Frank Bresee (August 20, 1929 – June 5, 2018) was an American radio actor, radio historian, and board game designer. He hosted the "Golden Days Of Radio" program which began in 1949 and aired on the

Armed Forces Radio Network The American Forces Network (AFN) is a government television and radio broadcast service the U.S. military provides to those stationed or assigned overseas. Headquartered at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, AFN's broadcast operations, which i ...

from 1967 to 1995. Bresee also created more than a dozen adult-oriented board games, the most notable of which is the

drinking Drinking is the act of ingesting water or other liquids into the body through the mouth, proboscis, or elsewhere. Humans drink by swallowing, completed by peristalsis in the esophagus. The physiological processes of drinking vary widely among o ...

game ''Pass-Out''.

Background

Bresee was born August 20, 1929 in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. At age 10, he and his classmates went on a school field trip to the studios of Los Angeles classical music station KFAC. He soon decided he wanted to be in radio. In 1942, he began appearing as "Little Beaver" on the

Red Ryder Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondary ...

radio program when the regular actor, Tommy Cook, was away working on motion pictures. That same year, Bresee played Alvin on the Major Hopalong program, which also starred Arthur Q. Bryan and

Mel Blanc Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for comedy ra ...

Career

Bresee attended hundreds of radio broadcasts and collected scripts, transcription discs and other memorabilia. His tape archives of 3,900 reels is held at the

Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, United States. It is in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles, approximately from the city of Los Angeles and from Downtown. It is named after the many oak tree ...

Library in Southern California. In August 1949, Bresee launched "Golden Days Of Radio" at CBS' Los Angeles affiliate station KNX, playing transcription discs of old programs. He also often filled in for late-night disc jockey and "Honorary Mayor Of

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

" Johnny Grant. In 1950, Bresee began working as an assistant on

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with 5 ...

's weekly

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

radio show. Bresee also hosted programs on the "Yesterday USA" internet radio station run by Bill Bragg, the former voice of

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mascot

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. In the 1950s and 1960s, Bresee also worked in television, coordinating prizes for shows such as ''

Let's Make a Deal ''Let's Make a Deal'' (also known as ''LMAD'') is an American television musical comedy variety-game show that originated in the United States in 1963 and has since been produced in many countries throughout the world. The program was created an ...

''. Perhaps his most lasting cultural legacy, however, is the board game ''Pass-Out'', which a 2016 story called "essentially ''

Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...

'' with booze". The game, first sold in 1962, became very popular later in the decade and in the 1970s. The game is still sold today in many countries around the world, although its U.S. retail presence is now mainly limited to

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

. While Bresee created more than a dozen other adult-oriented board games, ''Pass-Out'' was by far the most successful. In the aforementioned 2016 story, his wife Bobbie, a former

Playboy Bunny A Playboy Bunny is a waitress who works at a Playboy Club and selected through standardized training. Their costumes were made up of lingerie, inspired by the tuxedo-wearing Playboy rabbit mascot. This costume consisted of a strapless corset te ...

, said that ''Pass-Out'' "bought this house n Hollywood it bought a house in

Hancock Park Hancock Park is a city park in the Miracle Mile section of the Mid-Wilshire neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. The park's destinations include the La Brea Tar Pits; the adjacent George C. Page Museum of La Brea Discoveries, which display ...

, two Rolls-Royces, dozens of trips to Europe and all my opera dresses."

Death

Bresee died June 5, 2018, at age 88.

References

External links

* * 1929 births 2018 deaths American male radio actors American Forces Network Board game designers People from Los Angeles {{US-radio-bio-stub