The Radio Shows of "A Christmas Story"

"Who's the little chatterbox? The one with pretty auburn locks?" Newspaper ad for the "Little Orphan Annie" radio program from the Evening Star [Washington, D. C.] November 11, 1936 

The holiday film classic "A Christmas Story" (1983) turns 35 this weekend. The popular comedy about little Ralphie's dream quest for a Red Ryder Carbine BB air rifle is a great reminder of a childhood when radio was the only electronic broadcast media in the home.

Three "Golden Age" radio programs popular with children are specifically referred to in the film: the western great The Lone Ranger, (the crossword puzzle clue); Red Ryder based on Fred Harmon's popular western comic strip (the theme music can be heard when Ralphie fantasizes about saving the day as the sheriff with his trusty rifle); and most clearly Ralphie's disappointment with the decoder prize from the Little Orphan Annie program.

A portion of "Betty and Buster Binks" an advertising comic page for Ovaltine, sponsor of the "Little Orphan Annie" radio program, from July 30, 1933. In the top left panel the kids talk about listening to "Annie" on the radio.

For years many people have wondered when exactly "A Christmas Story" takes place. Some sources say 1940, but based on old time radio history this is impossible.

In the scene where the father is trying to solve the crossword puzzle he reads aloud a clue about the name of the Lone Ranger's nephew's horse. The Lone Ranger's nephew Dan Reid never appeared on the program until December of 1942. Also the "Little Orphan Annie" radio program went off the air in April of 1942. So these were radio memories that could not have happened at the same Christmas time.

Merita Bakery was a regional sponsor of  "The Lone Ranger" radio series in the American southeast. This ad is from November 11, 1942, in the Wilmington Morning Star. 

Small tidbits like this can actually make "A Christmas Story" more fun and believable because it is the nature of human memory to not remember things perfectly. In a DVD commentary for the film director Bob Clark and author Jean Shepherd acknowledged that a specific date was not intended and it had an "amorphously late-'30s, early-'40s" setting.

Pointing out the accuracy of these dates is (to this author) just is a really fun excuse to talk about the radio shows that were a part of Ralphie's world.

The Christmas Story House. From Wikimedia Commons. 

From the Archives: Children's Magazines From 1978

Here a look at two children's magazine titles from 40 years ago, when a new magazine or comic was still less than a dollar.

Humpty Dumpty's Magazine For Little Children, April 1978

Jack and Jill, May 1978

Yes, this issue featured an interview with Lindsay Wagner, star of TV's "The Bionic Woman". Other issues that year featured interviews with Jacklyn Smith (Charlie's Angels) and Pamela Sue Martin (Nancy Drew Mysteries). Back issues of Jack and Jill magazines are interesting time capsules of children's (or well known to children) television programs.

Jack and Jill, June/July 1978. 

Children's Comics 006: King Leonard and His Short Subjects

Here is the front and back cover of Dell Comics No. 01390-207, May-July 1962, based on the popular Saturday Morning Cartoon series (1960 - 1963) by Leonardo Television Productions, Inc. King Leonardo, Odie Cologne, Tooter Turtle, Mr. Wizard the Lizard, The Hunter and the Fox, and other characters on the show were well written, and it is shame this series hasn't received a "complete" DVD release like "Underdog" or "Rocky and Bullwinkle".

From The Archives: "Little Women" Adaptations

Today there is a new version of the popular Louisa May Alcott classic "Little Women". There have been multiple film adaptations of the story since the 1910s. Here are some artifacts related to three media adaptations of the story across six decades. 

I have posted these images before, but this 1949 Dell Paperback tie in the MGM remake (they did one before in 1933 with Katherine Hepburn as Jo) is worth sharing again.

Alcott, Louisa M, Patti Mortensen, Janell Bohanna, Lucille Bliss, Karen Jurley, Judy Feil, Joseph Gostanian, Aurora Wetzel, and Ray Reinhardt. Little Women. San Francisco, CA: Mind's Eye, 1979. Sound recording.

 This audio drama version from the "Mind's Eye" series featured veteran voice actress Lucille Bliss (1916 - 1912) as Jo. Bliss is probably best remembered today as the voice of "Smurfette" on the 1980s animated "Smurfs" series.

This Christmas slim hardback edition features scenes from the 1994 adaptation of "Little Women" which starred Winona Ryder . It originally came with a ornament pendant.

The original novel with scene of the 1994 film.

This Month in Children's Media: September 2018, Part I

I missed all of the summer months, but could not pass up the history of the fall 1968 season.

50 Years Ago - 1968

Newspaper Ad for "Oliver". Philadelphia Inquirer, December 29, 1968.

Italian photo ad for "Oliver"

Film/Cinema
The live-action film musical Oliver, based on the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, premieres September 26, 1968. The film would win the Academy Award (Oscar) for best film.

