by Leonard Martin
In 1984, child actor Henry Thomas was a hit from ET and Dabney
Coleman was hot from Tootsie and War Games. To capitalize on their box-office draw the
film
Cloak and Dagger was made. In it were a sweet old couple, played by John
McIntire and Jeanette Nolan, who eventually turned out to be the villains
of
the piece. To old time radio fans, the casting of McIntire and
Nolan had a certain resonance and brought a certain in-joke
smile to
their lips; for the two actors, married in the film, were also married
in
real life and had been for umpteen years (since 1935, in fact). It was nice to see them
working
together again, for they’d worked together often in their radio
days (and much more infrequently on television).
McIntire and Nolan are two of many actors, writers, musicians, and
sound
effects people interviewed by Leonard Maltin for his ‘anecdotal’
history of
classic radio. This book is a fun read. It is by no means all
inclusive –
the only shows that are mentioned are those for which Maltin could find
people with memories to share. But there are certainly a lot of those.
William Robson, William Spier, Andre Baruch, Arch Oboler, William
Conrad and
Howard Duff…and more, big names all.
The book is divided into 14 chapters, covering the beginning of radio,
the
writers, the directors, the craft of the actors, sound effects men,
announcers, musicians, etc. At times the division seems disjointed
(William
N. Robson is covered first in the chapter on writers, and then again in
the
chapter on directors). On a couple of occasions, the same anecdote is
repeated in a different section. Most annoying of all for your
reviewer, in
each of the first few chapters, every time Maltin mentioned
Jeanette
Nolan, he found it necessary to point out that she was the wife of John
McIntire. On the other hand, every time he mentioned McIntire, it was
not
found necessary to point out that he was the husband of Jeanette
Nolan!
This is at all times a light hearted work, a celebration of what was
best
with radio. There are some nice photos (but not enough), from the
broadcast
sets of Dragnet to actor Hans Conried mugging for a
photographer, to
sound effects men at full stretch over their complicated machinery.
All in
all a fun read and an excellent introduction.
The Great American Broadcast, Leonard Maltin, Dutton, 1997, 324 pages
This review copyright
May 24, 2000.
If you wish to comment on this review, please email us at Book Review comments.
Are the books you want out of print? They're probably available from: www.abe.com.
This page sponsored by these books:
[A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M]
[N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [X] [W] [Y] [Z]
Do you have the clearance to be the viewer of this page?
This page hosted by 
Get your own Free Home Page