The Major Hoople Show

My First Regular Show.

The first radio show I performed on was "One Man's Family" and although it was a weekly show, the character I played, Hank, didn't appear on the show's story every week. Shows I did other than the Family were calls to perform child characters as the script writers wrote them into their particular stories. When I was called to do the part of "Little Alvin" on the Major Hoople Show, the character was written in the script every week, and therefore became what was called a regular show, tantamount to a steady job, however a job only done once a week, but For the adult actors earning their livings in radio steady shows were the bread and butter of their efforts. As for me, a juvenile, I was earning money that could be saved for college. A Califonia state law, the "Jackie Coogan" law required my parents to put aside at least 50 percent of my earnings for my benefit. They did that and more. My earnings were used to assist my parents in bettering the family's overall finances. (In that regard I must acknowledge my parents for their devotion to my financial well being as well. My earnings were kept in a separate bank account from which was borrowed funds for investments, mostly real estate. Accurate accounts were kept and those monies barrowed were paid back over time as well as an equal share of what ever profit was garnered. They never thought of any of my earnings as "theirs", as such they were very careful in how they used any part of it to invest.

Publicity shots display the Major Hoople household adversity.

Patsy Moran who played "Martha," the wife makes the threatening gestures that characterized a theme of the comic strip which was that Major Hoople was a very henpecked husband. Arthur Q. Bryan displays the necessary character reaction of the "Major" to his radio "wife." Looking on astonished at all this Hoople hoopla is "Little Alvin," played by Conrad Binyon (yours truly). I never quite knew the relationship of Alvin to the Hooples,











This Kid's a Menace.

Although it may have been forgotten what the relationship was, Alvin is presumed to be somewhat impish and to that end he must be depicted as such in whatever publicity photos promote the show. Here he's shown about to assist the sleeping Major in a bit of a gargling exercise. I wonder if the photographer who suggested the shot ever wanted to do that himself in real life? Can't tell you.















Where'd He get that Gun?

This next shot shows Little Alvin apparently going to startle the good Major Hoople by shooting off a pistol barrowed from the pistols used by the NBC sound department for their detective show gun shots. The photo was never used for upon reflection the thought of a young boy fooling around with a weapon didn't sit well with the publicity department, and one can't blame them given how things like that eventually turn out.






















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