“…Jell-O tap…ioca pudding, yes sirree…”

After the Benny broadcasts, I decided to entertain myself with a couple of broadcasts from one of my favorite radio sitcoms (and I know I’m in the minority here), The Aldrich Family. I enjoyed these two shows more than my last visit, simply because the Henry Aldrich, Ezra Stone, appears in both episodes.

The first entry, broadcast November 11, 1948, begins with a Jell-O commercial featuring Meredith Willson and his “talking people.” Willson had worked for General Foods before, as George and Gracie’s bashful bandleader on Maxwell House Coffee Time from 1945-48. I’m not sure if Meredith was either given a pink slip or decided to leave on his own, but it’s a shame he ended up having to be a pitchman for the gelatin dessert, particularly because the “talking people” (a group of people talking in harmony, if that’s possible) are pretty doggone annoying. (I’m guessing the home audience thought so, too, because they didn’t stay on the show very long.) The beginning finds America’s favorite teenage dorks, Henry Aldrich (Stone) and Homer Brown (Jackie Kelk), paying Henry’s girlfriend Kathleen Anderson (Jean Gillespie) a social call:

HENRY: Ring the doorbell, Homer…
HOMER: Boy, Henry—if Kathleen’s father had banned me from their house for three weeks…I wouldn’t come running back on my hands and knees…
HENRY: Homer, Mr. Anderson had every right…
HOMER: He did?
HENRY: Why, sure…quiet, Homer—I hear someone coming…wipe your feet!
HOMER: Before we even know if we’re welcome?
(SFX: front door opens)
ANDERSON: Oh…good afternoon…
HENRY: Good afternoon, Mr. Anderson…
HOMER: Good afternoon, Mr. Anderson…uh…it’s a nice afternoon, isn’t it?
ANDERSON: It is?
HENRY: Yes, sir…it’s such a nice afternoon we thought…why not come over and pass the time of day with good ol’ Kathleen?
ANDERSON: I see…
HENRY: And her family!
ANDERSON: Well, you’re here, so…come in (SFX: front door closes, he calls upstairs) Kathleen! Henry is here…
KATHLEEN (from upstairs): He is? Well, my goodness—tell him I’ll be down in just a second…
ANDERSON: She’ll be down in just a second…
HENRY: Yes, sir…thank you, sir… (very uncomfortable pause) uhm…well…
HOMER: Well…it’s a nice afternoon…
HENRY: It’s…it’s good seeing you again, Mr. Anderson…
ANDERSON: Again? Oh, yes—it’s been nearly a week since you’ve been here, hasn’t it?
HENRY: Why, uh…I think it’s closer to three…
ANDERSON: You don’t say…
HENRY: Uh-huh…
ANDERSON: Time certainly passes quickly under favorable conditions…
HOMER (after a pause): Did I mention that it’s a very nice afternoon?

Henry was “banned” from the Anderson residence for breaking a lamp, and he’s anxious not to repeat the experience again:

HENRY: Homer, stop walking around…I told you to keep your eyes on your feet…
HOMER: I am, Henry…gee whiz, I know exactly where they are…which is the lamp you broke?
HENRY: The table lamp there…
HOMER: No kidding…gee, you can hardly tell it’s been damaged…
HENRY: Homer, before it ran into my elbows it was a floor lamp…

Homer picks up a toy belonging to Kathleen’s brother, and it falls apart in his hands—so the two of them manage to sneak it out of the house and attempt to repair it before Mr. Anderson finds out. Unbeknownst to Henry and Homer, however—the toy was already broken, but what follows is a hilarious series of shenanigans: Henry’s sister (Charita Bauer) sees the fixed toy on the table, and donates it to the local police’s toy drive, which finds Henry and Homer trying to get it back, etc. This episode wraps up with a very funny ending to boot.

The second broadcast, from May 5, 1949, is one of my favorites, in that it was the very first Aldrich Family episode I remember listening to (I think I have about four copies of this darn thing, including CD, cassette and vinyl record.). Homer gets trapped into getting his girlfriend Agnes a gift for the anniversary of their first date, and in turn, he ropes Henry into selecting the proper gift—Henry’s girlfriend, Kathleen, has spotted Henry at the jeweler’s glancing at rings and relays this information to Agnes, who jumps to conclusions faster than you can say "Coming, mother!" Before he knows it, he’s engaged to Agnes—let the wacky complications ensue!

