''Gasoline Alley'' was an American radio

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

based on the popularity of the newspaper comic strip ''

Gasoline Alley ''Gasoline Alley'' is a comic strip created by Frank King and distributed by Tribune Content Agency. It centers on the lives of patriarch Walt Wallet, his family, and residents in the town of Gasoline Alley, with storylines reflecting traditio ...

'' by Frank King. It first aired in 1931 under the name "Uncle Walt and Skeezix". On February 17, 1941 the show returned on

NBC Radio The National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (known as the NBC Red Network prior to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in operation from 1926 through 2004. Along with the NBC Blue Network it was one of the first t ...

under the name "Gasoline Alley", with almost the same cast. Unusual at the time, it was a literal transfer of the storyline that had appeared in the comics pages that very same morning. It ran on NBC until April 11, 1941, and then switched to NBC's

Blue Network The Blue Network (previously known as the NBC Blue Network) was the on-air name of a now defunct American Commercial broadcasting, radio network, which broadcast from 1927 through 1945. Beginning as one of the two radio networks owned by the N ...

on April 28, 1941. It ended its run on May 9, 1941. The syndicated series of 1948–49 featured a cast of Bill Lipton,

Mason Adams Mason Adams (February 26, 1919 – April 26, 2005) was an American character actor and voiceover artist. From the late 1940s until the early 1970s, he was heard in numerous radio programs and voiceovers for countless television commercials, t ...

and Robert Dryden. Sponsored by

Autolite Autolite or Auto-Lite is an American brand of spark plugs and ignition wire sets. Autolite products are sold in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Australia. Until 2011, the Autolite brand was a part of Honeywell's automotive Consumer Pro ...

, the program used opening theme music by the Polka Dots, a harmonica group. The 15-minute episodes focused on Skeezix running a gas station and garage, the Wallet and Bobble Garage, with his partner, Wilmer Bobble. In New York, this series aired on WOR from July 16, 1948 to January 7, 1949

Cast

* Skeezix:

Bill Idelson Bill Idelson (August 21, 1919 – December 31, 2007) was an actor, writer, director and producer widely known for his teenage role as Rush Gook on the radio comedy ''Vic and Sade'' and his recurring television role as Herman Glimscher on ''The ...

, Jimmy McCallion * Nina Clock: Janice Gilbert, Jean Gillespie * Wumple: Cliff Soubier * Ling Wee:

Junius Matthews Junius Conyers Matthews (June 12, 1890 – January 18, 1978) was an American actor in films, theater, radio and television. He was the voice of Archimedes the Owl in Disney's '' The Sword in the Stone'' in 1963. He was also the original voice ...

Sources

External links

Glowing Dial: ''Gasoline Alley'': "The Adventure of Jealous Jessica" (1948-49)Radio America: ''Gasoline Alley'', October 29, 1948.Zoot Radio, free old time radio show downloads of Gasoline Alley
American comedy radio programs American radio soap operas 1931 radio programme debuts 1949 radio programme endings Radio programs about families Radio programs based on comic strips NBC radio programs NBC Blue Network radio programs {{US-radio-show-stub