Elephantine Radio: The Way It Was, 10 June

1924: MEET NOT-SO-SILENT CAL---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.

CHANNEL SURFING . . .

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.

1956: DADDY-O---Kitty (Georgia Ellis) learns she's due for a slightly unnerving visitor---the father (John McIntire) who hasn't seen her since she was eight months old, on tonight's edition of Gunsmoke. (CBS.)

Matt: William Conrad. Chester: Parley Baer. Doc: Howard McNear. Sam: Lawrence Dobkin. Announcer: George Fenneman. Writer: John Meston.

PREMIERING TODAY . . .

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.