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| 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.
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| 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
