RADIO/TV STARS

Some of TV's biggest stars rehearsed their roles on radio

The internet has allowed me to go back in time and hear network radio programs of the past. Dozens of internet stations now play old shows 24-7 for those who might have missed them the first time.

What you soon find out as you listen to radio programs of the 1940s and 1950s (along with the frequency of cigarette commercials) is that Jack Webb (pictured), Raymond Burr, and Lucille Ball all have something in common: Before they were TV icons, they were radio stars.

Webb, forever to be known as Sgt. Joe Friday on Dragnet, a TV hit that started on the radio, had several other radio roles before getting all the facts. He played Pat Novak, a smart-aleck detective who, when tangling with Inspector Hellman (played by Burr), would deliver lines like, “You couldn't smell a rat in a basement full of cheese" or “You couldn’t find a tractor on a porch.”

As Novak, Webb always had plenty of Raymond Chandler-like asides: “They had a cigarette girl, a long, leggy biscuit that wandered around trying to sell a sour smile at sweet prices."

Before going on to play Perry Mason, TV’s favorite lawyer (the man who never lost a case), Burr starred in one of radio’s best shows of the 1950s, the western, Fort Laramie.

Ball, who made history with I Love Lucy, honed her wild and crazy routine on radio’s My Favorite Husband where she played the “Lucy” part for three years—only with Richard Denning as the harried husband, not Desi Arnaz.

Another 50’s TV favorite, Robert Young, reprised the role he played on radio for five years before taking it to television. The name of the show never changed: Father Knows Best.

William Conrad played Matt Dillon on another great 50s radio show, Gunsmoke, before taking over as Cannon, the TV show that aired from 1971 to 1976. Conrad performed on dozens of radio shows in a career that spanned three decades. Some of my favorite Conrad shows include his efforts on the Escape series that aired on radio from 1947 to 1954.

Joseph Kearns, best known as Mr. Wilson on Dennis the Menace, was one of radio’s great workhorses. Like Conrad, Kearns played hundreds of roles from The Jack Benny Show to Suspense.

The connection between radio and Hollywood meant you not only watched movies—you heard them on shows like Lux Radio Theatre or Screen Director’s Playhouse with 60-minute radio versions of the hit films of the day. Stars often reprised their movie roles but sometimes you had casting adjustments (when original stars were unavailable): Alan Ladd played Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon, for example, while Cary Grant subbed for Joseph Cotton in A Shadow of a Doubt.

Jimmy Stewart starred in radio’s The Six Shooter in the 50s. Reportedly, Stewart didn’t want a cigarette sponsor for the show so he bowed out after just one season.

Vincent Price, so identified with horror later in his career, played it cool (maybe too cool) as Simon Templar in The Saint, the Leslie Charteris series from 1947 to 1951. Roger Moore played the role on the 60s TV show.

Alan Ladd entertained radio listeners with Box 13, an adventure series that only ran for a season (in 1948-49) but Ladd, who started on radio before becoming an actor, had plans to turn it into a TV series. Ladd died at the age of 50 in 1964.

Edmund O'Brien is another Hollywood star among the hit shows from radio’s past. The veteran actor, whose film noir credits include DOA, The Killers, and The Hitch-Hiker, was one of six men who played the insurance investigator with the action-packed expense account on Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, a radio show that ran from 1949 to 1962.

There were other stars who rode radio hits to TV such as William Bendix (The Life of Riley) and Eve Arden (Our Miss Brooks). Gale Storm starred in My Little Margie, a show that started on both TV and radio in 1952.

But the radio pipeline to television was short-lived. By the end of 1953, TV had established itself as America’s choice for home entertainment. The advertisers followed.