Késsinnimek - Roots - Racines

PHILCO MAGIC

by 
                            Louise Dubrule

“Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of men? The Shadow knows.” These words were enough to give you the shivers because you knew you were in for a scary story. Before big screen TVs and home entertainment centers, there was radio and it was the source of news, drama, music, and comedy. The only thing required was your imagination.

When my family lived on the farm in Berkshire, we had no electricity so the big console radio was run by a car battery. When it needed to be recharged, it was exchanged with the battery in the car. Once we moved to Richford, the little Philco table radio sat beside Papa’s chair. We clustered around it as if it were a welcomed visitor, for this marvel brought the world to us.

It was the radio that first told us of the Pearl Harbor bombing. During World War II, my brother John was in Europe, and his censored letters told us very little. Instead we got the news via evening reports from Gabriel Heater who started his program with “There is good news tonight” even when there wasn’t. The casualty figures weren’t given daily, for sociologists had determined that over a week’s time the numbers would be on our side and thus we wouldn’t be demoralized. We had maps of Europe and we followed the news, unsure of where John was, but Gabriel Heater reassured us. I have vivid memories of the announcement of FDR’s death: the sun low in the west window of our living room, the dust motes dancing in the shafts of light, my mother with her hands wrapped in her apron, Papa home from work, sitting in his chair, everyone serious at the words.

Mama and Papa had their favorite programs from Canada. They listened to “Ceux Qu’on aime”, “Serrafin”, and “La Famille Plouff”. These last two later appeared on TV on a Montreal station, much to their delight. I made sure to be in the house by 4 PM to listen to a broadcast about a group of adventurous youngsters. I’m not sure what it was called (maybe Les Intrepids?) but to this day I can sing the theme music except for the last two lines: “C’est nous, les gars de la montagne, Vol-au-vent et Innocent, et tous les amis d’Evan. Nous qui parcouront la compagne…dada, dum, dada dum de dada dum..." Does anyone remember the ending?

In a sense, radio was our English teacher. Our parents were immigrants and needed to learn a new language. We three children were able to reinforce the English we heard at school in a pleasant way. What a wealth of choices we had!

Most youngsters liked “Jack Armstrong, All-American Boy.” There were situation comedies geared to young listeners. Among them were “Archie Andrews” based on the Archie comics, and “The Aldrich Family” which was introduced with a mother calling “Henry….Henry Aldrich!” to which a young teen answered “Coming mother.”

There were family stories that ranged from “Ozzie and Harriet Nelson” to “Baby Snooks,” and I was unaware that Baby was portrayed by an adult named Fanny Brice. “The Life of Riley” starred William Bendix, and we never failed to chuckle at the mournful character who made an appearance in every program and delivered the line “’Tis I, Digby O’Dell, your friendly undertaker.” In our mind’s eye we could see this person and imagined him tall, very slender and pale, dressed in black with a string tie against the white shirt. Then there was “Our Miss Brooks” about a teacher played by Eve Arden. I also liked “Father Knows Best” and “Dr. Kildare.” This one made the transition from radio to movies (or was it the other way around?) and to TV. Remember Dr. Gillespie hollering for his nurse Parker? Before we knew the expression ‘dysfunctional family’, we had “The Bickersons” with Don Ameche as the long-suffering husband of the very demanding wife, Frances Langford. The “Amos and Andy” show was the first time we were aware of black actors on the radio, other than Rochester.

Comedy teams reigned supreme during the time called The Golden Age of Radio. People needed cheering and radio filled the bill. Abbott and Costello were in top form, especially with the classic bit called “Who’s on First?” George Burns and Gracie Allen were favorites. George was happy to be the straight man who asked Gracie an innocent question and she was off with a rambling story that was about twenty degrees removed from normal. Jack Benny, his wife Mary, and their pal Rochester were good for a laugh. The running gag was the fact that Jack was a miser who had a vault deep underground. And who could be glum when Edgar Bergen was on with his dummies Charlie McCarthy or Mortimer Snerd? But think about it: a ventriloquist on radio when nobody could see him? The verbal exchanges made up for the fact that Edgar’s lips moved. And who can forget Red Skelton and his cast of characters with their unique voices. He made a successful transition to TV and his program remained just as family-oriented. Fred Allen, with dry humor, was host to “Allen’s Alley,” and “The Great Gildersleeve” was popular too. Fibber McGee and Molly were big hits, and the weekly gags here were the little girl down the street who was a pest (Whatcha doing, Mister? Huh? Huh?) and Fibber’s closet. In each episode someone would open the closet and the sound-effects person went over the top with the sounds of everything falling out….you could see it!

The most under-rated workman in radio must have been the sound effects person. This genius gave us gunshots, opening and closing doors and windows, door bells, telephones, breaking glass, thunder, rain and hail, fist fights, car chases, sirens, footsteps, running horses, barking dogs, and every other sound necessary for the story to proceed…and everything had to be carefully timed, for this was done live.

The adventure stories held us captivated. If the Western genre was your cup of tea, you could select among “Gunsmoke” (with William Conrad reading the part of Matt Dillon), “The Lone Ranger,” “The Cisco Kid,” or “Red Ryder.

Detective stories? There were a lot of those to choose from: “Mr. and Mrs. North,” “Nero Wolfe,” “Philip Marlowe,” “The Thin Man,” “Sam Spade,” “Boston Blackie,” and Papa’s favorite “Gangbusters.”

For sheer terror, nothing compared to the creaking door that led into “Inner Sanctum.” Close behind was “The Whistler” or “The Shadow” with Lamont Cranston’s other personality fighting crime. Other superheroes with secret identities included “Captain Midnight,” “The Green Hornet,” and “Superman.”

“Lux Radio Theater” was my favorite as a young teenager. This program followed the scripts of current movies with the actual stars reading the lines; and when I didn’t have the price of admission to the theater, this was nearly as good because I knew what all the movie stars looked like. There was a variety show was “Duffy’s Tavern.” Someone would answer a phone with “Duffy’s Tavern; Duffy ain’t here.” And until Duffy came back (which he never did), you were invited to listen to one performer or another. Music programs were broadcast live from hotel ballrooms around the country and featured most of the big bands that were popular at the time and they starred many of the best vocalists, including Bing Crosby and some newcomer named Frank Sinatra. “Make Believe Ballroom” came from Montreal and it was much like “American Bandstand” that was so popular on TV later.

In the mood for a quiz show? We had “You Bet Your Life” and “The 64 Dollar Question,” far removed from today’s million dollar prizes. Arthur Godfrey had a talent search program, as did Major Bowes whose program later became the “Ted Mack Amateur Hour.” Art Linkletter hosted “House Party,” and there was “Queen for a Day.”

Radio was responsible for the institution of soap operas, so named for the soap companies that sponsored most of them. There was “Stella Dallas,” “One Man’s Family,” and “Ma Perkins,” “The Romance of Helen Trent,” “Our Gal Sunday,” “John’s Other Wife,” “Young Doctor Malone,” “Lum and Abner,” “Kitty Foyle” “Pepper Young’s Family,” “Guiding Light” and perhaps a couple of dozen more.

I was very young when Orson Wells’ “War of the World” was first aired, but I’ve listened to it several times. In today’s sophisticated society it’s difficult to believe that people honestly believed it was true and that there was panic in several areas of the Northeast. Then I remember that in that period of time, all the current news came from the radio and folks relied on the airwaves for information. If you listen to the tapes with a naïve mind and heart, you can understand why it struck fear in so many people.

One Sunday evening at the end of April this year we had a four-hour power outage, and we scrambled to find candles and batteries for the boom-box radio. When the radio was finally turned on, the local PBS station was off the air and the only thing we found was so-called ‘talk radio’ and some current music that was more noise than melody. How we would have welcomed at least one…any one…of the old programs that entertained us so many years ago.

 

Késsinnimek - Roots - Racines
Copyright © 2003 & 2004 & 2005 & 2006 Norm Léveillée
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Created 1 Feb 2003