Ken Robinson interviews Black inventor and Ohio auto dealer Onie Temple in this historic broadcast.

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This podcast explores the life of African-American actor & comedian Butterfly McQueen. She was born in Tampa, Florida in 1911, and showed an aptitude for entertaining at an early age. McQueen had planned to be a nurse, but a teacher was so impressed by her unique voice, and photographic memory, that she suggested McQueen try acting.

McQueen will forever be remembered as the maid Prissy, in the classic 1939 movie Gone With The Wind. In the 1950s, McQueen became one of the stars on the popular TV situation comedy Beulah. However, Butterfly McQueen left Hollywood for good after appearing in 12 movies, and on numerous network radio shows. In a 1980's interview McQueen explained she was frustrated with being typecast as stereotypical maids and servants.

She kept busy by getting involved in the civil rights, animal rights, and free thought movements. Returning to school at the age of 64, she attained a degree in Political Science. McQueen continued to act on the stage, and in 1980 won an Emmy Award for her work on an ABC television special. You will hear Butterfly McQueen on the Jack Benny Show in 1943, the Dinah Shore Show in 1944, and the Jubilee Armed Forces Radio variety program in 1944.

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Boxing was very popular on radio during the medium's golden age. Floyd Patterson and Tommy Hurricane Jackson battled for the heavyweight crown at the Polo Grounds in New York in 1957. Patterson was the world heavyweight champion twice between 1956 and 1962. At the age of 21, he became the youngest boxer in history to win the title, and was also the first heavyweight to regain the title after losing it. Jackson fought Patterson in 1956 and lost in a 12 round split decision. We have the rematch. Floyd Patterson was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991.

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The topics are Female Inferiority, Stranger Danger, and Memories.

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During radio's classic age, few women had starring roles on dramatic programs outside of soap operas. One such woman was Mercedes McCambridge, who Orson Welles called the world's greatest living radio actress. She starred in the early 1950s crime show Defense Attorney, also known at The Defense Rests. McCambridge was so convincing that she receiving an honorary membership in the Los Angeles Women's Bar Association. McCambridge began her career as a radio actor during the 1930s while also performing on Broadway. She went on to appear in movies and numerous TV shows, winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her screen debut in All the King's Men in 1949. You will hear Defense Attorney from 1951, and The Defense Rests from 1952 with Mercedes McCambridge in the title character of Martha Ellis Bryant, a respected attorney who champions the underdog and the unjustly accused. Then Bill Swisher interviews McCambridge on the American Forces Radio Network in 1975.

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Hollywood stars were no strangers to radio during the classic era. Many made guest appearances on a variety of programs, and some even had programs of their own. Like Humphrey Bogart. The iconic actor and Academy Award Winner performed radio adaptations of some of his best-known films, such as Casablanca and The African Queen, and recorded a radio series entitled Bold Venture with his equally talented wife Lauren Bacall. We have two episodes of Bold Venture from the early 1950s, Humphrey Bogart Theater from 1948, and the Maltese Falcon on Academy Award Theater from 1946.

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This is one of the lesser known radio series which was broadcast toward the end of the golden age. Theater-5 aired on the ABC Radio Network between 1964 and 1965. Theater-5 used an anthology format, each play was about 20 minutes long covering several genres, including science fiction, crime, drama, comedy and romance. Here are three episodes. The Absence of All Intelligent Life from 1965. Jazz Festival from 1965, and The Corporation from 1964.

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Ken Robinson introduces us to the University of Akron steel drum band "Tropical Winds".

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