Jim Ameche (August 6, 1915 – February 4, 1983)Cox, Jim (2008). ''This Day in Network Radio: A Daily Calendar of Births, Debuts, Cancellations and Other Events in Broadcasting History''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . Page 29. was an American radio actor who is most notable for his role as radio's original Jack Armstrong on ''

Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy ''Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy'' was a radio adventure series which maintained its popularity from 1933 to 1951. The program originated at WBBM (AM), WBBM in Chicago on July 31, 1933, and was later carried on CBS, then NBC and finally Cita ...

''.DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 11.

Career

Born James Amici in

Kenosha, Wisconsin Kenosha () is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the seat of Kenosha County. Per the 2020 census, the population was 99,986 which made it the fourth-largest city in Wisconsin. Situated on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, Kenos ...

,.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. 10-11. When his elder brother,

Don Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON *Don (river), a river in European Russia *Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name *Don, Benin, a town in Benin *Don, Dang, a vill ...

, left his position as the host and announcer for ''

The Chase and Sanborn Hour ''The Chase and Sanborn Hour'' is the umbrella title for a series of American comedy and variety radio shows sponsored by Standard Brands' Chase & Sanborn Coffee Company, Chase and Sanborn Coffee, usually airing Sundays on NBC Radio Network, NBC ...

'' in the early 1940s, Jim took over for the remainder of the show's run. He also was heard as mountie Jim West on ABC's ''Silver Eagle'' (1951–55). Other shows Ameche was heard on included ''Grand Hotel'', ''

Hollywood Playhouse ''Hollywood Playhouse'', also known as ''Woodbury Hollywood Playhouse'', is a radio anthology drama series that featured adaptations of plays and short stories. Created as a showcase for Tyrone Power, the series began October 3, 1937, on the Blu ...

'', and ''

Big Sister Big Sister may refer to: *An older sister, see birth order *Big Sister (brothel), an online brothel in Prague * "The Big Sister" (Dexter's Laboratory), an episode of ''Dexter's Laboratory'' *"Big Sister," a song by Elvis Costello and the Attractio ...

''. In the 1940s, he had several programs on WGN radio in Chicago. He was heard on stations in Los Angeles and Palm Springs in the late 1950s and early 60s. For many years he was a popular local radio personality in the

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 ...

area. By the late 1960s, he was working as an announcer on New York's WHN and the TV pitchman for a

Longines Symphonette Society ''The Longines Symphonette'' was a pre-recorded classical music program broadcast nightly on many Mutual Broadcasting System stations from 1943 to 1949. It then moved to CBS where it was heard Sundays at 2 pm from 1949 to 1957. The initial conductor ...

mail-order

record album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records coll ...

featuring clips of

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 ...

broadcasts. In the 1960s he also read radio advertisements for Gibson wines. For many years, he was the afternoon announcer on WQXR, the classical radio station of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', and was a familiar and beloved voice. He also recorded numerous radio ads in Phoenix, Arizona in his later years.

Film

He portrayed

Alexander Graham Bell Alexander Graham Bell (, born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born inventor, scientist and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He also co-founded the American Telephone and Te ...

in the 1957 film ''

The Story of Mankind ''The Story of Mankind'' is a book written and illustrated by Dutch-American journalist, professor, and author Hendrik Willem van Loon. It was published in 1921. In 1922, it was awarded the Newbery Medal for an outstanding contribution to children ...

,'' a role his brother Don played in 1939's ''

The Story of Alexander Graham Bell ''The Story of Alexander Graham Bell'' is a somewhat fictionalized 1939 biographical film of the famous inventor. It was filmed in black-and-white and released by Twentieth Century-Fox. The film stars Don Ameche as Bell and Loretta Young as Mab ...

''.

Family

Jim Ameche was married to the former Betty A. Harris of

Oak Park, Illinois Oak Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, adjacent to Chicago. It is the 29th-most populous municipality in Illinois with a population of 54,583 as of the 2020 U.S. Census estimate. Oak Park was first settled in 1835 and later incorporated in ...

. The couple had six children.

Alan Ameche Alan Ameche (; June 1, 1933 – August 8, 1988), nicknamed "The Iron Horse", or simply "The Horse", was an American football player who played six seasons with the Baltimore Colts in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football ...

, the professional football player, was a cousin of Jim.

Death

Jim Ameche died February 4, 1983, of lung cancer at

Tucson Medical Center Tucson Medical Center (TMC), licensed at 641 beds, is a locally governed nonprofit regional hospital in Tucson, Arizona. The medical center treats about 30,000 inpatients and 120,000 outpatients annually as well as around 6,000 births. TMC holds ...

at age 67.

References

External links

*
Video clip featuring Jim Ameche's ad campaign for the ''Remembering the Golden Days of Radio'' LP set (1971)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ameche, Jim 1915 births 1983 deaths American male radio actors Radio personalities from New York City Jubilee Records artists Deaths from lung cancer in Arizona Actors from Kenosha, Wisconsin 20th-century American male actors