Lum & Abner was created by two fellows who certainly knew what they were talking about. Chet Lauck and Norris Goff were both born in Arkansas, where the show is set, in the early 1900¹s. By 1911, both were living in the little town of Mena, Arkansas, where they became a popular comedy team, and local "Amos and Andy" imitators. In 1931, just before a charity performance in Hot Springs, they created those two lovable Arkansas philosophers "Lum Eddards and Abner Peabody." Three months later "Lum & Abner" made its national radio debut on the NBC radio network from Chicago, with the Quaker Oats Company as their first sponsor. They were to continue charming audiences on the air, with different sponsors and networks, for nearly 25 years.

Vaudeville and 7 films followed, but radio was where the world of "the two loveable old characters from Pine Ridge" flourished, delivering home-spun wisdom and humor from the front porch of the "Jot 'Em Down Store." After 5,000 live radio shows and a life on stage and screen, the boys retired. Though Norris "Tuffy" Goff (Abner) passed away in 1978, and Chester "Chet" Lauck (Lum) joined him in 1980, it isn¹t hard to imagine the two whittling and philosophizing in their celestial rockers somewhere, making the angels laugh.

Cathy Lewis As Jane Stacy and Marie Wilson As Irma Peterson

Irma Peterson, played by Marie Wilson, was a sweet, sexy, darling but dim-witted blonde stenographer, whose small town naivete always resulted in big city high-jinx. Helped - and hindered! - by her screwy friends, Irma would have been happy getting into dutch with Gracie Allen, Lucille Ball, and Will and Grace's Debra Messing. Her pals included her logical and very dependable roommate, Jane Stacy, played by Cathy Lewis, and her boyfriend, the impoverished and jobless Al.

Irma was so dumb that she believed that flypaper was airline stationery! The show's creator, Cy Howard, was hesitant to cast the lead roles because he felt that the show's success depended on the actresses' awesome portrayal of their characters. His uncertainty flew straight out the window when Cathy Lewis arrived to read the part of 'Jane Stacy.' At the time, Cathy Lewis, who started as a singer with Kay Kyser and Herbie Kay, was already well-established in the radio community. With Cathy Lewis on board, the show would soar, giving an average Hooper rating of 20-plus!

Like so many Old Time Radio shows, "My Friend Irma" went on to films and television, but nowhere was it more beloved than on the parlor Philco.

Irma, Jane and all the rest entered America's heart and home in 1947, and remained as welcome guests until 1954.

Charlie McCarthy and Edgar Bergen

The Bickersons began as a skit on the THE CHARLIE McCARTHY SHOW in 1946 and featured Don Ameche and Francis Langford as John and Blanche Bickerson.

The "Bickersons" sketches always adhered to a simple formula: John, who suffers from a crippling case of "insomnia," keeps Blanche awake with his snoring-so Blanche returns the favor by keeping him with her incessant nagging and chattering. Soon, NBC brought the pair to its Sunday-night schedule, sponsored by Drene, and added Danny Thomas as Blanche's brother Amos,

Don Ameche

Francis Langford

who often provided the basis for many of the arguments. The writing was sharp and funny

and paved the way for later television couples like Ralph and Alice Kramden and Al and Peg Bundy. Though the sketches usually eschewed the happy endings prevalent on The Honeymooners ("Baby…you're the greatest."), deep down listeners knew that the couple really did love one another, and their verbal donnybrooks were just a way of letting off steam.

John and Blanche Bickerson were created by comedy writer Phil Rapp (who also helped write Baby Snooks), inspired by his own real-life squabbling with his wife Mary.

"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!"

From the spring of 1931 until the summer of 1949, a slim figure cloaked in black fought mobsters, evil scientists, crazed old men and foreign invaders with two blazing automatics and a laugh that chilled the hearts of evil. The mysterious figure was The Shadow.

The Shadow began as a radio announcer -- known as The Shadow -- for Street and Smith's Detective Story Hour. The character became so popular that Smith & Street created a magazine to expand on the character. Street & Smith turned to newspaperman and magician Walter B. Gibson, using the pen name Maxwell Grant, wrote 282 of the 325 Shadow novels. The magazine was a tremendous success and The Shadow returned to the airwaves for a half-hour adventure program that lasted until 1954.

Orson Welles

Agnes Moorehead

On September 26, 1937, the Shadow appeared on radio with the voice of Orson Welles. The Shadow was now a full-fledged character on radio, not just narrating and introducing stories. The Shadow had an identity as Lamont Cranston, a wealthy man about town. He was accompanied by Margo Lane, originally played by Agnes Moorehead. Margo Lane was the only person who knew that Lamont Cranston and the Shadow were one and the same. No other agents assisted the Shadow, as they did in the Walter Gibson stories. This radio Shadow had hypnotic power "The power to cloud men's minds." A secret he picked up in the Orient. Orson Welles played the Shadow from 1937 through March 1938. The Shadow became the highest rated radio show on the air at that time.

Our choice of the Silent Avenger shows how the taut script and archetypal characters that were the Shadows hallmarks resonate to modern audiences. The parallels to present day events cannot be missed. The show used its popularity to try and deter crime with its admonition, "The weed of crime bears bitter fruit. Crime does not pay!" Every listener knew that the Shadow was out there, fighting the forces of evil and bringing wrong-doers to justice. We could all use some of that today.