Audio Antiques

One of the wackiest programs during the golden age of radio was the Danny Kaye Show. The actor, singer, dancer, comedian, musician, and philanthropist, had one of the highest rated shows in 1946, and his co-star was Butterfly McQueen. The African-American actress was best known for her appearance in the movie, Gone with the Wind. Often typecast as a maid, she said: "I didn't mind playing a maid the  first time, because I thought that was how you got into the business.  But after I did the same thing over and over, I resented it. I didn't  mind being funny, but I didn't like being stupid." In the 1950s, McQueen moved to television, winning an Emmy Award in 1980 for the ABC Afterschool Special "Seven Wishes of a Rich Kid". In 1989, the Freedom From Religion Foundation  honored McQueen with its Freethought Heroine Award.

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From 1944, it's the program New World A Coming. This episode is called the Negro in Entertainment, and features 24 year old Hazel Scott. A prominent movie actress, dazzling pianist, jazz singer, and civil rights activist throughout the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Scott is in the history books as the first black American to host her own network TV show. Scott's career in America was sabotaged after she was forced to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1950 during the era of McCarthyism. Scott subsequently moved to Paris in 1957 and began performing in Europe, not returning to the United States until 1967.

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The Jack Benny Program was one of the most popular shows during radio's classic era. And one of the most popular characters on that program was Benny's trusty valet Rochester, as played by Eddie Anderson. He was the first African American to have a regular role on a network show, and became one of radio's highest paid entertainers during the golden age. Thanks to smart business investments, Anderson was one of the nation's wealthiest African-Americans who often used his money to help others. In 1950 Eddie Anderson was given his own radio show which was a rarity in radio and television for years to come. 

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From the Mutual Broadcasting System this is one of the lesser known entertainment shows from radio's golden age. Scout About Town. This 1947 episode features an African-American trio called the 3 Flames. Singer Lily Ann Carole, and Comedian Morey Amsterdam before he made it big in television. The host is Barry Gray. 

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Dick Gregory (October 12, 1932 – August 19, 2017) was an American comedian, civil rights activist, and author whose pioneering stand-up routines broke through racial barriers in the 1960s, making him a prominent voice in both entertainment and social justice. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Gregory rose to national fame after his breakthrough performance at Chicago’s Playboy Club, where his sharp, satirical takes on race and society resonated with both Black and white audiences, a rarity at the time. Gregory used his celebrity to advocate for civil rights, joining protest marches, organizing voter registration drives, and participating in hunger strikes to draw attention to world hunger and malnutrition. Over the decades, he not only influenced a generation of comedians, including Richard Pryor and Bill Cosby, but continued to speak and write on health, nutrition, and social equality until his death in 2017.

You're going to experience what it was like to hear history unfold on December 7th, 1941 when Japan attacked the United States. This is radio coverage of that fateful Sunday, as well as that Monday when Congress declared a state of war. 

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From the classic radio drama Destination Freedom, you're going to learn the story of The Knock-Kneed Man. Crispus Attucks, was a stevedore of African and Native American descent, and is widely regarded as the first person killed in the Boston Massacre, and thus the first American killed in the American Revolution. 

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Life with Luigi is an radio situation comedy series which began in the 1940s. The action centered on Luigi Basco and his experiences as a newly arrived Italian immigrant in Chicago, and his interactions with other refugees from different countries. In this episode Luigi writes a play to celebrate America, and decides to cast an African-American, which was rarely done at the time. 

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Our focus is on the great Jackie Robinson, the first African-American to play Major League Baseball. Robinson broke the color barrier when he started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. We'll hear his story as told by legendary sports reporter Bill Stern. Then two episodes from Jackie Robinson's own radio show, and his radio biography from a 1948 episode of Destination Freedom. All this is followed by Jack Buck's interview with Robinson on KMOX radio in the early 1960s. 

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A lesser known adult western series from 1958, Luke Slaughter Of Tombstone. Sam Buffington stars as Luke Slaughter, a Civil War cavalryman who turned to cattle ranching in post war Arizona territory. 

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