Tag: Radio show review

Audio Drama Review, Golden Age Article

Radio Series Review: My Friend Irma

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My Friend, Irma came to radio in 1947 starring Marie Wilson as Irma, a quirky young secretary from Minnesota who came to New York and was befriended by Jane Stacy (Cathy Lewis and later Joan Banks) who took her on as her roommate. The series is all about their misadventures. 

It would be spun off into two films as well as a TV series. The series was created by Cy Howard, who would go on to create Life with Luigi and it’s stylistically similar in many ways as well as both series featuring legendary  voice actors Hans Conried and Alan Reed. 

The series had a lot of running jokes. Conried’s character Professor Kerplotkin would greet Irma and Jane with an analogy to two things with the latter being a back-handed suggestion Irma wasn’t quite all there and would apologize stating it was “a little joke” he’d picked up somewhere. Mrs. O’Reilly, their landlady would show up and also get insulted by Professor Kerplotkin. The Professor would also complain about his room in the most over the top way possible and make a suggestion of something romantic with Mrs. O’Reilly (played by Jane Morgan and later Gloria Gordon) only to pull the rug out from under her with yet another insult.

Irma’s shiftless boyfriend Al (John Brown) would always try to turn any situation to his own benefit through (often poorly thought out) schemes. When he ran into a situation where he didn’t know what to do, he would say, “There’s only one man who knows what to do,” dial a number and then say, “Hello, Joe….Got a problem.” Nothing is inherently funny about this but Brown’s delivery practically wills it into a laugh line.

Probably the biggest running gags in the series center around Irma and could be paraphrased, “You know how weird Irma is?”

Marie Wilson deserves a lot of credit for her performance. It’d be easy for a character like Irma to become annoying, but she rarely does, and it’s the writing that sometimes makes Irma too whiny. Her comic delivery and timing is great and helps to sell the show. She’s particularly adept at having Irma’s mixing up messages other people tell her to deliver to sound completely natural.

The supporting cast is good Again, it’d be easy for them to come off badly and for the most part, they don’t. While they all know Irma’s a little bit off, they’re all supportive. Her boss, Mr. Clyde was mean but most comedy bosses during that era were mean, so that was to be expected.

My biggest problem in the series was Jane Stacy. On one hand, she could be nice to Irma and help her out and she could also be long-suffering with all the problems Irma caused. On the other, she often could lose it. In addition, she was the one who introduced the episodes and talked to the audience. She tended to deliver the meanest and most cutting remarks about Irma not only to other characters, but to the audience.

I came to view Jane as Irma’s “friend” who resents having her around and complaints constantly to other people about Irma. I found Jane insufferable and two-faced. I had negative reactions to other Cathy Lewis characters because I’d think of Jane Stacy when I heard them. Joan Banks’ take on Jane Stacy and Mary Jane Croft’s character of Kay Foster weren’t any better but they didn’t have as much time to wear on my nerves as Lewis did.

Numerous casting changes occurred in the course of the program, and not all of them are well-documented or observable. The bulk of episodes in circulation are from the show’s earliest days from 1947 to the spring of 1949, so many casting or character changes are unexplained within the radio program as any transitions occurred in episodes that were lost. There was a total of three episodes in circulation for the three year period between March 1949 and January 1952, and a smattering of episodes for each year from 1952-54. While I have limited exposure to later casts, the original cast, with both Brown and Conried is probably is the best the show had, though the later actors did fine.

Overall, My Friend Irma is a decent comedy. While it’s far from my favorite, it has some laughs. There’s little continuity, so you don’t suffer that much as a result of the missing seasons.

Rating: 3.25 out of 5

Audio Drama Review, Golden Age Article

Radio Show Review: The Danny Kaye Show

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The Danny Kaye show starred singer/comedian Danny Kaye and premiered in January 1945. It remained on the air until 1946 and was sponsored by Past Blue Ribbon Beer.

Kaye was a talented performer, and the show was good whenever he was given an opportunity to sing, to do zany skits, or do things that suited Danny Kaye’s talents. Yet, the show didn’t often let Kaye do that in its first season.

The first seventeen episode January-May season had the series as half a good musical/variety show and half a lame sitcom about making the show.

