Radio History: December 20

➦In 1920..English-born comedian Leslie Townes Hope became an American citizen. He had lived in the U-S since 1908 and became one of that nation’s true ambassadors for show business and charity. We say, “Thanks for the memory,” to Bob Hope.

Hope's career in broadcasting began on radio in 1934. His first regular series for NBC Radio was the Woodbury Soap Hour in 1937, a 26-week contract. A year later, The Pepsodent Show Starring Bob Hope began, and Hope signed a ten-year contract with the show's sponsor, Lever Brothers. Hope hired eight writers and paid them out of his salary of $2,500 a week. The original staff included Mel Shavelson, Norman Panama, Jack Rose, Sherwood Schwartz, and Schwartz's brother Al. The writing staff eventually grew to fifteen.  The show became the top radio program in the country. Regulars on the series included Jerry Colonna and Barbara Jo Allen as spinster Vera Vague.

Hope continued his lucrative career in radio through to the 1950s, when radio's popularity was overshadowed by television. On the morning of July 27, 2003, Hope died of pneumonia at his home in Toluca Lake, California, two months after his 100th birthday.

➦In 1922...radio/TV actress Charita Bauer was born in Newark.  Bauer first appeared on radio on WPAP in New York City as a child. She was active throughout the 1930s and 1940s on numerous radio dramas of the day, including Let's Pretend, Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons. The March of Time, The FBI in Peace and War, Suspense and other programs.

She played Sarah O'Brien in Rose of My Dreams, Mary Aldrich in The Aldrich Family (a role she also played on the television version of the program. On November 11, 1944, Bauer made her 2,000th radio broadcast when she appeared on Grand Central Station.

Her most memorable TV role was as the soap opera Guiding Light. She died of complications from diabetes Feb. 28 1985 at age 62.

➦In 1957... Elvis Presley received his US Army draft notice he applied for a 60-day deferment, which he was granted so he could finish filming a movie.

➦In 1971...Talk show host Larry King was arrested in Miami for allegedly taking money from a business partner. Larry eventually pleaded guilty to passing a bad check, and the scandal kept him out of radio for three years.

Foster Brooks

➦In 2001...Comedian Foster Brooks, known for his “Lovable Lush” fake drunk act, died in Encino, Calif. of heart failure at age 89. 

He had been a regular on the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts, Match Game PM, and just about every TV talk show.  His career started in radio, notably with WHAS-AM in Louisville. He was a staff announcer, and his deep baritone voice was also well-suited for singing.

Brooks gained fame for his reporting of the Ohio River flood of 1937, where he was featured on emergency broadcasts by WHAS and also WSM-AM from Nashville, Tennessee. In 1952, Brooks appeared on local TV in a short-lived spoof of Gene Autry and his "Singing Cowboys".  He later worked in local broadcasting as a radio and TV personality in Buffalo and Rochester, New York, before moving to the West Coast to launch a career as a stand-up comic and character actor.

➦In 2014…Longtime Nashville radio and television personality Teddy Bart died at age 78.

Teddy Bart

Bart was the personality on several shows during his career, including long-running hits such as the "Waking Crew" on WSM 650 AM radio, the "Noon Show" and "Teddy Bart's Nashville" on WSM-TV, and "Teddy Bart's Round Table" with co-host Karlen Evins on a number of radio stations. He was also a news anchor for WKRN-TV.

"It was like Johnny Carson asking you to be on his show," said David Ewing, a lawyer and Nashville historian who was on "Round Table" several times. Local politicians and business leaders tuned into the show, and guests would often have messages waiting for them when they got back to work after an appearance, Ewing said.

Bart's legacy in Nashville loomed large in the broadcast community even after he retired, and he was inducted into the Tennessee Radio Hall of Fame in May 2014.

Tommy Cole is 82

🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:

• Actor Tommy Cole (“The Mickey Mouse Club”) is 82. 
• Drummer Bobby Colomby of Blood, Sweat and Tears is 79. 
• Former Kiss drummer Peter Criss is 78. 
• Illusionist Uri Geller is 77. 
• Musician Alan Parsons is 75. 
• Actor Jenny Agutter (“Call the Midwife”) is 71. 
• Actor Michael Badalucco (“The Practice”) is 69. 
• Actor Blanche Baker (“Shakedown,” ″Holocaust”) is 67. 
• Singer Billy Bragg is 66. 
• Singer-bassist Mike Watt (The Minutemen, fIREHOSE) is 66. 
• Actor Joel Gretsch (“V″) is 60. 
• Country singer Kris Tyler is 59. 
• Singer Chris Robinson of The Black Crowes is 57. 
• Actor Nicole deBoer (“The Dead Zone”) is 53. 
• Director Todd Phillips (“The Hangover,” “Joker”) is 53. 
• Singer David Cook (“American Idol”) is 41. 
• Actor Jonah Hill is 40. 
• Actor Bob Morley (“The 100”) is 39. 
• Singer JoJo is 33.

✞REMEMBRANCES

• In 1968..John Steinbeck, American author (Grapes of Wrath, Nobel Prize 1940, 1962), dies at 66
• In 1971..Roy O. Disney, American businessman and co-founder of the Walt Disney Company with brother Walt, dies of cerebral hemorrhage at 78
• In 1973..Bobby Darin [Walden Robert Cassotto], American singer ("Mack the Knife"; "Splish-Splash"; "Beyond the Sea"), and actor, dies of a heart attack at 37
• In 1988..Max Robinson, 1st African American network TV anchor (ABC), dies of AIDS at 49
• In 1996..Carl Sagan, American scientist, astronomer and author (Broca's Brain, Cosmos, Contact) known for his research on extraterrestrial life, dies of pneumonia after suffering from myelodysplasia at 62
• In 2020..Chad Stuart [David Stuart Chadwick], English pop-rock vocalist and guitarist (Chad & Jeremy), songwriter, and producer, dies of pneumonia at 79