I've been listening to Jack Benny since I was a kid, and I've heard any number of other programs sponsored by Lucky Strike as well. For the life of me, I can't figure out what the "chicka-chicka" noise in the ad is supposed to be.

They'll start out with something like "chicka-chicka. chicka-chicka. L S, M F T! L S, M F T!". The LSMFT is of course "Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco", but is the noise supposed to be a telegram printer? A stock ticker? Something at one of the tobacco auctions?

One of the most famous ‘Irishmen’ on Radio (who you may not know by name) – Walter Aloysius Kinsella – was born Aug. 16, 1900, in Manhattan, New York City to Irish immigrants Simon and Margaret Kinsella.

While in high school in the Bronx, he had a unique after-school job from 1915 - 1917 at a place called Edison Studios just a few blocks from his home. Yes, THAT Edison. He was working both behind and in front of the camera in some of the earliest movies made! With WWI raging, he dropped out of school and enlisted in the US Marine Corps in early 1918 and was discharged in the fall of 1919. No, Walter was never sent to France. He must have liked certain aspects of the military, as he then enlisted in the NY National Guard and remained into the early 1930s!

He also enjoyed (and was good at) sports. His big thing in high school was running – middle distance running – which he also stayed with into the 1930s. But missed by many biographers was that he took a liking to squash – or in the 19-teens, ‘Squash Tennis.’ He excelled at that also – becoming World Champion by 1920 and continued playing for the next 10 years as an amateur.

A handsome man, Walter also got into fashion modeling in the 1920s and was one of the models for Arrow Menswear – he had the look coupled with his film industry experience. With this, he decided to give the stage a try.

Most bios will say he got his start on Broadway with “What Price Glory?” in 1924. Not quite right. He WAS in “What Price Glory?” – but in the touring road show that lasted nearly a year from the fall of 1924 to the fall of 1925 playing two speaking roles throughout the eastern half of the country.

If you look at his Broadway career – and it’s a good one – hist first Broadway play is “The Road to Rome” (1927 – running for 1 year!; he was ‘the third guard’ but he’s on Broadway!). He will do 5 more Broadway plays – all with substantial acting parts – over the next 30 years! He will remain in the Big Apple for most of his radio career.

If you study his radio – he’s more often in a comedy role, but was not tied to that. Drama was also in his vocabulary – especially if they needed a brogue, and a few soaps – of course!

In 1930 we hear him on the radio as the co-star of Peewee and Windy (Windy) and three years later on Circus Days (General Manager) – a 26-week program. They leave the air but he’s being recognized and in the 30s is active on: Arch Oboler Plays, Dick Tracy (original Pat Patton through the ‘40s), Great Plays, Myrt and Marge (Joe Gulick), Mr. District Attorney (the first Harrington and a regular in many roles), Radio Newsreel and Radio Guild. Starting to see ‘Irish’ roles?

The ‘40s were even better. Abie’s Irish Rose (Pat Murphy, Rosemary’s father – entire run), Baby Snooks, Bishop and the Gargoyle, Cavalcade of America, Columbia Workshop, Crime Club, Crisis in War Town, Electric Theater with Helen Hayes, Ford Theatre, The Fresh Up Show (Doc Fickett and an Irish policeman), Joe and Mabel (Mike), Johnny Morgan Show (Regular), Leave it to Mike (aka Paging Mike McNally; star), Martin Kane, Private Eye (Happy McCann – radio and TV), Mighty Casey (Ambrose Cooney), Mr. and Mrs. North (Sgt. Mullins – into the 50s), Secret Missions, Sportsmen’s Club, Stella Dallas (Gus Grady – 5 years), That’s My Pop (Regular), Theatre Guild On The Air, Treasury Salute and Words at War. Some pretty big series.

By the early ‘50s he was already migrating into TV – but still had time for radio and more plays on Broadway. On the radio: CBS Radio Workshop, Phil Harris/Alice Faye (when they did the show on the road in New York in 1950) and X-Minus one.

He capped his radio career in the early 60s with appearances on Suspense, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar when those programs moved to New York and Theater Five while being heavily involved in TV as an actor and announcer.

To top it off, he is one of a minority of radio actors to be a member of New York’s premier actor’s society, The Lambs’ Club – where he actually lived for many years.

