Category Archives: comedy

Fibber in the newsroom? Ask Aunt Jenny

Posted on October 24, 2023 by Bob Stepno

The regular “Aunt Jenny” at The Gazette is out of action, and Fibber McGee volunteers to replace the advice columnist for a day, with wife Molly as his secretary. Old-time radio programs of all kinds worked newspapers and journalism into … Continue reading →

Posted in 1950s, columnists, comedy, newspaper readers, newspapers, radio | Leave a comment

High school editor gets distracted

Posted on April 11, 2023 by Bob Stepno

She’s a high-school-age Shirley Temple, but distracted by playboy artist Cary Grant. It’s The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer, the 1947 Hollywood hit adapted in 1949 for Lux Radio Theater, with two of its original stars. (Myrna Loy, as Shirley’s … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adaptations, comedy, courtroom, students, teenagers | Leave a comment

Celebrity Interview Goes Wrong

Posted on February 15, 2023 by Bob Stepno

There’s really no journalism practiced in this episode of “A Date with Judy” from April 3, 1945, although the teenage heroine is going off to do a celebrity interview with actor Charles Boyer, in town for a wartime Red Cross … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, comedy, teenagers | Leave a comment

Fatherly editor faces romantic son, Persian poetry

Posted on August 24, 2018 by Bob Stepno

When Ah, Wilderness, Eugene O’Neill’s comedy-drama about coming of age, was adapted for radio, Walter Huston starred as the newspaper-owner father whose poetry-besotted son is tempted by what passed for the wild side of life in 1906 Connecticut. https://archive.org/download/TheaterGuildontheAir/Tgoa_45-10-07_ep005-Ah_Wilderness.mp3 Theatre … Continue reading →

Posted in 1930s, 1940s, adaptations, comedy, Drama, editors, ethics, romance | Leave a comment

It Happened More Than One Night — on radio

Posted on December 17, 2013 by Bob Stepno

by Bob Stepno“It’s a Wonderful Life” had no newspaper characters to give me an excuse to include the seasonal favorite here, so I’ll make a holiday present of another Frank Capra classic: It Happened One Night appeared on the silver screen … Continue reading →

Posted in 1930s, 1940s, adaptations, Capra, comedy, reporters, romance, stereotypes | Leave a comment

Warming up with June Bride

Posted on November 14, 2013 by Bob Stepno

Here two radio adaptations of a snow-flaky romantic comedy called “June Bride,” about a magazine team trying to get a wedding feature written in a midwestern winter so that it will be set in type to greet spring readers. The … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, 1950s, adaptations, comedy, editors, foreign correspondents, magazines, romance, women | Leave a comment

Newspaper in the radio family living room

Posted on September 5, 2013 by Bob Stepno

In the 1940s, the newspaper habit was hard to break, as demonstrated in the “Seventeen Days” video of readers lining up to buy daily papers off the loading docks during a New York delivery strike, and New York’s mayor reading the comics … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, comedy, newspaper readers, newspapers, readers | 1 Comment

“I am not ‘in the news’…” — The Couple Next Door

Posted on June 18, 2013 by Bob Stepno

Journalism students should find food for ethical thought in this encounter between a newspaper reporter and “The Couple Next Door.”  Prelude: Little Betsy got a bad mark at school; all the children laughed at her… and just for repeating something … Continue reading →

Posted in 1950s, 1960s, children, comedy, ethics, newspaper readers, reporters | Leave a comment

Journalistic aspirations at Vic and Sade

Posted on May 25, 2013 by Bob Stepno

The classic radio comedy “Vic and Sade” by Paul Rhymer had no journalist characters appear at its microphones, as far as I know, although the main characters were regular newspaper readers… but Vic Gook did discuss writing for the paper … Continue reading →

Posted in 1930s, 1940s, comedy, newspaper readers, Old Time Radio Groups | 1 Comment

“Storm in a Teacup” crossed Atlantic

Posted on December 14, 2012 by Bob Stepno

The full-length 1937 film “Storm in a Teacup” is available from the Internet Archive, with Rex Harrison as a crusading young journalist and Vivien Leigh as the beautiful daughter of the smalltown dictator he crusades against. The 1948 Ford Theater … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adaptations, comedy, international, journalism | Leave a comment