Uncle John Daggett, Queen Titiania and the Fairyland of KHJ Radio

Clip of "Uncle John" Daggett in "Mary, Queen of Tots" (1925) 

** = UPDATED: December 30, 2020. 

"Uncle John", or John S. Daggett (1878-1945) was a radio station manager for KHJ in Los Angeles in the 1920s. As host of its popular evening children's program Daggett worked with several radio and screen child stars in the area throughout the 1920s. His cameo in the 1925 Our Gang/Little Rascals short "Mary, Queen of Tots" is great for viewing rare footage one of the first children's "Uncles" figures in broadcasting.

Los Angeles Times, September 24, 1924. "Uncle John" Daggett can be seen with glasses in the upper right. The caption says that this was a birthday party for Muriel MacCormac (1918-2000) a silent child actress probably most famous today for playing the blind girl healed by Jesus in Cecil B. DeMille's King of Kings (1927). 

In it's earliest years KHJ Los Angeles was owned by the Los Angeles Times, later CBS, and then became one of the Don Lee Mutual stations. The KHJ "Children's Hour" usually ran Tuesdays or Wednesday evenings at 6:30pm Pacific Time, and featured a few child stars who also appeared in the motion pictures like Joyce Coad, David Durand, Leon Ramon (Leon Janney), Lois Jane Campbell and Johnny Downs. In the early radio days, this west coast program could be heard as far away as Atlanta, Georgia.

Helene Pirie, "Queen Titiana", "The Fairy of the Microphone" of the KHJ Fairyland.
Los Angeles Times, August 24, 1924. 

The most famous child performer on the program was Helene Pirie (1916-1988) who was known as "Queen Titania", the "Fairy of the Microphone". After she began appearing as this character in the fall of 1923, her real name was rarely given in publicity so she was known as "The Mystery Child of Radio". A growing theme of the Children's Hour was to transport young listeners to "Fairyland" with Queen Titania, to the "Fairy Garden", the "Moonbeam Express" among other wonders. She was joined by the "Sandman" and Uncle John under the title of the "Sandman's Hour" and sometimes the "Radio Fairies". As Queen Titania, Pirie made public appearances on behalf of KHJ and the Los Angeles Times. The Fairyland program was so popular that even Paramount Studios actress Betty Bronson "The Peter Pan Girl" made a guest appearance in April 1925 for KHJ's 3rd anniversary. 

"Queen Titania's Radio Fairies" by Oliver Garrison Pirie, Helene's father. Very rare signed book from KHJ with photos and stories from the radio Fairyland. From The blogger's collection. 

**Pencil and ink signatures of "Queen Titiania", "Sandman" and "John O. Daggett, Uncle John KHJ". From the Blogger's Collection. 

Press articles of the time suggest a promising career as a child film star was planned for Pirie. She was selected by Ivan Kahn (1890-1951) to star in a series of kid films called the "Kahn Kid Komedies. Photo stills at the Young Entertainer's Directory (possibly from the Ivan Kahn Collection at the Margaret Herrick Library) show that this series existed, or was at least initiated. Only two film roles appear on Pirie's IMDB profile, one of which was a MacDougal Alley Kids short "Getting Hitched" from 1926. 

**Pirie did have a small role as "Aggie" in the 1926 drama "Paradise of Sunshine Valley". This film may be her only surviving performance. It was preserved by the Library of Congress and can be seen at their website and on the "Cine Mudo - Silent Films" YouTube Channel. Her scenes are primarily in the film's first 15 minutes. 

The Children's Hour Fairyland broadcasts continued as late as October 1927 when it was announced that Queen Titania had made 200 consecutive broadcasts. "Uncle John" Daggett, the "Sandman" and Helene "Queen Titania" Pirie would make occasional public appearances as their beloved roles in Los Angeles into the early 1930s. 

When Captain America Fires His Blazing Gun? The Republic Serial at 75 and the Decline of War-Time Heroics

1944 newspaper ad for Captain America serial. 

In 1943 at the peak of World War II there were nine Saturday morning cliffhanger serials, all but two of which featured wartime storylines. The most famous chapter play of the year, Columbia Pictures' The Batman (1943), pitted the DC comics character against a Japanese spy. Also popular was Republic Pictures' The Masked Marvel (1943, which also recently turned 75), that like "Batman" featured a two-fisted masked hero against an Axis saboteur. They remain key efforts by Hollywood to include wartime themes in the serial genre that was largely geared toward younger audiences.

As early as January 1944 (but officially the week of February 5th) Republic's newest serial Captain America hit theaters. The 15 chapter serial is a small landmark for being the first film adaptation of any Marvel Comics superhero. It is widely known that the storyline and character portrayed bear no resemblance to the Timely (Marvel) comics figure of super-soldier Steve Rogers. Instead this Captain America is the costumed identity of district attorney Grant Gardener (Dick Purcell, in his final role; he died only a few months after the film's release) in his battle against the Scarab (Lionel Atwill), in reality a museum curator plotting revenge and the theft of advanced scientific weapons. There is no "mighty shield", kid sidekick Bucky Barnes, no Axis Powers, or any sign of any superpowers.

What makes the storyline changes extra interesting, in context of the time period, is that compared to 1943 only ONE serial out of the nine released from 1944 employed a wartime theme or villain, Universal's "The Great Alaskan Mystery". Throughout the year there was a steady return to the normal range of storylines associated with the genre like the fantasy adventure Haunted Harbor and the jungle favorite "The Tiger Woman". In 1945, the last year of the war, there was a spike of three war themed serials, Jungle Queen, The Master Key, and Secret Agent X-9, all form Universal Studios.

Newspaper ad for "Captain America" from the January 7th, 1944 edition of the Elmira (New York) Star Gazette. Notice there is no indication of the changes to the character. It is clear that "boys and girls" are the target audience with the free passes given out in local schools. 

Decades ago, serial historians suggested that this Captain America was made into a gun-toting, two-fisted district attorney because the script was originally written for another character "Mr. Scarlett". While this is a probable reason, another theory I propose is due to the overall decline in wartime themes in serial storylines in 1944 as the Allied Forces were approaching victory, there may have also been a push to eliminate elements from the Captain America character that would affect how seriously young audiences would take the war, and this may have led to a complete rewrite of the character for his screen debut.

1955 ad for the "Return of Captain America". The serial was popular enough for a re-release even after the end of the original "Captain America Comics" run. 

Captain America was popular enough for a theatrical re-release in 1953 as "Return of Captain America".

Clip of the cliffhanger ending of Chapter 1 "The Purple Death", and beginning of Chapter 2 "Mechanical Executioner". 

"Magic Shadows" was a Canadian series that would show American movie serials on TVOntario.
Captain America (1944) appears sporadically on many American and Canadian TV schedules

*(added April 26, 2019) The Captain America serial was reintroduced to new audiences in the 1970s via American and Canadian TV shows that played vintage movie serials to kids. Like most older millennials I rented "Captain America" from my local public library on VHS tapes in the 1990s. To date the serial has never had a re-release on DVD and Blu-Ray from a remastered 35mm print.