The Aldrich Family
The Aldrich Family, a popular radio teenage situation comedy (1939-1953), is remembered first and foremost for its unforgettable introduction: awkward teen Henry's mother calling, "Hen-reeeeeeeeeeeee! Hen-ree Al-drich!" A top-ten ratings hit within two years of its birth (in 1941, the show carried a 33.4 Crossley rating, landing it solidly alongside Jack Benny and Bob Hope), the show is considered a prototype for teen-oriented situation comedies to follow on radio and television and is a favourite if dated find for old-time radio collectors today.
Radio broadcast history
The Aldrich Family as a separate radio show was born as a summer replacement for Jack Benny in NBC's Sunday night lineup, July 2 1939, and it stayed there until October 1 1939, when it moved to Tuesday nights at 8 p.m., sponsored by General Foods's popular gelatin dessert Jell-O, which also sponsored Jack Benny at the time. The Aldriches ran in that slot from October 10 1939 until May 28 1940, moving to Thursdays, from July 4 1940 until July 20 1944. After a brief hiatus, the show moved to CBS, running on Fridays from September 1 1944 until August 30 1946 with sponsors Grape Nuts and Jell-O,.before moving back to NBC from September 05, 1946 to June 28 1951 on Thursdays and, then, its final run of September 21 1952 to April 19 1953 on Sundays.
Television broadcast history
On October 2, 1949, the program premiered on NBC-TV while continuing to air on the radio with a primarily different cast. Over the course of its nearly four year run, Henry was portrayed by five different actors - Robert Casey, Richard Tyler, Henry Girard, Kenneth Nelson, and Bobby Ellis, the only one to participate in the radio production as well. For reasons unknown, other characters - including Mrs. Aldrich, Henry's sister Mary, and his best friend Homer Brown - were portrayed by multiple actors as well, a practice not uncommon in radio but unusual for television, where cast changes were more noticeable.
The program garnered some adverse publicity when film and radio veteran Jean Muir was signed to play Mrs. Aldrich in the second season. Right-wing groups accused the actress of being a Communist sympathizer (her name appeared in Red Channels, a pamphlet listing the names of performers allegedly involved in left-wing activities), and General Foods, the show's sponsor, cancelled the first episode of the new season and replaced her with Nancy Carroll. Muir went on to defend herself before a Congressional committee, but her career never recovered from the charges.
The final episode was broadcast on May 29, 1953, slightly more than a month after the radio series came to an end.
Broadway-born
Because he's so identified as perhaps classic radio's first inept teenager to find a wide listening audience, it's easy to forget that Henry Aldrich was born on Broadway. He was the creation of playwright Clifford Goldsmith, who included the character in his play What a Life. The young actor who brought Henry to life was Ezra Stone, playing the role on stage and in radio skits on shows hosted by music stars Rudy Vallee and Kate Smith beginning in 1938.
Stone kept the role when Goldsmith created The Aldrich Family as a separate show, playing the role until 1942, when he entered the Army for World War II. Norman Tokar succeeded Stone as Henry for two seasons. (Best known for his later work directing television hit Leave It to Beaver — whose approach of telling its stories from the vantage point of a child may have been inspired by the similar implication in many Aldrich episodes — Tokar also helped write many of the Aldrich episodes.) He was followed by Dickie Jones (1943-44) and Raymond Ives (1944-45), before Stone returned to his signature role until 1952, when Bobby Ellis became the last Henry Aldrich.
Family and friends
Henry's parents, Sam and Alice, were played by House Jameson and Katharine Raht; his usual girlfriend, Kathleen Anderson, by Mary Shipp; his best friend, Homer Brown, by Jackie Kelk (Jack Grimes, Michael O'Day, and John Fiedler played the role in its final season); and, Homer's parents by Arthur Vinton and Agnes Moorehead, among others. Eddie Bracken appeared in the earlier shows as friend Dizzy Stevens. The show's announcers included Harry Von Zell, Dan Seymour, and Dwight Weist.
Clearly the model for such future inept teenagers as Archie Andrews (whose radio version premiered in 1943, at the height of The Aldrich Family's popularity), Henry Aldrich was an endearingly bumbling kid growing awkwardly into adolescence, and The Aldrich Family usually hooked around Henry's misadventures in school, with the girls, with his friends, and with practically anything he got involved in. Though it now seems among the most dated of its era's entertainment, The Aldrich Family in its time was written intelligently, with gentle humour, and was acted wholly appropriately to its primary subject matter.
The edgy 1960s/1970s comedy troupe Firesign Theatre saluted the show with a clever parody, Don't Crush That Dwarf Hand Me the Pliers.