Radio America

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MacDonnell and Meston wanted to create a radio Western for adults, in contrast to the prevailing juvenile fare such as The Lone Ranger or The Cisco Kid. Gunsmoke was set in Dodge City, Kansas during the thriving cattle days of the 1870s. Dunning notes that "The show drew critical acclaim for unprecedented realism." He also writes that among old-time radio fans, "Gunsmoke is routinely placed among the best shows of any kind and any time." (Dunning, 304) The show's cast, writing and sound effects have received much praise.

The radio series, which first aired April 26, 1952, and ran until June 18, 1961, on CBS, starred William Conrad as Marshal Matt Dillon, Howard McNear as the ghoulish, brittle Doc Charles Adams, Georgia Ellis as Kitty Russell and Parley Baer as Dillon's assistant (but not his deputy) Chester Proudfoot. (On the television series, Doc's first name was changed to Galen, and Chester's last name was changed to Goode.) Chester's character had no surname until "Proudfoot" was ad libbed by Baer during a rehearsal early on, while Doc Adams was named after cartoonist Charles Addams. In a 1953 interview with Time, MacDonnell declared, "Kitty is just someone Matt has to visit every once in a while. We never say it, but Kitty is a prostitute, plain and simple." (Dunning, 304)

William Conrad was actually one of the last actors who auditioned for the role of Marshal Dillon. He was already one of radio's busiest actors and had a powerful and distinctive baritone voice. Though Meston championed him, MacDonnell thought that Conrad might be overexposed. During his audition, however, Conrad won over MacDonnell after reading just a few lines.

The show was distinct from other radio westerns, as the dialogue was often slow and halting, and due to the outstanding sound effects, listeners had a nearly palpable sense of the prairie terrain where the show was set. The effects were subtle but multilayered and utilized very well, given the show's spacious feel. Dunning writes, "The listener heard extraneous dialogue in the background, just above the muted shouts of kids playing in an alley. He heard noises from the next block, too, where the inevitable dog was barking." (Dunning, 305)

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Radio Listeners in Panic, Taking War Drama as Fact

Many Flee Homes to Escape 'Gas Raid From Mars'--Phone Calls Swamp Police at Broadcast of Wells Fantasy

This article appeared in the New York Times on Oct. 31, 1938.

A wave of mass hysteria seized thousands of radio listeners between 8:15 and 9:30 o'clock last night when a broadcast of a dramatization of H. G. Wells's fantasy, "The War of the Worlds," led thousands to believe that an interplanetary conflict had started with invading Martians spreading wide death and destruction in New Jersey and New York.

The broadcast, which disrupted households, interrupted religious services, created traffic jams and clogged communications systems, was made by Orson Welles, who as the radio character, "The Shadow," used to give "the creeps" to countless child listeners. This time at least a score of adults required medical treatment for shock and hysteria.

In Newark, in a single block at Heddon Terrace and Hawthorne Avenue, more than twenty families rushed out of their houses with wet handkerchiefs and towels over their faces to flee from what they believed was to be a gas raid. Some began moving household furniture.

Throughout New York families left their homes, some to flee to near-by parks. Thousands of persons called the police, newspapers and radio stations here and in other cities of the United States and Canada seeking advice on protective measures against the raids.

The program was produced by Mr. Welles and the Mercury Theatre on the Air over station WABC and the Columbia Broadcasting System's coast-to-coast network, from 8 to 9 o'clock.

The radio play, as presented, was to simulate a regular radio program with a "break-in" for the material of the play. The radio listeners, apparently, missed or did not listen to the introduction, which was: "The Columbia Broadcasting System and its affiliated stations present Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre on the Air in 'The War of the Worlds' by H. G. Wells."

They also failed to associate the program with the newspaper listening of the program, announced as "Today: 8:00-9:00--Play: H. G. Wells's 'War of the Worlds'--WABC." They ignored three additional announcements made during the broadcast emphasizing its fictional nature.

Mr. Welles opened the program with a description of the series of which it is a part. The simulated program began. A weather report was given, prosaically. An announcer remarked that the program would be continued from a hotel, with dance music. For a few moments a dance program was given in the usual manner. Then there was a "break-in" with a "flash" about a professor at an observatory noting a series of gas explosions on the planet Mars.

