Frank Bresee (August 20, 1929 – June 5, 2018) was an American radio actor, radio historian, and board game designer. He hosted the "Golden Days Of Radio" program which began in 1949 and aired on the

Armed Forces Radio Network The American Forces Network (AFN) is a government television and radio broadcast service the United States Armed Forces provides to soldiers stationed or assigned overseas, and is headquartered at Fort Meade in Maryland. AFN comprises two sub ...

from 1967 to 1995. Bresee also created more than a dozen adult-oriented board games, the most notable of which is the

drinking Drinking is the act of ingesting water or other liquids into the body through the mouth, proboscis, or elsewhere. Humans drink by swallowing, completed by peristalsis in the esophagus. The physiological processes of drinking vary widely among ...

game ''Pass-Out''.

Background

Bresee was born August 20, 1929, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. At age 10, he and his classmates went on a school field trip to the studios of Los Angeles classical music station KFAC. He soon decided he wanted to be in radio. In 1942, he began appearing as "Little Beaver" on the

Red Ryder ''Red Ryder'' is a Western comic strip created by Stephen Slesinger and artist Fred Harman which served as the basis for a wide array of character merchandising. Syndicated by Newspaper Enterprise Association, the strip ran from Sunday, Novem ...

radio program when the regular actor, Tommy Cook, was away working on motion pictures. That same year, Bresee played Alvin on the Major Hopalong program, which also starred

Arthur Q. Bryan Arthur Quirk Bryan (May 8, 1899 – November 30, 1959) was an American actor and radio personality. He is best remembered for his longtime recurring role as well-spoken, wisecracking Dr. Gamble on the radio comedy ''Fibber McGee and Molly'' and f ...

and

Mel Blanc Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908 – July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for come ...

Career

Bresee attended hundreds of radio broadcasts and collected scripts, transcription discs and other memorabilia. His tape archives of 3,900 reels is held at the

Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, located in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles. Approximately from the city of Los Angeles and from Downtown Los Angeles, it is named after the many oak trees pr ...

Library in Southern California. In August 1949, Bresee launched "Golden Days Of Radio" at CBS' Los Angeles affiliate station KNX, playing transcription discs of old programs. He also often filled in for late-night disc jockey and "Honorary Mayor Of

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

" Johnny Grant. In 1950, Bresee began working as an assistant on

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was an American comedian, actor, entertainer and producer with a career that spanned nearly 80 years and achievements in vaudeville, network radio, television, and USO Tours. He appeared ...

's weekly

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

radio show. Bresee also hosted programs on the "Yesterday USA" internet radio station run by Bill Bragg, the former voice of

State Fair of Texas The State Fair of Texas is an annual state fair held in Dallas at historic Fair Park. The fair has taken place every year since 1886 except for varying periods during World War I and World War II as well as 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It ...

mascot

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. In the 1950s and 1960s, Bresee also worked in television, coordinating prizes for shows such as ''

Let's Make a Deal ''Let's Make a Deal'' (also known as ''LMAD'') is a television game show that originated in the United States in 1963 and has since been produced in many countries throughout the world. The program was created and produced by Stefan Hatos and Mo ...

''. Perhaps his most lasting cultural legacy, however, is the board game ''Pass-Out'', which a 2016 story called "essentially ''

Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...

'' with booze". The game, first sold in 1962, became very popular later in the decade and in the 1970s. The game is still sold today in many countries around the world, although its U.S. retail presence is now mainly limited to

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

. While Bresee created more than a dozen other adult-oriented board games, ''Pass-Out'' was by far the most successful. In the aforementioned 2016 story, his wife Bobbie, a former

Playboy Bunny A Playboy Bunny is a cocktail waitress who works at a Playboy Club and selected through standardized training. Their costumes were made up of lingerie, inspired by the tuxedo-wearing Playboy rabbit mascot. This costume consisted of a straples ...

, said that ''Pass-Out'' "bought this house

n Hollywood N, or n, is the fourteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages, and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

it bought a house in

Hancock Park Hancock Park is a city park in the Miracle Mile section of the Mid-Wilshire neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. The park's destinations include the La Brea Tar Pits; the adjacent George C. Page Museum of La Brea Discoveries, which displa ...

, two Rolls-Royces, dozens of trips to Europe and all my opera dresses."

Death

Bresee died June 5, 2018, at age 88.

References

External links

* 1929 births 2018 deaths American male radio actors American Forces Network Board game designers People from Los Angeles {{US-radio-bio-stub