Thomas Breneman Smith (June 18, 1900 – April 28, 1948) was an American radio personality. For most of his career, he was based in Southern California, in Los Angeles and Hollywood. His radio program was such a success that he established the eponymous Tom Breneman's Restaurant in Hollywood, which attracted many actors, musicians and others.

Early years

Breneman was born in

Waynesboro, Pennsylvania Waynesboro is a borough in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, on the southern border of the state. Waynesboro is in the Cumberland Valley between Hagerstown, Maryland, and Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. It is part of Chambersburg, PA Micropolitan Stat ...

. His father worked in a sand mine, and Breneman was one of six children. Breneman graduated from the public schools in Waynesboro and attended

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 ...

Radio

Breneman began broadcasting in 1927. In 1930, he was program director at KFVD in Culver City, California. In 1931–32, appearing as Tom Brennie, he had a program, ''Laugh Club of the Air'' 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 ...

, an early

audience participation An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature (in which they are called "readers"), theatre, music (in which they are called "listeners"), video games (in which they are called "players"), or ...

show. Returning to the West Coast, he hosted a morning variety show for

Fels-Naptha Fels-Naptha is an American brand of laundry soap manufactured by Summit Brands. The soap was originally created in 1893 by Fels and Company. It originally included the ingredient naphtha, effective for cleaning laundry and urushiol, an oil cont ...

soap from KFRC, San Francisco, to the

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 ...

-Don Lee network circa 1935. In 1937, Breneman was host of ''Secret Ambition'', which was produced at

KNX KNX is an open standard (see EN 50090, ISO/IEC 14543) for commercial and domestic building automation. KNX devices can manage lighting, blinds and shutters, HVAC, security systems, energy management, audio video, white goods, displays, remote ...

radio in

Los Angeles, California 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' ...

, and was carried on

' newly formed Pacific Coast network. Breneman was host of the show ''

Breakfast in Hollywood ''Breakfast in Hollywood'' is a morning radio show created and hosted by Tom Breneman broadcast from 1941 to 1948 on three different radio networks: NBC Radio, NBC, Citadel Media, ABC and Mutual Broadcasting System, Mutual. These unscripted shows ...

'' (earlier titled ''Breakfast at Sardi's''), which aired on the

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 ...

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

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 ...

and Mutual at various times from 1941 to 1948. Breneman's program began using its best-known title ''Breakfast in Hollywood'' in 1945. By the mid-1940s, Breneman had ten million listeners. The popularity of the radio program was such that he developed spin-off enterprises in media and other areas. He founded his own magazine. In 1945, he opened his own establishment, Tom Breneman's Restaurant, located on Vine Street off Sunset Boulevard. The opening on March 26, 1945, had "a gala crowd of Hollywoodites in attendance, including distinguished members of the radio industry, a number of famed screen and air personalities, and representatives of the press." He broadcast episodes of his program from his restaurant; entertainers included

Korla Pandit Korla Pandit (September 16, 1921 – October 2, 1998), born John Roland Redd, was an American musician, composer, pianist, and organist. After moving to California in the late 1940s and getting involved in show business, Redd became known as "Kor ...

, a purported Indian immigrant who was creating a sensation with a daily, all-music program on television and maintained this persona to his death in 1998, though an article in ''

Los Angeles Magazine ''Los Angeles'' magazine is a monthly publication dedicated to covering Los Angeles. Founded in the spring of 1961 by David Brown, the magazine is currently owned and published by Hour Media Group, LLC. Los Angeles magazine's combination of feat ...

'' revealed that he was an African-American musician from Missouri, who had created a new persona and great success in Hollywood and TV.

Family

Breneman married former actress Billie Dunn. They had two children, Gloria Anne, and Tom Jr.

Death

Breneman died April 28, 1948, in

Encino, California Encino (Spanish language, Spanish for "oak") is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. History In 1769, the Spanish Portolá expedition, first Europeans to see inland areas of California, traveled north t ...

. His funeral was held May 1, 1948, in

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, ...

. He is interred at

Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) Forest Lawn Memorial Park is a privately owned cemetery in Glendale, California. It is the original and current flagship location of Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks & Mortuaries, a chain of six cemeteries and four additional mortuaries in Southern Ca ...

.Wilson, Scott. ''Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons'', 3d ed.: 2. McFarland & Company (2016) Breneman was honored by being given a star on the

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Californ ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Breneman, Tom 1900 births 1948 deaths American radio personalities People from Waynesboro, Pennsylvania Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)