“…that lovable teenage girl who’s close to all our hearts…”

Most books on the subject of old-time radio have a tendency to classify teenager Judy Foster of A Date With Judy as a distaff version of Henry Aldrich. I’m not sure if I would agree with that; Judy was certainly more worldly that Centerville’s favorite nerdly son. She’d be much more likely to date Henry than be him—come to think of it, she pretty much did: boyfriend Oogie Pringle. (I wouldn’t be the slightest bit stunned to learn that the Pringle clan was an offshoot of the Aldrich’s family tree.)

A Date With Judy was created by veteran comedy writer Aleen Leslie, who had previously toiled at Columbia Pictures’ comedy shorts department (home to The Three Stooges, Andy Clyde, etc.) and had additional “teenager experience” on her resume writing for the likes of Deanna Durbin, Mickey Rooney and Paramount’s Henry Aldrich film series (hey, there’s an Aldrich connection!). The series was conceived with Leslie’s chum, actress Helen Mack, in mind—but Mack was forced to bow out after becoming "great with child." (Mack eventually came back to Judy, but as the program’s producer-director—the only one of her gender on radio in the mid-1940s.)

Instead, the role of Judy Foster went to 14-year-old Ann Gillis, a Bob Hope protégé, and A Date With Judy premiered on June 24, 1941 as Hope’s summer replacement. The sitcom did a second hitch as the comedian’s summer relief in 1942, with Dellie Ellis replacing Gillis; finally, in 1943, the actress best-remembered in the part—Louise Erickson—landed the gig as the show replaced The Eddie Cantor Show that summer. The series then achieved full-time status on January 18, 1944, running for the most part as an NBC staple until its last season, when it switched to ABC before bowing out May 25, 1950.

In the broadcasts that I’ve listened to, I’ve been struck by the fact while A Date With Judy isn’t the most sophisticated sitcom, the strength of the series lies in its acting; Erickson has always been a favorite of mine, her easily-identified, clear-as-a-bell voice enlivening many a sitcom, including The Great Gildersleeve (she played niece Marjorie Forrester from 1944-48) and The Life of Riley. (Erickson was on Judy as early as 1942, only she played the part of Judy’s best friend Mitzi then.) 

I’m also a big fan of John Brown (The Life of Riley, The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet) who played Melvin Foster, Judy’s father, on the show beginning in 1944; Brown has this nice sardonic quality to his voice that sets Dad Foster apart from the other sitcom patriarchs in Radioland. But the crème de la crème of this group is the late, great Richard Crenna; while he achieved OTR immortality as Walter Denton on Our Miss Brooks, his Oogie Pringle was most assuredly King of the Dorks (“Boy, Judy, do you look sna-a-zzy!”). Other characters on the show included Dora Foster (Judy’s mother, played by a wide array of actresses but most notably Myra Marsh), Judy’s precocious kid brother (Dix Davis), and Mitzi, Judy’s gal pal and co-conspirator (future Mrs. Kravitz Sandra Gould).

In the first (an AFRS show dated April 3, 1945) of two broadcasts previewed by yours truly last night at the bane of his existence (that’s a job, son!), Judy is scheduled to interview actor Charles Boyer (“Hedy…Hedy…”) for her high school magazine. The matinee idol has been making a series of personal appearances on behalf of the Red Cross:

JUDY: Oh, Randolph—we’ll be there in a minute…maybe you better not say you’re my brother…he might think it’s funny, me having my brother with me…
RANDOLPH: Yeah, I’ll just say I’m your baggage man…
JUDY: Randolph, aren’t you excited? Aren’t you palpitating?
RANDOLPH: Nope—Charles Boyer doesn’t do a thing to me…
JUDY: He doesn’t? I think he’s divine…in the movie Gaslight when he said to Ingrid Bergman: “Get me the little picture”—I just quivered all over…
RANDOLPH: Hmm…that’s funny…not even my hand shook…
JUDY: Doesn’t any movie star make you palpitate, Randolph?
RANDOLPH (in a reverie): Only Margaret O’Brien…
JUDY: Really?
RANDOLPH: Yeah…she’s my dream woman…
JUDY: I wonder how Charles Boyer will react to me…I wonder if he’ll think I’m attractive…I wonder if I ought to flutter my eyelashes at him…
RANDOLPH: I wonder if they’ll fall off…
JUDY: Maybe I ought to take them off…maybe I ought to appear in front of him just a simple, unvarnished country girl…perhaps he prefers the simple, unsophisticated type…he must get so tired of looking at beautiful, perfectly groomed women of the world like Hedy Lamarr…
RANDOLPH: Oh, I’ll bet he’s sick and tired of looking at Hedy Lamarr…I should have that pleasure…

