The biggest stars of Old Time Radio sometimes had very short careers. Take one team, Stoopnagle and Budd. They were a household word in the mid 1930s, yet, when the decade was out, it was all over... for the team.F. Chase Taylor (1897-1950)
Frederick Chase Taylor was born October 4, 1897, in Buffalo, New York. His father, Luther Chase, ran a lumber business. He attended the University of Rochester, his father's alma mater, but quit to enlist in the U.S. Navy during World War I. It was in the Navy that Chase became interested in radio.
Upon completion of naval service, he returned to Buffalo and worked as a salesman for the family firm. He married Lois DeRidder. They soon had a son, F. Chase Taylor Jr. (1921-2007), their only child. In 1927, his mother, Sara Chase Taylor died. Chase left the wood company and went to work as a stock broker. Two years later the great Stock Market Crash took place and he began writing for radio programs at radio station WGR. He also worked at WMAK.
In 1930, Chase began working on the air with a man named Wilbur Budd Hulick, who hailed from New Jersey. They had 15 minutes each week they could do anything. Chase started calling himself Colonel Lemuel Q. Stoopnagle and was a master of spoonerisms. (A spoonerism is a phrase in which certain elements are twisted around.) The program, now on station WKBR, soon became known as the Ask for Mail Show.
Five months later, it was known as the Gloom Chasers and was intensely popular. It aired Monday through Thursday from 8:45 to 9:00 P.M., originating from WABC in New York City and heard over the Columbia Broadcasting System.
They were in movies: International House (1933), Stoopnocracy (1933), and The Inventors (1934). Chase was divorced from his wife in 1936 and things started falling apart for Stoopnagle and Budd.
In 1937, the two men broke up. No explanation was ever given, though Budd probably got tired of just agreeing with the Colonel. Chase would continue as Colonel Stoopnagle for the rest of his life.
He died May 29, 1950, of heart disease, at the age of 52, in Boston, Massachusetts. His friend, the news commentator, Lowell Thomas, gave his eulogy.
Wilbur Budd Hulick (1905-61)
Wilbur Budd Hulick (it was his real name) was born November 14, 1905, in Asbury Park, New Jersey. He worked as a musician until fate brought him together with F. Chase Taylor in 1930. They worked as Stoopnagle and Budd for six years. After their breakup in 1936, Budd became a general announcer in New York City. For the last decade of his life, he was a disc jockey in Florida. He was married three times (to Helen Welch, Ruth Wanda Hart, and Elizabeth V. Sahner).
Budd died March 22, 1961, in Riviera Beach, Florida, at the age of 55.
Frederick Chase Taylor was born October 4, 1897, in Buffalo, New York. His father, Luther Chase, ran a lumber business. He attended the University of Rochester, his father's alma mater, but quit to enlist in the U.S. Navy during World War I. It was in the Navy that Chase became interested in radio.Upon completion of naval service, he returned to Buffalo and worked as a salesman for the family firm. He married Lois DeRidder. They soon had a son, F. Chase Taylor Jr. (1921-2007), their only child. In 1927, his mother, Sara Chase Taylor died. Chase left the wood company and went to work as a stock broker. Two years later the great Stock Market Crash took place and he began writing for radio programs at radio station WGR. He also worked at WMAK.
In 1930, Chase began working on the air with a man named Wilbur Budd Hulick, who hailed from New Jersey. They had 15 minutes each week they could do anything. Chase started calling himself Colonel Lemuel Q. Stoopnagle and was a master of spoonerisms. (A spoonerism is a phrase in which certain elements are twisted around.) The program, now on station WKBR, soon became known as the Ask for Mail Show.
Five months later, it was known as the Gloom Chasers and was intensely popular. It aired Monday through Thursday from 8:45 to 9:00 P.M., originating from WABC in New York City and heard over the Columbia Broadcasting System.
They were in movies: International House (1933), Stoopnocracy (1933), and The Inventors (1934). Chase was divorced from his wife in 1936 and things started falling apart for Stoopnagle and Budd.
In 1937, the two men broke up. No explanation was ever given, though Budd probably got tired of just agreeing with the Colonel. Chase would continue as Colonel Stoopnagle for the rest of his life.
He died May 29, 1950, of heart disease, at the age of 52, in Boston, Massachusetts. His friend, the news commentator, Lowell Thomas, gave his eulogy.
Wilbur Budd Hulick (1905-61)Wilbur Budd Hulick (it was his real name) was born November 14, 1905, in Asbury Park, New Jersey. He worked as a musician until fate brought him together with F. Chase Taylor in 1930. They worked as Stoopnagle and Budd for six years. After their breakup in 1936, Budd became a general announcer in New York City. For the last decade of his life, he was a disc jockey in Florida. He was married three times (to Helen Welch, Ruth Wanda Hart, and Elizabeth V. Sahner).
Budd died March 22, 1961, in Riviera Beach, Florida, at the age of 55.
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