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Errol Flynn MC of “Gulf Screen Guild Radio Show” 1939

15 Apr

— David DeWitt

 
7 Comments

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  1. Tina

    April 16, 2013 at 6:22 pm

    In those days Radio was it, it was today’s TV!
    Wow – can anybody relate to that – Radio Only? What a different time that was and not so long ago! Is there anybody around in our days who still listens to a radio in their own home?

    When I listen to those (Errol) radio shows they bring up funny feelings in me like old memories come alive, surrounding me with recollections of when life was slower and somehow a kind of meaningful presents and the reminiscence of my childhood and that as a young woman – reliving the past! Feelings are sure hard to describe!

    I like to here Errol speak as a conférencier, gives me a different feeling maybe a comparative nearness than when seeing him in a movie part.

    Am I alone with with those quirky thoughts and feelings?

     

    • Inga

      April 16, 2013 at 6:38 pm

      The most interesting thought for me is always to imagine how it worked. Whether the actors learned their text by heart or had prompt cards and what the stage looked like. When I listen to them I try to “see” this, but it’s hard if you haven’t seen it before.

       

      • David DeWitt

        April 16, 2013 at 10:27 pm

        [img]http://www.theerrolflynnblog.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Color-Robin-Hood-Radio-show.jpg[/img]

        This is a “colorized” version of a typical radio show performance in front of an audience although you do not see the sound effects table or other technicians working, too! Often as not, these shows were performed in front of a live studio audience. Errol may have earned as much as 5,000 dollars for such a performance, so it was very lucrative for actors. It must have been a very nice way to spend an evening for the audience …

         

      • David DeWitt

        April 17, 2013 at 11:55 pm

        My father’s name was Earl DeWitt – he grew up listening to the radio as you suggested – and we used to have a big flat desk looking radio-record player with a lid on it that you raised to listen to the records. We used to gather around it to listen to the Saturday night fights that were broadcast on the radio when they were not carried on the TV; and it was like you were really there listening to the blow-by-blow commentary and hearing the crowd … good memories for me! My dad had a 15 minute radio show for awhile when I a lot younger; he was promoting Alcohol Anonymous on the show, and I could hear his voice coming out of the radio the first time I heard the show and then walked into the kitchen and told my mother that there was some guy pretending to be my dad on the radio! She explained it to me …

         

        • Tina

          April 18, 2013 at 3:55 am

          Hi David;
          This is a nice story about your father and a great memory of yours and about radios. Thanks for sharing!
          I wonder if our other authors have a story or experience of radios they could relate to us.
          Nice memories are very precious!

           

  2. timerider

    May 6, 2013 at 9:42 pm

    When I hear old time radio it gives me goosebumps! Memories of the Shadow and ” The Shadow Knows”!
    My dad would leave the car radio on to keep me busy while he did some sort of biz. I remember the clip clop of horses and doors opening, closing, footsteps walking and running etc. When I got older I found out how they did all that and it was very interesting. If I put myself into a memory mode I can almost feel and sense the 50’s quite and slowness. Things closed down after a certain hour and all was quite, except for NYC of course!LOL!
    Remember the jokes coming from W.C. Fields about Philadelphia?? LOL!

     

    • David DeWitt

      May 6, 2013 at 10:08 pm

      I remember listening to some of these shows that were broadcast in the 80’s – once we got eBay, you can go find tons of these shows on DVD for pennies! There were hundreds of shows dedicated to everything from Sports, to history, to comedy, drama, all sorts of shows and they so entertaining. Errol has a radio show of which I have only been able to find one show: MARBLE ARMS, in which Errol plays a descendent of Casanova … the show is set in Jamaica, and mentions the Titchfield Hotel … but it great to listen to various show because sometime they were radio versions of movies, and sometimes, different actors played the parts you remember from the films! Many were ongoing original material and families sat by their radios swept away in their imaginations by what they heard on the radio. Today they are mp3’s and you can get an entire series on one DVD or many, many hundreds of shows on one DVD collection. I have about 1,000 Lux Radio shows, which have every major star in Hollywood appearing on their weekly radio show …