Breaking Walls

In May of 1955, radio’s highest rated show was still The Jack Benny Program. Just under three-million homes tuned in, and many more in their cars. On May 22nd after twenty-three seasons on the air, Jack Benny brought his radio show to a close. At the time, the cast and crew didn't realize this would be their last new radio program, so there was no big sendoff. However, In the fall, Benny and his program would move solely into TV.

This is the last episode.

In Breaking Walls episode 127 we keep on with our look at 1954 by picking up in May during one of the most important months of the decade.

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Highlights:

• The Big Sound in Nashville

• Everett Sloane and The 21st Precinct

• Ray Milland and Meet Mr McNutley

• An Eisenhower Presser and Other Current Events

• I Love a Mystery — Born Again

• Wild Bill Hickok

• Grace Kelly Guest Stars on Bob Hope’s Show

• Brown vs. The Board of Education

• Lewis and Clark on NBC’s Inheritance

• The Army/McCarthy Hearings Continue with Roy Cohn’s Testimony

• Bing Crosby on Anthology’s Memorial Day Show

• Looking Ahead to June and The End as We Knew It

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The WallBreakers:

http://thewallbreakers.com

Subscribe to Breaking Walls everywhere you get your podcasts.

To support the show:

http://patreon.com/TheWallBreakers

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The reading material used in today’s episode was:

On the Air — By John Dunning

Network Radio Ratings — by Jim Ramsburg

As well as articles from:

Broadcasting Magazine and LIFE Magazine

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On the interview front:

• Parley Baer, Jim Boles, Mercedes McCambridge, Carlton E. Morse, and Russell Thorson, spoke to Chuck Schaden. Hear their full chats at SpeakingOfRadio.com.

• Harry Bartell, Himan Brown, Lawrence Dobkin and Virginia Gregg spoke to SPERDVAC. For more info, go to SPERDVAC.com.

• Vincent Price spoke to Dick Bertel and Ed Corcoran for WTIC’s The Golden Age of Radio. Hear this full interview at Goldenage-WTIC.org.

• Bob Hope spoke to Johnny Carson

• Andy Devine spoke to Betty Rogge

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Selected music featured in today’s episode was:

• Once I Had a Secret Love — By Dolores Watson

• The Battle Cry of Freedom — By Jacqueline Schwab

• Bare Necessities — By Matthias Gohl, Jay Ungar, and John Kirk

• Morning Prayer — By Matthias Gohl and Ken Littlehawk

• Loch Lomond (arranged for Choir) — By Musica Intima

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A special thank you to Ted Davenport, Jerry Haendiges, and Gordon Skene.

For Ted go to RadioMemories.com, for Jerry, visit OTRSite.com, and for Gordon, please go to PastDaily.com.

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Thank you to:

Tony Adams

Steven Allmon

Orson Orsen Chandler

Phil Erickson

Jessica Hanna

Briana Isaac

Thomas M. Joyce

Ryan Kramer

Gary Mollica

Barry Nadler

Christian Neuhaus

Aimee Pavy

Ray Shaw

Next time on Breaking Walls, we finish our mini-series in June of 1954 and mourn the end of an era with The Road To Happiness, Crime Classics, The Phil Harris & Alice Faye Show, The Six Shooter, The Lux Radio Theatre, Suspense, and Jack Benny.

Have you been enjoying Breaking Walls? If so, give the show a quick rating on whatever platform you listen, especially iTunes.

At 3PM on Sunday, May 30th, 1954, Anthology signed on NBC. Directed by John Malcom Brennen, produced by Steve White, and announced by Harry Fleetwood, Anthology offered dramatic readings of famous and lesser-known plays.

Memorial Day weekend’s episode featured Agnes Moorehead reading “Barbara Fritchie,” and Frank Lovejoy and Bing Crosby performing “The Man Without a Country.”

Anthology would air into June of 1955 when it was canceled in favor of the debuting Monitor. For more information on that, tune into Breaking Walls episode 116.

On the February 13th, 1975 episode of The Tonight Show, Mel Brooks was the guest for an interview not long after the debut of Young Frankenstein.

