Genre | Science fiction radio serial, Aviation radio series. |
---|---|
Running time | 15 minutes |
Country of origin | United States |
Language(s) | English |
Home station | Mutual Broadcasting System |
Syndicates | CBS |
Starring | Matt Crowley Curtis Arnall Carl Frank John Larkin Adele Ronson Edgar Stehli |
Announcer | Paul Douglas, Fred Uttal, [1] Kenny Williams |
Written by | Dick Calkins, Joe Cross, Jack Johnstone, Albert Miller, Dee Falkinburg [1] |
Directed by | Carlo De Angelo, Jack Johnstone |
Original release | November 7, 1932 [2] – March 28, 1947 [2] |
No. of episodes | 860 (estimated) [1] |
Sponsored by | Kellogg's, Cocomalt, Cream of Wheat, Popsicles, Fudgsicles, Creamsicles [2] |
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century was a radio drama series based on the popular novel and comics series Buck Rogers . It aired from 1932-1936, 1939, 1940 and 1946-1947, and it was notable for being the first science fiction radio show. [3]
Buck Rogers was initially broadcast as a 15-minute show on CBS Radio, from Monday through Thursday. It first ran from November 7, 1932, until May 22, 1936 . [1] [4] In 1936, it moved to a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule and went off the air the same year (720 episodes, 180 hours). Mutual Broadcasting System brought the show back and broadcast it three days a week from April 5 to July 31, 1939 (51 episodes, 12.75 hours), and from May 18 to July 27, 1940, [1] a 30-minute version was broadcast on Saturdays (11 episodes, 5.5 hours). From September 30, 1946, to March 28, 1947, Mutual aired a 15-minute version on weekdays [5] (78 episodes 19.5 hours).
The show was directed by Carlo De Angelo and Jack Johnstone. De Angelo also produced it. Sound effects were provided by Ora Daigle Nichols. [1] In 1988, Johnstone recalled how he worked with the sound effects of Ora Nichols to produce the sound of the rockets by using an air-conditioning vent. Dick Calkins, who also made the comic strip, wrote the scripts.
Actors Matt Crowley, Curtis Arnall, Carl Frank and John Larkin all voiced Buck Rogers at various times. Wilma Deering was portrayed by Adele Ronson, and the brilliant scientist-inventor Dr. Huer was played by Edgar Stehli. [1] [4]
The Yearling is a 1946 American Family Western film directed by Clarence Brown, produced by Sidney Franklin, and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). The screenplay by Paul Osborn and John Lee Mahin (uncredited) was adapted from Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings's 1938 novel of the same name. The film stars Gregory Peck, Jane Wyman, Claude Jarman Jr., Chill Wills, and Forrest Tucker.
Andrew Vabre Devine was an American character actor known for his distinctive raspy, crackly voice and roles in Western films, including his role as Cookie, the sidekick of Roy Rogers in 10 feature films. He also appeared alongside John Wayne in films such as Stagecoach (1939), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and How the West Was Won. He is also remembered as Jingles on the TV series The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok from 1951 to 1958, as Danny McGuire in A Star Is Born (1937), and as the voice of Friar Tuck in the Disney Animation Studio film Robin Hood (1973).
Roy Rogers was an American singer, actor, and television host. Following early work under his given name, first as co-founder of the Sons of the Pioneers and then as an actor, the rebranded Rogers then became one of the most popular Western stars of his era. Known as the "King of the Cowboys", he appeared in over 100 films and numerous radio and television episodes of The Roy Rogers Show. In many of his films and television episodes, he appeared with his wife, Dale Evans; his Golden Palomino, Trigger; and his German Shepherd, Bullet. His show was broadcast on radio for nine years and then on television from 1951 through 1957. His early roles were uncredited parts in films by fellow cowboy singing star Gene Autry and his productions usually featured a sidekick, often Pat Brady, Andy Devine, George "Gabby" Hayes, or Smiley Burnette. In his later years, he lent his name to the franchise chain of Roy Rogers Restaurants.