News bulletins and scene broadcasts followed, reporting, with the technique in which the radio had reported actual events, the landing of a "meteor" near Princeton N. J., "killing" 1,500 persons, the discovery that the "meteor" was a "metal cylinder" containing strange creatures from Mars armed with "death rays" to open hostilities against the inhabitants of the earth.

Despite the fantastic nature of the reported "occurrences," the program, coming after the recent war scare in Europe and a period in which the radio frequently had interrupted regularly scheduled programs to report developments in the Czechoslovak situation, caused fright and panic throughout the area of the broadcast.

Telephone lines were tied up with calls from listeners or persons who had heard of the broadcasts. Many sought first to verify the reports. But large numbers, obviously in a state of terror, asked how they could follow the broadcast's advice and flee from the city, whether they would be safer in the "gas raid" in the cellar or on the roof, how they could safeguard their children, and many of the questions which had been worrying residents of London and Paris during the tense days before the Munich agreement.

So many calls came to newspapers and so many newspapers found it advisable to check on the reports despite their fantastic content that The Associated Press sent out the following at 8:48 P. M.:

"Note to Editors: Queries to newspapers from radio listeners throughout the United States tonight, regarding a reported meteor fall which killed a number of New Jerseyites, are the result of a studio dramatization. The A. P."

Similarly police teletype systems carried notices to all stationhouses, and police short-wave radio stations notified police radio cars that the event was imaginary.

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William Alexander Abbott (born October 6, 1897 in Asbury Park, N.J.) was already an experienced 'straight man' when he first met his partner Louis Francis Cristillo (born March 6, 1906 in Paterson, N.J.) on the burlesque circuit. In 1936 the duo teamed up and became a much in demand act. However, it wasn't until an appearance on the Kate Smith Radio Hour, performing what would soon become their most famous sketch "Who's On First," that Bud Abbott & Lou Costello were to experience true stardom and a Hollywood career. Signed by Universal in 1939, Bud & Lou were hailed by the studio as "The New Kings Of Comedy," and went on to produce a decade of box office hits.

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The Superman animated cartoons, commonly known as the "Fleischer Superman cartoons" were a series of seventeen animated Technicolor short films, released by Paramount Pictures between 1941 and 1943, based upon the comic book character Superman. The first nine cartoons were produced by Fleischer Studios (the name by which the cartoons are commonly known). In 1942, Fleischer Studios was dissolved and reorganized as Famous Studios, which produced the final eight shorts. These cartoons are seen as some of the finest, and certainly the most lavishly budgeted, animated cartoons produced during The Golden Age of American animation. In 1994, the series was voted #33 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field.

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Red Skelton Show Cast

Red Skelton

David Rose Orchestra Red Skelton

Red Skelton

Red Skelton

Seeing Red : The Skelton in Hollywood's Closet by Wes D. Gehring, Steve Bell - Book

TV Greatest Shows DVD

1950s TV's Greatest Shows - 12 Shows - 3 DVDs

Includes Red Skelton

Red Skelton Show Tidbits

The Red Skelton Show began on radio in 1941 and was a success but television was the medium which best showcased the huge talents of Red Skelton. Radio didn't allow for Skelton to demonstrate his gift for pantomine and sight gags.

The show always featured a guest star and some skits. Musical guests performed and one of the first TV appearances of the Rolling Stones was on Red Skelton.

But it was for the wonderful characters Skelton created that people tuned in. Among those characters:

Clem Kadiddlehopper

Freddy Freeloader

The Mean Widdle Kid

Sheriff Deadeye

Willy Lump Lump

Cauliflower McPugg

Bolivar Shagnasty

San Fernando Red

Skelton always closed his show with "God Bless."

Passings

Red Skelton died in 1997 of pneumonia.

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clickhere Visit the Radio America Store web site.Buy your 50 mp3 for &5.00

Affordable Web Hosting $5.99 A month

clickhere Visit the Radio America Store web site.Buy your 50 mp3 for &5.00

Affordable Web Hosting $5.99 A month