Breaking Walls

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.

In November of 1972, Vincent Price sat down with Dick Bertel and Ed Corcoran for WTIC's The Golden Age of Radio to discuss his career (full interview here - https://goldenage-wtic.org/gaor-32.html). During the chat he told a great story about being invited to dinner at Ronald and Benita Colman's residence, only to have gotten the address wrong because of the Jack Benny Program.

On March 17th, 1984 radio actor Willard Waterman was a guest of Chuck Schaden's for an interview about his life and career (full chat here - http://www.speakingofradio.com/interviews/test-interview/). During the course of the interview, Waterman remembered how he became The Great Gildersleeve when he took the role over from Hal Peary on NBC.

John Reagan McCrary Jr. was born on October 13th, 1910 in Calvert, Texas. He graduated in 1932 from Yale and began working for The New York Daily Mirror. In 1940 he was sent to interview actress Eugenia Lincoln Falkenburg, who was nine years his junior.

She was the daughter of Eugene, a Westinghouse engineer, and Marguerite, a Brazilian tennis champion. By 1937 Jinx was modeling and acting, becoming one of America’s leading cover girls.

When interviewed for the musical comedy Hold On to Your Hats, she was struck by the charming southern gentleman who had a way of getting her to open up. They were to be engaged when Pearl Harbor was attacked, and both spent the duration of the war performing various duties overseas.

They were finally married on June 15th, 1945. The following year, on April 22nd, the duo debuted their morning talk show on NBC’s New York affiliate as Hi Jinx.

It was unique to other breakfast talk shows in that Tex refused to sidestep controversial issues. There were discussions on the atomic bomb, the UN, and this interview with Hungarian photographer Robert Capa, considered one of the best adventure and combat shooters in history.

Capa fled political repression in Hungary when he was a teenager, moving to Berlin, where he enrolled in college. He witnessed the rise of Hitler, which led him to move to Paris, where he formed a partnership with Gerda Taro.

He covered The Spanish Civil War, the Second Sino-Japanese War, World War Two’s European front, and in 1948, the Arab–Israeli War.

During his career he risked his life numerous times, most dramatically as the only civilian photographer landing on Omaha Beach on D-Day. His friends and colleagues included Ernest Hemingway, Irwin Shaw, John Steinbeck and director John Huston.

In 1948, the Cold War was in full effect and Capa was one of the only men able to get into the USSR.

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.

In the early 1960s, CBS produced a transcribed series of shorts entitled, Dimension. In this grouping, called "American Landscape" Burgess Meredith brought the listener to various American cultural institutions, like this trip to the Statue of Liberty

This audio is hard to find and was digitized from an original transcription record.

Don Wilson remembers Jack's brilliance, and explains how Jack Benny differed from most "funny" comedians in this clip.

The team of Jack Webb and writer Dick Breen were at their best in Pat Novak, For Hire. It was a cult, hard-boiled detective hit that existed almost solely for Webb to deliver one-liners. The show's regional popularity (it was broadcast from ABC in San Francisco) took Webb to Los Angeles in late 1947 and soon had him developing Dragnet.

In Breaking Walls episode 109 we continue our mini-series on the 1948-49 radio season by focusing on news and programming from Thanksgiving Day, 1948.

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Highlights:

• Tex and Jinx for WNBC with photographer Robert Capa

• John Nesbitt’s Passing Parade for WOR while CBS broadcasts the Macy’s parade

• Cornell vs. Penn in the Turkey Bowl Game

• Norma Young’s Happy Homes for KHJ in Los Angeles

• Let’s Get Married with Bride and Groom on KECA

• The Elgin Thanksgiving Special with Don Ameche

• Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis with Vera Vague

• Jack Benny Gets a Turkey on the Cheap — Signs A Big Contract with CBS

• David Sarnoff Overplays his Hand

• Fulton Lewis Jr. with the News from Mutual Broadcasting

• Henry Aldrich’s Turkey Run

• Burns and Allen Loose a Wedding Ring

• Pre-teen Margaret O’Brien Stars on Suspense

• Casey, Crime Photographer’s Holiday

• James Hilton Hosts The Hallmark Playhouse with Free Land

• Virginia Gregg and Willard Waterman Guest-Star on The First Nighter Program

• Thanksgiving Leftovers and Looking Ahead to Christmas

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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

• The fantastic work by Doctor Joseph Webb on

Suspense — https://sites.google.com/view/suspense-collectors-companion?fbclid=IwAR1L18Vl___MNGzqrDnJQd9fMgoyzxFboroMVC2akJBkfhDe5DHJHXgrYsE)

Casey Crime Photographer — https://sites.google.com/view/ethelbertsarchives/home?fbclid=IwAR1MRDebzXn8uVYd36uaJBcwIcKV-PEu_IFMKOqOo12S38ka3UXlT39wAmo

As well as articles from the archives of

• Broadcasting Magazine

• Radio Daily

• The New York Times

I’d also like to thank Mark Greenspan for supplying the audio from Penn vs. Cornell.

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On the interview front:

• Virginia Gregg, Barbara Luddy, Margaret O’Brien, Olan Soule, Ezra Stone, Willard Waterman, and Don Wilson, were with Chuck Schaden. Hear their full chats at http://www.speakingofradio.com/

• Don Ameche, Hans Conried, Staats Cotsworth, John Gibson, Jan Miner, and Vincent Price were with Dick Bertel and Ed Corcoran for WTIC’s The Golden Age of Radio. Hear these at https://goldenage-wtic.org/

• Cedric Adams spoke with Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin in 1952.

• Jack Poppele spoke with Westinghouse in 1970.

• Jack Benny was interviewed for a 1972 PBS Documentary on Great Radio Comedians.

• Barbara Walters spoke with George Burns in 1979.

• Virginia Gregg spoke with SPERDVAC on August 14th, 1982. For more information, go to https://www.sperdvac.com/

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Selected music featured in today’s episode was:

• Sleigh Ride and Jingle Bells — By Al Caiola, Riz Ortolani & Jimmy McGriff

• Thanksgiving — By Michael Silverman

• Greensleeves — By Steve Erquiaga

• Night Pt. 1 - Snow — By George Winston

• Deck The Halls — By J.P. 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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Special thanks to:

The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society

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

Twelve Chimes, It’s Midnight

https://www.twelvechimesradio.com/

The Fireside Mystery Theatre

https://www.firesidemysterytheatre.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

On October 31st, 1948 at 4:35PM from WNBC in New York, Living 1948 took to the air with a drama called “Let’s Sit This One Out” focused on registered voters who don’t vote.

Living 1948 was conceived as a “radio mirror” of contemporary U.S. life. The shows ranged from surveys, to dramatic histories, to commentaries. Hosted by Ben Grauer, it featured some of New York’s best radio actors like Art Carney, Alexander Scourby, Claudia Morgan, Marilyn Erskine, and Barry Thomson.

CBS taking note, launched The People Act to rival the program. By late 1948, their network competition was in its third decade.