1887 Was A Good Year

Raymond Walburn (1887-1969)

Walburn was an American character actor on stage and screen, appearing in dozens of Hollywood movie comedies and the occasional dramatic role. He made his splash in both "A" and "B" movies in the 1930s, with continued success with his more famous rotund physique in the 1940s. Noted for his trademark bulging eyes, arched brows, and pompous attitude, few could compete with his windbag characters, demonstrated so perfectly in Preston Sturges's Christmas in July (1940), or Hail the Conquering Hero (1944). Walburn was the perfect choice for any bombastic bumbler of words or haughty stuffed shirts, often as a mayor, judge, or business owner. On the other hand, a few of his butler portrayals could be quite reserved and properly knowing his place.

Eric Blore (1887-1959)

Blore was an English actor and writer. After numerous stage plays during the 1920s in London, he made a career move to New York City in Broadway revues and musical comedy productions. He made over sixty Hollywood films, becoming best known for playing butlers or superior domestic servants. His over-the-top British accent was always impeccably precise, with lines delivered with barbed irony. In addition to his sometimes condescending attitude were his facial expressions, most notably with one incredulously raised eyebrow. Blore gained notice in the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musical comedies, The Gay Divorcee (1934), as a waiter with an astounding knowledge of obscure subjects, and in RKO's most profitable film of the 1930s, Top Hat (1935), in which Blore plays a sarcastic personal assistant named Bates. However, he introduces himself as if he were a corporate entity, graciously stating, "We are Bates." He provided levity as the not-quite-reformed jewel thief and sidekick to Warren William in three Lone Wolf film series in the late Thirties.

Note: Both actors were born in the same year and died one decade apart.

Twentieth Century Talkers

Bud Collyer (Clayton Johnson Heermance Jr., 1908-1969) was an American radio actor and announcer who became one of the nation's first major television game show stars, known for his numerous bow-ties. 

By 1940, Collyer had become a familiar voice on all three major radio networks in starring or major supporting roles. He was the announcer for a number of radio soap operas, including The Guiding Light and The Goldbergs. But his most lasting radio starring role was for The Adventures of Superman on the Mutual Broadcasting System, a role he also performed in the subsequent Superman cartoons with his dashing pencil mustache. Collyer supplied the voices of both Superman and Clark Kent. Collyer conveyed the "costume switch" while speaking a phrase like, "This looks like a job for Superman!" His voice would drop to a lower register to become the superhero.

For television fans, though, he is best remembered as the first host of the game shows Beat the Clock (1950) and To Tell the Truth (1956). The former show pitted couples to beat the clock in a series of stunts, sometimes messy fun, in order to hopefully win cash or home appliances. More popular and longer-lasting was, To Tell The Truth, where a panel of four celebrities questioned three challengers all claiming to be the same person. 

A devoted man to God, Collyer contributed to various Christian works, including authoring at least one book and making a recording of the New Testament of the Good News Bible. He wrote two inspirational books, Thou Shalt Not Fear (1962) and With the Whole Heart (1966). He also recorded a number of Bible story record albums for children.

The Collyer family in 1953, above.

Twentieth Century Talkers

 

Dew Pearson (Andrew Russell Pearson 1897-1969) was one of the best-known American columnists and radio commentators of his day. He was known for his fearless approach toward high-level politicians, often creating friction. Pearson saw journalism as a means to challenge those he thought to be working against the public interest. He has been quoted as saying, "I just operate with a sense of smell: if something smells wrong, I go to work." Though he sounded fierce in print, in life was gentle, even stately.

Born in Evanston, Illinois, to Quaker parents, Pearson served with the American Friends Service Committee from 1919-1921, directing postwar rebuilding operations in Peć, which at that time was part of Serbia. In 1924, he taught industrial geography at Columbia University, and from 1925 to 1928, continued reporting on international events. By late 1932, Pearson and Robert S. Allen secured a contract with the Scripps–Howard syndicate, United Features, to syndicate a column called Washington Merry-Go-Round. Pearson's column not only revealed embarrassing news items but expanded his criticism of the Roosevelt administration's conduct during World War II. He dug into post-war investigations about the FBI, Preston Tucker, and Senator Joe McCarthy. At the time of his death, his column was syndicated to more than 650 newspapers, more than twice that of others.

In addition to radio, Pearson appeared as himself in a number of Hollywood movies, most notably in the 1951 science fiction classic, The Day the Earth Stood Still. Character actor Robert F. Simon, who somewhat resembled Pearson, played him in the 1977 NBC television movie Tail Gunner Joe, a biopic of U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy.

Reel Character Series

 

Barbara Pepper (Marion Pepper 1915-1969) was an American stage, television, radio, and film actress, often uncredited as "the blonde" in Thirties and Forties films. She had a lead role opposite Wallace Ford in the 1936 murder mystery, The Rogues' Tavern. During the Sixties, she was again uncredited in the 1963 comedies, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, and Who's Minding the Store?. The following year she was cast as Dr. Doolittle's dance partner in My Fair Lady. Gaining weight and fame late in her career, she was the television mom, Doris or Ruth, to the multi-talented pig, Arnold Ziffel, on the surreal Green Acres sitcom. A long-time friend of Lucille Ball, Pepper was initially considered for the role of Ethel Mertz on the I Love Lucy series. However, due to her drinking problem, she was not hired. Having both Mertz characters, adding William Frawley, with an off-camera alcohol problem was a concern to the producers. Yet Pepper was cast in several episodes of the series (above). Her final film appearance was in 1969's Hook, Line & Sinker, playing Jerry Lewis's secretary.

Last Ride of The Valkyrie

 

On this day in 1969, the North American Aviation XB-70A-1-NA Valkyrie, 62-0001, made its very last flight from Edwards AFB, California, to Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. NASA Research Test Pilot Fitzhugh L. Fulton, Jr., Lieutenant Colonel, USAF (Retired), and Lieutenant Colonel Emil Sturmthal, USAF, were the flight crew for the flight. On arrival at Wright-Patterson, Fulton closed out the logbook on the massive research plane and handed it over to the curator of the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

A second Mach 3+ prototype strategic bomber, XB-70A-2-NA 62-0207, was destroyed when it crashed during a mid-air collision with a Lockheed F-104N Starfighter flown by NASA Chief Research Test Pilot Joseph A. Walker, in 1966. The multi-aircraft photo shoot ended in tragedy when both Walker and the B-70’s co-pilot, Major Carl S. Cross, USAF, were killed.