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The Golden Age of Radio.

B

Bugman

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I define that era as starting in 1930 and ending around 1980.

Fibber McGee and Molly, staring Jim and Marion Jordon premiered in 1935 on the NBC Radio Network and lasted until 1959. By then, television was taking over in many homes as the primary source of entrainment and news.

This clip is from their 1941 film Look Who's Laughing but was a long-standing gag on the radio show.

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X-Minus One...I have several downloaded from Archives.org
APailOfAir565.jpg
 
Jack Benny (February 14 1894 - December 26 1974) was born in Chicago. As a young man he worked in obscurity on the Vaudeville circuit. In 1929 Irving Thalberg signed him to a film contract with MGM, but he was released after making two films. In 1932 he made his first radio appearance on Ed Sullivan's show and later that year The Jack Benny Program premiered on the NBC Radio Network. After the 1948 season the show moved to CBS, ending in 1955. Jack Benny was one of the great comedians of his time, and I think his humor still holds up after all these years.

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Bug, I was curious, that day back in 1929, when you were having lunch with Irving Thalberg, what did you guys order?

In all seriousness, I'm a huge Jack Benny fan! I used to watch his sitcom when I was a kid. In fact, I think he's one of the all-time greatest funnymen.


Drew
 
I'm also a big fan of Jack Benny's work, Bugs...... As a kid I only caught the tail end of the radio era, but my DJ dad told me awesome stories about the family experience of "sitting around the radio" for high-tech entertainment when he was a teenager in the 30's.
 
Those recordings that you hear on Radio Classics or on the downloads you get from Archives.org are lo-fi reproductions on mono records. Live broadcasts sounded much better on those huge vacuum tube radios.

Jack Benny is hilarious with that fucking fiddle routine.

Radio still has one advantage to this day, and the word picture that you make in your mind has infinite resolution and no limit.
 
TklDuo-Drew said:
Bug, I was curious, that day back in 1929, when you were having lunch with Irving Thalberg, what did you guys order?
Click to expand...

:punt:

In all seriousness, I'm a huge Jack Benny fan! I used to watch his sitcom when I was a kid. In fact, I think he's one of the all-time greatest funnymen.

Drew
Click to expand...

I can't argue with that Drew.

PiedPiper said:
I'm also a big fan of Jack Benny's work, Bugs...... As a kid I only caught the tail end of the radio era, but my DJ dad told me awesome stories about the family experience of "sitting around the radio" for high-tech entertainment when he was a teenager in the 30's.
Click to expand...

I heard similar stories growing up. The family would gather round the old RCA radio (which was still around and working when I was a kid) and listen to Jack Benny, Red Skelton, W. C. Fields...the Fireside Chats by FDR, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Les Brown...that was a big deal then.
 
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I used to love the old crackly days, before it all went digital.

Radio Caroline, the old pirate ship & that.
 
wolfman28 said:
I used to love the old crackly days, before it all went digital.
Click to expand...

There is a charm and romance to the days of vinyl, and I'm not sure it can be explained. You feel it, or you don't. 🙂
 
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Most of the text here is from a thread I posted last year. I did edit it a bit.

Red Skelton.

My brothers and I loved his TV show when we were growing up.

Richard Bernard "Red" Skelton (July 18 1913-September 17 1997) was born in Vincennes Indiana. At age 14 he had a role in a medicine show, then became a circus clown before moving on to the Vaudeville circuit. Red later starred on radio and had roles in Hollywood films 1938-1976. Red's first radio performance was on The Rudy Valle Show in 1937. He hosted several shows over the years including The Raliegh Cigarattes Program starting in October 1941. His radio career ended in 1953, when he signed with MGM to focus on films and television.

In 1951 he began hosting his own TV show on NBC. After the 1951-52 season he moved to CBS in 1953, where he remained until 1970. He then returned to NBC, ending his television career after one season. Red created so many memorable characters including Freddie the Freeloader, San Fernando Red and Clem Kadiddlehopper.

We don't produce comedians like Red anymore; he belongs to a different era. Like Jack Benny, the comedy of Red Skelton has withstood the test of time.

I know this is a long clip. It's worth it.

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SamuelKhan said:
Those recordings that you hear on Radio Classics or on the downloads you get from Archives.org are lo-fi reproductions on mono records. Live broadcasts sounded much better on those huge vacuum tube radios.
Click to expand...

Any recording will sound like crap if it's made from a bad source or incompetently transferred and mastered. If whoever does the transfer knows how to clean it up well, it might even sound better than the original. Of course, no program however carefully recorded will sound good on a crap system.

Oh yeah, all old radio programs are in mono. Stereo records and FM weren't on the market until the late 1950s.

But yes, the pictures on radio are definitely much better!

(While I'm at it, RIP Peter Bergman)
 
War of the Worlds. On October 30 1938 The Mercury Theater on the Air broadcast an adaptation of the classic H. G. Wells novel. Orson Wells and John Houseman founded the Mercury Theater as a live theater troupe in the 30s.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/06/0617_050617_warworlds.html

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George Burns (January 1896 - March 1996) was born Nathan Birnbaum in New York City. At age seven he worked in a candy store and formed a singing quartet with some friends. They performed for tips on ferryboats, in brothels and saloons and on street corners. George soon quit the candy store (and school) in favor of show business.

In 1922 he met Gracie Allen, who became his comedy partner and later his wife, in 1926. The union lasted until her death in 1964. Gracie Allen was not the flighty airhead she played, but in fact a very intelligent woman.

In 1934 they began hosting a radio show on CBS, later moved to NBC, and their radio career lasted until 1950, when they moved to television with what would become a popular sit-com.

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