HENRY: Why not look at it this way, Homer—engagements have their advantages, too…
HOMER: Yeah? Name one…
HENRY: Well, they…well, you…there must be some advantages…otherwise, why would so many people do it?
HOMER: Name one, just one!
HENRY: Well, for instance, when you’re engaged—you don’t have to spend so much money on the girl…
HOMER: Oh yeah? What about the engagement ring? That alone will keep me broke for the next two years…
HENRY: Sure, Homer, but…
HOMER: The funny part is…I never even thought of Agnes as something you’d get engaged to…

After weighing several options, including running away from home, Henry tells Homer he should just call Agnes and tell her the engagement is off…this, however, is easier said than done, as the lovable but spineless milquetoast is no match for his formidable girlfriend:

HENRY: Homer, why didn’t you tell her about being too young to know your own minds?
HOMER: Well, she sounded so positive about the whole thing…boy, I got the feeling maybe it was illegal or something to call it off…
HENRY: Gee whiz…maybe it is…you know what, Homer—maybe you just oughta stick it out…forever, it necessary…she’s bound to get tired of you sooner or later…
 

(snip) 

HOMER: Henry, why did you have to glance at rings in the first place?
HENRY: I didn’t know Kathleen was going to be snooping around…
HOMER: Kathleen…that’s the trouble with girls, they talk too much…next thing you know, it’ll be all over school…Henry!
HENRY: What?
HOMER: Mr. Bradley will throw me out of school!
HENRY: See? I told you there were advantages to being engaged!

Naturally, the two boys do everything they can to extricate Homer from this predicament (as a confirmed bachelor, I sympathize with the guy), finally enlisting the help of Mr. Aldrich (House Jameson) to provide much needed legal advice. (I noticed in the booklet accompanying this CD that Staats Cotsworth, a.k.a. Casey, Crime Photographer, plays Homer’s dad Will in this episode—if this is true, it sure doesn’t sound like him.) Again, it's an amusing episode that takes the listener back to a more innocent time, when life was a lot simpler and even the best-behaved of teenagers managed to find themselves in hot water every week.

“Dad…could we have a man-to-man talk…?”

As part of the boom in transcribed syndicated programs during the late 1940s/early 1950s in Radio’s Golden Age, film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer decided to get in on the ground floor by producing several series based on their popular movie properties: Dr. Kildare, The Adventures of Maisie, and Crime Does Not Pay being notable examples. MGM also reunited the talents of Mickey Rooney, Lewis Stone, and Fay Holden for a situation comedy, The Hardy Family, a continuation of their phenomenally successful movie series that produced sixteen films from 1937-58.

The trials and tribulations of what was to become the all-American middle-class family from the small Midwestern town of Carvel first surfaced in A Family Affair (1937), a sweetly charming domestic comedy based on the Broadway play Skidding by Aurania Rouveyrol. Veteran stage and screen presence Lionel Barrymore essayed the role of Judge James Hardy, with Spring Byington as wife Emily and Rooney as Andy, his son (one of three Hardy children, though they lost one as the series got underway). The movie registered with the public, and studio mogul Louis B. Mayer (the Hardy films were among his personal favorites at MGM) commissioned a series that would eventually bring close to $25 million into MGM’s coffers. Barrymore and Byington were replaced in the second film, You’re Only Young Once, by Lewis Stone and Fay Holden, respectively, and they would play the roles of Judge and Mrs. Hardy for the remainder of the series (with the exception of 1958’s Andy Hardy Comes Home—Stone had passed away by that time, in 1953).

The Andy Hardy films were so profitable simply because they were so economically efficient to produce, and MGM also benefited in that many of the entries served as a training ground for their future starlets, like Judy Garland, Lana Turner, Donna Reed, and Esther Williams. However, they haven't stood the test of time too well; they have a gooey apple pie-quality that reminds me of the old Oscar Levant wisecrack in which he remarks that he would watch Doris Day but “I’m diabetic.” Of the entries I’ve seen (they crop up frequently on Turner Classic Movies), I’d say 1938’s Love Finds Andy Hardy is the best of the bunch; the presence of both Garland and Turner makes it at least an interesting look-see. My main problem with the series is that a little of Mickey Rooney goes a long way with me—I admire Lewis Stone’s ability to work alongside the always annoying Mick without giving in to the temptation of giving him a necklace of fingers.

