Orson Wells was a film director, actor, screenwriter, and producer. Welles 
found national and international fame as the director and narrator of a 1938 
radio adaptation of H.G. Well’s novel, The War of the Worlds.The radio drama
was performed on the Mercury Theater of the Air. His first film with RKO was
Citizen Kane in 1941, in which he starred as Charles Foster Kane. It is felt by 
many to be  the greatest film ever made. Another Wells masterpiece is Touch
of Evil (1958). On October 10, 1985, Wells did his final interview on The Merv
Griffin Show (below).

With Canada Dry Ginger Ale as a sponsor, Jack Benny came to radio on The
Canada Dry Program, beginning May 2, 1932, on the NBC Blue Network, airing
there for six months until October 26, moving the show over to CBS radio on
October 30. With Ted Weems leading the band, Benny stayed on CBS until
January 26, 1933. Jack’s wife, Mary Livingston (shown above) co-starred on
the show.

Actress Eve Arden (April 30, 1908 – November 12, 1990). Her almost 60-year
career included many supporting and leading roles in film, radio and television, but
she is perhaps best remembered for playing a high school teacher in the classic
sitcom Our Miss Brooks. It began as a radio show broadcast on CBS from 1948
to 1957. When the show was adapted to television (1952–56), it became one of the medium’s earliest hits. In 1956, the sitcom was adapted for the big screen with the
same name. Arden also has special guest appearances as Rydell High School
principal McGee in the films Grease (1978) and Grease 2 (1982). She was
inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1995.

Lum and Abner was a radio comedy show which aired on the NBC network from
1931 to 1954. The show was created by it’s stars, Chester Lauck and Norris Goff
(shown above). It was modeled on life in the small town of Waters, Arkansas
near where the pair grew up. In 1936 the town of Waters changed its
name to Pine Ridge, after the fictional town in the radio show.

Jiles Perry "J. P." Richardson, Jr. (October 24, 1930 – February 3, 1959) went
by the name “The Big Bopper” when he became a deejay (below) at KTRM radio
(now KZZB) in Beaumont, Texas. He had been working part time at the station after graduating from high school in 1949. Richardson went full time at KTRM after a stint
in the army and having quit college. His show,"The Big Bopper Shop", attracted a
strong listenership. In May 1957 he set a world record for continuous broadcasting
with his "Discathon," remaining on the air for six straight days and spinning 1,821 records. J.P. was influenced by Country and Western music and began writing songs, moving toward the new sound of Rockabilly. During this abbreviated songwriting career, he composed about thirty-eight tunes, and recorded over twenty of them. One of those tunes was Chantilly Lace, released on Mercury Records in the summer of 1958. On
February 3, 1959, Richardson was killed in a small-plane crash in Iowa, along with
the great Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens.