''The Adventures of Topper'' is a
radio
Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...
situation comedy
A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...
in the United States. It was broadcast on
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 ...
June 7 – September 13, 1945,
as a summer replacement for
Dinah Shore's program.
Format
The 30-minute program was based on characters created by novelist
Thorne Smith
James Thorne Smith, Jr. (March 27, 1892 – June 20, 1934) was an American writer of humorous supernatural fantasy fiction under the byline Thorne Smith. He is best known today for the two ''Topper'' novels, comic fantasy fiction involving se ...
. Cosmo Topper, a businessman, bought the house that had been inhabited by George and Marian Kerby before they died. He had no idea that the Kerbys' ghosts haunted the house. Confusion arose because only Topper could see the ghosts, leading his wife to wonder why he spoke to people who apparently were not there.
[Terrace, Vincent (1999). ''Radio Programs, 1924–1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . p. 17.]
David C. Tucker, in his book, ''The Women Who Made Television Funny: Ten Stars of 1950s Sitcoms'', cited the program's ghost-based premise as one reason for its lack of success: "As noted by ''Varietys reviewer, however, a comedy centered on the antics of appearing and disappearing ghosts 'reads good on paper and was even enhanced in the film treatment,' but played less well on radio, resulting in a show he found 'singularly unfunny.'"
The program was sponsored by
Post Toasties
Post Toasties was an early American breakfast cereal made by Post Foods. It was named for its originator, C. W. Post, and intended as the Post version of corn flakes.
Post Toasties were originally sold as Elijah's Manna (c. 1904) until critic ...
cereal and
Maxwell House
Maxwell House is an American brand of coffee manufactured by a like-named division of Kraft Heinz in North America and JDE Peet's in the rest of the world. Introduced in 1892 by wholesale grocer Joel Owsley Cheek, it was named in honor of the Ma ...
coffee.
[Terrace, Vincent (1981), ''Radio's Golden Years: The Encyclopedia of Radio Programs 1930–1960''. A.S. Barnes & Company, Inc. . p. 10.]
Personnel
Characters in the program and the actors who played them are shown in the table below.
Source: ''Radio Programs, 1924–1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows'',
[ except as noted.
The announcer was ]Richard Kollmar
Richard Tompkins "Dick" Kollmar (December 31, 1910 – January 7, 1971), was an American stage, radio, film and television actor, television personality and Broadway producer. Kollmar was the husband of journalist Dorothy Kilgallen.
Early l ...
.[
]
See also
* ''Topper'' (film)
* ''Topper'' (TV series)
References
External links
''The Adventures of Topper'' episodes from the Internet Archive
''The Adventures of Topper'' episodes from Old Time Radio Researchers Group Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adventures of Topper, The
1945 radio programme debuts
1945 radio programme endings
NBC Blue Network radio programs
American comedy radio programs