Among Dad’s tapes was a disk of Mom’s. The A side is the recording of a radio play by Jo Morrissy. It won first place in the annual radio playwriting contest of the Wisconsin Dramatic Guild (in 1939?). The B side has no identifying info. It is a dramatic...
In 1954 Mal was doing some TV. This is audio from the show “Close Up” that he hosted. The audio is from the “pretty little girl” sketch. If I recall correctly, Dad did this sketch wearing a zoot suit. I think this show may have been a favorite of his. He kept the artwork slides for this sketch on the walls of his home, even when he moved to Woodstock, 60 years later. You can tell from his reading that he was having a good time.
I have no idea how long the show was on the air; not long I suppose. Close Up was an early evening variety show. Shortly after this he went back to radio to stay.
Here are handwritten notes Mal made when preparing to talk about his work. (If you have heard his talk you understand he never typed a word.) Interesting things he mentions that you may not hear in the talk — His first job in on the air was a commercial...
Here we all are in one of our quieter moments. A photo from some years ago taken at Lake Barrington Shores home of Mal and Maria.
Keith and Judy moved to Guelph Ontario in 2004 with their two border collies, Shep and Chazz. To document the move the dogs took us on a trip around town. You can see the photos here. (Hint: Click on a photo to get a larger view.) We lost Shep...
This is an excerpt from Mal’s book Now Why Is It Ye’re Comin ta Ireland? Dad was a seriously patriotic American, a WWII veteran. He also was a firework admirer, probably pre-dating his role in field artillery. At any rate he and Maria were thrilled to bring the US...
Dad got a chance to stand up and talk to a group of Chicagoland broadcasters about his life. He talked about his early years in Wyoming, his discovery of Chicago and acting. He talks about future greats he got to know at the Pasadena Playhouse and his service during...
North Shore Hilton and North Shore Magazine put Mal on the North Shore Walk of Fame in 1994. Jack Brickhouse, a longtime friend, made the presentation. Here is Mal putting his hand prints on the walk: And here is the plaque commemorating the award: Previous honorees included Scott Turow,...
In 1993 Judy sneaked the family into town for Keith’s 50th birthday. Here’s an old photo of Mal apparently making a speech at that event.
In 1987 Chuck Schaden was writing a book on the history of WBBM radio. He taped a one hour interview with Mal talking about WBBM in the post-war years and Mal’s career there. There is a lot of real inside baseball here about Chicago radio in the 50’s and 60’s. The audio came off of a cassette not intended for air and is not great; playing time is just under 57:00.
Chuck Schaden went on to be inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame for his work in documenting the early days of radio.
WBBM Yesterday and Today, back cover
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