In an article in a Pensacola, FL newspaper while appearing as the Irish father of Rosemary Murphy on “Abie’s Irish Rose,” he said that it was his own fault that he’s a victim of type-casting (MANY times showing up as an Irishman). When Walter started in radio, he accepted parts not quite to his liking because he needed the jobs. What he wanted to play was an Irish character, but nobody would listen. Finally, a producer friend gave him the chance. Result - Walter plays most of the Irish characters on the radio today (1943)!

In Mary Jane Higby’s book, “Tune In Tomorrow,” she notes about Kinsella. (It dealt with running in downtown New York City to get from one network to another for scheduled shows.)

Track records between stations and how to beat them was a favorite topic at Colbee's, the restaurant by CBS. I once eavesdropped on a conversation between Santos Ortega (Inspector Queen and Nero Wolfe) and Walter Kinsella, one of the busiest of the free-lance actors.

"You can trim one minute forty-five seconds off your time from here to NBC," Ortega maintained, "if you cut diagonally through St. Patrick's Cathedral."

"One minute thirty," corrected Kinsella.

"One thirty," agreed Ortega, "if you stop to genuflect."

To a man of silent movies, the Marine Corps, a world-class athlete, a fashion model, Broadway actor and a great radio actor (Irish or otherwise) – thank you for some wonderful performances!

That after-school job paid big dividends in his career. He died in 1975 in New Jersey – but what a life.

Before I did this research, I knew the name but little else. Now I consider him my friend.

Many of the series he appeared on are still there for the listening – check him out.

Normally I’m fairly aware of the significance of the OTR person I write about – but this week’s guest threw me for a loop! Yes, I knew the basics of him, but I had NO idea of the sheer number of shows he worked on as actor or announcer and knew even less of his hundreds of voices he used in radio. He was a writer, actor, director, announcer, narrator, poet and walking encyclopedia – a Renaissance man of radio.

Up front – an apology for the length. I learned so much about him, I couldn’t help myself.

I’m speaking of Marvin Miller. While my generation knew him primarily as Michael Anthony, executive secretary to billionaire John Beresford Tipton (voiced by Paul Frees, but never seen) for handing out tax-free $1,000,000 checks on the TV series “The Millionaire,” he had a huge impact on radio before making the transition to TV.

Marvin Elliott Mueller was born on July 18, 1913, in St. Louis, MO to Herman and Teresa Mueller.

As a kid he wanted to be a newspaper man, but from his job as a copy boy, he saw more of the drudgery that goes into a newspaper man’s life, so thought about a college professor as he loved learning and wanted to pass it on to others. But the Depression got in the way, and in order to finish college (Washington University in St Louis) he took a job at a St. Louis radio station at KWK. Or should I say, he lost his audition as an announcer but as a parting shot, offered to do a summer radio show, Lord Algy, including the writing, directing and all the voices. They hired him; he was able to pay for and complete his bachelor’s degree in Languages (fluent in French, Spanish and German). In the summer program’s first episode he played two Englishmen, two negroes, an Italian, a Frenchman, an American gangster and a straight man. He made $5/week. By the end of the 13-week summer run, he had done more than 45 roles. He was still a teenager.

With his degree in hand, he went back to radio in St Louis – to KMOX as announcer, actor (characters aged 16 to 60), newscaster and music commentator.

By 1939, with more than 7 years in St Louis radio, he moved to Chicago and repeated his successes with more than a dozen dialects; by 1944 was appearing in 45 programs a week. ‘Variety’ dubbed him, “Chicago’s one-man radio industry.”

He was a part of the Chicago radio world from 1939 to 1944. In that time, he really earned the Variety ‘award.’

Since he was in Chicago, that meant he was probably on a soap or two – (who didn’t?) or almost 20 (between Chicago and Hollywood)! FEW actors, male or female, were associated with more than Marvin.  Affairs of Anthony (Anthony Marley, Sr.), Arnold Grimm’s Daughter (‘Voice of Conscious’), Guiding Light (Ellis Smith), Judy and Jane  (actor-announcer), Lonely Women (announcer and ‘Voice of Doubt’), Ma Perkins (announcer), Midstream (Howard Andrews), Right to Happiness (actor and ‘Voice of the past’), Road of Life (Tom Brando), Romance of Helen Trent (Gil Whitney), Scattergood Baines (Arturo Valdi and ‘Hands’ Bannister), Stepmother (‘Voice of Conscious’), Today’s Children (Regular), Woman From Nowhere (announcer) and Woman in White (Dr. Lee Markham).

