"The Mayor of the Town"

Starring Lionel Barrymore as the "Mayor"

Agnes Moorehead as "Marilly"

and

Conrad Binyon as "Butch."

This page features some of the pictures taken during my time appearing on "The Mayor of the Town." It was the second longest show, "One Man's Family" being the first, on which I played the same role.

"The Mayor of the Town", Broadcast Site, CBS "Columbia Square," Hollywood, California

The CBS studios on Sunset Boulevard was the site of all of the earlier Mayor shows prior to the broadcast moving to the Mutual Broadcasting System in later years. On Saturday, rehearsals, if memory serves, started at about 2 p.m. I made it a point to show up a bit early so that I could met Mr. Barrymore when he'd pull up in his Oldsmobile into the Harold Way drive-in entrance at the Studio C back stage loading door. There was a vintage wooden wheelchair stored back behind the back curtin where all the stage flats were kept, and I'd wheel that out to where Mr. Barrymore parked his car at the door. Although his arthritis prevented him from no longer walking without the use of crutches he could still drive himself in from his Chatsworth residence for every show. His automobile was equipped with an automatic transmission so all he needed to do was brake and accelerate. To save him the effort of negotiating with crutches the 100 or so foot walk to his microphone table we used the chair. I'd wheel him to the table where he would sit the entire time and do the show into an overhang microphone. At the end of the broadcast we just reversed the procedure.

Early Production Cast of "The Mayor of the Town"

At infrequent times during the broadcasting of the CBS Radio show "The Mayor of the Town" there would be an audience handout to serve as a souvenir of their visit to view the show. This is a postsize card of a sketch of Lionel Barrymore as done by James Montgomery Flagg, the same artist who did the Uncle Sam painting, "I Want You" for Armed Forces recruitment during World War I and II. I picked up one of these cards and took it around to everybody working on the show and had them sign it for me. To my regrets the first person I asked to autograph the card was Charles Tazwell, one of the primary writers of the show and author of "The Littlest Angel." Notice he signed the card immediately above Lionel Barrymore's name, which I thought was a bit presumptous for I wanted that to be where Mr. Barrymore would place his autograph. Well the second signature I obtained was that of the star of the show, Mr. Lionel Barrymore and I placed the card in front of him where the largest space was available for him to sign, and that's where you see it. The signature just below the Lionel Barrymore printed name name is that of Howard Breslin, the other writer of the show. The two writers would alternate scripts for each week, and ultimately a third writer Leonard St. Clair (No signature) was engaged to allow even more of a respite between writing chores. The large bold signature at the bottom is that of Harlow Wilcox a famous announcer of the era, who announced the Fibber McGee and Molly Show among others. Proceeding up and to the left is the name Al Span, who was the current sound effects man for the show. Above his signature is that of Agnes Moorehead, the second star of the show. Just under the chin of Mr. Barrymore is the signature of Don Clark, the show's producer. He directed the effort of the show's actors, musical director, sound effects and the sound engineers mixing of microphon volumes. In the upper left is the signature of Barbara Smitten, the advertising agency's secretary to the producer. She was especially liked for she distributed all the payroll checks to the cast and musicians. I'm not aware if the employees of CBS were paid as well. At top middle is Joe Cohen's signature. Joe was the sound engineer of the show for as long as I remember. Then at upper right is the signature of the program's musical director, Gorden Jenkins, composer of the song "Make the San Fernando Valley My Home" which he did while becoming Frank Sinatra arranger as well. In my archives the card resides. I must get it out and look at it again.

Bernie Katz Musical Director "The Mayor of the Town"

Bernard Katz, composer and arranger, would later take over the reins from Gorden Jenkins as Musical Director for the show and conduct The show's new theme music which Mr. Barrymore composed, for Mr. Barrymore's talents included the composition and arrangment of several classic pieces. The makeup of the orchestra changed as well, lost was the brass section and the ensemble acquired a softer sound of woodwinds and strings including a harp. Pictured in 1987 and looking remarkably none the worse for wear is Mr. Katz who after leaving his radio musical directing career moved to the San Francisco area and ran a distributing business. He continued to do piano recitals for various audiences and continued to be a taskmaster whenever it came to his music. His credits other than the Mayor program was his work on the score of Walt Disney's "Dumbo" where we hear his rendition on the Hammond Organ of "Pink Elephants on Parade." He was also the Musical Director for the Cresta Blanca Show. "This Is Our Best."

Other "The Mayor of the Town" Photos

Pictured standing in front of that harp I mention are yours truly and Frank Martin the shows new announcer as well. Frank worked on the outside of broadcasting as a practicing lawyer, although I never was aware of it at the time. Notice I'm wearing a suit. Working in front of the public made it necessary to possess an extensive wardrobe for those times when the show was broadcast in front of an audience. Fortunately I never was in the era where formal wear, black tie for the men, and evening dresses for the ladies was required. I did have several suits, sport coats, shirts and accessories, such as suspenders, which Agnes Moorehead noted I liked to wear. She gave me several pair as Christmas presents. Another item attracted my attention and that was the wearing of neckties. I was particularly fond of necktie knots. I liked them to be symetrical, especially with the four-in-hand necktie. The Windsor knot was my favorite requiring the collar of my shirts to be wide-spread. I learned to tie a Windor knot early on and will wear my ties using that knot whenever possible. I also sported bow ties as well and prided myself on how well I could achieve that perfect bow tie look without having to use a mirror. I can tie one in my sleep. I always notice how guys I see wear their neckties. I acquired a goodly bunch of neckties, (some of which I still possess if can you can imagine).

Joe Cohen CBS Staff Engineer

Of the adults with whom I worked, and as all kids are prone to do, I had a favorite example of a good guy and that was Joseph Cohen, the CBS Engineer who handled all the sound mixing and microphone setup for the show. I used to follow Joe around and watch him position all the microphones on stage from out of the backstage storage cabinets. It got so I started coming in early and set up the mikes. I even remembered how to place Joe's patch cords into his control panel inside the control booth. When somehow it was learned that I had done this, some publicity folks thought it might be a quaint item for the radio magazines blurbs frequently sent out about the show. I posed for this picture to accompany the story. It was just a lark and I stopped after thinking I shouldn't be fooling around with CBS equipment. Joe was also into photography and peaked my curiosity in that field as well. Joe once made me a a cat's whisker crystal set for a Christmas present one year, and I used to spend hours at home listening to the signal over headphones much like those shown in the photo. I'd listen in bed at night to radio programs without disturbing the rest of the household.

Program Premiums

Post Cards were also popular as an item premium for listeners of the program, mailed back as responses to any letters they wrote the sponsors or advertising agency, Ruthrauff and Ryan. The card you see adjacent was such and also a hand out, I believed, to the visiting audience in the CBS studio and I happened to pick one up as a souvenir. The sponsor of the show was the Noxzema Company and during the holidays members of the production staff and cast received product samples.

Working on a Railroad

Of course, all was not work all of the time. There were times when the cast and band members took a break and found diversions to take up the interval. Of course the sound departments of the various studios had numerous pieces of equipment which provided the necessary sound effects called for in the scripted stories. Here I am fooling around with a basic train set provided by the Mutual Broadcasting System's sound effects department for one story in particular. Notice there are no paper mache tunnels or a fancy track layout. All that was needed was the sound of the engine and cars going around the track and me voicing some enthusiasm over my receiving an electric train for Christmas.

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