Florence Freeman (July 29, 1911 – April 25, 2000) was an actress in
old-time radio
The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the early ...
. She was known as a "soap opera queen" for her work in daytime serial dramas.
[Cox, Jim (2007). ''Radio Speakers: Narrators, News Junkies, Sports Jockeys, Tattletales, Tipsters, Toastmasters and Coffee Klatch Couples Who Verbalized the Jargon of the Aural Ether from the 1920s to the 1980s--A Biographical Dictionary''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . pp. 104-105.]
Early years
Freeman was born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and grew up in
Albany,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
. One of her earliest performances came when she was six and gave a recitation of a poem at a World War rally. In high school, she won a medal for dramatics.
Freeman attended
Wells College
Wells College is a private liberal arts college in Aurora, New York. The college has cross-enrollment with Cornell University and Ithaca College. For much of its history it was a women's college.
Wells College is located in the Finger Lakes reg ...
,
where she was Campus Queen,
, and
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
[Grunwald, Edgar A., Ed. (1940). ''Variety Radio Directory 1940–1941''. Variety, Inc. p. 939.] preparing to become a teacher. She taught English before becoming an actress.
[DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . p. 99.]
Radio
Freeman's initial job in radio came in 1933 as the result of a challenge. After a friend dared her "to make good as a radio actress", Freeman applied — and was hired —
[ ] at WOKO in Albany, New York.
She went on to become a member of the casts of a number of serials in old-time radio, including being "the heroine of not one but ''two'' serials that ran more than a decade."
In 1949, Freeman won the "Your Favorite Daytime Serial Actress" award from
Radio Mirror magazine. Her roles on some programs are indicated in the table below.
She was also a regular on ''
Maxwell House Show Boat'', ''John's Other Wife'', ''
Abie's Irish Rose'',
[Sies, Luther F. (2014). ''Encyclopedia of American Radio, 1920–1960, 2nd Edition''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . p. 110.] ''Are You a Missing Heir?'' and ''Love and Learn''.
Stage
Before Freeman began her career in radio, she acted in
summer stock theater.
Personal life
Freeman was married to Rabbi Samuel A. Berman of Temple Beth-El in
Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.[Grant Park, Illinois
Grant Park is a village in northeastern Kankakee County, Illinois, United States. Grant Park was incorporated in 1883. In 2010, Grant Park had a population of 1,331. It is part of the Kankakee–Bradley Metropolitan Statistical Area. Much of ...]
.
External links
"I Played 'Fairy Godmother' to Love," magazine article by Florence Freeman
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Freeman, Florence
1911 births
2000 deaths
20th-century American actresses
Actresses from New York (state)
American radio actresses
American stage actresses