Radio Days: (1940s)

Laying comfortably

On the softly carpeted

living room floor

To be snug and warm

On a cold winter day

With your brother

Or sister beneath

Mommy and daddy’s fluffy

Down filled blanket

To smell the scent of

Grandpa’s aftershave

To feel his arms about you

As you sit snugly on his lap

To close your eyes

To be carried away:

“RETURN WITH US NOW TO THOSE THRILLING DAYS OF

YESTERYEAR WHERE OUT OF THE DISTANCE COMES

THE THUNDEROUS HOOF BEATS OF THE GREAT HORSE

SILVER! THE LONE RANGER RIDES AGAIN!”

With our imaginations wide open

We could see them

They were there

There

There’s

The Lone Ranger and his great horse Silver

There’s Tonto and Scout

“HI-HO, SILVER, AWAY!”

On Saturday mornings:

“Cream of Wheat is so good to eat,

yes we have it every day.

We sing this song,

it’ll make us strong,

and it makes us shout hooray!”

“Cream of Wheat presents

 ‘Let’s pretend’!

Today the story of

‘The Princess and the Pea’!”

“Grand Central Station!

Crossroads of a thousand lives!”

“Corless Archer

America’s Junior Miss!”

Raptly listening

Imagining

Being there

Run home from school

Go to the store for mom

Take a package of Twinkies

And a glass of milk and

Sitting  on the floor in front of the radio:

“Jaaack Armstrong, the All American Boy!”

“Captainnn Midniiight!”

“The Green Hornet!”

“Look, up in the sky!”

“It’s a bird

 It’s a plane

 It’s Superman!”

Eat supper

Take the garbage to the can

Rush through homework

Back on the floor again because:

“It’s time for Jack Benny!”

“Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy!”

“Fanny Brice as Baby Snooks!”

“Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?

The Shadow knows!”

“Today, April twelfth, nineteen-hundred, forty-five

our president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt

died suddenly of a massive cerebral hemorrhage in

Warm Springs, Georgia.”

“God save America!”

“Today, May eighth, nineteen hundred, forty-five

Germany surrendered to the Allied Forces.”

“The war in Europe is over!”

“Today, August, fourteenth, nineteen hundred, forty-five

Japan surrendered to the Allied Forces.”

“WORLD WAR TWO IS OVER!”

We and our radios were there

©October 25, 2013 / Mark M. Lichterman