Nov 30 Quotes

ELLIOTT ROOSEVELT, son of the president, who conducted a seven-month commentary on Mutual, April 3–Nov. 30, 1939; 15m, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays at 7:15 for Emerson Radios. Roosevelt made news by loudly disagreeing with some of his father’s policies: he was known as a “hell-raiser” on the air and off.

And though you may have had and may have many mightier and wiser Princes sitting in this Seat, yet you never had nor shall have any that will love you better (The Golden Speech, 30 Nov 1601).

HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL, western adventure. BROADCAST HISTORY: (Originated on TV: Sept. 14, 1957–Sept. 21, 1963, CBS.) Radio: Nov. 23, 1958–Nov. 27, 1960, CBS. 30m, Sundays at 6. Multiple sponsorship. CAST: John Dehner as Paladin, soldier of fortune, western knight errant, gunfighter. Ben Wright as Heyboy, the Oriental who worked at the Carlton Hotel in San Francisco, where Paladin lived. Virginia Gregg as Missy Wong, Heyboy’s girlfriend. Virginia Gregg also in many leading dramatic roles. Supporting players from Hollywood’s Radio Row, most of the same personnel listed for Gunsmoke. ANNOUNCER: Hugh Douglas. PRODUCER-DIRECTOR: Frank Paris. CREATORS-WRITERS: Herb Meadow and Sam Rolfe. WRITERS: Gene Roddenberry, John Dawson, Marian Clark, etc. SOUND EFFECTS: Ray Kemper, Tom Hanley. Have Gun, Will Travel was an oddity: the only significant radio show that originated on television. Beginning as a TV series for Richard Boone, Have Gun leaped immediately into the top ten and gained such an enthusiastic following that CBS decided to add it to the fading radio chain.

A company of solid Chicago regulars was established in support: Isabel Randolph, Bill Thompson, and Harold Peary. Jordan would need all this support and more: the show was still building in 1937, when Marian suddenly dropped out of it. She was gone for 18 months, from Nov. 15, 1937, until April 18, 1939. Her absence was explained to the press as fatigue. In some quarters it was believed that she had suffered a nervous breakdown. In fact, she was engaged in a long and difficult battle with alcohol, a problem that was kept under wraps for 30 years after her death. It was hoped, most ardently by Jordan himself, that her recovery would be quick.

All the principals are dead now. Arthur Q. Bryan died Nov. 30, 1959. Harlow Wilcox died Sept. 24, 1960. Marian Jordan died April 7, 1961. Bill Thompson died July 15, 1971. Billy Mills died Oct. 20, 1971. Don Quinn died Jan. 11, 1973. Harold Peary died March 30, 1985. Jim Jordan married Gretchen Stewart after Marian’s death and lived in semi-retirement for almost 30 years. He died April 1, 1988, at 91. After Jordan’s death, his widow and children donated the bound volumes of Smackout and Fibber scripts to the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago, where they may be read by students of comedy. The museum also has a Fibber closet exhibit.

HERCULE POIROT, mystery drama, based on the novels by Agatha Christie. BROADCAST HISTORY: Feb. 22–Oct. 14, 1945, Mutual. 30m, Thursdays at 8 until Oct. 7; then Sundays at 9. April 1, 1946–Nov. 21, 1947, CBS. 15m, weekdays, various evening timeslots. Mystery of the Week. Continuations told in five-chapter stories, concluded each Friday. Procter & Gamble. CAST: Harold Huber as Poirot, the supposedly ingenious but decidedly immodest Belgian detective. DIRECTOR: Carl Eastman.

JOHNNY FLETCHER, comedy-detective drama. BROADCAST HISTORY: May 30–Nov. 27, 1948, ABC. 30m, Sundays at 7:30 until mid-Sept., then Saturdays at 8. CAST: Bill Goodwin as Johnny Fletcher, the opposite of most detective heroes—a clumsy, inept drunk, who played his role for laughs. Sheldon Leonard as his pal Sam.

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One billion years of real time = 24 days on the cosmic calendar. And then on the wall next to it: THE COSMIC CALENDAR Jan. 1: Big Bang May 1: Origin of the Milky Way Galaxy Sept. 9: Origin of the Solar System Sept. 14: Formation of the Earth Sept. 25: Origin of life on Earth Oct. 2: Formation of the oldest rocks known on Earth Oct. 9: Date of the oldest fossils known to man Nov. 1: Invention of sex (by microorganisms) Dec. 16: First worms Dec. 19: First fish Dec. 21: First insects Dec. 22: First amphibians Dec. 24: First dinosaurs Dec. 26: First mammals Dec. 27: First birds Dec. 29: First primates Dec. 30: First hominids Dec. 31: First humans On the blackboard, my mother had written: If one day equaled the age of the universe, all of recorded history would be no more than ten seconds. I copied this into my green notebook. My mother wiped the chalk off on her skirt. “I just thought you should know,” she said. “I wasn’t sure you did.