Launched in the summer of 2014 and hosted by James Scully, Breaking Walls is the podcast on the history of American network radio broadcasting.

Breaking Walls: The Podcast on the History of American Network Radio Broadcasting

Support Breaking Walls at https://www.patreon.com/thewallbreakers


Created by Irving Brecher, the best-known incarnation of The Life of Riley came to the air Sunday January 16th, 1944 at 3PM eastern time over The Blue Network. It starred William Bendix as Chester A. Riley and was sponsored by The American Meat Institute. 

Riley was easily exasperated, but difficult to defeat. The difficulty increased by degrees with the flimsiness of Riley’s cause. 

Bendix was born on January 14th, 1906 in Manhattan, New York. He came out of the New Jersey Federal Theater project, a latecomer to the profession, beginning at thirty when the grocery store he was running went out of business. His film career began in 1942. He was often the hooligan with the heart of gold. Riley was his most famous character.

It co-starred the previously heard Hans Conreid as Uncle Baxter with John Brown as both Riley’s friend Gillis and the undertaker, Digger O’Dell. Paula Winslowe was Riley’s long-suffering wife Peg. Sharon Douglas was Babs and Conrad Binyon played Junior.

The Life of Riley proved popular enough that in June of 1944 it was moved to Sundays at 10PM. When the series returned for the fall, its October 1944 rating was 4.7. On Sunday, October 29th, 1944 Junior was dared by his friends to visit the haunted Sherman house. He ropes Riley into going with him. Jeanette Nolan guest-stars on the show as Mrs. Sherman, who isn’t a ghost, but is in fact a widow who lost her husband in the War and became a shut-in afterwards.

Beginning in the fall of 1945 it moved to NBC where it was a mainstay for six seasons. It peaked in 1947-48 with a rating of 20.1, good for fourteenth overall that year. 

A TV version debuted in October of 1949, first with Jackie Gleason as Riley and later with William Bendix playing the familiar role for five years.

10/29/44, episode 42

BW - EP156—003: Halloween 1944—In a Haunted House with William Bendix on The Life of Riley

Support Breaking Walls at https://www.patreon.com/thewallbreakers

In November of 1949 Broadway is My Beat returned to the air on Saturday evenings. It remained there until late January of 1950. The show couldn’t find national sponsorship, though companies like Ford were buying single episode sponsorship to promote their products. 

Beginning with the February 3rd, 1950 episode called “The Lieutenant Jimmy Hunt Murder Case,” the show moved to Friday evenings at 9:30PM eastern time. 

Featured in this episode was Jeanette Nolan. She and her husband John McIntire were longtime friends of both Lewis and his second wife Mary Jane Croft.

Broadway is my Beat featured some of the best hollywood radio talent like Barney Phillips, Virginia Gregg, Tony Barrett, Herb Butterfield, Betty Lou Gerson, Hy Averback, Cathy Lewis, Harry Bartell, Lawrence Dobkin, Mary Jane Croft, and Herb Vigran. 

Years later, Jack Kruschen remembered how many of them, including himself, often played more than one part on radio shows.

BW - EP160—002: February 1950 With Broadway Is My Beat—Friday NIghts With Danny Clover

Support Breaking Walls at https://www.patreon.com/thewallbreakers

As Broadway Is My Beat was taking to the air on February 3rd, 1950, snow was on the ground. Three inches had fallen on the 1st.

That Friday, nuclear physicist Klaus Fuchs was arrested by agents of Scotland Yard. He was charged with providing American atomic bomb secrets to the Soviet Union. The next day, U.S. Army Lieutenant General Leslie R. Groves testified before a joint congressional committee that, as a result of the secrets Fuchs gave the U.S.S.R., the Soviets had begun development of both atomic and hydrogen bombs.

At the Cort Theatre In New York, Katharine Hepburn was starring in a production of Shakespeare’s comedy,  As You Like It. Located at 138 West 48th Street, The Cort was renamed the James Earl Jones theatre in 2022. 

Meanwhile The New York Daily News cover showed Ingrid Bergman, who’d just given birth to her son Robin Rossellini. The child was born out of wedlock. She filed for divorce from husband Dr. Peter Lindstrom, and shortly thereafter Stromboli premiered in American theaters. It was accompanied by a great deal of controversy from the affair between Bergman and director Roberto Rossellini. The pair would marry on May 24th, 1950. 

The biggest international news was coming out of England where a general election was to be held on January 23rd. With that in mind, Elmo Roper took to the air on CBS’ The People Speak with more information.

BW - EP160—003: February 1950 With Broadway Is My Beat—International News

Support Breaking Walls at https://www.patreon.com/thewallbreakers

The February 10th, 1950 episode of Broadway Is My Beat took Danny Clover to the wrestling matches in search of a missing woman. At that time New York City’s top wrestling promoter was Roderick James "Jess" McMahon. The patriarch of the McMahon wrestling family, Jess McMahon spent several decades as a sports promoter of all kinds, including professional wrestling matchmaking at Madison Square Garden.

Featured in this episode was Lawrence Dobkin. Years later, he remembered how he got into radio. Another famous featured character actor was Virginia Gregg.

BW - EP160—004: February 1950 With Broadway Is My Beat—At The Wrestling Matches

Support Breaking Walls at https://www.patreon.com/thewallbreakers

The February 17th, 1950 episode of Broadway is My Beat took Danny Clover to Greenwich Village. 

By the early 1950s, the sound effects men working in radio had begun to refine their craft to a fine art. In September of 1987 Jack Kruschen and Shirley Mitchell were guests of Jim Bohannon on his radio show. They remembered some of those men.

The actor playing Camden Drake was Elliot Reid. Here he is speaking with Frank Bresee. Featured in this cast was Virginia Gregg. By 1950, she was one of the most versatile actresses on the air.

BW - EP160—005: February 1950 With Broadway Is My Beat—The Death Of A Greenwich Village Writer

Breaking Walls is the podcast on the history of American network radio broadcasting. It focuses on people, places, stories, and events from the Golden Age of American Radio. Find us and subscribe everywhere you get your podcasts and at TheWallBreakers.com

Breaking Walls: The Podcast on The History of American Radio Broadcasting

Breaking Walls: The Podcast on the History of American Network Radio Broadcasting.

BW - EP156—003: Halloween 1944—In a Haunted House with William Bendix on The Life of Riley

The WallBreakers