It's hard for most people today to realize today that sixty years ago we used to listen to evening programs on the radio with the same intensity that people watch sit-coms on TV today.
Looking back, the unique thing was that you had to imagine what they looked like and the best means of introduction was a simple knock on the door and the usual assortment of characters would drop by the host's home each week.
My favorite was Digger O'Dell and with his great baratone voice, his opening line was always the same " Greetings, tis only I, Digby O'Dell............the friendly undertaker".
That's all he would have to say and we would laugh.
His exit line would always be, "Well, I guess I'll be.............shoveling off."
All I knew was that his real name was Willard Waterman and I pictured him as being lank and lean but when I later saw him in the movies he was just the opposite. |
15 comments:
Parley Baer, who had over 15,000 credits on Old Time Radio, observed, "If your have a million listeners, you have given a million performances. Radio is the theatre of the mind." The old shows are available. Go to the many OTR sites to find them. Or get into one of the OTR fan clubs. Parley got his last standing ovation the night we took him to the convention of the Society for the Preservation of Entertainment Radio Drama, Variety and Comedy (SPERDVAC). They are well recommended.
I remember Willard Waterman as the "Great Gildersleeve". The character began as the Water Commissioner on "Fibber McGee and Molly" and then became a show on its own.
In my youth I'd go to sleep listening to those two shows, both 15 minute daily comedies.
My God Jim! How old are you now?
My God Jim! How old are you now?
A very long time ago a man approched me at my place of work.I did Made to Order Murchendise[?] Bronze placks, name tags, that sort of things in St Louis. He ask if I wanted to audition for a commerical as Dodge was going with a black haired model instead of Blond. I thought he was just flerting and joked with him about it and he placed the order for whatever it washe came to do. After he left all the store came running and ask what we were doing. Seems this man was THE radio personality Max Robby on KMOX radio. I had always listened to him and he had a beautiful voice. I assumed tall dark and handsome. He was tall but the vision stopped there. Dodge did go with the dark haired model but it did not last long. Weird how this blog jogs the memories of long ago.
All my five 5 month old puppys climbed half way up their six foot kennel and ate their xmas stockings yesterday. They were empty and may just stay that way. Living with animals there is never a dull moment. I had spent a whole afternoon writing their names in pretty gold and silver sparkly glitter. Even sprayed a product called PHOOY to deter chewing on them.just in case. I am going to leave the shreds hanging so santa can see what they have done. I am almost afraid to go to the kennel this morning and find what damage the others have done. May have to send someone to wal mart. Petsmart is out. They will have to go cheap this time.
The answer to Buckles' inquiry: I'll be 64 this coming Thursday. I don't feel like I should be an AARP member but I do remember a horse drawn wagon delivering blocks of ice for my Aunt's ice box. You'd place a card in your window to let the driver know if you wanted 10, 25, or 50 lbs. of ice. This was in Bloomington, IL (home of many flying acts)in the mid-40s. Washington St., Bloomington's main drag, was also paved with bricks. Fortunately I can also remember annual visits of the Polack show to see,"Spangleland's choicest talent." Those were great days, even for those of us sitting in the stands.
As a mere child still a few months shy of fifty I can't pretend to remember radio dramas other than the "mystery theatre" than ran on CBS radio affiliates in the 70's and 80's. That said, I am pretty passionate baseball fan. As a kid I don't think that we ever get than a couple channels on the TV, living well ouside cable territory, and anything we watched on TV required an antenna adjustment now and then. So I listened to baseball on the radio instead of watching it on the tube. Even now I think that baseball is better on the radio. Inside the RV I might as well be home, but sitting outside under the awning on a circus lot in South Dakota listening to a night game in Cleveland or St Louis is a fine end to the day.
My mother's parents lived in a town where the dairy company continued to deliver milk in horse drawn wagons until a hurricane wiped out their processing plant in 1972.
Funny that ben should mention that. My mom still listens to every Cleveland Indians game on the radio. I am 50 now, so for her sake, I wish the Indians could win a few at least. Dad still reads every circus publication that comes along.
Bob
Our horse-drawn ice wagons came to our house, too, only brielfy during my boyhood. DISSOLVE TO: The early ice trucks sputtering down our streets--but the ice man still hacked off the size we needed, and slung the block in his great tongs over his leather shoulder apron, and came inside everyone's home to heave it into the top compartment of the ice box. Milk wagon horses also faded away, but the milkman left your order daily from a note you left in yesterday's bottles, sometime around first light, and no one came onto your porch to steal your milk.
Gene Garner who I mention once in a while was a delivery milk man at one time in his younger years. He won the best saleman award for the most sales, etc. With his charm and good looks I can see how. He was always the best at any attempt he made. Me included.
Our Gal Sunday, Our MS Brooks, days of our lives, etc. I remember as a very small child my Aunt listening to these soap opras as she ironed. We were not to interupt for any reason. My sister had a gash cut on her head and my Aunt did not even notice until after her programs and went to the front porch were my sister sat bleeding profusly, Had to have stitches. You did what you were told in those days. To this day I have never watched a soap opera on TV.
It just crossed my mind that I have purchased three radios for the animals this xmas. Tv/vcr last year. It was hard finding plain radios that did not have all kinds of gadget to collect dust. All on classic music stations. My favorit client Nicky died this morning at 2 am. His xmas gift to me was two bottles of rhine wine. I am holding a private wake for him and enjoying one of the bottles now. He was a beautiful Sheltie, 14 years old. He was a grooming and boarding client. His owner is the one that sends me the dirty e-mails jokes that I pass along. A formar flight attendent and wife of a Judge in our court system. A beautiful person and animal lover.
I'm not superstitious but I can't leave this page with 13 comments.
The mere mention of Parley's name gives me "goose bumps" what a wonderful person.
I remember us kids sneaking slivers of ice from the back of the iceman's truck, we did however still have horse drawn milk wagons, and the milkman would hop out while it was moving and the horse would continue on for a couple houses and stop and wait for him!
My dad gave my brother a model A or T car with a rumble seat, Sam traded the car to the ice man for his horse. That was a ball until my dad returned from the trip he was on a month later. Us kids rode bare back of course as we had no saddle. Sam charged the neighborhood kids to ride. Always the shister. Never out grew it. He raised pigs and when it came time to butcher them he could not shoot them, He colraformed them and a lot of people got sick. Kids had a wonder childhood back then. No adult supervision around to spoil the fun. Sam also tried to fly off the barn roof, Broke his ankle and did not tell anyone for a day. Did not want to get in trouble for climbing the roof.
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