Radio Waves: Parker's passion: 'Remembering Radio'

The hair is white or gone; the faces are lined with eight decades or more of life. But they break into broad smiles as they recall their adventures on the radio. And, as they tell stories for the new documentary "Remembering Radio," their voices sound like they must have sounded coming out of the speakers of those console sets that were standard furniture in American living rooms of long ago.

Dave Parker, who produced the documentary, laughs. "Their voices haven't changed that much," he says. "I can still sound like a young good guy right now, and I'm 86."

Parker was a "young good guy" in the radio version of "The Lone Ranger" in the late '40s; he also played various roles in "Green Hornet" and "Challenge of the Yukon," all produced by WIXY radio in Detroit. "The Lone Ranger" was heard on some 400 stations coast to coast.

"Remembering Radio" is an affectionate tribute to the actors, writers, musicians, producers, directors and other behind-the-scenesters, like sound effects wizards, who created what's now known as "the golden age of radio." Participants include Fred Foy, "The Lone Ranger" announcer; Norman Corwin, the legendary writer, producer and director; Janet Waldo, who played Corliss in CBS's "Meet Corliss Archer"; June Foray, master of voices and accents; and Ray Erlenborn, who could sound like an elephant, an angry dog, or a mouse rubbing its lips.

"There are tons of old radio shows available," says Parker, "but this is the first time somebody said, 'I want to do something about the people who made those shows.' "

The hourlong documentary includes anecdotes about soap operas, serial dramas sponsored by detergent companies and aimed at housewives. As writer-producer Anne Hummert is quoted as saying, "Worry, for women, is entertainment." There are entertaining demonstrations of how men and machinery created sound effects, and footage of the "Lone Ranger" cast, dressed in suits and ties, acting out a cowboy adventure, some of them doubling on sound effects.

Parker had the idea for such a film when he was just a young punk in his 70s. But it wasn't until five years ago, when he and his wife, Joan, attended a convention in Seattle, staged by Radio Enthusiasts of Puget Sound, that he got going. "I was inspired by the high caliber of the people who went to this convention," he recalls. He met Erlenborn, who re-created the animal kingdom with his mouth and hands; Art Gilmore, a quintessential announcer of radio shows, movie trailers and newsreels; and actor Tommy Cook ("The Life of Riley," "Blondie"). "These old-time guys, all in their 80s. And Norman Corwin is 100 years old! Somebody gave me an address, I wrote him in Los Angeles, and the phone rang. He said, 'We need to talk. Come on down.' " Corwin is the revered dramatist who, as Gerald Nachman wrote in his book "Raised on Radio," "raised radio to its highest level, to indeed a new theatrical form," with such programs as "The Columbia Workshop" and "Columbia Presents Corwin" (both included Orson Welles in their casts).

Parker regrets not having begun sooner. "Four of the people I interviewed have died," he notes. "Ray Erlenborn, Art Gilmore, Jim Harmon, who wrote a lot of books about radio, and Gil Stratton, an actor ("One Man's Family," created by Carlton Morse and set in San Francisco). But it gives me pleasure to know that I was able to capture some of their moments."

Those moments continue to be recalled, by way of modern-day re-creations of old-time radio shows. Parker includes several local re-creations, with impressive performances by, among others, the husband-and-wife team of former TV news anchors Fred LaCosse and Terry Lowry.

Parker, a native of Fresno, aspired to be a radio actor in Hollywood. But, heeding a Fresno State teacher's advice, he earned a master's degree at Northwestern University. He was teaching radio production at Wayne University in Detroit when he got his side job on "The Lone Ranger."