Last night on a presentation of the old “Burns And Allen” radio show from the 40s there was a situation I have a question about.
Now I’ve seen in books George Burns and company standing around a microphone reading a script.
But did the performers do any physical actions too.
I ask because of this… This was the situation
George was going to be rubbed out by a big time ganster. George hears the knock on the door and runs into the closet (so we hear)
Gracie lets the gangster in and talk to him. You hear the door open and suddenly the audience let out with the biggest laugh I have ever heard. And it goes on for a long time. Then you hear George speak in an effiminate voice “Hi Gracie. it’s your Aunt.”
Then the announcers says “Look everyone it’s George and he’s dressup in Gracie’s clothes pretending to be her aunt.”
But the laugh and it was a huge laugh occured before the audience heard that. So I am thinking Geroge Burns must’ve left the stage and came back dressed up in female clothes to get that kind of reaction from the audience.
So the question is did the OTR comedies or other shows actually perform physical things for the audience. Or was this a case of a laugh track gone amok?
I welcome you to the SDMB, ZeroZero, but You might have better luck with this particular question at http://forums.oldradio.net/.
Some did, particularly those that came from the stage in the early 1930’s. Eddie Cantor, for example, was well-known for wearing women’s clothing at the microphone.
They could, if it was a simple stunt like putting on a hat or wig, or even running over to the next microphone and making faces at that performer.
Sometimes, when the script called for the character to exit, the performer might actually leave the stage.
Otherwise, it was all sound effects and exposition.
I have a book on old-time radio by Leonard Maltin with a photo of a frame built for John Barrymore to keep him at the mike at all times. Barrymore had a habit of wandering around when he spoke. Fine on stage, bad for radio.
I read that book by Leonard Maltin too – a good read, if you’re interested in radio.
From what I remember from the book, it was especially common in the early days of radio for the performer to pay more attention to the live audience than to the radio listeners – maybe because the vaudeville roots were still so recent, and it’s only natural for a performer to play towards the people he can see. But as the medium developed, it increasingly became designed solely for the ear.
It was probably not that different from the Alien Voices audio dramatizations of classic sci-fi books from a few years back read by so many Star Trek alums. They showed the recording of them on PBS. Actors in front of mics with the orchestra and foley guys all on stage in front of an audience, but very little stage movement. IIRC, characters not in a scene went off stage.
When Let’s Dance came along in 1934, it was one of the first shows to present big band music with a studio audience instead of “remote” from a ballroom or hotel. One program announces that Benny Goodman’s band singers are doubling as exhibition dancers on the rhythm numbers, “showing the young folks the latest in dance steps.” (There was even an audience participation angle of sorts, as you could write in and ask them to announce your “Let’s Dance Party” on an upcoming show.)