LET GEORGE DO IT "Santa Claus On Glass"

 

Mutual Radio, Don Lee Network December 25, 1950. Let George Do It was an American radio drama series produced from 1946 to 1954 by Owen and Pauline Vinson. Bob Bailey starred as private investigator George Valentine; Olan Soule voiced the role in 1954. Don Clark directed the scripts by David Victor and Jackson Gillis. George Valentine was a professional detective. Valentine's secretary was Claire Brooks, a.k.a. Brooksie (voiced by Frances Robinson, then by Virginia Gregg, and then by Lillian Buyeff). As Valentine made his rounds in search of perpetrators, he occasionally encountered Brooksie's kid brother, Sonny (Eddie Firestone) or elevator man Caleb (Joseph Kearns). Police Lieutenant Riley (Wally Maher) was a more regular guest. For the first few shows, Sonny was George's assistant, given to exclamations such as "Jeepers!" but he was soon relegated to an occasional character. John Hiestand was the program's announcer. (PHOTO: BAILEY and GREGG)

ANDY MANSFIELD "Witch Doctor"

 

One of the first DJ music shows featuring a husband and wife team of Andy and Virginia Mansfield in "Turn Back The Clock" broadcast mostly on the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service from 1948-61. It was the first "Music and Talk" radio show. OTRCAT.COM relates: Andy and Virginia Mansfield had been around radio for most of their lives. Virginia got her start as a dancer. She landed a job as a staff singer at an Ohio radio station, and eventually moved to Los Angeles to work on KHJ, KFI and KMPC. She worked in vaudeville with her husband Andy, and they were one of the first couples to perform together on television, appearing on the Mutual Don Lee Network in 1937. The couple is best remembered for NBC's Andy and Virginia and Turn Back the Clock over the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.

MAXINE GRAY CAMEO (First of a series)

 

We begin our look at the life and career of vocalist Maxine Gray. Text from Internet sources including Wikipedia and OTRCAT.COM: Although little-known beyond fans of Big Band Music and OTR, Maxine Gray's story is filled with survival and even success despite nearly crippling injuries and long odds. We will have future cameos of Maxine Gray but this first episode includes her recording of "Boom" with the Hal Kemp orchestra. (April 19, 1939)

CALIFORNIA MELODIES "Blue Room"

 

California Melodies aired from 1940 to 1942 and featured composer David Rose and singer Maxine Gray. The show was a huge orchestral production featuring Rose's music and was broadcast from Hollywood. The music was easy on the ears and quite pleasing and melodic. This is episode 7 which aired on May 30, 1940 over the Don Lee Mutual network from the KHJ radio studios in Hollywood also owned at this time by Don Lee. (Photo) Don Lee made a fortune as the exclusive West Coast distributor of Cadillac automobiles. He expanded into broadcasting by purchasing radio stations KFRC in San Francisco in 1926 and KHJ in Los Angeles in 1927. The stations were connected by telephone circuits and in December 1928 the Don Lee Broadcasting System was formed. Within a month, KMJ in Fresno, California; KWG in Stockton, California; and KFBK in Sacramento, California, had joined the network. By 1938, 28 stations were affiliated with the Don Lee network. Lee died in 1934, leaving his son, Thomas S. Lee, to oversee the network's operation. Affiliating with Don Lee Network enabled Mutual to go coast to coast across the United States. The change, announced on June 27, 1936, added Lee's California affiliated stations to those already connected with Mutual. The expanded Don Lee-Mutual network began operations on December 30, 1936. After that affiliation, Lee continued independent operations, transmitting only certain Mutual programs to stations on the Lee network.