Smilin' Ed McConnell
Encyclopedia
Smilin’ Ed McConnell was a radio personality
best known as the host of the children's radio and television series, Smilin' Ed's Gang, closely identified with its sponsor, Buster Brown
shoes.
, he went into prize fighting. During World War I
, he was briefly thought to be dead, as noted in an NBC
press release: "A troop train on which he was traveling was wrecked in Arkansas by a German sympathizer and Ed wound up in a river. When he was pulled out, an Army surgeon pronounced him dead, but a buddy finally revived Ed with artificial respiration."
network in 1932, and five years later, he went to NBC as their "Sunshine Melody Man," offering hymns and uplifting messages. McDonnell’s blend of "songs, humor and philosophy" was aired over network affiliates at 5:30pm. Guests included the Doring Trio, The Four Grenadiers, The Campus Choir and the Rhythmaires.
He became known in New York City
when he was heard over WJZ
, even though the show was from Chicago
and he was living in Elk Rapids, Michigan
. McConnell’s timeslots and sponsors also changed. At one point, he was heard at 10:30am doing a 15-minute program sponsored by the Air Conditioning Training Corporation of Youngstown
, Ohio
. Variety noted that aside from such hymns as "God Understands," he "unloads a hokey hodge-podge of songs and you-know-me-I wouldn't-steer-you-wrong-blather."
McConnell grabbed the attention of youngsters when he created the character Froggy the Gremlin
, along with Irma Allen on the organ or Del Owen on the piano. But even when McConnell had become famous to kids as "Smilin' Ed," he continued to host programs for religious adults. For instance, while the Buster Brown
show was running, Ed presided over a five-minute show sponsored by the American Poultry Journal It reached over 50 stations. Variety reviewed:
Another Smilin' Ed show that turned up for a while was a 15-minute program sponsored by the Purity Baking Company. Once again, Variety reviewed:
because the character was merely the trademark symbol for a shoe company.
Buster Brown and Smilin' Ed were then collided in 1944, with "Smilin' Ed's Buster Brown Gang" taking to the airwaves on September 2. The show continued on NBC radio every Saturday morning at 11:30 through April 11, 1953. There was an adventure story to open the show, plugs for Buster Brown shoes, and Froggy the Gremlin
might sing a song or annoy a guest, such as Shortfellow the Poet or Alkali Pete the Cowboy. The character Midnight the Cat actually spoke a few lines on the show and Smilin' Ed was always prone to sing a novelty song or two by plunking his magic twanger. The term "plunking" may have come from McConnell's habit of plunking the strings on his piano to emphasize some of the action in his stories. McConnell was the voice of Froggy, putting on a low, gruff, Popeye
-like croak.
However, whenever McConnell had to sing a duet with Froggy, announcer Archie Presby
was the voice of Froggy. And when there was a live audience, Archie would sometimes dress up in a frog costume and carry on to the delight of the screaming kids. The full cast of the radio show had included June Foray
, Wendall Noble, Conrad Binyon, John Dehner
and Jimmy Ogg. All of them took part in the adventure stories. Foray was called upon to voice Midnight and Bud Tollefson, the sound effects engineer, growled the voice of Tige the Dog.
Smilin' Ed used the show to promote not only the Buster Brown shoes, but as well as the comic books, which featured McConnell and usually a little story involving the "Buster Brown Gang" of Midnight, Squeaky and Froggy. To his credit, Ed would tell the young audiences that they could go to their local store and get a comic book without having to make a purchase. The comic books had many premiums to offer, including a Buster Brown Gang neckerchief, various games, music records and trinkets.
then took over the show and it's "Andy's Gang" that most people remember.
Radio personality
A radio personality is a person with an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality can be someone who introduces and discusses various genres of music, hosts a talk radio show that may take calls from listeners, or someone whose primary responsibility is to give news, weather,...
best known as the host of the children's radio and television series, Smilin' Ed's Gang, closely identified with its sponsor, Buster Brown
Buster Brown
Buster Brown was a comic strip character created in 1902 by Richard Felton Outcault who was known for his association with the Brown Shoe Company. This mischievous young boy was loosely based on a boy near Outcault's home in Flushing, New York...
shoes.
Early life
The son of a minister, McConnell began to sing at the age of three and soon learned how to play both drums and piano. He was athletic as a teenager, and after attending William Jewell CollegeWilliam Jewell College
William Jewell College is a private, four-year liberal arts college of 1,100 undergraduate students located in Liberty, Missouri, U.S. It was founded in 1849 by members of the Missouri Baptist Convention and other civic leaders, including Robert S. James, a Baptist minister and father of the...
