Glenhall Taylor gives an look at the days before a little screen became our window to the world. Radio was the stay-at-home means of entertainment then and through this book we get a solid idea of how much we have lost since the "theater of the mind" was replaced by the tube.
Radio gave us everything: news, music, variety, westerns, adventure, political coverage, soap operas ("Now, Oxydol's own mother of the airwaves, Ma Perkins"), children's shows (and, no, Uncle Don DID NOT say it...if you don't know what I'm talking about - read the book!!!), mystery, comedy, religion, women's programs and about anything else you might imagine.
The Munich crisis, Pearl Harbor, Midway, the Normandy invasion, Iwo Jima, the death of President Roosevelt, V-E Day and V-J Day, elections and the happenings on the local scene (the July 6. 1944 Hartford CT circus fire) - these are the things we listened to on the radio. Now, the book does not cover everything I listed; it does open the mind to wonder "what might it have been like to have heard it over the radio?" It's an eye-opener into the fantastic world of audio that kept our parents and grandparents entertained and informed.
Ever heard of Jim and Marian Jordan? No? Maybe Grandpa or Grandma mention Fibber McGee and Molly ("Don't open that closet, McGee!). That's where the phrase "Fibber McGee's closet" originated, as well as "tain't funny, McGee." Did you know that The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet began on radio years before TV, or that Roy Rogers rode the western plains first from a radio studio before migrating to that little screen?
The Lone Ranger got his start on radio, some sixteen years or so before Clayton Moore donned the mask. And, Gunsmoke was a radio staple for three years before CBS put it on TV. William Conrad, "Cannon" "Nero Wolfe" "Jake and the Fatman" AND the narrator of Rocky and Bullwinkle, told us each week that he was "Matt Dillon, United States Marshall, the first man they look for and the last they want to meet. It's a chancy job and it makes a man watchful...and a little lonely." Parley Baer, the voice of Ernie, the Keebler Elf until 1998, was Chester, and Floyd the Barber on Andy Griffith - Howard McNear - was Doc Addams.
Again, all is not in the book but it's important to have knowledge of these as you read this volume. The content will expand your vision and as you read, radio can change from two to three dimensions.
For radio fans, this is a one-night read. I suggest you tackle it on a Saturday afternoon, take your time to savor what's before you and don't be surprised if the approximately one-hundred-fifty pages of text take a lot longer than you expect.
It could replace Saturday evening in front of the screen.
