FOUR COLOR RADIO Presents: Orson Welles’ THE WAR OF THE WORLDS
PERFECT FOR HALLOWEEN EVE: The first installment of a new feature on old-time radio programs and their links to comics — by PETER BOSCH!
Old-time radio shows and their comics connections… By PETER BOSCH Welcome back to Four Color Radio, where I look at radio programs from the Thirties to the Fifties that had a tie-in to comics of the Golden Age (and sometimes Silver Age). Today, something special: a 90th anniversary salute to the 1936 teaming of Abbott and Costello. — THE EARLY YEARS William Alexander “Bud” Abbott may not have been “born in a trunk,” but he was born in a circus tent, figuratively speaking. Abbott’s father was an advance man for the Barnum & Bailey Circus and his mother had been a bareback rider. Bud grew up in the business, and then became an assistant treasurer of a burlesque theater. He also produced small traveling burlesque shows, including some where he first attempted being the comic in a sketch, but soon realized he was better as a straight man. Louis Francis Cristillo, on the other hand, knew he had a gift for making people laugh. He envisioned being a star in Hollywood and moved there in 1927, getting a job first as a laborer on the MGM lot, then did some film extra work and occasional stunt doubling. (Lou was slimmer then, and athletic. During his mid-teens, he boxed under the name of “Lou King.”) After a year, he decided to return home to New Jersey. However, when he got as far as St. Joseph, Missouri, he was flat broke. Seeing a listing for a job in a burlesque act there, he auditioned for it and got it — and changed his surname to Costello. Though both Bud and Lou were born in Jersey (Abbott in Asbury Park and Costello in Paterson), they did not work together on stage until 1935 when Bud helped Lou by filling in as his straight man when Costello’s regular partner did not show up. It was just a one-time thing but – fortunately for the world – their wives said they should team up, which Bud and Lou did officially in 1936. — THEIR BIG BREAK Abbott and Costello’s days in burlesque were numbered. New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia started getting such theaters closed in 1937, citing moral decency violations. Bud and Lou moved into vaudeville and they got work at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, thanks to their new manager, Eddie...
A DICK TRACY ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL: Old-time radio shows and their comics connections… By PETER BOSCH Welcome back, fellow Four Color Radio connoisseurs. This month – this day, actually – is very special because October 4, 2026, is the 95th anniversary of the first Dick Tracy newspaper strip (debuting in 1931), which you can read about here. So there is no better time to showcase the Dick Tracy radio show, plus two very special broadcasts involving America’s favorite flatfoot! The Dick Tracy radio show debuted just three years after the comic strip started. The program’s early broadcasts in 1934 were heard over NBC’s New England radio stations. CBS was next in line and they took it nationally for the first half of 1935, then it was off to the Mutual radio network for almost three years. Following Mutual, it returned to NBC from Jan. 3, 1938, to September 30, 1939, at first five times a week for 15-minutes episodes and then once a week at 30 minutes. The show went off the air for a few years but returned March 1, 1943 – this time on the Blue Network/ABC… and that is where it stayed until the final Dick Tracy radio broadcast on July 16, 1948. The first radio actor to play Tracy was Bob Burlen in 1934. Following Burlen were Barry Thomson, Ned Wever, and Matt Crowley, who was the longest running of all the radio Tracys. If the Crowley name sounds familiar, you might be remembering the article I wrote about The Adventures of Superman radio show earlier this year. Crowley was one of the actors to play Batman on it, as well as Inspector Henderson — and if you were to tune into other shows at the time, you would find he played Mark Trail, Jungle Jim, and Buck Rogers! Dick Tracy’s sweetheart Tess Trueheart was voiced by Helen Lewis throughout the series. Also appearing in various parts was Mercedes McCambridge, who went on to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in All the King’s Men (1949). The major sponsor for the Dick Tracy radio program was Quaker Oats. (Tootsie Roll sponsored it for the 1944 season.) As a side note: When you listen to the announcer saying that Quaker Oats’ products were shot from cannons, you may think it pure malarkey. Actually, it was true…...
PERFECT FOR HALLOWEEN EVE: The first installment of a new feature on old-time radio programs and their links to comics — by PETER BOSCH!