, he went into prize fighting. During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, he was briefly thought to be dead, as noted in an NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
press release: "A troop train on which he was traveling was wrecked in Arkansas by a German sympathizer and Ed wound up in a river. When he was pulled out, an Army surgeon pronounced him dead, but a buddy finally revived Ed with artificial respiration."
Radio
After his Army service, McConnell was a gospel vocalist with various evangelists. He entered radio in Atlanta in 1922 as a hasty substitute when a scheduled performer failed to arrive. Married in 1928, McConnell joined the CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
network in 1932, and five years later, he went to NBC as their "Sunshine Melody Man," offering hymns and uplifting messages. McDonnell’s blend of "songs, humor and philosophy" was aired over network affiliates at 5:30pm. Guests included the Doring Trio, The Four Grenadiers, The Campus Choir and the Rhythmaires.
He became known in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
when he was heard over WJZ
WABC (AM)
WABC , known as "NewsTalkRadio 77 WABC" is a radio station in New York City. Owned by the broadcasting division of Cumulus Media, the station broadcasts on a clear channel and is the flagship station of Cumulus Media Networks...
, even though the show was from Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and he was living in Elk Rapids, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. McConnell’s timeslots and sponsors also changed. At one point, he was heard at 10:30am doing a 15-minute program sponsored by the Air Conditioning Training Corporation of Youngstown
Youngstown, Ohio
Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Mahoning County; it also extends into Trumbull County. The municipality is situated on the Mahoning River, approximately southeast of Cleveland and northwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
. Variety noted that aside from such hymns as "God Understands," he "unloads a hokey hodge-podge of songs and you-know-me-I wouldn't-steer-you-wrong-blather."
McConnell grabbed the attention of youngsters when he created the character Froggy the Gremlin
Froggy the Gremlin
Froggy the Gremlin was a character on the Smilin' Ed's Gang radio and TV show and later Andy's Gang TV show in the 1940s and 1950s.Froggy was a troublemaker on the shows...
, along with Irma Allen on the organ or Del Owen on the piano. But even when McConnell had become famous to kids as "Smilin' Ed," he continued to host programs for religious adults. For instance, while the Buster Brown
Buster Brown
Buster Brown was a comic strip character created in 1902 by Richard Felton Outcault who was known for his association with the Brown Shoe Company. This mischievous young boy was loosely based on a boy near Outcault's home in Flushing, New York...
show was running, Ed presided over a five-minute show sponsored by the American Poultry Journal It reached over 50 stations. Variety reviewed:
- Anyone who's been laboring under the impression that a dash of American folk music and a hymn or two is strictly for farm listeners is apparently off the beam, because here's a series of 48 shorties that two metropolitan stations - Chicago's NBCNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
flagship, WMAQ and Minneapolis' WCCO-CBSCBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
have latched on to for a 16 week ride... Packaged by E. H. Brown Agency for American Poultry Journal, (transcription) disks which feature two songs apiece by Smilin' Ed McConnell, with Irma Glen accompanying on the Hammond, are blanketing the east and midwest now. McConnell plugs the mag ("If you've got a poultry problem, write to APJ's Problem Corner and get a personal reply from the editor...send in a subscription too, only 50 cents for two years!") and sings... Cornfed delivery of a song like "Come Along My Mandy" and hymn "When Cares of Life Distress You" on one platter, cues the general format, but the star of NBC's live "Buster Brown" airer knows how to put over the old "neighborly feeling." And he's no slough at plugging the Journal it might be added.
Another Smilin' Ed show that turned up for a while was a 15-minute program sponsored by the Purity Baking Company. Once again, Variety reviewed:
- One of the veterans of radio, Ed McConnell mines the rich veins of American sentiment among those who are white-haired, churchy, rural and simple. He has a disarming style that has been analyzed in these columns on previous occasions and for other sponsors. This show differs only that he sticks to hymns and is necessarily serious in comment, with none of the semi-light homefolksy gab he could more appropriately introduce in a framework not devoted to ecclesiastical music alone. Aiming at a selective audience, the program will no doubt do well. McConnell puts it o a personal basis. Even while telling his listeners this is one program that will not "be cluttered up with long-winded advertising" he is sledge-hammering the important thought - no chekee no hymnee. "My friends who love me will support me by buying Tasty Bread" he announces..." "McConnell has a good Epworth LeagueEpworth LeagueThe Epworth League is a Methodist young adult association for individuals ages 18-35. It traces back to the founding of the organization by the United Methodist Church's predecessor denomination, the Methodist Episcopal church, formed in 1889 at Cleveland, Ohio, by the combination of five young...
baritone and a down home rhetorical sloppiness. It's "you-all" or "ya" and no fuss. In fact, this is about the most calculatedly unpretentious program of the season. McConnell is probably the most humble man in America, making $100,000 or better, a year.
