For me, radio is a magic medium, one that is, to borrow Fred
Allen’s phrase about his nemesis (television), “rarely well done” these days.
The most famous radio comedians and actors were indeed larger than life and
also had incredibly memorable voices, which, naturally enough, had to be serve as
their signatures. The wonderful website Speaking
of Radio offers literally dozens of interviews with these
special (and mostly departed) entertainers.
The website is the product of several decades’ work by Chuck Schaden, a radio broadcaster (and major fanatic) in the Chicago area. Schaden hosted a radio show called “Those Were the Days” from 1970-2009 and was lucky enough to get interviews with most of the major figures from radio’s past. He nabbed a bunch of them when they were passing through Illinois doing summer stock productions, but also traveled to L.A. to speak to a number of them.
Since pretty much all of these folks are dead now, Schaden (right)
has a wonderful archive of both radio and early TV history on the Speaking of
Radio site. It notes on the site that he published the
interviews as a book, which must’ve been a very thorough history of
Thirties-Fifties media, but it’s something else entirely to hear the voices of
these folks, especially when they’re talking about topics they deeply love — or
are deeply bitter about.
So what does Schaden offer on the site? The audio files
aren’t downloadable (that is available for a fee), but you can listen to them
for free online. The guest roster, as noted, is insane. It’s easier to cite the
people he *didn’t* get to interview (Orson Welles, George Burns) than it is to
mention all the seminal folk he did get to talk to. I’ll give it a try, though,
based on the 30 or so interviews I’ve listened to in the past month.
Even though Chuck often had a limited amount of time with
the A-listers from the Golden Age of Radio (less than 20 minutes), he was able
to glean ample amounts of fascinating information. For a brief sampling, I’ll
quote the moments I was most impressed by:
— His confabs with radio and early TV superstars Jack Benny,
Phil Harris, Alice Faye, Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, and Milton Berle.
— Harry Von Zell, the announcer who worked a hell of a lot
on old-time radio (several shows simultaneously), describing how he delivered one
of the first on-air bloopers ever, by nervously introducing President Herbert
Hoover as “Hoobert Heever.”
— The people who were willing to recreate great radio intros
and special moments on-air for Schaden, including Mel Blanc, Louis Nye, and
Tony Randall.
— Brett Morrison, a very monotone-sounding interview
subject, suddenly coming out with a terrific version of the beloved intro to
The Shadow, which he played on-air for longer than any other
actor. (“Who knows what evil lurks… in the hearts of men…?”)
— Vincent Price, talking about his love of the medium and
also of his devotion to fine art, noting that he’s making a Dr.
Phibes sequel because the first film really needed
a sequel (and he’s not kidding — I love Vinnie).
— The ever-awesome writer-producer Arch Oboler describing
what radio can do that other media can’t, by describing a monster (your own
real-life worst enemy) creeping up behind you….
— Mike Wallace (right) discussing being the narrator for both
The Green Hornet and The Lone Ranger, and
the ways in which actors made extra dough (by perfoming the shows three times
in succession, for each U.S. time zone!).
— Mel Blanc and Jim Backus talking separately about
overcoming health troubles that nearly killed them (in Blanc’s case it was a
near-lethal car accident).
— Howard Duff on being blacklisted: “I wasn’t even a good
liberal!”
A few riveting negative moments (proving the interviews truly
were off-the-cuff):
— Sid Caesar insisting he’s “not bitter,” but going on and
on about how bad TV got after the Fifties.
— Hans Conreid responding to one of Schaden’s customary last
questions (“Do you ever think radio comedy and drama as we knew it could
return?”) by noting that traditional radio programs are completely gone forever
(for their part, Joseph Cotton and Howard Duff very much lament the loss).
— Tony Randall maintaining that he had VERY little fondness
for old-time radio, as he thought it was mostly badly scripted (with the
exception of a few shows — he cites Benny, Fred Allen, and the
you-either-love-it-or-you-don’t Vic and Sade).
— Rudy Vallee (above) being utterly charming about his own relative
lack of popularity (“My records never sold…”), and then offhandedly telling a
story in which he calls comedian Pinky Lee “Jewboy”….
And my two favorites:
— One of my all-time, big-time character
actor faves, Sheldon Leonard, talking about how to properly deliver Damon Runyon dialogue.
— And Edgar Bergen not only speaking in his familiar dummy voices for
Schaden, but also discussing what it was like to collaborate on writing
sketches with the one and only W.C. Fields.
Schaden did indeed make the most of his time with these
radio legends. A few other names found in the archive: Kate Smith, Don
Ameche, Agnes Moorehead, Ricardo Montalban, Morey Amsterdam, and Ginger Rogers.
I found it fascinating that he refers to what we now term
“old-time radio” or “the Golden Age of Radio” as “the radio days.” This was no
doubt because network radio programs really ended in the mid-Fifties, which was
a mere 15 years before Schaden’s nostalgia program went on the air. It’s
interesting to contrast that 20-year “jump” in comparison to our own current
binges of “instant nostalgia,” where mediocre items from 5-10 years ago are
already packaged in “yes, I remember it well” talking-head TV series. (And the
music-video Eighties is deemed as distant as the era of silent movies.)
Sample
Schaden’s chats and you’ll find yourself moving back to a simpler era
when, yes, voices and imagination mattered. And, while show-biz egos were still
of course *incredibly* large, there were very well-regarded nice guys like Jack
Benny on the A-list, and the talent involved could justify such ego.
Thanks to Rich Brown for turning me on to the SOR site.
No comments:
Post a Comment