Gale Gordon (1906-95)

Charles Thomas Aldrich, Jr., was born February 20, 1906 in New York City. An only child, his parents were British actress Gloria Gordon and Charles T. "Chuck" Aldrich, a vaudeville comedian. When he was very young, the family moved from America to England to seek employment in entertainment. Gale was born with a cleft palate and he received surgery to fix this when the family was in England. In 1915, the family went back to New York City. At age 17, Gale went back to England to attend the Woodbridge School in Suffolk, England.

Returning to North America, Gale became a movie extra in Canada. His picture was The Dancers (1923). He also worked on the stage in Toronto. Knowing he was a good actor, he never realized that he had such a strong voice, having been born with a cleft palate. He said his discovery of his strong voice came about when he was playing around on the stage. In 1926, when radio was still in its infancy, Gale made his radio debut playing the ukelele and singing popular songs of the time. At this time, he was in Hollywood doing various odd jobs at movie lots and in radio stations. He was not afraid of hard work and developed a great repuations for being one of the most honest, ambitious men in Hollywood. There was lots of uncredited radio work and Gale considered this to be paying his dues.

By 1933, Gale Gordon was the highest paid radio performer in Hollywood. Some of the programs on which he was heard were Calling All Cars (on which he was the relief dispatcher when Los Angeles Police Sergeant Jesse Rosenquist had to work), Flash Gordon (he was Flash Gordon), Lux Radio Theater (many parts), and Sherlock Holmes (he was Dr. Watson, playing agains Nigel Bruce).

Gale met radio actress Virginia Curley in 1937. After a whirlwind courtship, they married. They were married for 67 years until her death in 1995. They had no children. Now, it should be pointed out that Gale Gordon NEVER legally changed his name. He was Charles T. Aldrich, Jr., until the day he died.

In 1939, Gale began a long working relationship with Lucille Ball on Jack Haley's Wonder Bread Show. This was also the year that Fibber McGee and Molly (he would not appear until after Marian Jordan successfully left an alcoholic detox program in Illinois) was moved from Chicago to Los Angeles. Many who do not know Gale's colorful radio past often write on their webpages that the part which made him famous was the part of Mayor La Trivia (a play on New York City Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia). The first part he played on the Fibber McGee show was Molly's former suitor, Otis T. Cadwallader. Actually, it was the part of La Trivia which was the first representing his trademark slow burn anger, which would be present in every comedic role he ever did after that time.

But he did do drama. On Dr. Christian - - The Country Doctor, he played the part of Roy Davis, the pharmacist. More can be read about that show in the story about Jean Hersholt. (Also click on the picture at the left to view more information.) Gale was on that show from 1939 to 1942.

In 1942, Gale joined the United States Coast Guard. He joined willingly; he wasn't drafted. He enlisted and rose to the rank of Petty Officer First Class in the three years he was in the Guard. Going on US Navy vessels his military service took him all around the most dangerous parts of the world at that time... mostly to Asia (he was stationed at the Coast Guard station at San Clemente, California, just north of Oceanside.) When on leave to visit his wife in Hollywood, he appeared on Fibber McGee and Molly in his Coast Guard uniform. For those who are proud American citizens, this program evokes a great deal of patriotism when listening to it, even though Gale, in his role as Petty Officer La Trivia, was in his normal slow burn to anger he made famous.

Returning to civilian life, Gale was heard on Fibber McGee and Molly as Mayor La Trivia. He was also Foggy the weatherman on later episodes of that show. He was also Rumson Bullard, another weatherman on The Great Gildersleeve. There were many other radio shows. On Our Miss Brooks he was Osgood Conklin, the principal of Madison High School. On My Favorite Husband, he was Rudolph Attebery, the bank president. This was the first program in which he would have verbal fights with Lucille Ball. That would be the character Gale would be remembered for until the end of his life. 1n 1950, he played the part of John Granby in Granby's Green Acres. Granby was a New York City banker who got the idea of moving to the country to have his own farm. It also had Bea Benaderet as his wife and Louise Erickson as his daughter. 15 years later that TV show was transferred to television with most of the same characters (with different names), although that couple didn't have a daughter living with them.

There were also some radio programs on which Gale intended to be on but it didn't work out so well. He played the part of university president William Todhunter Hall on the pilot for The Halls of Ivy. The actual program was done with Ronald Colman as the president and Colman's wife, Benita Hume, as Mrs. Victoria Hall. Dr. Hall was referred on the program as being all-American. And Vicky was his English wife. However, in real life, Mr. and Mrs. Hall were English. To some purists that didn't seem right. But it was a very popular radio program. Three years later, with almost all the same actors, the program was seen on TV. It wasn't quite as successful.

Gale was expected to have the part of Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy on TV, with Bea Benaderet as his wife, Ethel. But those parts went to William Frawley and Vivian Vance (a very unlikely couple, especially for the early 1950s). Later, he would have important parts on all of Lucille Ball's subsequent television series, with the exception of the last one, Life with Lucy (he only appeared on the first episode.)

His first television series was Our Miss Brooks. Except for missing Jeff Chandler (as Phil Boynton - - he was replaced by Robert Rockwell) both the TV series and the movie based on it had the original cast. There would be many other television shows.

In 1949, Gale bought a 150 acre ranch in Borrego Springs, California. On the ranch, he grew carob trees. He became one of the few successful carob farmers in the United States. His commute from Borrego Springs, located in the Anza-Borrego Desert of eastern San Diego County, was a four hour drive away from Hollywood back in those days, with the only freeway the Hollywood Freeway between downtown Los Angeles and Sunset Boulevard.

There were a few movies, including Speedway (1968), starring Elvis Presley.

He had a hobby of painting pictures and his work often hung in some of the best art galleries on the West Coast. He wrote two children's books: Nursery Rhymes for Hollywood Babies and Leaves from the Story Trees.

Gale and his wife Virginia spent the last few years of their lives at the Redwood Terrace Health Center in Escondido, California (next to San Diego). Virginia died on May 3, 1995, of a heart attack. Gale died June 30, 1995, after a long struggle with lung cancer.

Jesse Rosenquist (1899-1966)

Jesse Rosenquist joined the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) in 1923. In 1931, the LAPD became one of the first law enforcement agencies in the world to begin dispatching officers by means of radio. Sergeant Rosenquist became one of the first officers to be a radio dispatcher. His calls were said to be an example to other dispatchers. He spoke slowly and clearly, ending each transmission by saying his name, "ROSE-n-quist."

Now a word has to be said about how this was all done in the early days. The frequencies used for police calls were just past the normal AM/Medium Wave band. The procedure for a law enforcement agency to get a broadcast license was no different than for any other individual or group to get a broadcast license. First the Department of Commerce Radio Bureau, later called the Federal Radio Commission (FRC, today known as the Federal Communications Commission or FCC). had to be petitioned for application. Once approved, there were weeks of test broadcasts. And then the law enforcement agency was given a call sign, whose letters could be chosen by the petitioner. The LAPD was given KGPL at the frequency of 1712 kilocycles (they weren't called kilohertz for another 40 years) on May 1, 1931.

Los Angeles did not have the first radio dispatched police department. Berkeley(KSW) got its radio license in 1928. Tulare (WPDA) got theirs around Christmas 1930. Neighboring Pasadena (KGJX) got one in September 1930, which would receive the first two-way motorcycle officer dispatch system in November 1947.

At first, all talking was done by the dispatcher only. It worked like this: A citizen would call MIchigan 6111 to LAPD headquarters at Los Angeles City Hall. Then the civilian (not a police officer) dispatcher would telephone the police dispatcher situated at the transmitter site at Elysian Park, in the hills at FAber 6111. The broadcasts would be heard but there could be no verbal response. That wouldn't happen until the cars got microphones (with separate transmitting units) in August 1931.

Because there was less electronic activity in the sky in the 1930s, at night, when almost everything stopped, police calls from Los Angeles could be heard as far as the East Coast or Hawaii. Sergeant Rosenquist's broadcasts were heard widely. He was heard all over Southern California, Southern Nevada and Western Arizona.

This didn't go unnoticed by those in the entertainment business. CBS Radio writer William N. Robson (1906-95) was new in Hollywood at that time, working at KHJ. He had the idea of making a radio program out of Sergeant Rosenquist's broadcasts. The program was Calling All Cars. The program began with Rosenquist's original broadcast, supposedly the way he originally said it, calling officers to the scene of an infamous crime. Then the story was presented, with Rosenquist filling in a few spots. It ended with Rosenquist announcing the criminals were caught and to cancel any help that could have been used. (It was a very definite formula show.)

