Old Time Radio Shows

  The movie hero generally fits a specific physical type. Not necessarily handsome in the classic sense, he has a manly, rugged appearance, tall, with a V-shaped torso, tapering from wide, solid shoulders to a narrow waistline. In classic films, he may not have the chiseled "six-pack abs" which are the trademark of modern leading men, but there is an undeniable masculine toughness about him. Fortunately, Hollywood has nearly as many of this type running around as it does pretty girls. On the radio, the equivalent of broad shoulders and a narrow waist is a commanding basso profundo voice. Several actors were blessed with such a commanding voice, but few were able to use it to the degree William Conrad did, especially when we consider how far Conrad was physically from the leading man type. William Conrad was born in Lexington, Kentucky, 1920, where his parents owned and operated a movie theater. Little Bill was babysat by the flickerin...

It had been a few very good years for Humphrey Bogart. With the success of The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca , Warner Bros was finally letting the actor loose to explore his versatility. Bogie was incredibly dedicated to his craft; in over 80 films he never arrived late to the set or unprepared with his lines. Unfortunately he was in an unhappy marriage with a woman he cared deeply for. The final tipping point for the "battling Bogart's" came when production began on his 1944 project, and adaptation of Hemingway's To Have And Have Not . The female lead was given to a sultry model from Harper's Bazaar named Betty Perske. Betty took the stage name Lauren Bacall, and after Bogie saw her screen test he told her "We're going to have a lot of fun together." To Have And Have Not was the story of an American drifter running a charter boat service in the Caribbean, facing forces that are greater than he is while remaining true to his ideals and t...