Charles Sherman Ruggles was an American comic character actor. In a career spanning six decades, Ruggles appeared in close to 100 feature films, often in mild-mannered and comic roles. He was also the elder brother of director, producer, and silent film actor Wesley Ruggles (1889–1972).
Wilma Deering is a fictional character featured in the various iterations of Buck Rogers which have spanned many media over the years.
Constance Moore was an American singer and actress. Her most noted work was in wartime musicals such as Show Business and Atlantic City and the classic 1939 movie serial Buck Rogers, in which she played Wilma Deering, the only female character in the serial.
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century is an American science fiction adventure television series produced by Universal Studios. The series ran for two seasons between September 1979 and April 1981 on NBC, and the feature-length pilot episode for the series was released as a theatrical film before the series aired. The film and series were developed by Glen A. Larson and Leslie Stevens, based on the character Buck Rogers created in 1928 by Philip Francis Nowlan that had previously been featured in comic strips, novellas, a serial film, and on television and radio.
Richard William Calkins, who often signed his work Lt. Dick Calkins, was an American comic strip artist who is best known for being the first artist to draw the Buck Rogers comic strip. He also wrote for the Buck Rogers radio program.
The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air was a program broadcast on CBS Radio during the 1930s which attempted to bring the success of Florenz Ziegfeld's stage shows to the new medium of radio.
William Gould was a Canadian-American film actor. He appeared in more than 240 films during his career. In films, Gould portrayed Jed Scott, a leader of homesteaders, in the serial The Lone Ranger Rides Again (1939) and Air Marshal Kragg in the serial Buck Rogers (1939).
Perry Mason is a radio crime serial based on the novels of Erle Stanley Gardner. Broadcast weekdays on CBS Radio from 1943 to 1955, the series was adapted into The Edge of Night which ran on television for an additional 30 years.
John Larkin was an American actor whose nearly 30-year career was capped by his 1950s portrayal of two fictional criminal attorneys – Perry Mason on radio and Mike Karr on television daytime drama The Edge of Night. After having acted in an estimated 7,500 dramatic shows on radio, he devoted his final decade to television and, from April 1962 to January 1965, was a key member of the supporting cast in two prime-time series and made at least twenty major guest-starring appearances in many of the top drama series of the period.
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century is a 1979 American science fiction adventure film directed by Daniel Haller. Starring Gil Gerard in the title role and Erin Gray as Colonel Wilma Deering, it was produced by Glen A. Larson who co-wrote the screenplay with Leslie Stevens, based on the character Buck Rogers which was created by Philip Francis Nowlan in 1928. It was originally made as a television pilot, but Universal Pictures opted to release the movie theatrically several months before the subsequent television series aired.
Buck Rogers is a science fiction adventure hero and feature comic strip created by Philip Francis Nowlan first appearing in daily U.S. newspapers on January 7, 1929, and subsequently appearing in Sunday newspapers, international newspapers, books and multiple media with adaptations including radio in 1932, a serial film, a television series, and other formats.
Mark Trail is the title of two different American radio series based on the popularity of the comic strip Mark Trail by Ed Dodd and airing around the same time period between 1950 and 1952. Just like the comic strip they were adventure stories aimed at a young audience.
The March of Time is an American radio news documentary and dramatization series sponsored by Time Inc. and broadcast from 1931 to 1945. Created by broadcasting pioneer Fred Smith and Time magazine executive Roy E. Larsen, the program combined actual news events with reenactments. The "voice" of The March of Time was Westbrook Van Voorhis. The radio series was the basis of the famed March of Time newsreel series shown in movie theaters from 1935 to 1951.
Edgar Stehli was a French-born American actor of the stage, the screen and television.
The first scheduled, high-definition television programmes were broadcast on 2 November 1936 by the British Broadcasting Corporation. They had been preceded by a number of low-definition BBC test broadcasts, as well as a 180-line Deutscher Fernseh Rundfunk service, from Berlin, since March 1935.
Aurore Dolores Daigle Nichols was a pioneering sound effects artist in American radio broadcasting. She was the first woman to be the head of a sound effects department, and created many sound-producing methods. She worked with Orson Welles, with whom she sometimes clashed.