But he was MUCH more than a ‘soap’ actor/announcer…

Did somebody say drama, comedy, variety, quiz and juvenile shows?

Yes!. In Chicago he appeared on: Aunt Jemima (Announcer), Author’s Playhouse (Regular), Beat the Band (Announcer), Captain Midnight (Capt. Einman – a Nazi, and Rogart), the ‘high-brow’ Chicago Theater of the Air (Regular), Coronet Little Show (Announcer), Coronet Storyteller (storyteller)*, Cruise of the Poll Parrot (Captain Roy Dalton of the ‘Poll Parrott’), Dear Mom (Sgt. Mike Monihan), First Nighter (Mr. First Nighter and actor), Great Gunns (Actor-announcer), Harold Teen (Beezie Jenks), Jack Armstrong (Regular), Knickerbocker Playhouse (Regular), National Barn Dance (Announcer), Peter Quill (Peter Quill – star), Play Broadcast (Host), Press Club (Mark Brando – star), The Quiz Kids (Announcer), That Brewster Boy (Announcer), Treet Time (Regular), Uncle Walter’s Dog House (Regular), and Wings of Destiny (Regular).

So, was he an actor or announcer as he did many of both? It could get confusing. As he noted to Chuck Schafer in a 1973 interview speaking about his work in Chicago… “…the only way I actually got around it in Chicago was to tell the advertising agency people that I was an announcer, and tell the directors that I was an actor—and sometimes I met myself coming and going. I’d be announcing a show and suddenly get a part on it!”

In June of 1944, Marvin, along with his wife and son, moved west to Hollywood. As he discussed in a 1945 radio ‘fanzine’ interview…

"Hollywood is an odd place. In radio in Chicago, an actor has a chance to make a name for himself, and by his merit, work himself out of the AFRA minimum scale of pay, while an announcer seldom does. Out here the situation is reversed. An announcer can build himself a fine reputation with corresponding hikes in salary, while the average actor, no matter how good he is, works on the various dramatic shows for scale. Having quite a few financial responsibilities," he grinned, "you'll see why I'm better known out here as an announcer and storyteller."
So, he again did BOTH.

When he left Chicago, he brought a program with him – Coronet Storyteller – that would last for years.

His Hollywood resume:

On the ‘Soap’ front in Hollywood: Aunt Mary (Announcer), Family Skeletons (actor) and One Man’s Family (Roderick Stone and others – in fact it’s said he played more than 20 roles on the show – more than any other actor).

Non-Soaps he was on: Adv. of Maisie, Adv. of Ozzie and Harriet, Andrews Sisters (Announcer), Armchair Adventures (did ALL voices), Barrie Craig (Regular), The Beulah Show (Announcer), The Bickersons (Announcer), Billie Burke Show (Col. Fitts, banker Guthrie and Announcer), Bold Venture (actor-Announcer), Broadway Is My Beat (actor), Burns and Allen (Regular 49-50), The Cisco Kid (actor), Confession (Regular), Cousin Willie (Marvin Sample), Crime Classics (actor), Crisco/Dreft Star Playhouse (Announcer)**, Dark Venture (actor), A Date With Judy (Announcer), Don Ameche/Old Gold Show (Announcer), Dragnet (actor), Duffy’s Tavern (actor-Announcer), Eternal Light (actor), Family Theatre (semi-regular), Father Knows Best (Announcer), Favorite Story (actor), Fibber McGee and Molly (actor), Songs by Sinatra (Announcer), Great Gildersleeve (actor), Guest Star (Announcer, Host), Gunsmoke (actor), Have Gun, Will Travel (semi-regular),  Hotpoint Holiday Hour (Special, Announcer), Inheritance (actor), I was a Communist for the FBI (actor), Jeff Regan (Regular, Announcer), Jo Stafford Show (Announcer), Lassie (Narrator), Lux Radio Theatre (actor), Martin and Lewis (Announcer), Me and Janie (actor), Moon Dreams (Host-Narrator), Music By Ray Noble (Announcer), Name the Movie (Host-Announcer), NBC Presents Short Story (actor), NBC Star Playhouse (actor), NBC University Theater (semi-regular), Night Beat (actor), Pacific Story (actor), Phil Harris/Alice Faye (actor), Railroad Hour (Announcer entire run), Red Skelton (Announcer), Rocky Fortune (actor), Roy Rogers Show (semi-regular), Rudy Vallee Drene Show (actor), The Six-Shooter (actor), Smilin’ Ed’s Buster Brown Show (actor), Space Patrol (actor), Stars for Defense (regular), Stars Over Hollywood (semi-regular), Stop That Villain (Co-Host), Strange Wills (actor), Symphony Under the Stars (music commentator), Tarzan (actor), Tell It Again (Host-Narrator), Theater of Famous Radio Players (Regular), The Whistler (The Whistler and Announcer), The Witness (actor), Woodbury Journal (Louella Parsons Show) (Announcer), Your Movietown Radio Theater (actor) and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar (Regular 55-60).

