In the late 1920s radio exploded almost overnight into being America's dominant entertainment, just as television would do twenty-five years later. Gerald Nachman, himself a product of the radio years, takes us back to the heyday of radio, bringing to life the great performers and shows, as well as the not-so-great and not-great-at-all. Nachman analyzes the many genres that radio exploited or invented, from the soap opera to the sitcom to the quiz show, zooming in to study closely key performers like Jack Benny, Bob Hope, and Fred Allen. Raised on Radio is a generous, instructive, and sinfully readable salute to an extraordinary American phenomenon.
ISBN-13: 9780520223035
Media Type: Paperback
Publisher: University of California Press
Publication Date: 08-23-2000
Pages: 544
Product Dimensions: 6.12(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.40(d)
Gerald Nachman has for thirty-eight years covered theater, movies, cabaret, and television for newspapers and magazines across the country. The author of three previous books, he lives in San Francisco.
Table of Contents
PREFACE Background Music
INTRODUCTION Bedtime Stories
1 Radio-Free America
2 Vaudio
3 The Anticomedian
4 Nesting Instincts
5 Treadmill to Posterity
6 Wise Guys Finish First
7 Jokes, Inc.
8 For Your Listening and Dancing Pleasure
9 The Children's Hour 181
10 Saddle Sore
11 Valued Families
12 No WASPs Need Apply
13 We'll Be Back Right after These Words
14 A Voice of Another Color
15 Radio Noir—Cops and Grave Robbers
16 Minds over Matter
17 Just Folks
18 The Soap Factory
19 The Royal Family
20 Meet the Press
21 Best Seats in the House
22 Crunch, Creak, Crash, Whoosh, Wham, and Whoo-oooo
23 The Unseen Audience
24 We're a Little Late, Folks, So Good Night
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTERVIEWS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
PHOTO CREDITS
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