“Forgotten Hollywood”- A Radio Drama…

Posted on January 25, 2016 by raideoman1 | No Comments

Manny P. here…

internal_page_dicktracy   A lawsuit claims the late creator of such legendary radio dramas as Dick Tracy and The Adventures of the Thin Man was duped into putting the bulk of his $100 million fortune into a charitable trust controlled solely by his longtime lawyer. Himan Brown, a radio producer who died in New York City in 2010 at the age of 99, instead wanted it to go to an organization he founded to promote radio theater, according to court papers.

   The lawsuit was filed by Radio Drama Network, Inc., a private foundation started by Brown in 1984 to foster his love and appreciation for the radio serials that popularized the airwaves in the 1930s and 1940s. Several members of his family serve on its board of directors.

himan-brown-1974   Himan Brown (right) produced more than 30,000 radio shows in a career that spanned from the 1930s into the 1980s. He studied law at Brooklyn College, but he never practiced, instead using his education to secure radio rights to Dick Tracy, Flash Gordon, and the Thin Man. Other notable Brown productions included Inner Sanctum Mysteries, Bulldog Drummond, Grand Central Station, and the CBS Radio Mystery Theater. He worked with actors, such as Gregory Peck, Orson Welles, Frank Sinatra, Boris Karloff, Edward G. Robinson, Helen Hayes, Peter Lorre, Mary Astor, among others.

   During World War II, Brown worked with the Writer’s War Board to produce patriotic serials to aid the war effort. In the 1950s, he bought Adolph Zukor’s Famous Players Studios. Through his non-profit educational foundation, Brown produced They Were Giants, radio programs dramatizing the lives of such literary figures as Walt Whitman and H.G. Wells.

himan bown   Ron Simon, curator of television and radio at the Paley Center for Media, calls Himan Brown one of radio’s great storytellers. He was well-known for using sound effects such as a creaking door and a steam engine to enthrall listeners during Radio’s Golden Age. A member of the Radio Hall of Fame, Brown received the American Broadcast Pioneer and the Peabody Award.

   A vast fortune is at stake. Who knows which party will win in the lawsuit now being contested in Manhattan surrogate’s court. Maybe, The Shadow knows… 

Until next time>                               “never forget”

This entry was posted on Monday, January 25th, 2016 at 12:05 am and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.


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