LISTENIN' TO THE RADIO...

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True, we didn't have TV, but radio was an important part of our lives. We listened to Lowell Thomas giving us the world news every evening, and Mother sometimes listened to classical music on the weekends when various operas and symphonies were broadcast.  If you're picturing a small plastic box on top of a table, erase that image!  Radios in those days were pieces of furniture unto themselves -- large cabinets with tuning knobs on the front.

In those days there were regular daily shows between 5:00 and 6:00 that the twins and I listened to very faithfully: Terry and the Pirates, Jack Armstrong, and Captain Midnight. I don't remember the sponsor for Terry, but Wheaties sponsored Jack Armstrong, and you could send in Wheaties boxtops for various treasures. Captain Midnight was sponsored by Ovaltine, and I sent in for my Secret Decoder Ring, which allowed me to translate the Secret Message they broadcast each evening.

There were also weekly dramas -- Inner Sanctum, Nick and Nora Charles, The Green Hornet, and The Shadow. The latter was considered far too frightening for me to listen to, so I usually managed to go over to my friend Billy's where I could hear it!   Saturday morning there was Let's Pretend, which had wonderful dramatizations of the classic fairy tales. I loved that until I graduated to The Shadow -- in fact, I think there were a couple of years when they overlapped! Here's how I remember the beginning of "The Shadow", spoken in low and menacing tones: "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The weed of crime bears bitter fruit. Crime does not pay! The Shadow knows!!"

Then on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 7:30 p.m. we heard the rousing strains of the William Tell Overture, and the announcer's deep bass voice intoning, "Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear. From out of the past come the thundering hoofbeats of the great horse Silver. A fiery horse with the speed of light -- a cloud of dust, and a hearty 'Hi ho, Silver!!' The Lone Ranger rides again!!" This was the introduction to a half-hour Western drama starring the Lone Ranger, his faithful friend Tonto, and sometimes his nephew Dan Reid. We were definitely addicted to that one! No, we had no pictures on a screen, but were well supplied by our imaginations.

There were networks back then -- on the radio!  WRC, WMAL, and WTOP were the major network radio stations, and as I got to jr. high age, I listened more and more to disk jockeys on WWDC.  Gene Klavan was my favorite, and at one point he had such a craze going for ocarinas that most of my friends owned one!  Many songs on the Hit Parade originated in movies or Broadway shows, but I remember one very unique song that was popular when I was in junior high: "John and Marsha". The whole song was just a man and woman saying each other's names in varying tones. It was very suggestive, and by the time our pubescent minds supplied the storyline, it was definitely X-rated!!

There were also sportscasts of the Senators' baseball games, and  Redskins football.  Although my interest in pro football didn't develop until the 50's, I became a Senators fan in junior high, and besides walking to Griffith Stadium with my friend Anne Rochelle to attend some of the games, I often listened to Arch MacDonald describing the play -- he was a terrific sportscaster. There were daytime soaps as well. They weren't on in my house -- Mother usually played classical records during the day. But Grandma Black was addicted to her radio soaps: Ma Perkins, Our Gal Sunday, Young Widder Brown, Stella Dallas, Portia Faces Life, The Romance of Helen Trent, and Young Dr. Malone.  Projects were put on hold during her programs (each one ran 15 minutes), so Grandma wouldn't miss any nuances of the plot lines!!  These were called soap operas because each one had a single sponsor, and they were all soap products:  Lux, Ivory, Oxydol, Duz, and Palmolive are the ones I remember.

Sunday night was comedy night, and our routine was to sit in the kitchen lingering over a supper of soup and sandwiches, the silence unbroken except for plenty of laughter, as we listened to Jack Benny, Our Miss Brooks, and sometimes The Great Gildersleeve. Daddy especially loved Jack Benny, and it was wonderful to hear him laugh so much!

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