play_arrow

keyboard_arrow_right

Listeners:

Top listeners:

skip_previous skip_next
00:00 00:00
chevron_left
volume_up
  • cover play_arrow

    Racketeer Radio KFQX The New Golden Age of Radio

THE ALDRIDGE FAMILY

Saturday & Sunday at 11:00 AM PST

Background
share close
Saturday 11:00 am 12:00 pm
Sunday 11:00 am 12:00 pm
AD

The creation of playwright Clifford Goldsmith, Henry Aldrich began on Broadway as a minor character in Goldsmith’s play What a Life.[2] Produced and directed by George AbbottWhat a Life ran for 538 performances (April 13, 1938 to July 8, 1939). The Broadway cast included Eddie BrackenBetty Field and Butterfly McQueen. The actor who brought Henry to life on stage was 20-year-old Ezra Stone, who was billed near the bottom as the 20th actor in the cast. Stone was also employed as the play’s production assistant.

When Rudy Vallee saw the play, he asked Goldsmith to adapt it into some sketches for his radio program, and this was followed in 1938 by a 39-week run of a sketch comedy series on The Kate Smith Hour with Stone continuing in the role of Henry. Smith’s director, Bob Welsh, is credited with the creation of the “Hen-reeeeeeeeeeeee! Hen-ree Al-drich!” opening, which eventually became one of the most famous signature sounds in radio.

After finding an audience with Smith’s listeners, The Aldrich Family was launched in its own series as a summer replacement program for Jack Benny in NBC‘s Sunday night lineup, July 2, 1939, and it stayed there until October 1, 1939, when it moved to Tuesday nights at 8 p.m., sponsored by General Foods‘s popular gelatin dessert Jell-O, which also sponsored Jack Benny at the time. The Aldriches ran in that slot from October 10, 1939 until May 28, 1940, moving to Thursdays, from July 4, 1940 until July 20, 1944. After a brief hiatus, the show moved to CBS, running on Fridays from September 1, 1944 until August 30, 1946 with sponsors Grape Nuts and Jell-O before moving back to NBC from September 5, 1946 to June 28, 1951 on Thursdays and, then, as a Sustaining program in its final run of September 21, 1952 to April 19, 1953 on Sundays.

Beginning on July 5, 1946, the program ran for 10 weeks on Friday nights as a summer replacement for Kate Smith Sings. The sponsor, General Foods, used the time to “promote its salt product … instead of Grape Nuts”.[3]

The show was a top-ten ratings hit within two years of its birth (in 1941, the show carried a 33.4 Crossley rating, landing it solidly alongside Jack Benny and Bob Hope). Earning $3000 a week, Goldsmith was the highest paid writer in radio, and his show became a prototype for the teen-oriented situation comedies that followed on radio and television.

Stone kept the lead role until 1942, when he entered the Army for World War IINorman Tokar succeeded Stone as Henry for two seasons. Best known for his later work directing the television hit Leave It to Beaver – whose approach of telling its stories from the vantage point of a child may have been inspired by the similar implication in many Aldrich episodes – Tokar also helped write many of the Aldrich episodes. On The Aldrich Family, Tokar was followed by Dickie Jones (1943–44) and Raymond Ives (1944–45), before Stone returned to his signature role. Bobby Ellis became the last Henry Aldrich in 1952.


Rate it
AD
0%