50 years ago I was still in high school and there was no such Federal holiday as “President’s Day.” Instead, we celebrated the birthday of President George Washington. On Washington’s Birthday in 1962, and taking advantage of there being no school that day, I attended the matinee performance of the Al Sarat Grotto Circus in Cleveland’s Public Auditorium to see Clyde Beatty perform. (The program also included three rings of performing elephants, a traditional circus band, the George Hanneford Family, Hubert Castle, Princess Tajana, the Gutis Family, the Jennier Seals, Victor Julian, and the Wallendas, to name just a few of the acts that appeared that year.) Clyde Beatty had appeared in Cleveland many times over the years, but this was the only time I got to see him perform. (As a result of listening to the Clyde Beatty radio show when I was very young, he had been one of my first heroes, even before I had read his books or saw his movies.) |
Monday, February 20, 2012
"President's Day!" (From Eric Beheim)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comments:
Not that I know Eric's age, but many of us first heard THE CLYDE BEATTY SHOW over the Mutual Network. I've never substantiated by date the claims that it was first aired in the late 1940s. Radio Memories notes it was a re-run when it aired on Mutual, beginning December 25, 1950, but RadioEchoes states that Episode #1, "The Devil Cat", had an original broadcast date ealier that year, on March 2. That run ended on June 8, 1951, but Commodore Productions resurrected the show for a second run, sponsored by Kellogg's, from September 10, 1951 to January 18, 1952. In Central Time, we listened on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons, at 5:30 pm. In his letter to me, Vic Perrin noted he played Beatty, and Eve McVeagh played Harriett Beatty, in all 52 episodes. Parley Baer was heard recurrently in various roles.
But by a twist of fate, the radio show didn't end there. I wrote another one, and it can be heard on the internet at PRX-piece-THE CLYDE BEATTY SHOW, "Perils of the Tiger Barn", by Roger Smith. I wrote this piece as a non-script, fictional story based on radio's golden years, for the book edited by Ben Ohlmart, IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN!-The New Stories of Old-Time Radio (Boalsburg,Pa., BearManor Media, 2002) The roles are done by Joe Bevilaqua and Lori Kellogg. The production, sound effects, and acting are woefully wanting, compared to Commodore's network broadcast standards, but my sides are read verbatim. In this one instance, THE CLYDE BEATTY SHOW continues life for another audience, in another era.
Post a Comment