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| SUN LAKES LIFESTYLES | AUGUST 2019 | 19 Thank you to everyone who visited our second book sale of the year on July Fourth! What a wonderful day we had, especially talking to Sun Lakers and guests who love a good book! Our next book sale will be in November. Thanks to all library volunteers for their work, too! Take a look at the large- print section of the paperback library… we got a large donation and there are a lot of new titles. We may have heard, mostly from our parents, about listening in the evenings in the den, gathered around the family radio. The 1930s to the early 1950s is considered the "Golden Age of Radio" when as many as 82 percent of Americans were routine radio listeners. Radios in American homes became prevalent after WWI: improvements made radio the primary communication in battle. The first commercial radio station in the United States was KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1920. These early stations were a part of radio manufacturers; their goal was via programming to sell more radios. By 1922, there were more than one million radios in the US. In the beginning music was the most popular programming: classical (Firestone Voice, Bell Telephone Hour), Texaco-sponsored opera, country (National Barn Dance, Grand Ole Opry). Later comedians, mostly from vaudeville, were attracted mainly to a situation comedy format (Amos 'n Andy, Burns and Allen, Fibber McGee and Molly) or gag show ("Can you top this?" "Stop me if you've heard this"). Also came adaptations of popular comic strips such as Blondie or Dick Tracy. Soap operas, broadcast afternoons, derived this name because they were sponsored by soap/ detergent manufacturers. Radio dramas attracted top actors/actresses. Mercury Theatre on the Air was one famous troupe, with Orson Welles and Joseph Cotton. In the 40s, Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, already famous in movies, reprised their roles of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Thriller anthology series included Suspense, The Mysterious Traveler, The Shadow, and Inner Sanctum. Many of these shows are available to listen to online – go to.www.archive.org then look for "Old Time Radio." I love the specialized writing, music, and sound effects. No images to communicate action or emotion. The writing is active, direct, and emotional, lots of verbs. Characters are sharply written with clever and energetic wit. The playwright needs to engage the listeners' imagination. BTW, Sun Lakes Playhouse will be presenting in late October, What a Wonderful Life, The Radio Play with live sound effects. With Sun Lakes actors and stage staff that should be a lot of fun! Library Advisory

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