The series featured Eve Arden and Lionel Stander as Kaye’s sidekicks. Arden was a few years away from stardom with Our Miss Brooks, and Stander could be fun in the right role. However, they’re not  given much to work with.

The first season has some groan-inducing and tedious moments, but it’s more than made up for by the hilarious moments and Kaye’s crazy singing.

The second season that began in the fall of 1945 saw some big production changes that made the show better with a focus on Kaye interacting with guest stars, and with Butterfly McQueen becoming the show’s main comedic regular for about one scene a week.

Unfortunately, while most of the first season is in circulation, the second season is scarce. Two of the available episodes are shows for which Kaye was absent during a USO tour and had Frank Sinatra and Jack Benny filling in.  While they both did fine, they were essentially doing their own thing.

However, those episodes we do have with Kaye show a much-improved series. There’s one episode from January 25, 1946 where Kaye is his own guest star.  The episode for March 1, 1946 with Orson Welles as the guest star is my favorite as Welles critiques and analyzes the song Kaye sings at the start of each episode. The Carmen Miranda episode (February 15, 1946) is also really fun as well.  The Arthur Treacher episode (May 24, 1946) is kind of ho-hum, but still these four episodes suggest that Kaye’s second season was a good improvement on the first one.

Overall, these episodes are worth listening if you’re a Kaye fan. If you do start at the beginning and are disappointed by the weaker parts of the first season, check out what survives of Season 2 for a better experience.

 

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

The Danny Kaye show is available for free download here. 

Audio Drama Review, Golden Age Article

Radio Show Review: The Johnson Wax Program

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Radio’s big comedy shows often went on Summer break.  In World War II, this was especially true as many comedians used their time off the air to continue working with USO and entertaining the Troops. In 1942, the hit Fibber McGee and Molly show went on Summer Vacation, but their sponsors, Johnson’s Wax, decided to continue to sponsor the Johnson’s Wax Program.

Johnson’s Wax could have chosen to do a typical summer musical program, with a nice singer and nice songs. Some of these series circulate. They’re pleasant if you like that sort of thing, but utterly forgettable and indistinguishable from each other. The Johnson’s Wax Program of the Summer of 1942 was different. Yes, it featured two talented singers in Connie Haines and Bob Carroll. It also featured two great and unique radio talents: Composer, arranger, and bandleader Meredith Willson and storyteller John Nesbitt.

Willson led the band for many variety shows and comedies that required him to play a role. Invariably it would be that of the dunce. However, that stage persona had little connection to his musical work. His music was filled with great arrangements and intriguing ideas for new compositions. He did great work on the Maxwell’s House Good News program in the late 1930s and early 1940s. However, I think his best work in the golden age of radio would be a few years later in The Big Show, a 90-minute radio program that aired from 1950-52.

John Nesbitt was a storyteller. His series of radio programs and MGM movie shorts called The Passing Parade told true stories almost too amazing to be believed. Yet, each fact was fully verified with the scripts being written by Nesbitt himself. The stories were not only surprising but often touch the hearts and minds of the listener with Nesbitt’s skillful reading. The best comparison I can think of for Baby Boomers is Paul Harvey’s Rest of the Story broadcasts, only a bit more dramatic.

Tother Willson and Nesbitt complimented each other’s work. Throughout the summer series, Willson played a series of “lost melodies.” These melodies had been meant for greatness but forgotten or laid aside for one reason or another. Nesbitt told the story of each lost song. Willson meanwhile scored Nesbitt’s stories, matching the stories with solid music (when required.)

The tone of the series, both in Nesbitt’s stories, as well as in its announcements reflected the Spirit of 1942. America was a Nation that was less than a year removed from Pearl Harbor, whose Atlantic merchant ships were under constant danger from U-Boats, and was moving to a firm war footing. Nesbitt turns his full rhetorical powers on the Axis Powers several times and it is stirring, particularly his “letter” to Adolf Hitler.

The series ran for thirteen weeks. Twelve episodes are in circulation. The only bad thing about the series is that the circulating episodes, while clear, are not the highest quality.  Still, if you’re wanting great music, great story, and some solid singing, this is a series that’s well worth checking out.

 

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

The twelve existing episodes of the Johnson’s Wax program are available for free online here.

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