Conventions Covered, Conventions Broken: The Way It Was, 9-10 June

1924: ELEPHANTINE RADIO---The old-time radio era strikes a milestone when the Republican National Convention, which nominates incumbent President Calvin Coolidge to be their candidate (and would see him be elected to a full term in his own right, after he succeeded the late Warren G. Harding), is broadcast.

Coolidge has a reputation as a quiet man bordering on reclusiveness, but the GOP certainly picks the right man in terms of radio friendliness: Coolidge takes to radio and makes himself strikingly available to the new medium as well as the traditional press. Coolidge will be the first President whose inauguration is broadcast on radio; before his term expires, Coolidge will give over 529 press conferences, become the first President to give a political speech on the air, and sign the federal law that creates the Federal Radio Commission.

1993: STAMPED INTO HISTORY---Hitmakers who began making their hits in the final decade-plus of the old-time radio era---Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Clyde McPhatter (with and without Billy Ward and the Dominoes and, then, the original Drifters), Elvis Presley, Otis Redding (his first single, "These Arms of Mine," was issued during the final months of the old-time radio era in 1962), Ritchie Valens, Dinah Washington---are struck on postage stamps when the U.S. Postal Service rolls out "Legends of American Music, Rock and Roll-Rhythm and Blues."

CHANNEL SURFING . . .

9 JUNE

1929: MISS RUBY TAYLOR ARRIVES---While Andy (Charles Correll) continues wrestling with the Fresh Air Taxi Company banking problems, and forcing one creditor to come clean, Amos (Freeman Gosden) is anxious over seeing Ruby (Elinor Harriot) again
on tonight's edition of Amos 'n' Andy. (NBC.)

Writers: Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll.

1942: POT ROAST---It's Fibber's (Jim Jordan) favourite dish, it's Molly's (Marian Jordan) pleasure to make for him, and it's ruined by interruptions---and wheedling for dinner invitations---that only begin with La Trivia's (Gale Gordon) poll taking, on tonight's edition of Fibber McGee & Molly. (NBC.)

The Old-Timer: Bill Thompson. Harlow Wilcox: Himself. Mrs. Uppington: Isabel Randolph. Writers: Don Quinn, Phil Leslie.

10 JUNE

1935: LOSING TO SQUIRE---It turns out our heroes had very good reason to worry about Squire Skimp (Norris Goff, who also plays Abner) launching a rival movie theater, on today's edition of Lum & Abner. (NBC.)

Lum, Grandpappy: Chester Lauck. Abner, Dick Huddleston: Norris Goff. Writers: Chester Lauck and Norris Goff.

1944: DEATH IS A JOKER---Peter Lorre narrates and plays a murder defendant pleading to his jury about the surreal circumstances leading to the crime in question, on tonight's edition of The Inner Sanctum Mysteries. (Original: Blue Network; Rebroadcast: Armed Forces Radio Service.)

Host: Raymond Edward Johnson. Writer: Possibly Himan Brown.

PREMIERING 9-10 JUNE

9 JUNE

1890---Leslie Banks (actress: Theater of Romance), West Derby, U.K.
1900---Fred Waring (bandleader: Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians; Pleasure Time/Victory Tunes), Tyrone, Pennsylvania.
1905---Martha Boswell (singer, with the Boswell Sisters: The Boswell Sisters; The Woodbury Soap Show), Kansas City.
1908---Bob Cummings (actor: Those We Love; Cavalcade of America), Joplin, Missouri.
1910---George Bryan (announcer: Helen Hayes Theater; Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts), New York City; Joseph Julian (actor: Lorenzo Jones; The Adventures of Nero Wolfe), St. Marys, Pennsylvania.
1915---Les Paul (as Lester William Polsfuss; guitarist/composer: The Fred Waring Show; The Drene Show; The Les Paul Show), Waukesha, Wisconsin.
1922---George Axelrod (writer: Midnight in Manhattan; Grand Ole Opry), New York City.
1926---Mona Freeman (actress: Lux Radio Theater; Suspense), Baltimore.
1933---Dick Orkin (comedian: Chickenman; The Tooth Fairy), Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

10 JUNE

1889---Sessue Hayakawa (actor, with NHK), Tokyo.
1891---Al Dubin (lyricist: Mutual-Don Lee Dedicatory Program), Zurich.
1895---Hattie McDaniel (comedienne/actress: Beulah; Maxwell House Showboat), Wichita, Kansas.
1897---Boris Kroyt (violinist, Budapest String Quartet: The Library of Congress Concert), unknown.
1898---Norman Brokenshire (announcer: Music That Satisfies; Theater Guild On the Air), Murcheson, Ontario.
1903---Ernest Chappell (actor/announcer: The Fabulous Dr. Tweedy; Quiet, Please; The Big Story), Syracuse, New York.
1909---Larry LeSueur (correspondent, CBS News: This Week in Europe; The World Today), unknown.
1920---Anne Burr (actress: Mary Noble, Backstage Wife; Wendy Warren and the News), Boston.
1922---Judy Garland (as Frances Ethel Gumm; singer/actress: The Hardy Family; Good News of 1938; Lux Radio Theater), Grand Rapids, Minnesota.
1926---June Haver (as Beverly Jane Stovenour; singer: Hollywood Hotel), Rock Island, Illinois.
1931---Harlan Stone, Jr. (also known as Hal Stone; actor: Archie Andrews), Whitestone, New York.