A few months back I discovered old radio shows. It all started one evening when my daughter was off at a sleepover and husband was watching a movie in the living room. I retreated to my crafting space in the bedroom. The TV was especially obnoxious and loud that evening, so I turned it off and decided to do things "50's gal" style. She listens to old radio programs. I found this awesome website http://www.otr.net/ with hundreds of old radio shows on it.
The first shows I listened to were George Burns and Gracie Allen shows. Maxwell House Coffee were their sponsors.
Then I had to give Our Miss Brooks a listen because I played Miss Brooks in a high school play back in '92. (Yes, I was in the drama club and had two lead roles. I can't believe it either, and I could NEVER stand up there and do it now).
Fibber McGee and Molly are my absolute favorite! They were real-life husband and wife comedy team, Jim and Marian Jordan. Amazon.com has full episodes form 1941 that you can download to have with you wherever you go. I keep a few programs on my ipod (I'm such a radio nerd). I just love their full cast of characters knocking on their door, and long-running gags such as the "hall closet" and Molly's "taint funny, McGee." And I especially love Mr. Gildersleeve's laugh. The daycare kids like it when I pretend to be Mrs. Uppington.
Here is a full and complete Fibber McGee and Molly episode. You can give 'em a listen and see what you think :) You can even hear the old NBC chime at the very end. *hint* You can hear the radio program better if you pause the playlist that is off on the right hand side of the blog, first. :)
Wish I could remember where I found this 1945 magazine ad online. Anyways, Fibber and Molly were sponsored by the Johnson's Wax Co. and they made Glo-Coat. So a man by the name of Wilcox would drop by the McGee's home and comment on how lovely Molly's floor would be and that she must use Glo-Coat. It was interesting to listen to the clever ways they could work a commercial for Glo-Coat right into the script!
A woman from the 1930's tuning in her radio. If I had lived in the 30's or 40's I probably would've had a radio.
It makes me think...I'll bet life was a lot quieter back then. No dishwasher buzzing in the background, no video games, no TV's with their loud, fast and flashing commercials. I'd be willing to bet people spent more time in conversation. With no dishwasher, mom and kids talked while doing the dishes. Instead of zoning out in front of different TVs, in different rooms (because not everyone watches the same thing), I'll bet people sat around the living room and talked more. And if there was a radio program on most of them were for the whole family! I know I mention 50's gal a lot but I'll never forget one of her blog entries where she showed two photos (I wish I could find the entry, I'd link you to it). One photo was of a family going on a picnic, child on dad's shoulders, picnic basket in hand. The other was of a family of four, all sitting on the same huge sofa, but all doing different things. They were together, but not listening to each other, not talking to each other. Mom had a laptop, dad was on his phone, sister was listening to an ipod and brother was playing nintendo DS. She said something about how we've gone from one way of living to the other, And whether or not it worth it?" I hope I'm not ruffling anyone's feathers, and I'm not saying that I don't like technology, I do. I love my ipod and my laptop and I do watch a little TV, but I think it is easy to let those things come between us and what's going on around us. Sometimes it's okay to shut it all off for a bit, I think our brains appreciate a little quiet time once in awhile.
Anyways, I got a little off-track there. It seems sometimes I get going and don't want to stop until my thought is out of my head lol. On to happier things.
One of my goals is to find a cute little 'ole radio for my kitchen. Even better, a reproduction that I could hook my ipod to and have my oldies and old radio programs coming through what looks to be an antique radio.
This little radio was in The 'Ole Malt shop in Garrison ND. I think it's a reproduction with CD player by Memorex. Cute!
Here's a Crosley AM/FM CD player with alarm for about 100$--a little out of my price range, but still pretty cool I think!
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