Harold Teen (radio program)

Harold Teen is a teenage comedy old-time radio program in the United States. It was broadcast initially on WGN in Chicago, Illinois, and a decade later was heard nationally on the Mutual Broadcasting System.

Harold Teen
GenreTeenage comedy
Running time15 minutes
Country of originUnited States
Language(s)English
Home stationWGN (1931-1932)
SyndicatesMutual (1941-1942)
StarringWilliam Farnum (1931-1932)
Charles Flynn (1941-1942)
Eddie Firestone Jr. (1941-1942)
AnnouncerPierre Andre (1931-1932)
Written byBlair Walliser
Fred Kress
Original release1931 – 1942

Format

Based on the Harold Teen comic strip, the program's episodes centered around the adventures of the title character and his friends. Other characters included best friend Shadow Smart, girlfriend Lillums Lovewell and Cynthia (who had a crush on Harold). Harold's and Beezie's fathers were the adult characters, while Beezie and Josie were two of Harold's friends.[1]

The WGN version was broadcast in 1931-1932, and the Mutual version in 1941-1942.[2] (Although the preceding reference lists 1931-1932 for the initial run of the program, an article in the October 19, 1930, issue of the Chicago Tribune says, "... the radio audience has taken the broadcast version of Harold Teen as closely to its heart as the dashing cartoon creation of Carl Ed ...")[3] The Harold Teen character appeared on radio again in 1948 in two genres.

The Teen-Agers Quiz Club

In 1948, WGN broadcast The Teen-Agers Quiz Club, a program that featured competition between a team of three boys and a team of three girls, all chosen from the teenage audience. Harold Teen headed the boys' team, and Sheila John Daly (a teenage columnist for the Chicago Tribune) headed the girls' team.[4]

Swinging at the Sugar Bowl

Swinging at the Sugar Bowl featured Harold Teen as a disc jockey with music "expertly selected for 'teen-age taste'".[4]:99 Other characters from the comic strip also occasionally appeared on the program.[4]:99 Fred Reynolds (son-in-law of Teen's creator, Carl Ed)[5] portrayed Harold Teen on the disc-jockey program.[6] The program's debut occurred on April 3, 1948, the same day that the comic strip had Teen begin a new adventure as a disc jockey, "paralleling Harold's grafic [sic] adventures".[7]

Personnel

WGN

Characters and the actors who portrayed them included those shown in the table below.

CharacterActor
Harold TeenWilliam Farnum
LilacsWally Colbath
BezieJack Spencer
GigglesIreene Wicker
LillumsEunice Yankee

Source: Encyclopedia of American Radio, 1920-1960, 2nd Edition[2]

The supporting cast included Eddie Firestone Jr., Charles Flynn, Rosemary Garbell, Bob Jellison, Marvin Miller, Loretta Poynton, Beryl Vaughn and Willard Waterman. Writers were Blair Walliser and Fred Kress.[2] Pierre Andre was the announcer.[8]

Mutual

Characters and the actors who portrayed them included those shown in the table below.

CharacterActor
Harold TeenCharles Flynn
Eddie Firestone Jr.
Shadow SmartBob Jellison
LillumsLoretta Poynton
Eunice Yankee
JosieRosemary Garbell
Beezie JenksMarvin Miller
Harold's fatherWillard Waterman
Beezie's fatherJack Spencer
CynthiaBeryl Vaughn[9]

Source: Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows,[1] except as noted.

Blair Walliser was the director. He and Fred Kress were writers for the program.[9]

gollark: Apparently they just sit there for ages looking at things with incredibly underpowered eyes (which they're able to get useful images out of via combining images over lots of time or something) and planning, then do things.
gollark: They can do stuff like plan ambushes in advance. Very cool.
gollark: Fairly advanced cognition running on a brain several orders of magnitude smaller than a human's via ridiculous levels of timesharing.
gollark: Speaking of spiders, have you heard of Portia spiders? They're very cool.
gollark: One molecule of spider contains one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms, giving an atomic weight of 18.

References
  1. Terrace, Vincent (1999). Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-4513-4. Pp. 145-146.
  2. Sies, Luther F. (2014). Encyclopedia of American Radio, 1920-1960, 2nd Edition. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-5149-4. Pp. 145-146.
  3. "Harold, Lillums Live the Parts in Daily Life". Chicago Tribune. October 19, 1930. p. Part 5 - Page 1. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
  4. Alicoate, Jack (1948). Shows of Tomorrow. Radio Daily. p. 126.
  5. Remenih, Anton (January 8, 1950). "Fred Reynolds Parlays Hobby into Radio Job". Chicago Tribune. p. Part 3 - Page 8. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
  6. Green, Nat (December 20, 1948). "Chicago" (PDF). Radio Daily. p. 4. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  7. Wolters, Larry (March 28, 1948). "Harold Teen's Disc Show to Open Saturday". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  8. "Pierre Andre Launches New Show Tonight". Chicago Tribune. June 18, 1955. p. 4 F. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
  9. Buxton, Frank and Owen, Bill (1972). The Big Broadcast: 1920-1950. The Viking Press. SBN 670-16240-x. Pp. 17-108.
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