Sears Radio Theater

"Elliott Lewis first made his mark as an actor, writer, producer and director on radio in the late 1930's. His voice was also heard on Gordon Jenkins' classic recording of "Manhattan Tower" on Decca Records in 1945. In contrast to his prodigious radio career, in which he worked either alone or in tandem with his first wife Cathy Lewis, his movie career, like those of most radio actors of the period, wasn't nearly as prolific, with only three films to his credit. As the 1950s wore on, he drifted away from acting to concentrate on the writing, producing and directing end of the business. After the 'Golden Age of Radio' ended, Lewis moved to TV as a producer of such shows as _"Lucille Ball Show, The" (1962)_ and "The Mothers-In-Law" (1967), and director of all but one episode of the final season of "Petticoat Junction" (1963); however, radio remained his first love, and he continued to direct the occasional radio play well into the 1970s."

In the 1970s to the middle 1980s Mr. Lewis' efforts were found in great radio drama revival. Copying a bit from Himan Brown's CBS Radio Mystery Theatre, Mr. Lewis' Sears Radio Theater took stars of the day to reflect adventure, comedy, mystery, and drama.

Stars like Andy Griffith hosted the comedy portion, Cicely Tyson hosted dramas, Vincent Price hosted mystery, Richard Widmark hosted adventure and Lorne Greene hosted Western adventure. I have a few of the shows on aging cassettes.

One cassette has the last performance of Jim Jordan (Fibber MacGee) in a comedy where he plays an angry consumer. There was one performance with Alan Young along with his long time co-star Connie Hines performing everything in verse. Another had Gary Moore doing radio comedy skits from the golden years. It was a great experiment in radio listening that showed a real love that Mr. Lewis had for HIS medium.

Mr. Lewis can still get warm laughs whenever you hear him on "The Phil Harris and Alice Faye Show" as Remley or he can bring a cold shiver when you hear his work in Suspense. He also starred in a public service radio show written just for him by Arch Obloher.

I never had a chance to meet Mr. Lewis; but I sure admired his work, his love of radio, and his fine craft. He earned and deserves the alias "Mr. Radio".