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?"

This Gun for Hire

This Gun for Hire was a blockbuster noir classic in 1942. It starred Veronica Lake, Alan Ladd and Joan Blondell. The tale is based on the Graham Greene novel of the same title. It was a great film, I've caught it on late night TV and Most of it's on Youtube these days available free in all it's quasi-legal glory. It was re-made in 1990 and the remake was lame. But we don't talk about novels or movies here. This here blog is about the radio machine.

This Gun for Hire was performed less than a year later by Lux Radio Theater as an hour-long feature. Their radio theatre version starred Alan Ladd, Joan Blondell, and Laird Cregar. Notice Alan Ladd appeared in both the film and radio versions. It was hosted by Cecil B. DeMille. More here.

The program Lux Radio theatre broadcast on the NBC Blue Network from 1934 through 1955. This Gun for Hire is a perfect example of what Lux Radio Theater did in that era. While the series debuted in 1934, working out of WJZ. The sponsor Lever Brothers movedit to a CBS studio in Hollywood in 1936. The intention was to use the Hollywood talent pool, and adapt hot movie scripts. It worked. They were producing plays with 50 players and paying paying actors as much as $5,000 for a single appearance! the shows were downright extravagant.Below is the first 3:00 of the program with the intro by Mr. DeMille. You can get the full program free here.

The radio debut had strange timing though. This Gun for Hire was Broadcast on Jan. 25, 1943 in the middle of the 9th season of Radio Lux. That turned out to be the very day before Ladd entered the military as a private. Lad's star was born on the silver screen, but it had to stay on hold until he returned from his tour of duty. The announcer in that era would have been John Milton Kenney. Lux radio theatre died a slow death. It's reatings grew every season for it's first 10 years on air. then essentially descended slowly from 1942 to 1955 when it crapped out with worse ratings than it had in it's first season 21 years earlier. More here.DeMille stopped hosting the program in 1945 giving up the mic to William Keighley. But, he didn't leave quietly or even willingly. DeMille had a dispute with the AFRA (American Federation of Radio Artists) union. He didnt' like strikes, and he didn't like pro-labor bills. btu to appear as a narrator on air at a union shop he had to be a member. He owed $1 in dues and the union used that to oust him. He was suspended from the union and barred from apearing on air. He was bitter. He called them communists for years later. More here.