All
American Old Time Radio Show Classic
Easy Aces MP3 CD
For a small taste of this great
series,
listen to the preview below.
This show comes on CD In MP3 Format
Easy Aces, a
long-running American serial radio comedy (1930-1945), was
trademarked by the low-keyed drollery of creator and writer Goodman
Ace and his wife, Jane, as an urbane, put-upon realtor and his
malaprop-prone wife. A 15-minute program, airing as often as five
times a week, Easy Aces wasn't quite the ratings smash that such
concurrent 15-minute serial comedies as Amos 'n' Andy, The
Goldberg’s or Vic and Sade were. But its unobtrusive,
conversational, and clever style, and the cheerful absurdism of its
storylines, built a loyal enough audience of listeners and critics
alike to keep it on the air for 15 years.
Goodman Ace was a
film critic for the Journal Post in his native Kansas City. On radio
station KMBC, he read comic strips to children on Sunday mornings
and reviewed films on Friday evenings. One night in 1930, the cast
of the 15-minute show that followed his slot failed to show up, and
Ace found himself having to fill in the time. His wife, Jane, had
accompanied him to the studio that night, and the two engaged in an
impromptu chat about their weekend bridge game. This brought such a
favorable response that the station invited Ace to create a domestic
comedy---even though neither of the couple had ever really acted
before.
At first,
according to radio historian John Dunning (in On the Air: The
Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio), the show oriented entirely around
the couple's bridge playing, and nearly died the same way, when Jane
Ace was said to have lost her tempter over her husband's constant
needling of her style of play, and threatened to quit the show
entirely. Ace revamped the show into "a more universally based
domestic comedy revolving around Jane's improbable situations and
impossible turns of phrase." The result was one of radio's most
respected comedies, going on to a fifteen-year air life despite its
never being a ratings blockbuster.
Goodman Ace wrote
the show's scripts and played the exasperated but loving husband of
Jane Ace as his deceptively scatterbrained, language-molesting, more
than periodically meddlesome wife. (Like many radio couples of the
day, the Aces used their real names on the air, though no one ever
addressed Ace by his first name---it was always Ace---and Jane chose
the maiden name of Sherwood for her on-air character.)
There were no
sound effects beyond the almost ambient-like playing of normal life
sounds, and the Aces' inexperience as actors probably worked in
their favor: they simply played as though they were allowing
listeners to eavesdrop on their own real-life conversations,
allowing Easy Aces listeners more than those of many shows to
believe the Aces really could have been their own unusual neighbors.
The cast included
Mary Hunter as best friend and boarder Marge; Paul Stewart as
ne'er-do-well brother-in-law Johnny; Martin Gabel as Neil Williams,
a newspaper reporter and Marge's love interest; Helene Dumas as
Southern maid Laura; Ken Roberts as Cokie, an orphaned young adult
"adopted" by the Aces; Ann Thomas as Ace's secretary; Ethel Blume as
the Aces' niece, Betty; Alfred Ryder (remembered best as Sammy on
another old-time radio mainstay, The Goldberg’s) as Betty's husband,
Carl Neff; Peggy Allen by as Mrs. Benton, a nosy, gossipy neighbor
who turned up now and then to leave openings for Jane to fret and
gnash over imagined slights or indiscretions; and, Truman Bradley
and Ford Bond as their announcers.
They made it seem
as natural as tying their shoes: Ace himself prodded his network to
build set tables with microphones embedded beneath them, not in
front of or above them, the better to ease the prospect of mike
fright among their co-performers and allow them to sound like
themselves and not actors. Further along that line, Ace refused to
rehearse an episode more than once, the better to avoid destroying
the spontaneity that made the show work as it did.
So sit
back with one of radio’s longest running comedies and laugh over the
Jane-isms and natural banter between Ace and Jane, like so many
other listeners did for 15 years. You have over 54 hours to enjoy
and 236 episodes of comedy all wrapped into one enjoyable package.
Your CD contains the following great shows.
Production Notes
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| Source
Material: |
Please note that the
DVDs/CDs whether video or audio are produced with the original film
footage or audio stock. We have deliberately left in all the slight
imperfections which adds to the nostalgia, charm and wonder of these
vintage DVDs and old time radio shows. All are compiled from public
domain sources. |
|
Packaging: |
Our DVDs are produced and
then packaged in full size DVD cases for easy storage with your other
DVDs. We do not use plastic
CD style or slim line cases. |
| Video
DVDs: |
The DVDs are designed to
play on all home and computer DVD players, they are region free, NTSC
productions. We use only high quality DVD media to maximize
compatibility. The vast majority of DVD players work fine with our DVD
discs. Still, there are some that may experience problems, this
compatibility issue does exist for a small percentage of older DVD
players in use today. |
| Radio
Show CDs & DVDs: |
The MP3 CDs and DVDs are
playable on any computer with a DVD/CD drive and an MP3 player such as
Window Media Player. The CDs will also play in CD players which accept
MP3 files. This includes both home and auto players. Also, we've found
that many DVD players will play MP3 files. The individual episode
files have been left accessible so that they can be transferred to
portable devices or CDs for your convenience. |
| How We
Ship: |
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Priority Mail for a number of reasons. Our customers enjoy quick
delivery of their purchases; we have a means of tracking a package in
the rare case of a shipping problem; and most importantly, YOU have a
means of knowing that your purchase has been mailed and YOU can also
track it. All DVDs come in DVD cases, just like you get at the store.
We do not use plastic CD style or slim line cases.
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