It was with trepidation that I approached a pair of episodes of The Hardy Family last night while enjoying the carefree existence of my job. The series was produced for syndication from 1949-50, but it did manage to log some network time on Mutual from January 3, 1952-January 1, 1953. The debut episode has Andy landing a prestigious job as “junior executive” with the Carvel Magnesium Company, and he begins to strut around like the cock of the walk. Unbeknownst to the big-headed would-be businessman, “junior executive” is the company’s glorified euphemism for “office boy”—which he learns to his dismay shortly before his father, mother, and girlfriend Polly Benedict drop in for a surprise visit at his place of business. Episode two (1/10/52), which is curiously titled “Singing Star” although there is no singing whatsoever, has Andy showing a visiting female skiing champion the sights of the bustling little burg of Carvel; once again, his attempts to play the big shot are foiled thanks to a surprise birthday party being thrown for him by the folks.

I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised by The Hardy Family—it’s a classy production that benefits immeasurably from MGM’s gloss that in no way sounds like your usual syndication radio product from that era. (The studio audience actually sounds as if they’re enjoying a live radio performance compared to the usual “canned” reaction in transcribed shows.) As previous stated, Rooney, Stone, and Holden reprise their screen roles, and are joined by Eleanor Tannen as Andy’s girlfriend Polly (played in the movies by Ann Rutherford) and, though he’s not in these two episodes, his friend Beasey by perennial juvenile Dick Crenna. (Beasey was Homer Brown to Andy’s Henry Aldrich, and I guess that might be why I enjoyed listening to it, it does have a certain Aldrich Family-like quality, though I would certainly rather spend time with the Aldriches, if I had my druthers.) Rooney is, as usual, a bit hard to take, but Stone has this nice, dry, throwaway delivery that counteracts Rooney’s annoying qualities. In fact, I think The Hardy Family might be the best way to enjoy the family from Carvel; they don’t wear out their welcome in a half-hour, as opposed to a longer feature film. Pop in a CD and enjoy “the common joys and tribulations of the average American family”—you won’t be disappointed.

”Coming, Mother!”

One Thursday night I was engaged in a discussion with some of the regulars on #oldradio on IRC, and if memory serves me correct, I conducted an impromptu poll on how they felt about The Aldrich Family, since I had recently listened to a couple of episodes from that show. The results strongly suggested to me that I was in the minority in my fondness for this family situation comedy, so I guess it’s what one would describe as a “guilty pleasure.”

The Aldrich Family made its weekly debut as a series on July 2, 1939 over NBC Radio, and for the next 13 years was one of radio’s most popular comedy shows. It certainly isn’t a gut-buster by any stretch of the imagination, just a warm, gentle chuckle-type program that focused on—as the show’s announcer usually termed it—“the troubles of Henry Aldrich.” Henry was a decent, geeky kid who had a penchant for turning the simplest of everyday situations into utter disaster and chaos. There wasn’t any malice to his mayhem, however; he was just a lovable, well-meaning…um, screw-up.

The character of Henry Aldrich originated in a 1938 Broadway play, What a Life, written by playwright Clifford Goldsmith. Henry started out as a relatively minor presence in what was originally a heavily serious dramatic piece, but the play’s producer, George Abbott, suggested to Goldsmith that he transform the material into a comedy. Even after doing so, the author had reservations about its success—to the point where he once contemplated selling half-interest in the property in exchange for a winter coat.

What a Life later duplicated its stage success on the silver screen as a 1939 feature film released by Paramount and starring child star Jackie Cooper as Henry. (The studio then released a second Cooper-as-Aldrich film, Life With Henry, in 1941, and then followed that success with a series of nine B-picture comedies from 1941-44 with Jimmy Lydon in the title role.) But before the movies, the Aldrich family appeared on radio, thanks to Rudy Vallee, who had seen Goldsmith’s play and asked him to write some skits for his Fleischmann Hour program. After that triumph, producer Ted Collins signed Goldsmith and the cast to a 39-week stint on The Kate Smith Hour, and then in the summer of 1939, The Aldrich Family graduated to weekly series status as a summer replacement for The Jack Benny Program before returning for General Foods in the fall.

