Hollywood Rides The Airwaves

Book Choice: From Radio to the Big Screen by Hal Erickson

Hal Erickson has for years been one of our lead historians in the field of television. His books on syndicated series andcartoon programming are classics on respective topics, and reference I've consulted on many a Greenbriar occasion. Now with From Radio To The Big Screen, from McFarland Books, he has widened research to radio and its Classic Era symbiosis with motion pictures, a profit-making handshake that lasted through "Golden Years" Erickson ID's as 1926-1962. What seemed a natural leap from airwave to movie screen was also effort to sometimes stumble, as in personalities clicking, others getting the frost. Voices we likedweren't always faces we'd accept. Erickson considers each of those who tried to scale high fence between crystal set and the boxoffice, from Amos n' Andy to Walter Winchell to Henry Aldrich to --- well, I never dreamed there were so many --- and what interesting stories lie behind each. We see more and more of these radio-based features as TCM, DVD, and streaming continue to mine them, Erickson lending texture to subjects/data too long ignored (show me another resource so detailed on Lum and Abner or Mr. District Attorney). I enjoyed From Radio to the Big Screen thoroughly and will read for both pleasure and fill-in on facts not accessible elsewhere. It's softbound, a hefty 300 pages from McFarland, and a trove of information as only deep digging Hal Erickson could uncover, a 2014 arrival among most welcome to Greenbriar's shelf.