The Rio Grande division of Sinclair Oil was the sponsor of Calling All Cars. Rio Grande gasoline was only sold in three states, California, Nevada, and Arizona (roughly the area that Sergeant Rosenquist's broadcasts could be heard in the late afternoon). So Calling All Cars was only sent to radio stations in those three states. As an advertising endorsement, it was so stated that Rio Grande Cracked Gasoline was used by most law enforcement agencies in the broadcast area, including the Los Angeles Police Department, the National City Police Department, and the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, or any other agency's name they chose to drop at the time.

The show started November 29, 1933, over the CBS Don Lee Network (selected stations). When CBS bought radio station KNX in 1937, KHJ, which had broadcast the show from the beginning, became a Mutual network station, and the show was broadcast from KNX. The last broadcast was heard over select stations (which included the states of Washington and Oregon) on CBS on September 8, 1939.

Since Sergeant Rosenquist was still a sworn officer of the Los Angeles Police Department, he often had to work at the time Calling All Cars aired. Usually the actor who took his place was Gale Gordon (1906-95). His transmissions were ended, "Gordon."

When the law enforcement agency in the episode was other than the Los Angeles Police Department or the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (the LAPD and other neighboring agencies handled their calls until 1938), Rosenquist never mentioned his name. Rather he would say, "That is all." It was thought that, when NBC News correspondent W.W. Chaplin ended his war broadcasts the same way some ten years later, it was thought he got that from Rosenquist.

By the mid 1930s, Rosenquist was so popular that all public service announcements were called Rosenquists at that time. Also, his voice was used in several Hollywood motion pictures at that time, including the 1936 films, Tough Guy and Absolute Quiet.

In 1949 the LAPD call sign was changed to KMA367. The frequency changed from an AM location to a higher frequency in the 1950s. It recently went to a digital frequency, much higher.

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Did you know: From 1933 until the 1950s, the police emergency phone number in Los Angeles was 116? Children in public schools had a little song they would say, "When in a fix, dial 1-1-6!" All emergency telephone numbers ended with 116 for many years.

Person William N. Robson

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William Bendix (1906-64)

William Bendix was born in New York City (Manhattan, not Brooklyn, as was his character on the Life of Riley) on January 14, 1906. He was related to the German composer, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-47) and was the son of Oscar Bendix, also a musician. After dropping out of high school, he was a batboy for the New York Yankees. He then worked as a grocery story manager. In 1927, he married Theresa Stefanotti. Through her father, he got what was supposed to be a job at a wonderful grocery store in New Jersey. When that didn't work out, he joined the Federal Theater Project, which led him to work on the dramatic stage. He joined the Theater Guild in New York.

When acting in The Time of Your Life, Hollywood producer Hal Roach was in the office and Bill's performance impressed him enough to have him go to Hollywood. Within one year he was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in Wake Island (1942), but he didn't win. Although known as a comic actor, he often provided comic relief in serious, heavy dramas.

On radio, Bill had done his first work in the medium back when he was in New York. Once in Los Angeles, he was the star of a situation comedy which began in 1944 called The Life of Riley. Riley was Chester Alan Riley, Sr., who worked at an airplane factory. His wife was Margaret "Peg," played by Paula Winslowe. They had two children, Barbara "Babs" and Chester A. Riley, Jr. Along with such shows as The Aldrich Family, it was one of the first situation comedies which showed life in a more realistic vein.

The program would later move to television with Jackie Gleason in the starring role. He would later leave to do other projects he was doing. By that time, the radio series was cancelled and Bill took over the role in the television series.

Bill continued to work in movies and on television. He always insisted that the stage was his greatest love but received very few offers to act in live stage productions and never did it after arriving in Hollywood.

He often bragged that, as a batboy for the New York Yankees, he got to see Babe Ruth his 100 home runs. In 1948, months before the Babe's death, Bill portrayed his hero in The Babe Ruth Story. Highly fictionalized, it left out things, such as his first marriage, his womanizing, and his drinking. Some events, such as hitting the ball for the sick boy, Johnny Sylvester (which happened in 1926) and the time he pointed to the fence to hit a home run ball, were combined. And the ending was very strange. The whole idea of making this movie was for the Babe to see it while he was alive. Something that is rush released like that is bound to have problems.

