Radio Daze Trivia Quiz

Answer: "Amos and Andy"

Amos Jones and Andy Brown head to Chicago with four ham and cheese sandwiches and 24 dollars. They start the Fresh Air Cab Company, so named as the cab had no roof. Amos evolved into a family man but Andy was a bachelor, giving the story line romantic twists. Later George 'Kingfish' Stevens was added who over time pretty much took over the show.

Few radio listeners realized that the voices of the three leads were played by two white men named Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll with Gosden voicing Amos and Kingfish and Correll doing Andy. They had learned their craft by studying minstrel shows. There were some protests among Black intellectuals and Black press in the early 1930s which went unheeded. In the early 1950s when the show was transformed into a television series, serious protests over racial stereotyping caused the TV version to be cancelled

Answer: Pine Ridge, Arkansas

The program centered on the activities at the Jot'em Down Store. Lum was played by Chester Lauck and Abner by Norris Goff. The comedy was often about rural life, various get-rich-quick schemes, and what some termed hillbilly humor, perhaps the antithesis of Amos and Andy.

The characters went from their 15 minute format to three movies. New producers expanded the program to 30 minutes and added an orchestra which pretty much became its death knell.

Answer: "Fibber McGee and Molly"

Jim Jordan was Fibber and Marian Driscoll was Molly. They were married in real life. The resided at 79 Wistful Vista. Fibber had no job and was a retired vaudevillian. Molly was his steady level-headed wife. Each week a cast of characters came to the house such as the old timer, Mayor LaTrivia, Doc Gamble, and Wallace Whimple to name a few. Familiar names who played some of these parts were Gale Gordon, Bea Benaderet, and Harold Peary. Audiences waited for Fibber to open his closet which was a sound-effects man pleasure to provide.

The two appeared in a couple of films playing their radio characters. There were periods when Jordan worked alone due to Driscoll's health issues. Molly's line "t'aint funny McGee" became a catch phase of that era.

Answer: "The Great Gildersleeve"

The Great Gildersleeve character was a regular visitor at 79 Wistful Vista. Because his character had some potential, Harold Peary got his own program. When Peary wanted to bolt from NBC to CBS in 1950, NBC since it has rights to the Great Gildersleeve name, refused to give the franchise.

Instead, NBC hired Willard Waterman to play Gildersleeve. CBS gave Peary a show formatted similar to the Gildersleeve was it was not very successful. There were, however four Gildersleeve movies made. The format of a bachelor raising children was repeated in such series as "Bachelor Father" and "Family Affair".

Answer: Marie Wilson

Wilson is most remembered for her role as Irma but she had a long and varied career in films from 1934 to 1962, only two which related to the radio show. The producer was sued as the concept was lifted from "My Sister Eileen" and lost. The plot often dealt with Irma's ineptness as a secretary and her love life. Cathy Lewis and Diana Lynn, former quiz kid, were actresses that played the common sense roommate Jane.

Answer: "Mr. District Attorney"

"Mr. District Attorney" graced the airwaves from 1939 to 1952. Mr. District Attorney was not given a name during the radio run of the program and was addressed as Chief. Four actors--Dwight Weist, Ray Johnson, Jay Joslyn, and David Brian--played the role through the years. Vicki Viola played secretary Edith Miller for the entire run of the show.

The program was to some extent based on the exploits of District Attorney Thomas Dewey of New York who later was a unsuccessful Presidential candidate.

Answer: "The Breakfast Club" with Don McNeil

"The Breakfast Club" continued from 1933 to 1968. McNeill was the cornerstone of the program that presented a variety of ad lib talk, comments on current events, musical interludes, visiting celebrities, audience participation--elements found in modern early morning radio and television. McNeill retired from public life in 1968 and died at 88 in 1996.

Answer: Bill Stern

Bill Stern worked for NBC and Ted Husing worked for CBS and so were in competition to broadcast major sporting events. Stern was an excellent play-by-play man and could make even dull games more exciting. In 1935 Stern lost a leg in an automobile accident that caused him in later years to be dependent on pain-killers. Stern's sport/human interest stories were often fact, sometimes myth, sometimes extrapolations but always intriguing.

Answer: "Jack Armstrong"

Jack Armstrong was a teenager who traveled with his uncle and some of his friends to exotic part of the world and had cliffhanging adventures where ever they went. It was a staple of late afternoon radio from 1933 to 1950. The original voice of Jack was provided by Jim Ameche, brother to Don Ameche. Attempts to make Jack Armstrong into a Saturday morning cartoon were unsuccessful due to copyright issues but "Johnny Quest" was certainly a clone.

Answer: "The Aldrich Family"

The derivation of this show was serpentine. First there was a successful Broadway play "What A Life" in 1938. Rudy Vallee made the characters a segment on his radio show as did Kate Smith. "The Aldrich Family" then became a summer replacement for Jack Benny, after which it found its own slot until 1950.

Although several actors played Henry, but Ezra Stone, who had played Henry in "What A Life", is most associated with the role. "The Aldrich Family spun out eleven films. Attempts to make it into a television series failed when Jane Muir, hired to play Mother Aldrich, was accused of being a communist and was blacklisted by the industry, thus dooming the television show.