.

Turner Classic Movies is airing some classic movies with some of our favorite old radio show stars.  You might enjoy the broadcasts this week:

Created by Carlton E. Morse, I Love a Mystery brought a new brand of action-adventure heroes into the homes of World War II era listeners. Debuting on January 16, 1939, on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) West Coast stations, the series united three unlikely heroes/friends. Although the show premiered prior to U.S. involvement in the war, the characters initially, meet each other while contracted as mercenaries hired to fight the Japanese in China.

After their mercenary stint, the trio reunites in San Francisco. There, they decide to form the A-1 Detective Agency. Jack Packard, the leader of the group is not only tough; he is also a borderline misogynist. Doc Long is the fighting Texan and Reggie is the strong, but timid Englishman. Together they embark on a series of adventures. These guys are not the conventional heroes of the day and their cases involve anything from mystery to the paranormal. In fact, these guys are more interested in making enough money to support their adventurist lifestyle than they are in solving serious crime cases.

The series was initially sponsored by Fleischmann’s Yeast airing every weekday at 3:15 p.m. By October 2, 1939, the series was moved to a 7:15 p.m. slot on the NBC national network. Its success continued and the serial expanded from its fifteen-minute format into a thirty-minute program on April 4, 1940. In 1943, the series moved to the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) network, where it remained under the sponsorship of Procter & Gamble until its last episode in December 1944.

During the 1942 season, actor Walter Paterson committed suicide. Close friend and creator, Carlton E. Morse could not bear the thought of hiring another actor to resume the role of Reggie and the character was ultimately written out of the series. In order to make up for the loss of the timid Englishman, Morse expanded the role of the agency’s secretary, Jerry Booker.

One of the most famous and memorable episodes was “Temple of Vampires,” broadcast in 1940. In the genre of radio mystery theater, The content of the storyline created quite a stir among parents, who responded with a letter writing campaign. The series was also revived in a film trilogy beginning in 1945. Unfortunately, few original broadcasts survived over the years, leaving only a handful of recordings available for the enjoyment of today’s listeners.

Enjoy this episode, Battle of the Century part I of I Love a Mystery: 

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