While never in the military or officially part of AFRS, he still volunteered his time on several AFRS programs: Command Performance (Announcer), The Haunting Hour (Announcer/AFRS), Hollywood Bowl Series (Announcer), Jubilee (MC), Mail Call (actor) and Pendleton Story (actor).

With the end of radio drama in 1962, he just couldn’t stay out of radio. With the several attempts to bring back radio drama in the ‘60s and ‘70s, he was there – CBS Radio Mystery Theater (actor), Heartbeat Theater [Salvation Army] (actor), Sears Radio Theater (24 appearances), Theatre Five (actor) and The Zero Hour (aka Hollywood Radio Theater) (Regular).

What a LIST!

 

*The Coronet Storyteller originated in January, ’44 on NBC Blue in Chicago as a 15-minute, 5 nights-a-week program. It morphed into The Story Behind the Story when on Mutual; then to Behind the Story for 9 years on the Don Lee network, and finally as Marvin Miller, Storyteller after Mutual cancelled the program in 1958 and Miller continued the program out of KNX in Hollywood. Miller recorded his 1,000^(th) episode of the show when it was called Behind the Story out of KHJ in LA as noted in TV-Radio Life issue of July 17, 1953.

** Crisco and Dreft Star Playhouses were unique shows. It started as Hollywood Theater of the Air in 1943. It was a daily, 15-minute program that would do a different movie each week at 9:45-10:00 every weekday morning (Eastern Time). Proctor & Gamble owned it and thought there were too many shows with Hollywood in the title – so they renamed it first to Crisco Star Playhouse in the summer of 1944 and changed it again that fall to its final name, Dreft Star Playhouse. Crisco was P&G’s shortening (I’ll bet you have some in your kitchen!), while Dreft was its laundry detergent (still around, too). In the end, names didn’t matter – housewives were not ready to listen to a movie serialized over 5 days and the show went off the air in March of 1945.

 

As a final note, Marvin was not JUST a radio actor, writer, announcer, narrator – he also acted in over 60 movies ‘live’ and ‘voice’ (remember the voice of Robby the Robot in “Forbidden Planet?”), countless TV shows, various animated characters, recorded Dr. Seuss story albums for which he received two Grammys, and recorded the entire King James’ version of the Bible – a set of recording sessions that lasted some 6 months and the recordings would take a person over 100 hours to listen to! Oh, and on Moon Dreams, he didn’t just read poetry – he wrote it too – enough to get listed in the Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Poets! You’ve probably heard him many times – but didn’t know who it was.

Your typical radio actor? Not by a longshot!

Early 1932-1934

Jello 1935-1941

Grape nuts/war time 1942-1945

Early Lucky strick 1946-1952

Later Lucky stick/ the finale years 1953-1955

Me personally it goes Jello, early Lucky, wartime, later Lucky, early years

I’ve always loved the idea and character of The Shadow but honestly finding some of the episodes (The Thing in the Swamp, The Ghost Walks Again for example ) kind of childish like basic Scooby Doo or something.

Even in less supernatural episodes he just kind walks in, guilt-trips a criminal mid-act, and then the police show up.

Is there an era or series of episodes that rise above these simple stories and bring more to the table or are a little more grown-up?

I’d love some that delve more into the psychological with sophisticated villains and complicated cases.

What are your recommendations?

I just started listening to OTR radio broadcasts. I started with Dragnet and just over 1 year into those broadcasts ( on episode 60) and Im wondering what I should listen to next. Sam Spade? Fibber Mcgee? What would you recommend

I remember hearing it as a kid and wanted to try to find it again.