Friday, May 31, 2013

thinking

Thousands of thoughts run through my mind ever day and most are not worth saying out loud. heres one...

I have took to watching gunsmoke everyday and it occurred to me that at least Matt Dillon get shot once a day in his shoulder always in his shoulder, when ask about the wound he always says it was just in my shoulder. his shoulders must look like ground hamburger.
gunsmoke, on radio from 1952-1961, is perhaps the greatest radio drama of all - not just the best western radio drama. It is a perfect example of all the elements of creative broadcast radio coming together week after week to create a place and time in your mind (Dodge City, mid-1880's or so), populated with living people who you grow to know personally and care about. Chester, Doc, Kitty and Matt Dillon, US Marshal, "the first man they look for, and the last they want to meet." become as real to us as our neighbors.

I also watch a soap opera everyday, Days of our lives, the reason they are called soap operas is they came on the radio years ago and the soap company proctor and gamble advertised on the program.
The one I listened to on  the radio was MA Perkins.
now one  of the biggest, and probably the longest, radio dramas ever to be broadcast, Ma Perkins paved the way for modern soap operas.
Ma Perkins, played for 27 years by Virginia Payne who was only 23 years old when she started, was the woman's answer to Just Plain Bill. Ma Perkins was the owner and manager of a lumber yard in Rushville Center, which had a population of just 4,000. The show revolved around Ma Perkins, her three children, Evey, John, and Fay, and their children.
One thing I had with daddy that no one else has was listening to the radio at night before he went off to war. We listening to the horror programs after I had a few night  marrs dad made me go to bed but of course I listening shaking in the dark.
There is nothing in Broadcasting that can scare the pants off of you like a good radio horror program. And few did it as well as The Inner Sanctum Mysteries, produced by Himan Brown. Originally broadcast on Sunday nights over the Blue Network/ABC, just late enough to give you nightmares before starting school or work on Monday, the show moved to CBS in fall 1943.
Then there was the comedies such as ..Fibber McGee and Molly
This show is one of the cornerstones of the old time radio experience. It spans several decades in time, but remains timeless. It is a great achievement in American entertainment, but holds a relatively overlooked place in American popular culture, and quickly failed on TV (59-60) without the Jordans. For the lucky ones who heard it on radio, Fibber McGee and Molly keeps a place near and dear to the heart.
Fibber McGee and Molly advertisementJim and Marian Jordan were Fibber McGee and Molly. Well trained by vaudeville and with some radio under their belts, their show about a typical couple in a typical town came on the radio in the mid- '30s. Fibber was a man of many words, and they were nearly always funny. He was superior at one-upsmanship and exasperating exaggeration, and depending on which verbal sparring partner was at hand, fully capable of making a fool of himself in the most uncertain terms. Locals who indulged Fibber included the Mayor LaTrivia (Gale Gordon), by name, whose short fuse was easily ignited by the verbal sparks of Fibber 

SO IF  YOU GET BORED JUST GO TO GOOGLE AND TYPE OLD RADIO SHOWS AND LISTEN TO THAT LONG AGO TIME WHEN I
SHIVERED UNDER THE COVER IN THE DARK BED ROOM AT CARROLLTON ARKANSAS WHILE DADDY THOUGHT I SLEPT.

5 comments:

marlu said...

You bring back a lot of memories. I listened to every one of those programs you mentioned - plus One Man's Family on Sunday nights, Red Skelton, Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Hit Parade, Captain Midnight and Let's Pretend,(for the kiddies); Aunt Jenny's Real Life Stories, Stella Dallas, Truth or Consequences, Amos and Andy, Major Bowes Amateur Hour, Dr. IQ....and more that I don't recall right now!

Donna. W said...

My grandma listened faithfully to "One Man's Family". Of course, she was crocheting while she was listening. You never saw my grandma just sitting idly. She was always doing something. I think I must have missed that gene.

Sister--Helen said...

Pat would you please email Virginia Lee and find out when the reunion is....I will be there this year

Sister--Helen said...

Pat please find out when Tim is coming....I know you and Bob (as Greg would say) Are down like 4 flat tires...LOLO

Sister--Helen said...

Winnie said she can't make the reunion in sept this year...I wanted to see her too