Figure 1.-- |
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For the kids of course, especially the boys, it was those thrilling adventure series that
attracted them to radio. Some parents also worried about the impact of the War reporting
as well as some vilent radio programs would have on their children--a concern which has continued to this daty. Children listened to radio adventure programs an
average of 14 hours a week, much less than the moder TV generation. Some of the programs most popular with children during World War II were Captain Midnight, The Shadow ("Who
knows what evil lurkes in the minds of men. The Shadow knows."), The Green Hornet, Jack Armstong--the all American Boy, Dick Tracey, The Lone Ranger, Tom
Mix, Sky King, Terry and the Pirates and the most popular radio hero, Superman (who was introduced in 1938 just as the NAZI menace was becoming apparent to
many Americans). These heros except for dated ones like the Lone Ranger pitched right into the War effort. The plots of many of the shows involved foiling the
misdeeds of Japanese and German evil dooers. Many of these programs were based on popular comic strips and would be some of the most important eraly television
programs after the War. The radio adventure programs as well as the daytime series had a simplistic moral tone of good versus. evil with justice always prevailing in the
end. Listening to these programs today one is struck by how much more evil the Japanese milatarists and German NAZIs actually were than the comic book
presentations. Children were often encouraged at the end of the program to help out in any way they could: collecting scrap materials, buying war bonds, planting a
victory garden, writing to a service person, and a variety of other suggested activities. Radio continued to be important for a few years after the War before television became dominate. There were more thrilling adventures such as Gang Busters and Gunsmoke.
For the kids of course, especially the boys, it was those thrilling adventure series that
attracted them to radio. Some parents also worried about the impact of the War reporting
as well as some vilent radio programs would have on their children--a concern which has continued to this daty. Children listened to radio adventure programs an
average of 14 hours a week, much less than the moder TV generation.
Some of the programs most popular with children during World War II were Captain Midnight, The Shadow ("Who
knows what evil lurkes in the minds of men. The Shadow knows."), The Green Hornet, Jack Armstong--the all American Boy, Dick Tracey, The Lone Ranger, Tom
Mix, Sky King, Terry and the Pirates and the most popular radio hero, Superman (who was introduced in 1938 just as the NAZI menace was becoming apparent to
many Americans). These heros except for dated ones like the Lone Ranger pitched right into the War effort. The plots of many of the shows involved foiling the
misdeeds of Japanese and German evil dooers. The radio adventure programs as well as the daytime series had a simplistic moral tone of good versus. evil with justice always prevailing in the
end. Listening to these programs today one is struck by how much more evil the Japanese milatarists and German NAZIs actually were than the comic book
presentations. Children were often encouraged at the end of the program to help out in any way they could: collecting scrap materials, buying war bonds, planting a
victory garden, writing to a service person, and a variety of other suggested activities.
Radio continued to be important for a few years after the War before television became dominate. There were more thrilling adventures such as Gang Busters and Gunsmoke.
Many of these programs were based on popular comic strips and would be some of the most important eraly television
programs after the War.
We have persued theatricals primarily because of the clothing and fashion information involved. As radio was purely a audio medium, there was very limited fashion information involved, except when for some reason clothing may have beem involved in the plot line. Thus the programming is not of as much interest to us as movies, plays, and television. We will, however, mention the programs that we know of that had important child characters. There were family-type shows as well as adventure stories in which the main character had a juvenile side-kick.
"The Adventures of Ozzie and Hariet" originated on radio. David and Ricky wre played by actors. It was only when the program shifted to television in 1952 that the boys began playing themselves.
Jack Armstrong was the most famous boy character on radio. The program began in 1933 and continued until 1950. Each episode began with the anouncer virtually screaming "Jack Armstrong, All American Boy". Jack was a star athelete at Hudson High School, but his adventures took him all over thge world. Jack isong gone, but he made Wheaties a a major cereal beand and Wheaties continues to promote its cerea with atheletes, only real atheletes today. The program would be seen aspertty smaltzy. Every conceival peon to fair play and patriotism was cramed into the script. A good example was what a monk told Jack when he got to Tibet. "Tell the boys and girls of the United States this world is theirs. If thgey have hearts of gold, a glorious new golden age awaits us. If they are honest, riches shall be theirs. If thy are kind, they shall save the whole world from malice and meaness. Will you take that message to the boys and girls of the Uninted States, Jack Armstroing?" Smaltzy it may have been, even in 1939 when it aired. But young American boys on December 7, 1941 were engulfed in the alreeady ranging world war and what they did was mothing less than save the world. I don't know of any TV series, but there was a movie "Jack Armstrong" (1947).
Annie was the most famous girl character ob radio. Annie was one of the many shows that came from the comics. Annie was a real grounder breaker in 1924, when she first appeared in the "funnies" (newspaper comics), people were surprised to find she was not funny. But she was soon followed by a steady stream of adventure comics. Annie first appeared was the plucky little red-haired girl that with her dog Sandy took on all comers. Her creator Harold Gray had extremely conservative political views which evenually colored the plotlines. This might seem difficult to do considering the fact that his main character was a poor little orphan girl. Gray's philosophy for Annie was, "ya hafta earn what ya get". Expecting a poor little orphan to earn her way seems bit much for even the most hard-bitten conservative Gray used "Annie" to attack labor leaders and liberal politicans attempting to use government to address the needs of people affected by the Depression. Concerned about the reaction of Depression audiences to Gray's extreme conservatism, Gray tempered his reactionany views when "Annie" began on radio. The cartoon was also the inspiration for the musical "Annie".
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