When Michael James Kacey began working on his film project, originally titled How Radio Changed America, it was originally conceived as a “love letter” to the Golden Age of Radio.  This feature film documentary has grown both in scope and depth and now expertly explores the historic and cultural impact radio played in American life, examining its unprecedented power to influence the nation. From radio to television to the Internet, HEARING VOICES: How Radio Changed America & America Changed Radio will shine the light on the past in hopes of safeguarding the future. Interviews are still being conducted for this film but already include such network radio veterans as Art Linkletter, Norman Corwin, Tommy Cook, John Astin, Dick Van Patten, Bob Hastings, and Peggy Webber.  Additional interviews include Larry King, Wink Martindale, Washington Post senior editor Marc Fisher,  Norman Lloyd, Marsha Hunt and Ivy Bethune. This film will prove to be the definitive history of American radio.  From the time when Michael was a young boy he has had a special love for radio. It all started when he turned on his radio in the mid 1970s and came upon The CBS Radio Mystery Theater.  For many years now, Michael’s enthusiasm for radio has never waned.  He still gushes about radio and as an adult film maker he set out to capture the history of the medium through the voices of the artists who were a part of that history.   This feature documentary, scheduled for release next year,  is still in production.  However, on Friday morning April 15th, Michael James Kacey will share  highlights from this remarkable film with behind the scenes stories and anecdotes as part of a special preview.   The promotional trailer for the film provides a glimpse of a sensational production that will not only delight anyone who has an appreciation for the history of  radio but should also prove interesting and entertaining to the public at large.

 

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JW 1John Wilder Portrait

Here’s terrific news for your morning.  Tacoma born John Wilder who has written and/or produced nearly 400 hours of prime time television drama on network and cable and also received the Writer’s Guild Award for Best Long Form Teleplay and Best Episodic Drama and Emmy nominations for Best Dramatic Series,  will be joining us for the REPS SHOWCASE.  This will be John’s first appearance at the REPS SHOWCASE and an actor with more radio credits to his name would be hard to find.    As a child actor and then known  as Johnny McGovern, John was one of the busiest child actors in the radio business.   Here’s a list of some of his work:
The Jack Benny Show as Joey, The Great Gildersleeve as Craig Bullard, The Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy Show as Schuyler Van Snoot,  The Abbott and Costello Kid Show as the youngest emcee in radio,  The Jimmy Durante Show, Red Ryder as Little Beaver,  Date With Judy as Randolph, and Jump Jump of Holiday House), as well as leading and featured roles on other major network broadcasts, including 21 appearances on Lux Radio Theatre, and multiple appearances on Academy Award Playhouse, Stars Over Hollywood, The Hallmark Hall of Fame, Hollywood Star Playhouse, Hollywood Star Theatre, The Ford Theatre, The Screen Guild Theatre, Screen Director’s Playhouse, Family Theatre, Favorite Story, The Bakers Theatre of Stars, On Stage, Stars In The Air, The NBC University Theatre, Rexall Theatre, Command Performance, Broadway Is My Beat, Cavalcade of America, California Caravan, The CBS Radio Workshop, Hollywood Story, The Bob Hope Show, The Red Skelton Show, The Dennis Day Show, Gunsmoke, Dragnet, Our Miss Brooks, Doorway To Life, My Favorite Husband (Lucille Ball), The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, Amos and Andy, The Halls of Ivy, NBC Presents, Gene Autry’s Melody Ranch, The Roy Rogers Show, Hopalong Cassidy, The Cisco Kid, My Friend Irma, The Clyde Beatty Show, The Phil Harris/Alice Faye Show, Dr. Christian, The Stories of Dr. Kildare, The Harold Peary Show, Rogers of The Gazette, Suspense, Fibber McGee and Molly. 
Whew! and we didn’t even list them all.   Recently, John and Larry Gassman had a chance to sit down with John Wilder and talk about his days in radio.

 

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Charlie McCarthy on the cover of Radio Mirror

