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

Sky King

Lady Sheriff

April 12, 1951

Sky King was a hybrid of a cowboy and an aviation adventure show aimed at the kids. It was probably the last of the aviation-based juvenile shows on radio, since after WWII the miracle of flight was just another fact of life. Barnstorming and the pylon racing days of post-WWI were just a memory, and jets were just too noisy and expertise intensive for personal dreams. Only the light engine planes made sense in terms of dramatic potential, but after WWII, high-flying adventure tales had lost much of their innocence.

Sky King is a rancher with the deep tone of voice. That is, very upstanding and serious. His young niece Penny is bright and fun, and she's able to fly the Songbird, too. That must have been pretty exciting stuff for the young girl listeners who were born during WWII. It's an interesting sidelight that an aviation pilot's license was, at the time of this old time radio show, available even to a minor who had met all the FAA pilot training requirements! Penny is well played by Beryl Vaughn, and their buddy Clipper is either Jack Bivens or Johnny Coons. Sky was handled by four actors, Jack Lester, Roy Engel, Earl Nightingale and John Reed King.

The organ music and special effects are just what one expects. The determined commercials for Peter Pan Peanut Butter are highlighted by smooth appeals ("…doesn't get stale, or stick to the roof of your mouth" and "the tastiest treat in the whole wide world…") plus there are pitches by Peter Pan, sounding a lot like Penny. Young boys of the time must have wondered why somebody named Peter Pan sounded so much like a girl, but that's another story.

  Huntington Beach News