Television
September 14, 1968 - This fall season was the beginning of a crackdown on violent content on Saturday Morning Cartoons. The following programs debuted that day.

"The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour" and on CBS Saturday Morning (1968–1971; 1975–1985; known as "The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show" from 1978–1985)

"Wacky Races" on CBS Saturday Morning (1968-1969)

Several Prime-time shows that were not geared specifically for children, but would have caught their attention include:

September 17, 1968 – Julia on NBC (1968–1971).
September 21, 1968 – Adam-12 on NBC (1968–1975).

Newspaper Ad for "Land of the Giants", sci-fi fantasy series that rand on ABC for until 1970.

September 22, 1968 – Land of the Giants on ABC (1968–1970).

Snippet from WBEN-TV ad for the debut of "Blondie" on CBS.
Niagara Gazette (New York), Thursday, September 28, 1968.

September 26, 1968 - Blondie CBS (1968-1969). Reportedly one of the biggest flops of the late 1960s, and dismissed as suitable only for children. That critique only make it more of a curiosity; maybe it should have been allowed to finish it's run on Saturday mornings (like Calvin and the Colonel did for ABC). This series would also be worth seeing for the good casting lead by Patricia Harty and Will Hutchins, and that one episode with Bruce Lee as a karate instructor.

Juvenile Mystery Collection - 002

After nearly a year, here is another round of mystery/detective book covers for young readers.

"Ken Holt: The Riddle of the Stone Elephant" by Bruce Campbell, 1949. Grossett & Dunlap

Ken Holt was a world traveling adventurous teen, and the son of a foreign correspondent. "Bruce Campbell" was the psuedonym for Sam and Beryl Epstein. The 18 book series was published by Grossett & Dunlap from 1949 - 1968.

"Robin Kane: The Mystery of the Blue Pelican", by Eileen Hill, 1966. Whitman Publishing Co.

Robin Kane was a 13 year old sleuth in a series of six books published by the Whitman Publishing Company from 1966 to 1971. "Eileen Hill" was reportedly a pseudonym for Nicolete Meredith Stack (1896 - 1978), who also contributed to other girls book series. 

"Ghost Writer: Clinton Street Crime Wave" by Laban Carrick Hill, 1994. Bantam Books.

Ghost Writer was a very popular mystery series that aired on PBS in America from 1992 to 1995. In serialized mystery stories a group of kids would solve mysteries with the help of an invisible ghost that would use words from many objects to help solve the case. I can still remember the storyline in which one of the kids, Jamal, was framed for burning down a video store. 

"The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo: Hot Rock" by John Peel, 1997. Pocket Books, New York. A series of 15 books based on the Nickelodeon TV series were published. 

The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo was a Nickelodeon series about the cases of a Chinese-American teenage police department intern. Running from 1996-1998, it was a fun series, and it is surprising that there have not been that many more live action kid detective shows since.

"Children's Sketch Book" and Lisl Weil.

Children's Sketch Book was a live drawing and storytelling series featuring Edith Skinner* as the rhyming storyteller with songs and drawings by illustrator Lisl Weil. The series aired from WNBT New York for the NBC Network from March 12, 1949 to February 4, 1950.

Snippet of a 1964 press photo of Lisl Weil.

Lisl Weil (1910 - 2006) was an accomplished artist and illustrator of many children's books. Her first book for children Doll House, was published in 1946 about 7 years after she immigrated to America from her native Austria. Weil would write and illustrate dozens of children's books and she was also known to draw and perform for children in several live venues. In Wesley Hyatt's book "Short Lived Television Programs", Weil recalled being cast for the Children's Sketch Book series because they needed a young artist who could move and draw the artwork quickly.

Weil, Lisl. 1948, 1976. Bill the brave. Pleasantville, N.Y.: Reader's Digest Services.

Lisl Weil was also a artist and performer for Thomas Scherman's Little Orchestra Society's Concerts for Young People, in which she would create large charcoal drawings to music. While recordings of the Children's Sketch Book series do not seem to exist, a film of Weil drawing the story of The Sorcerer's Apprentice to music was uploaded to the Internet Archive by A/V Geeks and the Academic Film Archive of North America. This film gives us an idea of how a storytelling artist like Weil would have quickly told an illustrative story in front of a live camera.

*It is still unconfirmed if this was the same Edith Skinner who a professor of drama in New York at the time of this program.

Sources:

Hyatt, Wesley. 2003. Short-lived television series, 1948-1978: thirty years of more than 1,000 flops. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co.

Viguers, Ruth Hill, Marcia Dalphin, Bertha E. Mahony Miller, Ruth Hill Viguers, and Bertha E. Mahony Miller. 1958. Illustrators of children's books: 1946-1956. Boston: The Horn Book.

Woolery, George W. 1985. Children's television: the first thirty-five years, 1946-1981 Part 2, Part 2. Children's Television. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press.