The Buster Brown Show
With Buster Brown Show, Ed had support from producer Frank Ferrin, writer Hobart Donavan (who also wrote the Buster Brown comic book giveaways) and director Arthur Jacobson. When Ed started this show, some radio listeners recalled Buster Brown faintly from a 1929 DBS radio series. By the time Smilin Ed' got his kiddie show, Buster Brown was no longer well remembered as a comic stripComic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
because the character was merely the trademark symbol for a shoe company.
Buster Brown and Smilin' Ed were then collided in 1944, with "Smilin' Ed's Buster Brown Gang" taking to the airwaves on September 2. The show continued on NBC radio every Saturday morning at 11:30 through April 11, 1953. There was an adventure story to open the show, plugs for Buster Brown shoes, and Froggy the Gremlin
Froggy the Gremlin
Froggy the Gremlin was a character on the Smilin' Ed's Gang radio and TV show and later Andy's Gang TV show in the 1940s and 1950s.Froggy was a troublemaker on the shows...
might sing a song or annoy a guest, such as Shortfellow the Poet or Alkali Pete the Cowboy. The character Midnight the Cat actually spoke a few lines on the show and Smilin' Ed was always prone to sing a novelty song or two by plunking his magic twanger. The term "plunking" may have come from McConnell's habit of plunking the strings on his piano to emphasize some of the action in his stories. McConnell was the voice of Froggy, putting on a low, gruff, Popeye
Popeye
Popeye the Sailor is a cartoon fictional character created by Elzie Crisler Segar, who has appeared in comic strips and animated cartoons in the cinema as well as on television. He first appeared in the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre on January 17, 1929...
-like croak.
However, whenever McConnell had to sing a duet with Froggy, announcer Archie Presby
Arch Presby
George Archibald "Arch/Archie" Presby was a Canadian-born, American radio and television announcer.Born in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, Presby began his announcing career at CFDC in Vancouver in 1925, and remained with the station at the point where its call letters changed to the current CKWX two...
was the voice of Froggy. And when there was a live audience, Archie would sometimes dress up in a frog costume and carry on to the delight of the screaming kids. The full cast of the radio show had included June Foray
June Foray
June Foray is an American voice actress, best known as the voice of many animated characters...
, Wendall Noble, Conrad Binyon, John Dehner
John Dehner
John Dehner was an American actor in radio, television, and films, playing countless roles, often as a droll villain. Between 1941 and 1988, he appeared in over 260 films and television programs. Prior to acting, Dehner had worked as an animator at Walt Disney Studios, and later became a radio...
and Jimmy Ogg. All of them took part in the adventure stories. Foray was called upon to voice Midnight and Bud Tollefson, the sound effects engineer, growled the voice of Tige the Dog.
Smilin' Ed used the show to promote not only the Buster Brown shoes, but as well as the comic books, which featured McConnell and usually a little story involving the "Buster Brown Gang" of Midnight, Squeaky and Froggy. To his credit, Ed would tell the young audiences that they could go to their local store and get a comic book without having to make a purchase. The comic books had many premiums to offer, including a Buster Brown Gang neckerchief, various games, music records and trinkets.
Television
Smilin' Ed was the one who originally brought Froggy and the whole gang to television, and some of the shows were filmed in primitive color. He was one of the kiddie world's most beloved and jolly fat men, going by the height of six feet tall, weighing over 250 pounds. But the hefty, aging days of “The Smiler” were numbered, and the end came in 1954. Andy DevineAndy Devine
Andrew Vabre "Andy" Devine was an American character actor and comic cowboy sidekick known for his distinctive raspy voice.-Early life:...
then took over the show and it's "Andy's Gang" that most people remember.
Tribute
- Buckner & GarciaBuckner & GarciaBuckner & Garcia was a duo consisting of Jerry Buckner and Gary Garcia from Akron, Ohio. Their first collaboration was in 1980, when they wrote a novelty Christmas song, "Merry Christmas in the NFL", imagining Howard Cosell as Santa Claus...
paid homage to these characters on a 1982 novelty song about the arcade game Frogger called "Froggy's Lament" from their album Pac-Man FeverPac-Man Fever (album)Pac-Man Fever is a 1982 concept album recorded by Buckner & Garcia. It is also the name of the first song on that album. Each song on the album is about a different classic arcade game, and uses sound effects from that game. The album was released as an LP, a cassette, an 8-track tape, and later...
with its lyrics "Hiya kids" and "Plunk your magic twanger, Froggy!".