Breaking Walls

In this interview clip, Jack Benny speaks about why he got along so well with his writers and how he became an easy character to write for.

The Wednesday December 7th, 1955 Ernest Kinoy adaptation of Isaac Asimov's "Nightfall," as broadcast for Daniel Sutter's production of X Minus One on NBC from New York. It aired on the 14th anniversary of Pearl Harbor day.

The citizens of a world bathed in constant light from its six suns await the planetary nightfall that occurs once every 2050 years, bringing madness to a people who have never experienced darkness—and a fiery inferno predicted by the fanatical believers of the Cult of Revelations.

It starred Wendell Holmes as Dr. Aton, John Larkin as Theramin, Santos Ortega as the High Priest, and Mercer McLeod as Dr. Sharin. The cast also featured Alan Collins, Bob Hastings, and Roy Fant. Floyd Mack narrated, and Fred Collins announced.

Brooklyn-born bandleader Vincent Lopez (12.30.1895 – 9.20.1975) talks about his first night on the air for WJZ on November 27, 1921. Lopez, who began leading his own band at age 17, was 25 at the time. Lopez worked occasionally in feature films, notably The Big Broadcast, which starred Bing Crosby.

The band's weekly 90-minute show would go on to boost the popularity of both himself and of radio. He became one of America's most popular bandleaders, and would retain that status through the 1940s.

In 1970 Westinghouse put together a retrospective on the history of radio broadcasting in honor of the 50th anniversary of KDKA broadcasting the 1920 election returns.

Years prior, Dr. Frank Conrad, who received numerous awards for his work, including, from the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the 1930 Edison Medal "for his contributions to radio broadcasting and short wave radio transmission", and the 1936 Lamme Medal "for pioneering and basic developments in the fields of electric metering and protective services" was interviewed by Westinghouse about how KDKA began. This is what he had to say.

As an aside, Dr. Conrad suffered a heart attack on November 6th, 1941 while driving to his winter home in Miami, Florida, and died there three days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and Manilla on December 10th, 1941.

In May of 1974, radio, film, tv, and theater veteran Arnold Moss was a guest of Dick Bertel and Ed Corcoran's on WTIC's The Golden Age of Radio (full interview here - https://goldenage-wtic.org/gaor-50.html). During the course of this great, far-reaching chat, Mr. Moss told a funny story about how playing a heavy on radio often traumatized his young son.

In 1976 Orson Welles was a guest of Johnny Carson's on the Tonight Show for a segment on Orson's life and career (full segment here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meikuHb6024). The duo focused more on the radio days than anything else, including this story told by Johnny Carson about a joke that George Burns played on Jack Benny.

In 1965 while Fran Sinatra was recording his album, "September of My Years," he allowed CBS to record the process, and gave Walter Cronkite an unprecedented interview on his life. During the course of the interview, Walter Cronkite asked Frank how he wanted to be remembered.

In June of 1980 famed radio announcer Don Wilson, who starred on Jack Benny's program for decades, sat down with Chuck Schaden for a conversation about his life and career (full interview here - http://www.speakingofradio.com/interviews/wilson-don-announcer/).

During the conversation Don Wilson spoke of Jack Benny's comedic philosophy and the program's yearly Palm Springs Christmas season shows.

In Breaking Walls episode 110 we continue our mini-series on the 1948-49 radio season by focusing on news and programming during Christmas week, 1948.

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Highlights:

• Jack Benny: Leaving for CBS

• A northeast blizzard starts holiday week

• Edgar Bergen: Also leaving NBC

• Walter Winchell’s big new ABC deal

• Soaps, Queens, and the Chesterfield Supper Club

• Monday night belongs to CBS

• Lunch with WOR while NBC still owns Tuesday evenings

• Fred Waring and Yukon King Gear up For Xmas

• Blackie, Gildy, Duffy, and Bing

• Abbott, Costello, and Jolson fade, while Suspense soars on Thursday

• ABC wins Friday while Skelton gets ready to leave NBC too

• Merry Christmas from the Royal Roost in Manhattan

• Mary Lee, Grand Central, and Elgin Celebrate Xmas

• Sinatra’s up-and-down 1948

• Benny and Bergen say goodbye to NBC

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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

• NationalParkService.gov

• The New York Daily News

• Radio Daily

• WhiteHouseHistory.org

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On the interview front:

• Edgar Bergen, Mel Blanc, Himan Brown, Ken Carpenter, Gale Gordon, Jim Jordan, Harold Peary, Alan Reed, Lurene Tuttle, and Don Wilson were with Chuck Schaden. Hear their full chats at SpeakingOfRadio.com.

• Edgar Bergen, Hans Conried, John Gibson, Jim Jordan, and Jan Miner were with Dick Bertel and Ed Corcoran for WTIC’s The Golden Age of Radio. Hear these at Goldenage-WTIC.org.

• Ralph Bell, Himan Brown, and Jack Johnstone were with SPERDVAC. For more information, go to SPERDVAC.com

• Bing Crosby and John Scott Trotter were with Same Time, Same Station

• Eve Arden was with John Dunning

• Phil Harris with Jack Carney

• Bob Hope with Johnny Carson

• Jo Stafford with Michael Feinstein

• Frank Sinatra with Larry King

• Red Skelton was with Dini Petty

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Selected music featured in today’s episode was:

• It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year — By Andy Williams

• Christmas Dreaming — By Frank Sinatra

• Somewhere in My Memory and Star of Bethlehem — By John Williams for Home Alone

• Christmas Blues — By Washboard Pete

• Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day — By The Marlborough Cathedral Choir

• Christmas Carols for 1928 — By Elsie Holt

• White Christmas — By Bing Crosby

• Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas — By Mel Torme

• Ya Viene La Vieja — By JP Torres

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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/

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

Barry Nadler

Christian Neuhaus

Aimee Pavy

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WallBreakers Links:

Patreon - patreon.com/thewallbreakers

Social Media - @TheWallBreakers

URL - thewallbreakers.com

Orson Welles and Agnes Moorehead star in the October 24th, 1937 episode of The Shadow, originally broadcast from WOR in New York over the Mutual Broadcasting System. In this episode, a mysterious beautiful woman knows who The Shadow really is. The mysterious woman is played by a young soon-to-be radio legend, Jeanette Nolan.