Each week, Henry Aldrich’s comical misadventures would begin with the sound of his mother calling “Henreeeee! Henry Aldrich!” with the teen responding in his cracked, pre-pubescent voice: “Coming, Mother!” It’s an opening that most people who’ve never even heard the series remember. Then Henry and his friend-in-dorkdom Homer Brown would strike up a chorus: Oh, the big red letters stand for the Jell-O family/Oh, the big red letters stand for the Jell-O family/That’s Jell-O!/Yum, yum, yum/Jell-O Pudding!/Yum, yum, yum/Jell-O tap…ioca pudding, yes sirree!

The adolescent tones of Henry were originally done by Ezra Stone (who had played the part on stage), who remains the best-known actor in the role of the “typical teenage boy.” Stone gave up the part in 1942 when he received a letter from Uncle Sam (“Greetings!”) and Norman Tokar, who had once been Stone’s understudy in What a Life, took over from 1942-43. Tokar also got a letter from the same relative, and veteran child actor Dickie Jones (the voice of Walt Disney’s Pinocchio) did the Henry thing from 1943-44. Jones succumbed to the Henry-Aldrich-caught-in-the-draft curse after that, being replaced by Raymond Ives until Stone returned to the part in November 1945. With the exception of Bobby Ellis in the 1952-53 season, Stone made the role of Henry Aldrich his bread-and-butter from then on. He later had a successful career as a television director (among his assignments, the TV version of The Aldrich Family) and also served as director of the David Library of the American Revolution. His pal Homer Brown was played throughout most of the show’s run by Jackie Kelk, who doubled as Jimmy Olsen radio's The Adventures of Superman. Visually, Kelk looked more like a Henry Aldrich than Stone did; a passage in Raised on Radio quotes Kelk as saying: “It was a big shock to people who came to see the show in the studio, because I looked more the part; I was slight and skinny. Ezra was this little fat man in a vest who smoked cigars.”

The two Aldrich Family episodes that I selected to take with me to work last night originate from the show’s final season in 1952-53. In the first show, the season premiere (September 21, 1952), Henry (Bobby Ellis) and Homer (Jack Grimes) have joined the Centerville High School debate team, and their first assignment is to argue the “horse” side of the statement “Resolved—that the steam engine has contributed more to the progress of civilization than the horse.” As they say in Sitcomland, the wacky complications ensue when with only a half-hour before the debate, they discover that they were supposed to study and debate the “steam engine” side. In a second episode originally broadcast November 23, 1952, Henry and Homer’s families are involved in a dispute over the last Thanksgiving turkey left in the town’s grocery store. While the shows are amusing, I miss the presence of both Ezra Stone and Jackie Kelk—to me, they are Henry and Homer. Ellis was brought in on the program’s last season no doubt because he was already playing the part on TV.

The Aldrich Family ushered in a wave of wacky teenager comedies on radio, among them That Brewster Boy (1941-45) and Archie Andrews (1943-53, based on the famous comic book character), and on the distaff side, A Date With Judy (1941-50) and Meet Corliss Archer (1943-56). I love every one of these goofy shows (although Archie tends to grate after an episode or two), but I still think The Aldrich Family is by far and away the best; it’s dated and corny, to be sure, but if you listen to it as it really is—a charming period piece—I think you’ll fall under its spell as I did. While I was employed at a Savannah, GA radio station from 1984-86, I often amused my co-workers by writing and performing little programs poking merciless fun at the owners; I “borrowed” the Henry Aldrich voice for the part of the general manager (whose father owned the station) as he was sort of a shallow, callous playboy who didn’t seem to be all that enthused to be in charge. They were quite popular with the staff, and so I owe a debt of gratitude to the one-and-only Ezra Stone. Just remember: For desserts that are delicious/There is something you should know/They are made by famous…J-E-L-L-O…