During the chat, Mel told a hilarious story of a prank he pulled on top level NBC brass David Sarnoff and Pat Weaver while employed as a writer for Sid Caesar.

On October 21st, 1993, Larry and John Gassman of SPERDVAC interviewed radio producer/director Himan Brown and actor Ralph Bell at Brown's home in New York city. During the course of the interview Himan was asked about the Red Scare, which damaged his career in the 1950s.

On Friday May 28th, 1954 as beaches and public parks opened for Memorial Day weekend, families hopped in their cars, turned on the radio dial, and heard the continuing testimony of McCarthy’s Attorney Roy Cohn during the Army-McCarthy Hearing. CBS radio was there.

Cohn played a major role in McCarthy’s crusade. He helped create the Lavender Scare, which claimed overseas Communists blackmailed closeted government employee homosexuals into passing on secrets.

Convinced that the employment of homosexuals was now a threat to national security, President Eisenhower signed an executive order on April 29th, 1953, banning homosexuals from working for the federal government.

Cohn also saw that colleague G. David Schine receive special treatment when he was drafted in the U.S. Army in 1953. He contacted military officials from the Secretary of the Army down to Schine’s company commander and demanded that Schine be given light duties, extra leave, and exemption from an overseas assignment.

It was this behavior that hastened McCarthy’s downfall, as during these hearings both Cohn and McCarthy claimed the Army was holding Schine “hostage” to squelch McCarthy’s Communist investigations.

Cohn testified from May 27th through June 2nd.

Inheritance was a joint production of NBC and The American Legion at the height of The Red Scare. It first took to the air on April 4th, 1954.

The American Legion was at the forefront of The Red Channels pamphlet which outed alleged communist sympathizers. The Legion’s connection to The Red Channels had long been disclosed by the time Inheritance took to the air.

It has been speculated that perhaps both NBC and The Legion hoped to distance themselves from McCarthyism as criticism for his tactics was rapidly growing. Fifty-seven episodes were produced featuring the best west-coast radio actors available. The writing staff spanned both coasts and included Ernest Kinoy and George Lefferts.

This episode on The Lewis and Clark expedition aired on Memorial Day weekend: Sunday, May 30th, 1954 at 10PM eastern time.

On Sunday May 23rd, 1954 at 6PM Eastern, The American Forum of the Air signed on Mutual with a discussion on the Supreme Court Decision of Brown versus The Board of Education. On May 17th, The Court ruled that racial segregation within the U.S. public school system was unconstitutional. It repealed the “separate but equal” doctrine from 1896.

By the early 1950s the NAACP was filing lawsuits on behalf of plaintiffs in South Carolina, Virginia and Delaware, with Thurgood Marshall as attorney.

In the most famous case, Oliver Brown filed suit against the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas after his daughter, Linda Brown, was denied access to Topeka’s all-white elementary schools. Brown claimed it violated the fourteenth Amendment. This case and four others eventually went before the U.S. Supreme court in December of 1952.

At first, the justices were divided on how to rule. Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson felt the 1896 verdict should stand. But, he died in September of 1953 and President Eisenhower replaced him with California governor Earl Warren.

Eisenhower knew this appointment would help overturn the nineteenth century verdict. In the decision, issued on May 17, 1954, Warren wrote that “in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place,” as segregated schools are “inherently unequal.”

Days after that decision, there was considerable debate in the media over whether desegregation was fair. In this episode of The American Forum, the debate is between Democrat Senator Paul Douglas of Illinois and Democrat Senator Price Daniel of Texas.

The American Forum of the Air’s roots were planted in Gimbels department store in 1928.

Gimbels owned WGBS. Theodore Granik, a young law student who worked for Gimbels, did continuity, wrote dialogue, and reported sports events.

He had an idea for a panel discussion on all kinds of legal issues. When the station was sold, WOR gave Granik a similar job. The American Forum of the Air premiered in 1934. By 1943, it had become a staple for those looking to stay abreast of socio-economics and politics.

The format was tight. Proponents and opponents were allowed an opening statement; a panel discussion followed, questions were taken from the audience, and closing summations wrapped it all up. It was the only radio show printed verbatim in the Congressional Record and won a Peabody Award in 1949.