Sit down, close your eyes and let your mind form the images as you relive the golden age of radio programs. Each week we'll feature a different and exciting program in MP3 format. Just click on the radio image below to be transported back in time.

This Week

Our Miss Brooks

Halloween Party

October 30, 1949

Eve Arden played the fun-loving but sometimes frazzled English teacher at Madison High School, Our Miss Brooks . Probably the most famous teacher ever on radio, Connie Brooks was a wonderful combination of sincere and smart, and Eve Arden played her perfectly. From the very beginning of the radio run in 1948, Our Miss Brooks became a favorite of women, high school kids and parents across the nation.

As she taught English on the show, it made perfect sense that she had the funny lines. Eve Arden's timing and delivery made her one of the best radio and television comedians, and she's fondly remembered by her many fans. Teachers across the country related to Our Miss Brooks Arden received thousands of letters from teachers relating their own frustrating experiences. She was even offered teaching jobs, which she turned down. She did sometimes speak at PTA meetings.

Teaching English was no cup of tea for Our Miss Brooks. First on the list of characters was Mr. Osgood Conklin, the principal. Again, the casting of the show was perfect, as Mr. Conklin was the great character actor Gale Gordon (though initially Joe Forte). Those who heard the show know Mr. Conklin was a perfect foil for the witty Miss Brooks. He was the perfect type A, bossy and irascible character, like Dagwood's boss and Archie's principal. Also a favorite was the loveably goofy Walter Denton. The star of TV's The Real McCoys, Richard Crenna did Walter as a kid very much like Henry Aldrich.

Monet, and a well-known movie idol of the 1950s, Jeff Chandler, plays bashful biology teacher Mr. Boynton, who was Miss Brook's love interest (though not consummated in marriage.) Chandler was replaced by Robert Rockwell in 1951.

Many of the cast including Arden, Gordon, and Crenna took the show to TV where it won an Emmy, and the radio show and TV show ran together for eight years of"prime time" Our Miss Brooks. The series remains a first class American radio comedy, and deserves to be heard and enjoyed again and again. (Our Miss Brooks will pencil that as redundancy! )

  Huntington Beach News