EDWARD ARNOLD HAD A SIX YEAR PRESIDENTIAL TERM ON ABC.
MISTER PRESIDENT
ABC was shopping for a relatively inexpensive show that it could offer to its affiliates on a co-op basis in early 1947 when producer Robert G. Jennings approached the network with an appealing program idea, Mr. President. (1) With the first postwar presidential election season a year away, (and not involving FDR since 1932), Jennings’ concept of dramatizing little known incidents in the administrations of past presidents was timely.
He had also added the interesting twist of never identifying the President by name within each story. Instead, listeners were challenged to identify him before his name was revealed at the conclusion of the program.
It was an attractive package and the network bought it. It was also decided that the program would star just one actor to continually portray each week’s different chief executive with no regional accent or drawl. The only problem was finding a middle-aged actor whom audiences could accept in the 30 roles that stretched from George Washington to Calvin Coolidge. It proved to be no problem after all - Edward Arnold was the unanimous choice.
Commanding in appearance with a booming baritone voice, 57 year old Gunther Edward Arnold Schneider never played a President in his 100+ film roles. In real life, however, he served as President of the Screen Actors Guild from 1940 to 1942, then became an unsuccessful candidate for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, blaming his failure on his well known conservative Republican beliefs and voters’ reluctance to elect actors to political office. (2)
Nevertheless, his film popularity soared. He was under contract to MGM and had appeared in 30 films since 1940. He was slated for four more pictures in 1948, but since ABC was a leader in transcribed programming, Mr. President episodes could be recorded each week to meet his busy filming schedule.
Another on-going voice was added to the cast of Mr. President to give the central character a loyal confidant - albeit fictional - to question his motives and feelings. Popular veteran radio actress Betty Lou Gerson was chosen for the role of Miss Sarah Holmes, his ageless secretary and “office wife” who could keep his behavior on an even keel.
Mr. President became a popular spot for dozens of Hollywood’s top radio actors. Paley Baer, Herb Butterfield, William Conrad, Hans Conried, Howard Culver, John Dehner, Howard Duff, Paul Frees, Virginia Gregg, Vivi Janis, Joe Kearns, Howard McNear, Frank Nelson, Lurene Tuttle and Gayne Whitman were just a few of the throated thespians who talked their way into Edward Arnold’s Oval Office of the air.
The show also presented a tempting research and story-telling challenge to veteran Network Radio writers. Among those answering the call sent out by producer Jennings were Bernard Dougall, (Maxwell House Showboat and The Falcon) Jean Holloway (Hallmark Hall of Fame, Mayor of The Town and The Railroad Hour), Ira Marion, (The Court of Missing Heirs and On Stage America), and three veterans of the long-running docudrama The March of Time, Richard Dana, Paul Milton and Garrett Porter.
Because it was a co-op program with different sponsors in different markets or otherwise sustaining, Mr. President never appeared in the rating books. Nevertheless, it gave ABC the prestige the network wanted over its six year run. The program debuted on Thursday, June 26, 1947 at 9:00 p.m. ET against two Top 50 shows, Casey, Crime Photographer on CBS and NBC’s Sealtest Village Store with Jack Haley and Eve Arden. ABC moved Mr. President back half an hour on October 2 against Radio Readers’ Digest on CBS and Bob Hawk’s comedy quiz on NBC.
The program finally got a semi-permanent home on Sunday afternoons at 2:00 then 2:30 from January 4, 1948 until November 12, 1950. It was back to prime time on Wednesday, November 29, 1950 at 9:30 p.m. ET against Bing Crosby on CBS and NBC’s Mr. District Attorney - ranked 26th and 15th respectively for the season. Mr. President’s final term on ABC began on April 2, 1952 on Wednesdays at 9:00 opposite Red Skelton on CBS and Groucho Marx’s Top Ten quiz You Bet Your Life on NBC. The show finally left the air on September 23, 1953. Edward Arnold died three years later but over a hundred episodes of Mr. President survive.
Ten programs from the series are posted with no identification of their subjects: MPA, MPB, MPC, MPD, MPE, MPF, MPG, MGH, MPI and MPJ. Like its listeners over 65 years ago, see if you can correctly identify these Chief Executives portrayed by Edward Arnold before he does at the conclusion of these excellent episodes of Mr. President. (3)
(1) Co-op programs were offered to a network’s affiliates for local sale. Stations either paid the network directly for the programs or shared the advertising revenues they generated with the network.
(2) Two of Edward Arnold’s successors at the Screen Actors Guild proved him wrong on both counts. George Murphy served as SAG President, 1944-1946, then was elected a U.S. Senator from California from 1965 to 1971. Ronald Reagan was SAG President, 1947-52 & 1959, then became California Governor from 1966 to 1974 and President of The United States from 1980 to 1988.
(3) Hint: John Quincy Adams, Grover Cleveland, Calvin Coolidge, Andrew Jackson, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, James K. Polk, Theodore Roosevelt, William HowardTaft and George Washington, but not in that alphabetical order.
