This post was written by Matt Barton, curator, Recorded Sound Section. Born in the early 1920s, Bob Elliot (1923-2016) and Ray Goulding (1922 – 1990), better known as “Bob and Ray,” never knew a world without radio, and reveled in the medium from early childhood. They became professional announcers while still in their teens, eventually …
This blog post was written by Matt Barton, curator of the Recorded Sound Section. On September 18, 2009, The Guiding Light ended a television run that began June 30, 1952, and a broadcast history that began on radio on January 25, 1937. The show’s run covered 72 Thanksgivings in all, but as we’ll see, the …
This blog post was written by Matt Barton, curator of the Recorded Sound Section. Rex Stout (1886-1975) remains well known as the creator of Nero Wolfe, the blunt, erudite and mostly housebound detective with a passion for orchids and fine food. Stout wrote thirty-three novels and forty-one novellas from 1934 to 1975 detailing the exploits …
This blog post was written by Andrea Leigh, head of the Moving Image Processing Unit. As popular game show host Bob Barker once quipped, “We play games at home, we play games at parties, we go to clubs and play games. Americans love games.” Americans began listening to game shows on the radio and that excitement …
This blog post was written by Rachel Del Gaudio, a Moving Image Processing Technician at the Library’s Packard Campus. A typical day for me each year in early June is full of stress and frantic correspondence as the final details for the Library’s annual Mostly Lost Film Identification Workshop are organized. However, these are not …
This blog post was written by David Sager, research assistant at the Recorded Sound Research Center. John Philip Sousa (1854-1932), the American composer and bandleader, who was known as “The March King,” was a profoundly talented and accomplished man. His musical compositions went beyond marches and included operettas, waltzes, and songs. He also wrote several …
This blog post was written by Matt Barton, curator of the Recorded Sound Section. When The Mystery Chef and his eponymous radio program first appeared on NBC’s Boston affiliate WBZ in May of 1930, they were an almost immediate hit, and were soon being heard nationally over the network. The Great Depression was hitting hard …
This blog post was written by David Sager, reference assistant in the Recorded Sound Research Center. 102 years ago, the United States and the rest of the world were in the midst of a terrorizing Spanish influenza pandemic, referred to at the time as an epidemic. Industries were disrupted and injured, just as were …
This blog post was written by Matt Barton, curator of the Recorded Sound Section. Margaret Rupli (also known as Margaret Rupli Woodward, 1910 – 2012), a native of Washington, DC, had a long and distinguished career in public service. Her career as a war correspondent for NBC radio was much shorter, lasting only from January …