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The club meets informally during the 38 Ardmore PL months of JUly and August at the same address. Buffalo, NY 14213 Anyone interested in the Golden Age of Radio is welcome. The Old Time Radio Club is affiliated Membership Renewals, Change of Address, with The Old Time Radio Network. Cassette Library - #2000 and up Illustrated Press Cover Designs Club Mailing Address Peter Bellanca (716) 773-2485 Old Time Radio Club 1620 Ferry Road P.O. Box 426 Grand Island, NY 14072 Lancaster, NY 14086 Membership Inquires and OTR Back issues of The Illustrated Press are $1.50 post­ Network Related Items paid. 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Canadian rates are the same as above, but in Canadian funds. .J!tlaft 1999 Publication of the Old Time Radio Club paniment, flowers, minister, photographer and other amenities. In the 1940s it had to be one of the most elite ceremonies available. And how did they qualify for such SAME TIME,' a love feast? I First time engaged couples were asked to write to the SAME STATION show introducing themselves. John Reddy often by Jim Cox ; reserved the determination of who would appear on the show to himself. Sometimes, however, a panel of several judges would pour over the applications looking for the BRIDE and GROOM most human interest potential they could find. As a matter of policy, divorcees were automatically eliminat­ ed; and some Roman Catholics weren't considered due When people think of the sanctity of marriage, most to the fact that their faith required a church ceremony. agree it's an institution that is blessed of God. A radio The human interest elements were varied. series in the 1940s resulted in nearly 1,000 such unions. Oddly enough, the series was masterminded by a trio of A young woman with the good fortune of winning the males who bore the appellation John preceding their "wishing ring" on Tom Breneman's Breakfast in surnames. Does first, second and third John sound bib­ Hollywood hoped for a Bride and Groom wedding. She lical enough for you? got it. John Masterson, recall, was producer of both shows. John Nelson was master of ceremonies on Bride and Groom during a five-year ABC radio run. He later One young couple told how they had met on adjacent turned up in the same role for three years of a subse­ stools at the fountain counter of a local drug store. quent televised version (1951-54). Another pair, both blind, found each other at a school Co-producing the show with Nelson were John Reddy, for seeing eye dogs. who also wrote it, and John Masterson, who produced a highly acclaimed ABC weekday series, Breakfast in Sporadically there were celebrities who tied the knot on Hollywood. the show. Clayton (Bud) Collyer, serial actor-announcer and quizmaster-host-emcee of more than a dozen radio Bride and Groom was an unusual half-hour Monday­ series, married radio serial actress Marian Shockley in through-Friday program on which couples were wed off­ 1948. He later went on to host television's Beat the stage, then interviewed extemporaneously on-stage by Clock, To Tell the Truth and several more game shows. Nelson. At its start, the program originated before a live audience at Los Angeles' Chapman Park Hotel. The On occasions Bride and Groom departed from its usual 'location shifted to the Hollywood Knickerbocker later. practice of marrying couples - whose ages ranged from the teens to the eighties - to honor a couple celebrat­ Vows were exchanged at an adjacent chapel with one of ing their golden wedding anniversary, or possibly new­ several ministers employed by the show officiating. The lyweds who were then on their honeymoon. These dou­ newlyweds then appeared on-stage where Nelson made blets, too, were bestowed with gifts, as if it were their small talk inquiring how they met, their courtship expe­ own matrimonial day. riences and anything he could find to draw out the human interest element. At the time of the show the An organists' rendition of "Here Comes the Bride" starry-eyed pair was showered with luxurious gifts, pos­ appropriately sufficed as the show's theme. And in an sibly wedding rings, luggage, jewelry, appliances, silver, interesting turn of events, Jack-of-all-trades announcer a reception and a week-long all-expense-paid honey­ Jack McElroy, possessing an excellent singing voice, moon to the destination of their choice. Before parting, doubled as the program's soloist. When he wasn't Nelson would reach for the bride and steal a kiss! For crooning "Believe Me, if all Those Endearing Young him, it was just part of the job - as he saw it, somebody Charms" or maybe "Together," he was touting one of had to do it. sponsor Sterling Drugs' remedies - like Double Danderine shampoo, Bayer aspirin, Astring-O-Sol The lucky couple had earlier received a complimentary mouthwash, Energine spot remover or Haley's M-O wedding, gown, tuxedo and other accouterments for the mineral oil laxative - things every newlywed must be bridal pair and their attendants, a chapel, music accom­ thinking of at a time like that. .Matt 1999 Publication of the Old Time Radio Club The show debuted at 4:15 p.m. Eastern Time Nov. 26, died at an early age, 45, on March 2, 1959. 1945 and shifted to 2:30 p.m, Dec. 31, 1945. It remained in that time period until Feb. 5, 1950 when it moved to In all, counting the nearly 1,000 marriages performed 3 p.m., remaining until the end of the run Sept. 15, on radio, the combined radio-TV Bride and Groom saw 1950. On radio it was always on ABC. Sterling Drugs more than 2,500 couples tie the knot. It was a novel bought it Jan. 7, 1946 and carried it the rest of the way. treatment of one of life's most meaningful moments, While the series never drew lofty crowds of listeners, it and millions were enthralled by it for beyond a decade. reached a respectable 4.4 rating for its final three years - yet never as high as some audience participation shows, and never close to the numbers enjoyed by most soap operas. "The Jack When the radio series ended, messers Nelson, Masterson and Reddy merely transferred their success­ Armstrong Murder" ful radio show to television, then in its infancy. The TV version of Bride and Groom premiered Jan. 25, 1951 on CBS. With only minimal interruptions. It remained a by Woody Smith daytime CBS feature through Oct. 9, 1953, sometimes (Part Four) five days a week, sometimes two. The program, with Nelson still as host, moved to NBC Dec. 7, 1953. It was For Those Who Came In Late: Kyle Foster, a man from cancelled Aug. 27, 1954. But it was given a six-month our time mysteriously transported to a place where reprieve July 1, 1957 by NBC, running to Jan. 10, 1958. characters of old time radio really exist, had been That time out Frank Parker (ofArthur Godfrey Time wrongly accused of the murder of Jack Armstrong. fame) began as host (and lasted a month). He was suc­ Assisted by the Shadow, who believed his innocence, ceeded by the simultaneous singing duo of Robert Paige and Margo Lane and Sam Spade, Foster escaped to sea, and Byron Palmer. only to fall into the clutches of Ivan Shark and his daughter Fury. Through trickery, Foster, Spade and In July 1951 Masterson, Nelson and Reddy were award­ Margo escaped Shark's underground base and emerged ed the largest legal judgement in broadcasting history into the basement of the Hoobli Hotel in Calcutta.