- The Aldrich Family
"The Aldrich Family", a popular radio teenage
situation comedy (1939-1953), was also presented in films, television and comic books.It is remembered for its unforgettable introduction: awkward teen Henry's mother calling, "Hen-"reeeeeeeeeeeee!" Hen-ree "Al"-drich!" The creation of playwright Clifford Goldsmith, Henry Aldrich began on Broadway as a minor character in Goldsmith's play "What a Life". Produced and directed by
George Abbott , "What a Life" ran for 538 performances (April 13 ,1938 toJuly 8 ,1939 ). The Broadway cast includedEddie Bracken ,Betty Field andButterfly McQueen . The actor who brought Henry to life on stage was 20-year-oldEzra Stone , who was billed near the bottom as the 20th actor in the cast. Stone was also employed as the play's production assistant."Time" magazine found the play "short on plot" but noted:
Radio
When
Rudy Vallee saw the play, he asked Goldsmith to adapt it into some sketches for his radio program, and this was followed in 1938 by a 39-week run of a sketch comedy series on "The Kate Smith Hour" with Stone continuing in the role of Henry. Kate Smith's director, Bob Welsh, is credited with the creation of the "Hen-"reeeeeeeeeeeee!" Hen-ree "Al"-drich!" opening, which eventually became one of the most famous signature sounds in radio.After finding an audience with Kate Smith's listeners, "The Aldrich Family" was launched in its own series as a summer replacement program for Jack Benny in
NBC 's Sunday night lineup,July 2 1939 , and it stayed there untilOctober 1 1939 , when it moved to Tuesday nights at 8 p.m., sponsored byGeneral Foods 's popular gelatin dessertJell-O , which also sponsored Jack Benny at the time. The Aldriches ran in that slot fromOctober 10 1939 untilMay 28 1940 , moving to Thursdays, fromJuly 4 1940 untilJuly 20 1944 . After a brief hiatus, the show moved toCBS , running on Fridays fromSeptember 1 1944 untilAugust 30 1946 with sponsorsGrape Nuts and Jell-O before moving back to NBC fromSeptember 5 , 1946 toJune 28 1951 on Thursdays and, then, its final run ofSeptember 21 1952 toApril 19 1953 on Sundays.A top-ten ratings hit within two years of its birth (in 1941, the show carried a 33.4 Crossley rating, landing it solidly alongside
Jack Benny andBob Hope ). Earning $3000 a week, Goldsmith was the highest paid writer in radio, and his show became a prototype for the teen-oriented situation comedies that followed on radio andtelevision .Stone kept the lead role until 1942, when he entered the Army for
World War II .Norman Tokar succeeded Stone as Henry for two seasons. Best known for his later work directing the television hit "Leave It to Beaver " — whose approach of telling its stories from the vantage point of a child may have been inspired by the similar implication in many "Aldrich" episodes — Tokar also helped write many of the "Aldrich" episodes. On "The Aldrich Family", Tokar was followed byDickie Jones (1943-44) and Raymond Ives (1944-45), before Stone returned to his signature role. Bobby Ellis became the last Henry Aldrich in 1952.Family and friends
Henry's parents, Sam and Alice, were portrayed by House Jameson and Katharine Raht, and his usual girlfriend, Kathleen Anderson, by Mary Shipp. The role of Henry's best friend,
Homer Brown , was played byJackie Kelk (as well as Jack Grimes, Michael O'Day andJohn Fiedler ). Homer's parents were Arthur Vinton andAgnes Moorehead , among others.Eddie Bracken appeared in the earlier shows as friend Dizzy Stevens. The show's announcers includedHarry Von Zell ,Dan Seymour and Dwight Weist.Henry Aldrich was an endearingly bumbling kid growing awkwardly into adolescence, and "The Aldrich Family" often revolved around Henry's misadventures with the girls and with his friends.
Films
Eleven Henry Aldrich movies were made by
Paramount Pictures between 1939–1944:cite web |title=Henry Aldrich movies |publisher=IMDb |url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036909/movieconnections |accessdate=2008-05-03 ]* "What a Life" (1939)
* "Life with Henry" (1941)
* "Henry Aldrich for President" (1941)
* "Henry Aldrich, Editor" (1942)
* "Henry and Dizzy" (1942)
* "Henry Aldrich Swings It" (1943)
* "Henry Aldrich Gets Glamour" (1943)
* "Henry Aldrich Haunts a House" (1943)
* "Henry Aldrich, Boy Scout" (1944)
* "Henry Aldrich Plays Cupid" (1944)
* "Henry Aldrich's Little Secret" (1944)The first two films, "What a Life" (1939) and "Life with Henry" (1941), featured
Jackie Cooper in the title role. In the remaining nine films,Jimmy Lydon portrayed Henry Aldrich.Television
On
October 2 ,1949 , the program premiered onNBC while continuing to air on the radio with a primarily different cast. Over the course of its nearly four-year run on television, Henry was portrayed by five different actors:Robert Casey ,Richard Tyler , Henry Girard,Kenneth Nelson andBobby Ellis , the only one to participate in the radio production as well. Other characters — including Mrs. Aldrich, Henry's sister Mary, and his best friend Homer Brown — were portrayed by multiple actors as well, a practice not uncommon in radio but unusual for television, where cast changes are more noticeable.The program garnered some adverse publicity when film and radio veteran Jean Muir was signed to play Mrs. Aldrich in the second season.
Right-wing groups accused the actress of being aCommunist sympathizer (her name appeared in "Red Channels ", a pamphlet listing the names of performers allegedly involved inleft-wing activities), andGeneral Foods , the show's sponsor, cancelled the first episode of the new season and replaced her withNancy Carroll . Muir went on to defend herself before aCongressional committee , but her career never recovered from the charges. The final episode was broadcast onMay 29 , 1953, slightly more than a month after the radio series came to an end.The comedy troupe
Firesign Theatre parodied the show with the sketch "Don't Crush That Dwarf Hand Me the Pliers". [ [http://www.faqs.org/faqs/firesign-theatre/lexicon/part4/ Firesign Theatre: Lexicon, Part 4/4] ]Listen to
* [http://www.freeotrshows.com/otr/a/Aldrich_Family.html FreeOTR: "The Aldrich Family (50 episodes)]
* [http://www.radiolovers.com/pages/aldrichfamily.htm Radio Lovers: The Aldrich Family]References
External links
* [http://www.otrsite.com/logs/loga1034.htm Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs: "The Aldrich Family"]
* [http://www.transpacificradio.com/2007/03/18/neoc2/ CBC Radio's "Nazi Eyes On Canada" (1942)] , starring House Jameson and Katharine Raht of "The Aldrich Family"
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