Edwin Clark 'Eddy' Duchin
Pianist, Composer, Arranger
(1910-1951)
Birthplace: Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Education: Massachusetts College of Pharmacy
Military Service: Served North Atlantic 1943-1945; U.S. Navy, Lt. Cmdr.
Radiography:
1946 The N.K. Musical Showroom
1946 Kraft Music Hall
1946 Command Performance
1946 Radio's Biggest Show
1946 Navy Day Salute
1946 The Carnation Contented Hour
1949 The Eddy Duchin Show
1961 The Mitch Miller Show
At Ease |

Eddy Duchin circa 1945

Eddy Duchin compares notes with Benny Goodman (1938)

Eddy Duchin deplanes a TWA flight (1938)
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From the February 10, 1951 edition of the Capital Times, Madison, Wisconsin:
Eddy Duchin, 'Magic Finger' Pianist, Dies
NEW YORK--(AP)--Eddy Duchin, whose mastery of the piano keyboard delighted millions of Americans, died here Friday night only a few hours after the navy cited him for his World War II combat record.
Rear Admiral Walter S. Delany, commandant of the Third naval district, delivered the citation personally Friday to Duchin, 41, who was a patient at Memorial hospital.
Duchin enlisted in the navy eight years ago. He served on destroyers in some of the toughest engagements of both the Atlantic and Pacific. In 1945 he was discharged as a lieutenant commander.
His losing battle against leukemia--a form of cancer of the blood--started several months ago. The hospital said he had been a frequent patient recently.
At his bedside when he died was his wife and a sister.
BORN IN CAMBRIDGE, Mass., his full name was Edwin Frank Duchin. His mother wanted him to play the piano; his druggist father hoped he would become a pharmacist.
So young Eddy took piano lessons, but went off to Massachusetts College of Pharmacy for his studies. He was graduated in 1929.
However, odd piano assignments with college orchestras convinced him he could earn more with his musical skills than with his druggist knowledge and Duchin joined Leo Reisman's orchestra, then playing at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York.
Duchin formed his own band in 1931 at the request of the old, famed Central Park Casino. There he was often teamed with Singer Morton Downey.
Then Duchin branched into radio and won the title of "The Magic Fingers of Radio." He and his band were featured in several motion pictures, including "Coronado" in 1935 an "Hit Parade" in 1937.
FEATURING SO-CALLED society music, his band was popular at many of the nation's finest hotels. Duchin himself won popularity with original piano renditions of the blues and by extemporizing in key with the melody.
At one time, his fingers reportedly were insured for 150,000.
Duchin disbanded his band in 1942 when he enlisted in the navy.
He reorganized his band after the war and also founded a school for teaching piano technique. He wrote four books on the subject.
Duchin's first wife, Sugar Heiress Marjorie Oelrichs, died in 1937, two years after they were married and six days after she bore him a son.
He was married again in 1947 to Maria Teresa Winn of London, who survives.
Duchin has been in Madison several times with his orchestra, the last time being July, 1938, at the Orpheum.
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Ken Roberts [Saul Trochman]
(Announcer)
Radio, Television and Film Actor and Announcer
(1910-2009)
Birthplace: Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S.A.
Radiography:
1932 The Linit Bath Club Revue
1937 The Burns and Allen Show
1937 The Shadow
1938 The American School of the Air
1938 Columbia Workshop
1944 Calling All Girls
1944 It Pays To Be Ignorant
1944 Let Yourself Go
1945 Treasury Salute
1945 The Jane Cowl Show
1945 Guest Critic Series
1946 Your Sports Question Box
1946 Eversharp Schick Varieties
1946 Mercury Summer Theatre
1946 Tonight On Broadway
1947 Flit Frolics
1947 Quick As A Flash
1947 The Jan August Show
1948 The Milton Berle Show
1948 Grand Central Station
1948 Mr Ace and Jane
1948 Meet the Press
1949 Hogan's Daughter
1949 The Eddy Duchin Show
1949 Casey, Crime Photographer
1949 The Anacin Hollywood Star Theatre
1949 Grand Central Station
1950 Not For Children
1950 Candid Microphone
1950 Lorenzo Jones
1951 Philip Morris Playhouse On Broadway
1951 Horace Heidt's Youth Opportunity Program
1952 My Little Margie
The Xavier Cugat Show |

Ken Roberts circa 1940

Ken Roberts circa 1947

Ken Roberts reenacts a script of The Shadow for a Shadow Fans convention, ca. 1987
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Legendary Announcer Ken Roberts' career spanned over 35 years in Radio and another forty-five years in Television. Born on the island of Manhattan, Roberts announced some of Radio's earliest programs, such as The Linit Bath Club Revue (1932). The next thirty-five years found Ken Roberts accouncing many of Radio's most famous and memorable programs: The Burns and Allen Show, The Shadow, Columbia Workshop, It Pays to be Ignorant, Mercury Summer Theatre, Quick As A Flash, The Milton Berle Show, the long running Mr. Ace and Jane, Casey Crime Photographer, Grand Central Station, and My Little Margie.
Making not only a successful, but equally legendary transition to the small screen, Roberts' Television career comprises over seventy programs and over 800 appearances to date. Roberts' most recent Film appearance was a cameo role in 2005's Oscar-winning Brokeback Mountain. This durable actor and announcer has lent his unmistakeable voice to the airwaves and Film for over seventy-five years as of this writing.
As fondly remembered for his stirring lead-ins for The Shadow, Roberts is equally remembered for his portentious announcements for CBS' historic, award-winning You Are There series.
Ken Roberts was the announcer for the Television soaps, "Love of Life" for twenty years and "The Secret Storm" for twenty years. Extraordinarily versatile, Ken Roberts was as effective in TV's earliest action adventure dramas as in the first 130 ground-breaking episodes of Electric Company (1972)--and virtually every genre between those extremes. Roberts inflection, phrasing, and projection over the years remained as forceful and discernable as ever--a tribute to both his range and reliability.
Ken Roberts is also the proud father of Tony Award winning dramatic actor Tony Roberts, a favorite of Woody Allen movies and stage plays alike. As durable and versatile as his father, the two actors represent over 110 years of Radio, Television, Film and Stage excellence. The two appeared together in Woody Allen's Radio Days (1987) with Tony Roberts on screen and Ken Roberts off-screen.
It's the 21st Century, Mr. Roberts. A celebration of the very finest recordings of The Golden Age of Radio, and You, Mr. Roberts, Most Definitely Were There.
[Update: Ken Roberts passed away June 19, 2009 at the age of 99] |