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SOLERA DIAMOND VALLEY | JUNE 2021 9 By Dick Roppé, Resident Once upon a time there was this thing called the radio. I was born in 1939 so growing up in the 1940s and 50s, the radio was the window to the world, well before the cathode ray tube became available for mass purchase. In our living room stood a large and elegant Zenith console radio – much like the one shown at right - that, on clear nights, could pick up short wave stations from a galaxy far, far away. It even had buttons that could be set to your favorite stations. Lying on the floor you could easily conjure up vivid images of the Lone Ranger and Tonto purging the West of evildoers. Here are a few more shows I remember listening to: On a Saturday morning, who could forget Smilin' Ed McConnell and the Buster Brown Gang? "Arf! Arf! That's my dog Tige. He lives in a shoe. I'm Buster Brown look for me in there too!" Another hoot was the continuing gag on Fibber McGee and Molly when she would warn Fibber not to open hall closet door. Of course he didn't listen and the entire contents of the jam-packed closet would come crashing down on Fibber. You knew it was coming and the special effects were a gas. The title characters were created and portrayed by Jim and Marian Jordan, a real-life husband and wife team that had been working in radio since the 1920s. Often compared to today's Jeopardy! there was Dr. I.Q. He gave silver dollars to audience members who correctly answered his fast-paced questions. Then there was Duffy's Tavern with this memorable line when the phone rang and the manager Archie answers with a thick New Yorkese accent, "Hello, Duffy's Tavern, where the elite meet to eat. Archie the manager speakin'. Duffy ain't here — oh, hello, Duffy." How about Sky King with niece and nephew Penny and Clipper? The sponsor, Peter Pan Peanut Butter, offered a decoder for 15 cents and the inner seal from a jar of their peanut butter. In the late 40s one of my big faves was Spike Jones and the City Slickers. It was only on radio for a short time before Jones sensed there might be some potential in the fairly new medium of television. To this day I still have several of his 78s with all the sirens, bangs, whistles and cowbells. There's no doubt about what show these words meant, "Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a speeding locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman!" On Sunday the question was, "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow (Lamont Cranston) knows!" Don McNeill and The Breakfast Club was worth lots of chuckles. Every quarter hour, as music played, you were encouraged to get up and march around the breakfast table. Do you remember this jingle? "You'll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent." It was the sponsor for Bob Hope with his sidekick Jerry Colonna. There were so many more. Look for more jingles in this issue of the View. Those were the days. When I was 12 we placed our new 16" black and white GE TV right across from the Zenith… The day imagination faded! Ah yes, I rememr we

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