The Billie Burke Show was an
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 ...
situation comedy
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 ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. It was broadcast on
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
April 3, 1943 - September 21, 1946.
Format
Actress
Billie Burke
Mary William Ethelbert Appleton Burke (August 7, 1884 – May 14, 1970) was an American actress who was famous on Broadway and radio, and in silent and sound films. She is best known to modern audiences as Glinda the Good Witch of the North ...
played herself as "a well-meaning young woman with her head in the clouds."
[Terrace, Vincent (1999). ''Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 42.] The character went out of her way to help people, from hobos in need to children wanting a playground,
[ "becoming involved in comic situations as a result."][Reinehr, Robert C. and Swartz, Jon D. (2008). ''The A to Z of Old-Time Radio''. Scarecrow Press, Inc. . P. 38.]
Grant Hayter-Menzies wrote in his book, ''Mrs. Ziegfeld: The Public and Private Lives of Billie Burke'': "''The Billie Burke Show'' ... was a showcase for the blithery character Billie now personified on the screen. To make her more palatable to a wider audience she was reconfigured from ditzy society matron to ditzy small town spinster 'in the little white house on Sunnyview Drive.'"
Personnel
In addition to Burke, regular cast members were Earle Ross as Burke's brother, Julius, Lillian Randolph
Lillian Randolph (December 14, 1898 – September 12, 1980) was an American actress and singer, a veteran of radio, film, and television. She worked in entertainment from the 1930s until shortly before her death. She appeared in hundreds of radi ...
as the housekeeper, Daisy, and Marvin Miller
Marvin Julian Miller (April 14, 1917 – November 27, 2012) was an American baseball executive who served as the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) from 1966 to 1982. Under Miller's direction, the players ...
as both of Burke's suitors, Colonel Fitts and Banker Guthrie. Miller also was one of the program's announcers, as was Tom Dixon.[
In his book, Hayter-Menzies cited an uncredited source, actress and writer ]Nancy Hamilton
Nancy Hamilton (July 27, 1908 - February 18, 1985) was an American actress, playwright, lyricist, director and producer.
Early life and education
Nancy Hamilton was born in Sewickley, Pennsylvania on July 27, 1908, daughter of Charles Lee Hamil ...
, for some of Burke's success in the program. Referring to a letter that Burke wrote to Hamilton in July 1944, he wrote, "While she amilton Amilton may refer to:
*Amilton Prado (born 1979), Peruvian football defender
*Amílton (footballer, born 1981), Brazilian football striker
*Amilton (footballer, born 1989), Brazilian football right winger
*Amilton Filho (born 1992), Belizean footbal ...
is not credited as such, according to various hints dropped in this letter and succeeding ones, Hamilton wrote — officially or not — lines for Billie to use in her show, and Billie considered them the best she'd had."[
]
References
External links
Streaming episodes of ''The Billie Burke Show'' from Old Time Radio Researchers Group Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Billie Burke Show, The
1943 radio programme debuts
1946 radio programme endings
CBS Radio programs
American comedy radio programs