The June Foray

June Foray is still alive, she's 92 and even still working in the voice-over industry that made her famous. She is best known as the voice of many animated characters including both Natasha Fatale and Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Cindy Lou Who, and Jokey Smurf. She was born in 1917, in Boston, the second of three children. She was first on the radio at the age of 12 in a local Radio drama on WBZA.

The WBZA calls are not a typo, but they may be unfamiliar even to Boston-area readers. WBZ and WBZA were sisters stations in Boston. The callsign was first used in in 1924. In March of 1931, WBZ and WBZA swapped call letters moving WBZ to Boston and WBZA to Springfield. WBZA carried a simulcast of WBZ until it went dark in 1962. June claims to have been on the station at the age of 12 that would have been about 1929, which fits right into the window. More here. In an article in Nostalgia Digest she indicated that the first appearance was not on WBZA but another unnamed Boston area station but that WBZA was at least contemporary to the appearance. She was quoted as follows:

"Well my teacher had a radio show and I was on it. Then there was a weekly radio show on WBZA, the local station. They had a group of actors and I had the hubris to call them..."

Her first work in Network radio was about 15 years later in 1943 on Cavalcade of America a program sponsored by DuPont about American history. In 1945 she was on Smile Time, a comedy program on the Don Lee Network and simultaneously on the Buster Brown gang Program on NBC. She went on to appear on Lux Radio Theater and an innumerable list of programs. She appeared on Steve Allen's 15-minute morning program in LA, on 1330 KFAC-AM. In 1948 when Steve Allen launched "It's a great Life" on CBS Radio June came too. She stuck with radio while she moved in to TV work even picked up a spot on the Stan Freberg radio show in 1957 also on CBS.

In 2008 the ASIDFA gave out it's first June Foray award and June was it's first recipient. The award is given to "individuals who have made a significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation." More recently she made the web 2.0 leap in October 2006, she appeared in the podcast "The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd" portraying Susan B. Anthony. Last year she finally wrote her autobiography "Did You Grow Up With Me, Too?"

Stephen Vincent Benet

I inherited a box of old books, mostly book-of-the-month club hardbacks, nothing particularly special jumped out but on the inside flap of the Book "Western Star" was a bio of it's author and as it often does the word "radio" jumped out. Who the hell is this guy?

"The words Mr. Benet used to describe Americans apply equally well to him. He ws always moving on... Millions of Americans have heard his great radio programs, They Burned the Books and Listen to the People, among others... There have been unprecedented tributes to his memory in newspapers, magazines and on the air..."

He was an American poet, novelist, and writer of short stories. He did a number of epic poems which I find dull dated and dry but were clearly popular in their day. He was born in Bethlehem, PA, into a military family and was relocated several times. He grew up in Benicia, California and rural georgia to name a few. He attended military school in the end, but was too myopic for actual service. He remained a staunch militarist, and supporter of the allies in WWII.

Benét made a number of radio broadcasts and worked in Hollywood as a screenwriter. He wrote a series of radio scripts, including "We Stand United" which was read over the CBS network by Raymond Massey in November of 1940. That same year he published "The Undefended Border" which was broadcast on the Cavalcade of America Program in December of that year. Massey also narrated that work. That same program also aired his work "A Child is Born" in December of 1942 on NBC but actually re-performed it in December of 1943 by popular request. That same year, on Flag day, President Roosevelt read at the end of his speeche a peice by Benet, witten just for the occasion titled "Toward the Century of Modern man, Prayer"

He published "Listen to the people in 1941 it was broadcast over the NBC Blue Network on the 4th of July 1941. He wrote They Burned the Books in 1942, which was read over the NBC network in May of 1942 a spart of a big Lester O'Keefe production. That year WABC and the CBS network all carried his play "A time to Reap" on Thanksgiving He had done a similar, but much smaller production the previous year on the NBC red network.

In 1944 his script "Your Army" was performed on all 4 big networks across 600 radio stations and on shortwave. He died in 1943 just missing his own big radio finale.

His works in the cannon of WWI propaganda were almost as ubiquitous as war bonds. He was a rabid patriot and nationalist. It makes sense then that these programs were produced not by Nabisco and Kraft but by big propaganda machines like The Council for Democracy, the America United Rally, The office of War information.. etc. It is what Mark Twain called "Art for the wrong reasons."

In 1945 a post-humus collection of his radio scripts was published under the title "We Stand United." many of these begin as letters from variosupeoples to Adolf Hitler and begin with the words "Dear Adolf." This last text is not only in the public domain but also readily availabel online so I've posted it for download here. Most of it reads like WWI radio propaganda.. which was conceeded by Norman Rosten in the forward:

"His weapon was the word, and Stephen vincent benet rolled up his sleeves and began turning out weapons. Here in this book of radio plays, are some of them. they are modern, built to specification, made for the need and cause of our time. Propaganda? That word used to be the big boogeyman of the thirties."

His and many of the Benet family papers are at the Cornell University Library in Ithaca, NY. It reveals that his sister Laura also wrote radio scripts.

Helen Keller and Radio

It seems odd at first that Hellen Keller would have anything to do with radio. She couldn't hear it, being both blind and deaf she was unable to appreciate wireless at all. But Helen Keller once convinced a radio manufacturer to donate 250 radios to blind people. She knew what radio was for. Even if she lacked the direct understanding she understood it's power.

It was 1929 and the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) was donating thousands of radios to visually impaired people. Eventually more than 3,000 radios were distributed. She was a celebrity already and she used it for the cause.

But Helen ended up on radio anyway. In February of 1936 she was interviewed by Rudy Vallee on the Fleischmann Yeast Hour. That ran on the NBC network. She was featured again prominently on March 2nd 1938. The Cavalcade of America program did a biography of her teacher, Anne Sullivan Macy. Keller introduced the program. the peice ran in episode # 124 in it's 3rd season on the CBS Network, and was sponsored by DuPont. More here.

In that top picture Helen Keller is the adult in the picture. She is showing ten year old Lillian Switzer how to use a radio with Braille symbols. The picture was taken in 1938, in the Helen Keller Room of AFB's old offices on 16th Street. The tradition is alive today. These days Helen Keller Worldwide (HKW) has been building radio stations in underdeveloped nations. More here.