Thomas Breneman Smith (June 18, 1900 – April 28, 1948) was an American radio personality. For most of his career, he was based in Southern California, in Los Angeles and Hollywood. His radio program was such a success that he established the eponymous Tom Breneman's Restaurant in Hollywood, which attracted many actors, musicians and others.

Early years

Breneman was born in

Waynesboro, Pennsylvania Waynesboro () is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located on the southern border of the state, Waynesboro is in the Cumberland Valley between Hagerstown, Maryland, Hagerstown, Maryland, and Chamb ...

. His father worked in a sand mine, and Breneman was one of six children. Breneman graduated from the public schools in Waynesboro and attended

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

Radio

Breneman began broadcasting in 1927. In 1930, he was program director at KFVD in

Culver City, California Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. It is mostly surrounded by Los Angeles, but also shares a border with the unincorporated area of Ladera Heights, Californi ...

. In 1931–32, appearing as Tom Brennie, he had a program, ''Laugh Club of the Air'' in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, an early

audience participation An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature (in which they are called "readers"), theatre, music (in which they are called "listeners"), video games (in which they are called "players"), or ...

show. Returning to the West Coast, he hosted a morning variety show for

Fels-Naptha Fels-Naptha is an American brand of laundry soap manufactured by Summit Brands. The soap was invented in 1893 by Fels and Company. It originally included the ingredient naphtha, effective for cleaning laundry and removing urushiol (an oil conta ...

soap from KFRC, San Francisco, to the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

-Don Lee network circa 1935. In 1937, Breneman was host of ''Secret Ambition'', which was produced at KNX radio in

Los Angeles, California 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, ...

, and was carried on

' newly formed Pacific Coast network. Breneman was host of the show ''

Breakfast in Hollywood :''for the 1946 film, see Breakfast in Hollywood (film).'' ''Breakfast in Hollywood'' is a morning radio show created and hosted by Tom Breneman broadcast from 1941 to 1948 on three different radio networks: NBC, ABC and Mutual. These unscri ...

'' (earlier titled ''Breakfast at Sardi's''), which aired on the

Blue Network The Blue Network (previously known as the NBC Blue Network) was the on-air name of a now defunct American Commercial broadcasting, radio network, which broadcast from 1927 through 1945. Beginning as one of the two radio networks owned by the ...

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

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 ...

and Mutual at various times from 1941 to 1948. Breneman's program began using its best-known title ''Breakfast in Hollywood'' in 1945. By the mid-1940s, Breneman had ten million listeners. The popularity of the radio program was such that he developed spin-off enterprises in media and other areas. He founded his own magazine. In 1945, he opened his own establishment, Tom Breneman's Restaurant, located on Vine Street off Sunset Boulevard. The opening on March 26, 1945, had "a gala crowd of Hollywoodites in attendance, including distinguished members of the radio industry, a number of famed screen and air personalities, and representatives of the press." He broadcast episodes of his program from his restaurant; entertainers included

Korla Pandit Korla Pandit (born John Roland Redd; September 16, 1921 – October 2, 1998), was an American exotica musician, composer, pianist, and organist. After moving to California in the late 1940s and getting involved in show business, Redd became know ...

, a purported Indian immigrant who was creating a sensation with a daily, all-music program on television and maintained this persona to his death in 1998, though an article in ''

Los Angeles Magazine ''Los Angeles,'' formerly known as ''Southern California Prompter'', is a monthly magazine based in Los Angeles, California. It focuses on telling regional news, culture, lifestyle, entertainment, and fashion stories from Los Angeles and the br ...

'' revealed that he was an African-American musician from Missouri, who had created a new persona and great success in Hollywood and on local TV.

Family

Breneman married former actress Billie Dunn. They had two children, Gloria Anne, and Tom Jr.

Death

Breneman died of a heart attack on April 28, 1948, in

Encino, California Encino is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. History Etymology The name Encino is the misspelling in masculine of Encina, the Spanish language, Spanish word for "holm oak” (Quercus ilex). The Spanis ...

. His funeral was held May 1, 1948, in

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 ...

. He is interred at

Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) Forest Lawn Memorial Park is a privately owned cemetery in Glendale, California, United States. It is the original and current flagship location of Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks & Mortuaries, a chain of six cemeteries and four additional mortuaries ...

. Breneman was honored by being given a star on the

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a landmark which consists of 2,813 five-pointed terrazzo-and-brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in the Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood dist ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Breneman, Tom 1900 births 1948 deaths American radio personalities People from Waynesboro, Pennsylvania Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)