The Great American Broadcast, Leonard Maltin, Dutton, 1997, 324 pages, $_.00 In 1984, child actor Henry Thomas was a hit from ET and Dabney Coleman was hot from Tootsie and War Games. To capitalize on their box-office draw the film Cloak and Dagger was made. In it were a sweet old couple, played by John McIntire and Jeanette Nolan, who eventually turned out to be the villains of the piece. To old time radio fans, the casting of McIntire and Nolan had a certain resonance and brought a certain in-joke smile to their lips; for the two actors, married in the film, were also married in real life and had been for umpteen years (since 1935, in fact). It was nice to see them working together again, for they’d worked together often in their radio days (and much more infrequently on television). McIntire and Nolan are two of many actors, writers, musicians, and sound effects people interviewed by Leonard Maltin for his ‘anecdotal’ history of classic radio. This book is a fun read. It is by no means all inclusive – the only shows that are mentioned are those for which Maltin could find people with memories to share. But there are certainly a lot of those. William Robson, William Spier, Andre Baruch, Arch Oboler, William Conrad and Howard Duff…and more, big names all. The book is divided into 14 chapters, covering the beginning of radio, the writers, the directors, the craft of the actors, sound effects men, announcers, musicians, etc. At times the division seems disjointed (William N. Robson is covered first in the chapter on writers, and then again in the chapter on directors). On a couple of occasions, the same anecdote is repeated in a different section. Most annoying of all for your reviewer, in each of the first few chapters, every time Maltin mentioned Jeanette Nolan, he found it necessary to point out that she was the wife of John McIntire. On the other hand, every time he mentioned McIntire, it was not found necessary to point out that he was the husband of Jeanette Nolan! This is at all times a light hearted work, a celebration of what was best with radio. There are some nice photos (but not enough), from the broadcast sets of Dragnet to actor Hans Conried mugging for a photographer, to sound effects men at full stretch over their complicated machinery. All in all a fun read and an excellent introduction.

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