Unbeknownst to our teen heroine and her little bro, Boyer has had a reunion with an old Parisian friend (Joseph Kearns, whose Gallic accent is almost as good as Boyer’s real one) who’s asked his daughter to stop by and pay “Uncle Charles” a visit. So, in typically wacky sitcom fashion, Boyer mistakes the obviously non-French Judy for his friend’s daughter Nannette:

JUDY (sighing): It’s you, Mr. Boyer…
BOYER: Yes…yes, it is I…
JUDY: I mean, uh…c’est vous, Monsieur Boyer…
BOYER: Oh, it’s so good of you to come and see, ma petit chu…
JUDY: Who? Me?
BOYER: I’m so happy you are here…
JUDY: Jeepers! You are?
BOYER: Come here…come here where I can look at you more closely…
RANDOLPH: It’s a good thing you took those eyelashes off…
JUDY: Oh, this is…uh…my friend Randolph…
BOYER: Oh, how do you do?
JUDY: Uh…garcon, you know…
BOYER: Oh yes, I see…I see…
RANDOLPH: Glad to meetcha…
BOYER: Won’t you sit down, both of you?
JUDY: Thank you…
BOYER: So…the little baby…
JUDY: Are you speaking to me?
BOYER: You know, you are prettier than ever, my dear…
JUDY: I am?
BOYER: Still so graceful in every motion…and still with the curly blonde hair…
RANDOLPH: Oh, she touches it up a little…

Informed that Nannette is an aspiring opera singer, Boyer asks Judy if she will entertain at the Red Cross rally he’s due to speak at that evening in the high school auditorium. Judy decides to bypass La Traviata and settles on a ditty called “Bobby Sox Blues.” (Erickson isn’t bad, but I hope she wasn’t planning to try out for American Idol anytime soon.) Of course, Boyer eventually learns that he’s the victim of a case of mistaken identity and Judy is equally bummed out, feeling guilty that she’s cheated Nannette out of a great opportunity. Fortunately, Boyer arranges a scholarship for the budding diva (Nannette, not Judy) and everything turns out for the best.

The second broadcast, originally heard over ABC Radio on November 3, 1949, is also musically-themed: Mr. Foster has been driven to distraction by the fact that “Oogie Pringle and His High School Hot Licks” can only rehearse in the Foster’s garage—so he devises a cunning scheme, convincing Judy to get Oogie a radio gig with predictably hilarious results. The highlight of this show is Crenna’s rendition of the Date With Judy theme song, so if you’ll open your hymnals we’ll lay one down...

I’m not a wolf, I never flip, I do not flirt
I’m not the least chi-chi
I’m not a wolf, I’m just a drip, a little squirt
But there’s a beast in me
I’ve got a date with Judy
A big date with Judy
Oh jeepers and gee
I’ve got a date with Judy
And Judy’s got one with me
My heart is shootin’ rockets
There’s dough in my pockets
I’m high as a kite
I’ve got a date with Judy
And Judy’s mine for tonight
My manly lure, my wild amour
I’m holding in reserve
I cannot wait—to oscillate
But will I have the nerve
I’ve got a date with Judy
I’ve snagged one with Judy
Oh jeepers and gee
I’ve got a date with Judy
And Judy’s got one with me!!!

Thank you, and I hope we passed the audition. Judy Foster’s misadventures later became fodder for the silver screen in the 1948 MGM feature film A Date With Judy (my friend Amy is nuts about this picture, which stars Jane Powell, Elizabeth Taylor and Robert Stack) and was also one of the many radio-to-TV transplants, with a daytime series in 1951 starring Pat Crowley and a prime-time version from 1952-53 with Mary Linn Beller (and John “Ethelbert” Gibson as Melvin Foster).

Like many radio sitcoms of the Golden Age era, A Date With Judy comes across a tad dated to modern-day ears—yet it’s still enjoyable, with nearly thirty episodes extant today for fans to enjoy. (A standout episode is a March 20, 1945 broadcast guest starring Mr. Francis Albert Sinatra himself—Judy dreams that Frankie and Oogie have switched places as her favorite silver screen heartthrob and boyfriend. Uproariously funny, with Sinatra in particularly peak form.)