A devout Roman Catholic, he was always considered one of the Hollywood "in crowd" when it came to work but spent most of his time away from work with his family. With his wife Theresa, they had a son and a daughter.

And the role of Chester A. Riley, Sr., was his until the series was finally cancelled in 1958.

Bill Bendix died at his home in Los Angeles after suffering from lobar pneumonia on December 14, 1964, at the age of 58. He is buried at the San Fernando Mission Cemetery in the Mission Hills district of L.A.

Knox Manning (1904-1980)

Charles Knox Manning was born January 17, 1904, in Worcester, Massachusetts. Knox was one of the few actors whose acting career followed another career.

His acting career began in 1939. He was 35 years old. His first job was on NBC Radio (Red Network) as the announcer for the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, which starred Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. Knox read the commercials for Bromo Quinine cold tablets.

Bromo Quinine was actually an old fashioned Southern folk remedy concocted into a tablet by Edwin Wiley Grove (1850-27), a physician from Bolivar, Tennessee, who started the Paris Medicine Company in Paris, Tennessee, in 1886. The company moved to St. Louis, Missouri, three years later to give the company more credibility. He set up a second company, the Tasteless Quinine Company in Asheville, North Carolina. The Paris Medicine Company became Grove Laboratories in 1935. The Grove family assets were acquired by Bristol Myers in 1942.

Out of the more than 100 movies Knox was in, he actually only acted in ONE of them... Cheers for Miss Bishop (1941), in which he played Anton Radcheck (this is the picture above). In all the other movies he was either the unseen narrator or, in costume, as an announcer of some kind. It was what he did, anyway. He made his last movie, Crashing the Water Barrier, in 1956.

After his amazingly short but successful career in motion pictures (17 years), he worked at radio station KDAY in Santa Monica, as announcer and news anchor until his retirement in 1961.

He died of a heart attack at Motion Picture Country Home in the Woodland Hills district of Los Angeles on August 26, 1980. He was 76 years old. With his wife, they had two sons who worked in Top 40 radio in the 1960s.

Harry Bartell (1913-2004)

Harry Bartell was born November 28, 1913, in New Orleans, Louisiana. He grew up in Houston, Texas. After finishing high school, he attended Rice University and graduated in 1933. Harry's first perfomances on radio were short audio versions of popular movies that were in the theaters at that time. He would get two 25 cent theater tickets for each performance. This was at radio station KRPC in Houston. He then moved on to the Harvard Business School, then moved out to Los Angeles to work in retail work. After this, he tried his hand at acting on radio... He worked at radio station KFWB, which was located in the Warner Brothers Studios in Hollywood (now the site of KTLA, channel 5). He was a disc jockey for the station and was also studying at the Pasadena Playhouse.

He married his wife Beverly in the late 1930s and they had a daughter named Judie.

Soon after he married, he began working in radio drama. His first role had him speaking with a Hindi accent on a show called Raffles. Eventually, he did almost every program that originated out of Hollywood. No list would be fair to show everything he did, although the best shows he did were: The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (where he was the announcer and commercial pitchman for Petri wines--with his pleasant inflection and the way the commercials were written, he could make Petri Apple Cider Vinegar sound like the best companion for your Sunday chicken dinner!), Dragnet (he'd be a drunk, he'd be another cop, he'd be a Mexican priest, he could be anybody!), Fort Laramie (he had a regular part here as a cavalry officer), Gunsmoke (he was everyone again), and many other shows.

There were programs on which he could be rarely heard. He wasn't on The Whistler. He said he just wasn't the type of actor they wanted.

He worked in many films, usually uncredited, beginning with Destination Tokyo (1943). After appearing in that film, he was drafted into the Navy.

Harry was the fifth person who portrayed Archie Goodwin on The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe.

After radio, and movies, and TV shows, Harry retired and moved to Oregon in 1975.

He died of natural causes at his home in Ashland, Oregon, on February 26, 2004. He was 90 years old. Harry is buried in the Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, California.