Breaking Walls

In the 1950s, Orson Welles sat down with the BBC for a wide-ranging chat on his career. In this short clip he shares his thoughts on Hollywood.

Photo: Orson Welles with then-wife Rita Hayworth and Ann Southern.

This is the May 14th, 1954 episode of Bob Hope's radio show featuring Grace Kelly in a rare radio appearance by the Hollywood star. Ms. Kelly was twenty-five at the time.

The April 2nd. 1955 episode of Gunsmoke was incredibly unique to the rest of the radio series. Matt Dillon has had enough death and destruction for his lifetime and quits as Marshall. Unfortunately, he's the only one who can stop the trouble coming Dodge City's way, proving that whether he likes it or not, there's only one man the killers and spoilers look for and don't want to meet.

This John Meston script was, in many ways, well ahead of its time. Although it wasn't expressed as such, Matt is suffering from PTSD.

In 1976 Radio producer/director Norman Macdonnell sat down for a documentary interview with John Hickman on Gunsmoke. Macdonnell directed the series during its entire radio run from 1952-1961. During the interview, he spoke of how radio's changing executive in the 1950s helped hasten radio drama's network demise.

The late John Hickman was the longtime host of WAMU's "Recollections" which today is known as "The Big Broadcast."

At the end of the Sunday, May 6th, 1956 episode of Fort Laramie entitled "Never the Twain," CBS broadcast a promotional spot for Yours Truly Johnny Dollar, which was then airing five nights per-week in a fifteen-minute serial format.

The Dollar five-part story which began the next night was called "The Silver Blue Matter." Neither show was sponsored. Fort Laramie would air its last episode on October 28th, and the following week Johnny Dollar aired the last of its five-part serials.

In 1976 John Hickman of WAMU put together an expansive five-part audio documentary on the history of the radio version of Gunsmoke, complete with cast and production crew interviews, show clips, and reflections.

During the course of his interview, Bill Conrad joked about how he was cast as the lead, Matt Dillon in 1952.

In 1976 Desi Arnaz appeared on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show to promote his newly released autobiography, "A Book." In this clip, Desi jokes about his family lineage prior to revolution in Cuba.

In 1963, during the height of Perry Mason's television fame, Raymond Burr sat down with Jack Webster for an interview about his career and the changes that playing Perry Mason brought into his life. During the course of the conversation, Webster asked Burr about his first professional acting role.

In Breaking Walls episode 114, as America moves to the suburbs in the mid-1950s, we move with them and examine a radio western called Fort Laramie. Although it only aired for ten months, it’s one of the most critically acclaimed western shows the genre ever produced.

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Highlights:

• The Network Radio Landscape in 1956

• Norman MacDonnell loses Gunsmoke’s TV Production

• Who Is William Raymond Stacy Burr and What Has He Really Done?

• Launching Fort Laramie

• Easter Sunday, 1956

• Lost Child

• The Birth of Rock and Roll

• Jeanette Nolan’s Stagecoach Stop

• The New Recruit

• Fort Laramie Dies, Gunsmoke Lives On

• Looking Ahead to the CBS Radio Workshop

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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, 1932-53 — By Jim Ramsburg

As well as articles from

• Broadcasting Magazine

• The Los Angeles Times

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On the interview front:

• Eve Arden, Dick Beals, Edgar Bergen and Shirley Mitchell, spoke to Chuck Schaden. Hear their full chats at SpeakingOfRadio.com.

• Harry Bartell, Lilian Buyeff, Lawrence Dobkin, Lou Krugman, Jeanette Nolan, and Vic Perrin were with SPERDVAC. For more information, go to SPERDVAC.com.

• John Dehner, John Dunkel, Norman MacDonnell and John Meston were with John Hickman for his History of Gunsmoke documentary.

• John Dehner and Vic Perrin were with Neill Ross for KMPC.

• Jack Kruschen and Shirley Mitchell were with Jim Bohannon.

• Raymond Burr was with Jack Webster.

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Selected music featured in today’s episode was:

• Don’t Fence Me In — By Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters

• February Sea — By George Winston

• Heartbreak Hotel — By Elvis Presley

• Seance on a West Afternoon — By John Barry

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Special thanks to:

The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society

https://www.ghoulishdelights.com/series/themorls/

The Veiled West from

https://www.shaebwrites.com/the-veiled-monarch

The Fireside Mystery Theatre

https://www.firesidemysterytheatre.com/

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Subscribe to Burning Gotham—the new audio drama set in 1835 New York City. It’s available everywhere you get your podcasts and at BurningGotham.com.

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A special thank you to Ted Davenport and Jerry Haendiges: two radio show collectors who helped supply material for this episode. They’re who the large retailers go to.

Ted’s got a Facebook group - https://www.facebook.com/otrteddavenport/

For Jerry, please visit http://otrsite.com/

The Clip from Camel’s Rock N Roll dance party comes courtesy of Gordon Skene and his extensive sound collection. Please find out more at PastDaily.com.

I’d also like to thank Walden Hughes and John and Larry Gassman of SPERDVAC - http://sperdvac.com/

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Thank you to:

Tony Adams

Steven Allmon

Orson Orsen Chandler

Briana Isaac

Thomas M. Joyce

Ryan Kramer

Gary Mollica

Barry Nadler

Christian Neuhaus

Aimee Pavy

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WallBreakers Links:

Patreon - patreon.com/thewallbreakers

Social Media - @TheWallBreakers

At 4:30PM on March 20th, 1949 Robert Trout took to the air for NBC with five minutes of news, sponsored by Pillsbury.

As Spring of 1949 began five of radio’s top-ten programs aired on CBS, four on NBC, and one on ABC. Just one year prior, NBC controlled thirteen of the top fifteen shows on the air. The broadcasting landscape was shifting.

Internationally, the Cold War in Berlin had grown tense.

On March 19th, the East German People's Council in Berlin adopted a constitution. It called for the creation of a central government in unified Germany after the Allied occupation. It was meant to impede the establishment of a West German state.

Meanwhile, Allied authorities in Germany declared the Deutsche Mark the sole currency of West Berlin. It made the East German mark virtually worthless.

In France, local elections were being held as The U.N. feared the oncoming growing communist sentiment in the western world.

On March 20th in London, a parade by members of Oswald Mosley's Union Movement was disrupted by violent clashes with Communists. Ten policemen were injured and thirty-five Communists were arrested. As a result, the UK Home Office prohibited all political marches in the city for three months.

On March 23rd In the middle east, Lebanon and Israel signed an agreement to settle the international Lebanese-Palestinian border line and exchange prisoners of war.