Oh my goodness, that’s me and ah yes, I will be making an appearance at this years REPS SHOWCASE.  And oh how delighted I am to  be back at the very familiar microphone which Bergen and I called home for so many years, first on NBC and then CBS, and now to be on the REPS Radio soundstage.  Rumor has it that we will be “showcasing” one of the legendary broadcasts made famous on the Charlie McCarthy radio show not too many years ago.  I have always enjoyed my visits to REPS where I have  received the utmost respect from the fans of radio.   I did not always  receive that same respect during those Golden Days of Radio you know.  No, you say?  Do you think I jest?  Why,  do you recall back in 1938 when Orson Wells almost destroyed the world with his Martian Broadcast?  Orson’s version of  the War of the Worlds was broadcast on CBS in the time slot directly competing with the Chase and Sanborn Program (which featured Bergen and I ) on NBC.    I don’t think I would be bragging if I mentioned that our program was a very popular Sunday night attraction back in 1938 with an audience much larger than Orson could have ever imagined for his CBS show.  It has been suggested that it was I who saved the world that very evening on October 30th, 1938 due to the fact that so many people were listening to me that they failed to hear the War of the Worlds broadcast.   Could you just imagine the increased panic if all those people who were listening to me had actually heard Orson’s show instead?  I just shudder thinking about it.   Just days after the broadcast there was talk that Bergen and I had done a tremendous service.   I felt so proud of this fact until I read an article in the Daily News  —  ” War of the Worlds Radio Hoax Stirs Terror, Dummy Helps Save the World“.      A tad bit disrespectful might’n you say?     But  I am not going to be bothered by something that happened over 70 years ago.   I am oh so focused on the present day and very much looking forward  to once again being at the microphone and bringing back one of the great Charlie McCarthy shows from yesterday.   It’s all happening  Friday evening,  April 15th at the REPS SHOWCASE. See you there!

Charlie McCarthy will be played by A REPS performer for the 2016 Showcase.

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Gloria McMIllan Portrait Stuffy Singer Portrait Beverly Washburn Portrait

This morning I was thrilled to receive confirmation that Gloria McMillan, Stuffy Singer and Beverly Washburn have confirmed their attendance at this years’s REPS SHOWCASE. Three nicer people you could not meet.   I first met Gloria McMillan in 2009 when I attended my first REPS SHOWCASE.   Gloria was directing the radio version of the Wizard of Oz for which I was asked to do the barking for Toto and also to provide a couple of munchkin voices.  How they knew I specialized in animal sounds and young children’s voices is anyone’s guess but there I was  in this amazing production and very thrilled to be a part of it.  Gloria from the get go was extremely delightful and gracious and I enjoyed working with her immensely.  Gloria McMillan  is best remembered for her long running role of Harriet Conklin on Our Miss Brooks but she has an endless  number of radio appearances.  I am really looking forward to seeing Gloria, Stuffy and Beverly.     Stuffy started out as a young child actor in radio before moving on to television.  Later he became a world class athlete before becoming  a  successful financial advisor based in Southern California (the profession he has held for the last 30 years).   Forget any preconceived ideas that you may have had  about financial advisors being introverted and well, er “stuffy” (no pun intended) because  Stuffy Singer is not . . . . he’s a whole lot of fun.  From the time he arrives in Seattle on Thursday evening until Showcase ends on Sunday afternoon,  we have shared  many laughs together and  entertained a good story or two.  I imagine Stuffy to have been somewhat of a prankster when he was young.  Stuffy Singer gave up acting many, many  years ago but in the 40s and 50s  he had a very long list of radio and early TV credits.   His most notable appearances included Fibber McGee and Molly, The Great Gildersleeve,  Suspense  and many other shows.   Now Beverly , she is  just one of the sweetest , nicest and caring people I know and she still continues to do some acting today and boy is she a great actress.  At the 2015 Showcase she brought down the house with her intense and emotional performance of a wife who has just moments to save her husband from the electric chair after he was wrongly convicted.  The performance received a standing ovation which should not surprise anyone considering that Beverly has years of professional experience starting  in radio and motion pictures and then on to over 500 TV appearances.

 

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The Green Hornet BY Martin Grams Paul Carnegie Portrait

An exciting  dramatization of a Green Hornet broadcast  that you’ve  probably never heard and  a visit from the man who played Kato in the radio series.
That man is Paul Carnegie.  The Southeastern High School grad was hired to work in the WXYZ sound-effects department, considered one of the best in the business. That was “pretty heady stuff” for the teenager, who got paid $1 an hour and was responsible for sound effects on many well known shows including the legendary Lone Ranger.   “Whenever some character was socked on the jaw, I’d smack the palm of my hand with this little pad of rubber,” he says. “It hurt like hell.” Galloping hoofbeats were created by pounding small toilet plungers into a box of dirt.  A companion show of The Lone Ranger was The Green Hornet.   The Hornet series began on radio station WXYZ on January 31st , 1936 and was supplied to the Mutual Broadcasting System beginning April 12th, 1938 and later to the Blue network and its successor the ABC Radio Network.   Towards the end of the series run, Paul Carnegie  began playing the part of Kato (assistant to the Green Hornet).   Mr. Carnegie will join us this April at the REPS SHOWCASE to lead the way in bringing  The Green Hornet back  to the radio microphone.   Courtesy of Radio Historian, Martin Grams, who has provided the original radio script for this exciting Green Hornet adventure of  which there is no known recording, so unless you happened to have heard the original broadcast back in 1938,  chances are this exciting adventure will be completely new to you.
The Green Hornet Returns!

 

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