Copyright © 2017, Jim Ramsburg, Estero FL Email: tojimramsburg@gmail.com
ABC was shopping for a relatively inexpensive show that it could offer to its affiliates on a co-op basis in early 1947 when producer Robert G. Jennings approached the network with an appealing program idea, Mr. President. (1) With the first postwar presidential election season a year away, (and not involving FDR since 1932), Jennings’ concept of dramatizing little known incidents in the administrations of past presidents was timely.
He had also added the interesting twist of never identifying the President by name within each story. Instead, listeners were challenged to identify him before his name was revealed at the conclusion of the program.
It was an attractive package and the network bought it. It was also decided that the program would star just one actor to continually portray each week’s different chief executive with no regional accent or drawl. The only problem was finding a middle-aged actor whom audiences could accept in the 30 roles that stretched from George Washington to Calvin Coolidge. It proved to be no problem after all - Edward Arnold was the unanimous choice.
Commanding in appearance with a booming baritone voice, 57 year old Gunther Edward Arnold Schneider never played a President in his 100+ film roles. In real life, however, he served as President of the Screen Actors Guild from 1940 to 1942, then became an unsuccessful candidate for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, blaming his failure on his well known conservative Republican beliefs and voters’ reluctance to elect actors to political office. (2)
Nevertheless, his film popularity soared. He was under contract to MGM and had appeared in 30 films since 1940. He was slated for four more pictures in 1948, but since ABC was a leader in transcribed programming, Mr. President episodes could be recorded each week to meet his busy filming schedule.
Another on-going voice was added to the cast of Mr. President to give the central character a loyal confidant - albeit fictional - to question his motives and feelings. Popular veteran radio actress Betty Lou Gerson was chosen for the role of Miss Sarah Holmes, his ageless secretary and “office wife” who could keep his behavior on an even keel.
Mr. President became a popular spot for dozens of Hollywood’s top radio actors. Paley Baer, Herb Butterfield, William Conrad, Hans Conried, Howard Culver, John Dehner, Howard Duff, Paul Frees, Virginia Gregg, Vivi Janis, Joe Kearns, Howard McNear, Frank Nelson, Lurene Tuttle and Gayne Whitman were just a few of the throated thespians who talked their way into Edward Arnold’s Oval Office of the air.
The show also presented a tempting research and story-telling challenge to veteran Network Radio writers. Among those answering the call sent out by producer Jennings were Bernard Dougall, (Maxwell House Showboat and The Falcon) Jean Holloway (Hallmark Hall of Fame, Mayor of The Town and The Railroad Hour), Ira Marion, (The Court of Missing Heirs and On Stage America), and three veterans of the long-running docudrama The March of Time, Richard Dana, Paul Milton and Garrett Porter.
Because it was a co-op program with different sponsors in different markets or otherwise sustaining, Mr. President never appeared in the rating books. Nevertheless, it gave ABC the prestige the network wanted over its six year run. The program debuted on Thursday, June 26, 1947 at 9:00 p.m. ET against two Top 50 shows, Casey, Crime Photographer on CBS and NBC’s Sealtest Village Store with Jack Haley and Eve Arden. ABC moved Mr. President back half an hour on October 2 against Radio Readers’ Digest on CBS and Bob Hawk’s comedy quiz on NBC.
The program finally got a semi-permanent home on Sunday afternoons at 2:00 then 2:30 from January 4, 1948 until November 12, 1950. It was back to prime time on Wednesday, November 29, 1950 at 9:30 p.m. ET against Bing Crosby on CBS and NBC’s Mr. District Attorney - ranked 26th and 15th respectively for the season. Mr. President’s final term on ABC began on April 2, 1952 on Wednesdays at 9:00 opposite Red Skelton on CBS and Groucho Marx’s Top Ten quiz You Bet Your Life on NBC. The show finally left the air on September 23, 1953. Edward Arnold died three years later but over a hundred episodes of Mr. President survive.
Ten programs from the series are posted with no identification of their subjects: MPA, MPB, MPC, MPD, MPE, MPF, MPG, MGH, MPI and MPJ. Like its listeners over 65 years ago, see if you can correctly identify these Chief Executives portrayed by Edward Arnold before he does at the conclusion of these excellent episodes of Mr. President. (3)
(1) Co-op programs were offered to a network’s affiliates for local sale. Stations either paid the network directly for the programs or shared the advertising revenues they generated with the network.
(2) Two of Edward Arnold’s successors at the Screen Actors Guild proved him wrong on both counts. George Murphy served as SAG President, 1944-1946, then was elected a U.S. Senator from California from 1965 to 1971. Ronald Reagan was SAG President, 1947-52 & 1959, then became California Governor from 1966 to 1974 and President of The United States from 1980 to 1988.
(3) Hint: John Quincy Adams, Grover Cleveland, Calvin Coolidge, Andrew Jackson, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, James K. Polk, Theodore Roosevelt, William HowardTaft and George Washington, but not in that alphabetical order.
Copyright © 2017, Jim Ramsburg, Estero FL Email: tojimramsburg@gmail.com
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