York52 Radio Quiz with answers
An email from Ken Jones


Subject: Mr (possibly Dr) Kane Finder of Lost Persons.

 Here's a challenge.

 For some reason my not-to-be-relied upon memory keeps
coming up with "Mr Kane, Finder of Lost Persons" as the name
of a radio show in the 1940's.  Which leads to another
teaser.  Fill in the blanks for the sequence of radio shows
on Sunday evening in Elmhurst before the advent of TV.

 6:00PM    Jack Benny

 6:30PM

 7:00PM     Fred Allen

 When was Eddie Canter?
 When was Burns and Allen?
 When was the Great Gildersleave?
 When was the Lone Ranger?

 Big question When and which days were Who were the
sponsors?

 H.V. Kaltenborn (news)
 Clifton Utley
 Walter Winchell
 William L Shiwere (sp?)
 Sky King
 The Thin Man
 The Shadow  (Who knows what evil lies in the minds of men?  The Shadow
 knows.)
 Mr Kane, finder of lost persons.
 Buck Rogers


 Can you remember the stations?  WLS, WBBM, WGN.  I'll bet
with some thought I (we) can come up with the position on
the AM dial.  One was 890, but I don't remember which one.

 And then when you still had a fever first thing in the
morning and were not allowed to go to school..  The Soaps..

 One Man's Family

 I thought these things were permanently in my brain.
Turns out that nothing is permanent about my brain.

 Ken

-------------------Here's the answers------------

An email from Dave Buswell

Ken:


You've touched on a subject that has been a hobby of mine
for many years, i.e., OTR or Old Time Radio.  I'll take a
crack at a few of your questions:

At 6:30 p.m. on Sundays was the Phil Harris/Alice Faye Show


At 7:00 on Sundays was the Chase and Sanborn Hour" with
Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy.


At 8:00 was Fred Allen with wife Portland Hoffa and Allen's
Alley residents Ajax J. Cassidy (Peter Donald); Titus Moody
(Parker Fennelly); Senator Claghorn (Kenny Delmar) and
Mrs. Nussbaum (Minerva Pious).


Over his long career on radio, Eddie Cantor was all over the
week at various times, e.g., Wednesdays at 8 p.m.; Thursday
at 9:30 p.m.; Fridays at 8 p.m., etc.


Over the years on radio, Burns and Allen also were all over
the week, but during the war and immediate postwar years
they were on Mondays at 7:30 and Thursdays at 7:30


The Great Gildersleeve was a "spinoff" character (probably
the first so designated) from Fibber McGee and Molly.  The
GG ran from 1941 to 1957 and was on Sundays at 5:30 from
1941-46 and then Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m.  The original
Throckmorton P. (for Philharmonic) Gildersleeve was Harold
Peary.  He left in a contract dispute in the early 50s and
was replace by Willard Waterman.  Interestingly, their
voices were virtually identical, although Waterman
consciously never tried to imitate Peary's unique laugh.


The Lone Ranger was first broadcast in 1933 and was
broadcast in Chicago three days a week (M,W,F) at 6:30
p.m. Here's some trivia about the program which was created
by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker and emanated from WXYZ
Detroit.  The first LR was played by George Stenius who
later changed his name to George Seaton and became a
Hollywood director of note ("The Bridges of Toki Ri").
Stenius replaced by Earle Glaser in late 1933. Glaser died
in an auto crash in 1941 ans was replaced by the then
announcer for the program, Brace Beemer.  BTW, Beemer was
from Mount Morris, Illinois.  He was well over 6'4" as a
teenager and lied about his age and joined the AEF in WWI at
14.  He was a highly decorated veteran by age 16.


Fred Foy was the announcer [he's still alive and attends OTR
(Old Time Radio) conferences].  It was Foy who intoned at
the start of each show: "With his faithful Indian companion,
Tonto, the daring and resourceful masked rider of the plains
led the fight for law and order in the early United States.
Nowhere in the pages of history can one find a greater
champion of justice!  Return with us now to thos thrilling
days of yesteryear......the Lone Ranger rides again!"


There were a number of classical themes used in each LR
program, the most famous being the Overture to William Tell
by Rossini.  But each program also featured Mendelsohn's
"Fingal Cave," Lizst's "Les Prelude" amd Wagner's "Overture
to Rienzi" and a host of other classical snippets that were
in the public domain (thus avoiding musical royalties).


One last piece of trivia: Both the Lone Ranger and the Green
Hornet were created by the aforementioned George W. Trendle.
In fact, the GH was a "modern" LR in that he wore a mask,
never killed with his gas gun, and had a fast black car in
lieu of "Silver," i.e., the Black Beauty.  In fact there is
a lineal relationship between the LR and the GH.  The Lone
Ranger had a young nephew featured in many of the broadcasts
whose name was Dan Reid.  The Green Hornet (aka Britt Reid)
was the publisher of a newspaper and his father was that
very same Dan Reid.  Thus, the GH was the LR's great nephew.


Ken asked for the names of the sponsors of a raft of
programs:


H.V. Kaltenborn:  Pure Oil
Clifton Utley:  ?
Walter Winchell:  Jergen's Lotion
William L. Shirer:  Sanka Coffee
Sky King: Peter Pan Peanut Butter
The Thin Man:  ?   (The TM was played by Chicagoan Les Tremayne.)
The Shadow: Blue Anthracite Coal  (The most famous Shadow was Orson Welles
and Agnes Moorehead was his lovely friend and companion, Margo Lane).
Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons:  Kolynos Tooth Powder
Buck Rogers:  Post Cereals


In the 20's and 30's, only New York City had more stations
than Chicago.  Some used call letters that meant something:


WLS:  "World's Largest Store"  (Station founded by Sears).
WGN: "World's Greatest Newspaper"  (Chicago Tribune)
WCFL:  "Chicago Federal of Labor"


I can't remember what the letters stood for, but there was
also WBBM and WENR as well as a host of smaller stations.


York High Class of 1952