tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30813011.post1904394142601325801..comments2023-10-14T08:44:46.615-07:00Comments on The Easy Ace: A Journal of Classic Radio: The Runaway Soap Princess: The Way It Was, 7 MarchJeff Kallmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00993306002655762270noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30813011.post-1321489962729273092007-03-07T14:10:00.000-08:002007-03-07T14:10:00.000-08:00Andrew---As best as I can determine, Portland Hoff...Andrew---As best as I can determine, Portland Hoffa talked at the top of her voice range in radio character (basically, a kind of breathless girl; Hoffa and Allen didn't portray themselves on air as the husband and wife they were in real life), at least on the Allen shows. When she joined her husband for his later appearances on <I>The Big Show</I> (1950-52), she didn't go quite that high, though you still knew it was her in character, though the character was obviously enough a little more mature---indeed, once or twice during those <I>Big Show</I> appearances Hoffa would have a line alluding to Allen's medical regimen for his well-enough known hypertension. <BR/><BR/>(Lou Costello had actually with his voice what Hoffa did with hers on the air, but his reason was to answer complaints, early in Abbott & Costello's radio career, that the two men sounded too much alike in their New Jersey-laced voices, so he merely raised his a level or two.)<BR/><BR/>I don't know if I mentioned this before, at least I don't remember offhand, but Portland Hoffa remarried a few years after Fred Allen's death, to bandleader-turned-ad executive Joe Rimes. (You can only imagine the fun Fred Allen was having with <I>that</I> wherever he was . . . ) They lived long enough together that Portland Hoffa had the rare enough distinction of celebrating <I>two</I> silver wedding anniversaries in the same lifetime. (Rimes died in the mid-1980s; Hoffa died Christmas Day 1990.)Jeff Kallmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00993306002655762270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30813011.post-45350821258338485702007-03-07T07:32:00.000-08:002007-03-07T07:32:00.000-08:00Correction: Meant to say Portland's voice could no...Correction:<BR/> Meant to say Portland's voice could not hurt the popularity of the Fred Allen Show.<BR/><BR/> One of the funniest Fred Allen shows was one of the first ones when Fred manages a department store at Christmas time.<BR/><BR/>Andrew GodfreyAndrew Godfreyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17280202664000851028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30813011.post-35864549767373568492007-03-07T07:29:00.000-08:002007-03-07T07:29:00.000-08:00Portland Hoffa had one of the most annoying voices...Portland Hoffa had one of the most annoying voices in old time radio. She may have been a very nice lady but on radio she came across badly with that phony sounding voice which may have been real but it came across as phony. Still don't want to take anything away from Fred Allen as he was so fast with a quip that even Portland's voice could hurt the popularity of the show.Andrew Godfreyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17280202664000851028noreply@blogger.com