294WICKER, IREENE

1930s, Whiteman became a radio disc jockey for the American Broadcasting Company in 1947 and had a five -day -a -week show.

WICKER, IREENE (1902-1988) For forty-five years, from 1930 until 1975, Quincy, Illinois -born singer -actress Ireene Wicker was one of radio's most successful children's show hostesses. Wicker was educated at the University of Florida and the University of Illinois and originally planned to be a teacher. Instead, she began a career in radio, work- ing at WGN in Chicago in 1931, singing and reading stories to children on The SINGING LADY. The program was picked up by the NBC Blue network after only six months on local radio, and Wicker became known to young radio listeners as "the Singing Lady." Wick- er's children's show was aired on network radio for more than twenty years before it became a local show on WNYC in New York City. Wicker was a star of the Deadline Dramas series, on which listeners submitted twenty -word situations that served as the basis for improvised stories acted out by Wicker, Joan BANKS, Frank LOVEJOY, Bob White, and others. She was also featured On JUDY AND JANE, PAINTED DREAMS, and Harriette Widmer (NBC) TODAY'S CHILDREN. In the mid -1950s, Wicker won an Emmy award for her Golden Records recordings for children. roles throughout the 1930s and 1940s, including the formidable Madame Queen on AMOS AND ANDY, the WIDMARK, RICHARD (1914- ) title role on AUNT JEMIMA, Mattie Blake on The CAR- Before his Hollywood career, Richard Widmark was TERS OF ELM STREET, Peggy on Lonely Women, and a busy radio actor. Born in Sunrise, Minnesota, he Beulah on A TALE OF TODAY. In addition, Widmer attended Lake Forest College in Illinois and then played character parts On AUNT JENNY'S REAL LIFE taught speech and drama for two years before pursu- STORIES, BETTY AND BOB, The FIRST NIGHTER, FIBBER ing a career as a professional actor. His early successes MCGEE AND MOLLY, and The COUPLE NEXT DOOR, and included radio programs such as JOYCE JORDAN, GIRL on dramatic anthologies such as The LUX RADIO THE- INTERN, TRUE CONFESSIONS, BIG SISTER, GANGBUSTERS, ATER and SCREEN GUILD PLAYERS throughout the 1930s, Home of the Brave, MYSTERY THEATER, and INNER SANC- 1940s, and 1950s. TUM MYSTERIES. Widmark played the leading roles of Farrell On FRONT PAGE FARRELL and Albert on ETHEL WILCOX, HARLOW (1900-1960) AND ALBERT costarring Peg Lynch. His first film, Kiss Announcer Harlow Wilcox was born in Omaha, Ne- of Death (1948), in which he played a cold-blooded braska, while his father and mother were appearing psychopathic killer, was nothing less than a sensation as musicians with the Ringling Brothers -Barnum and and led to his being cast in subsequent films as a Bailey Circus. After attending college, Wilcox became leading man. Widmark's films include Panic in the an NBC staff announcer before becoming closely iden- Streets (1950), Pickup on South Street (1950), The Cobweb tified with the FIBBER MCGEE AND MOLLY program, (1955), The Alamo (1960), Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), which he announced for more than twenty years, and Murder on the Orient Express (1974), and Who Dares, where he extolled the virtues of its longtime sponsor, Wins (1982). He continues to be seen occasionally in Johnson's wax. Wilcox also announced BLONDIE, SUS- films and television specials. PENSE, The Old Gold-DON AMECHE SHOW, ATTORNEY AT LAW, MYRT AND MARGE, The MAXWELL HOUSE COF- WIDMER, HARRIETTE KNOX (1893-1964) FEE SHOW, AMOS AND ANDY, BABY SNOOKS, MYSTERY Actress Harriette Widmer was born in Water Valley, THEATER, The BEN BERNIE SHOW, TRUTH OR CONSE- Mississippi, and debuted on radio in 1930. The actress, QUENCES, The Frank Morgan Show, FATHER KNOWS BEST, a Caucasian, specialized in playing African -American and The MAYOR OF THE TOWN.