Island of Lost Christmas Specials: The Little Stranger on KFI Radio

 

The Island of Lost Christmas Specials.
An imaginary place where forgotten reels, discs, and U-Matics could be found in time for Christmas. 

The Little Stranger

Written by Forest Barnes, Sponsored by Bullock’s department stores.

Station KFI Los Angeles

Broadcast: Friday, December 22, 1939, Friday, December 20, 1940. Friday, December 21, 1941, Tuesday, December 22, 1942, Tuesday, December 21, 1943.

The Hook: A charming Christmas story sponsored by a west coast department store with many coincidences shared with an enduring Christmas serial.

A few years ago, I was researching Christmas radio legend Barbara Jean Wong (1924 - 1999) and her many performances as Arbadella on the Amos 'n' Andy Show, and her enduring performance as Judy in the Christmas serial "The Cinnamon Bear". It was in this research that I discovered she was advertised to have a lead role as a boy named Jimmy in the 1942 broadcast of "The Little Stranger", an annual Christmas play from KFI Los Angeles. 

Written by Forrest Barnes and sponsored by the Bullocks’ Department Store, "The Little Stranger" was the story of an orphan boy who is invited to his local church by a friend where he watches the Holy Christmas Story enacted. The story was broadcast over Los Angeles for 5 consecutive years beginning in 1939.

Ad for “The Little Stranger” from the Venice (CA) Vanguard. December 19, 1941. From Newspapers.com.

According to press releases, in the initial broadcast from 1939, the role of Jimmy was played by child actor Billy Cook (1928 - 1991). The supporting cast included Lurene Tuttle, Gale Gordon, Verna Felton, Theodore Osborn, and Howard McNear. All of these actors were part of the supporting cast of radio’s “The Cinnamon Bear” (1937). 

For the 1942 production radio's "Chinese Wonder" Barbara Jean Wong was advertised as “Jimmy”. Wong playing a boy named Jimmy is an amazing coincidence, since she is still heard annually as Judy Barton in the Cinnamon Bear; Judy's twin brother was named Jimmy. Also, one of her credited co-stars was Walter Tetley who was wrongly believed to have been the voice of Jimmy Barton for over 75 years.

Another coincidence with Wong is that like many of the Amos ‘n’ Andy Christmas Shows, the singing music was provided by the Paul Taylor Chorus.

Audio of “The Little Stranger” is not known to exist as of this writing, and beyond press notices for the 1942 version, it is not known if Wong performed this role for another broadcast. It would be nice to read its script in place of missing audio to get a since of this Christmas tale that was special to it West Coast audience.

For Further Reading:

Stewart Jr., James R. “Barbara Jean Wong: A Delightful Voice of Christmas Past”. Old Radio Times. November-December 2022. https://www.otrr.org/FILES/Times_Archive_pdf/2022_06%20November-December.pdf

Barbara Jean Wong 100th Birthday Part I: OTR Child Star of the Month - March 2024

Barbara Jean Wong around age 9, from Radio Mirror July 1936. From Media History Digital Library

It was hard to decide on the Old Time Radio (OTR) Child Star of the Month, until I realized a very special star was born 100 years ago this month. 

Born 100 years ago today was Barbara Jean Wong (March 3, 1924- November 13, 1999) talented dancer, actress, singer drum majorette, acrobat, and later a public school teacher. She was known as "The Chinese Shirley Temple" and radio's "Chinese Wonder" as a child. Her specialty was as a voice chameleon who portrayed children of all races on the radio well into her adulthood.

Of all her roles from the Golden Age of Radio the most enduring today was the voice of Judy, one of the Barton Twins, on The Cinnamon Bear (1937), a captivating Christmas serial that is still broadcast on many stations today, and on The Amos 'n' Andy Show as Amos’ daughter Arbadella. She memorably played Arbadella Jones on the Annual Christmas annually from 1940 to 1960. 

Barbara Jean Wong was born in Los Angeles on March 3, 1924, to parents Thomas and Maye Wong. In the early 1930s for station KFAC she was a cast member of the “Whoa Bill” Club and acted in the radio skit “Billy and Betty” with actor Dorian Thompson. From these early broadcasts Wong is believed to have been the first Asian American to act in an American radio comedy or drama. 

She was cast was Asian, White, and Black children, girls and boys on many programs for the next 2 decades On Strange as it Seems, a radio program based on John Hix' comic strip which was similar to Ripley's Believe It of Not, she portrayed Alice (of Wonderland), even once portrayed George Washington as a boy which made national headlines

Radio was the theater of the imagination, and for Barbara Jean Wong there was no color or race, nor age. In the new medium of television, a 30-year-old Wong once commented that she found herself typecast as Asian women. She had appeared in several movies in the 1930s and 1940s always as Asian girls or women. One of her last film roles was in The Man From Button Willow (1965), an animated tale in which she played a little Asian girl, and a possible first introduction to Wong for those unfamiliar with radio's golden age,

Barbara Jean Wong Lee passed away November 13, 1999 at the age of 75. Today via radio and film collections on the internet her talented voice performances can easily be rediscovered. 

To Be Continued........For the month of March, I want to follow up this post with highlight for her childhood performances, and her performances as children.