BinkieBaumont
Rude Once Too Often
- Messages
- 3,324
Lonesome gal
In the late 40s a sultry female radio voice stopped male listeners in their tracks: "Sweetie, no matter what anybody says, I love you better than anybody in the whooooole world". Then, over sweet organ music, the lovely lady would sing:
" Lonesome.....I'm a real lonesome gal.
I can't stop feeling lonesome...
Heaven knows when I shall....."
As the music faded, that sexy voice continued softly....."Hi Babeeee....this is your Lonesome Gal...and I want you to sit back, kick off your shoes, and light up a pipeful of Bond Street Tobacco so you can relax with a gal that loves you...."
This unusual, and quite remarkable, syndicated radio show was the product of radio producer Bill Rousseau, and his wife, Jean King, although her identity would not be revealed until 1953. It began as a local show on WING in Dayton, Ohio where King, then in her mid-30s, had perfected her show, by interspersing mildly sexy chatter with sweet, instrumental music on records. John Dunning says of this show: King "spoke in as intimate a manner as radio would allow" and she soon "had more than fifty stations and an income of six figures."
In public appearances, King wore a mask. adding to her mystery. Her local sponsors in Ohio were overwhelmed with the results of the advertising on her program. Based on her Midwest success, King headed to California again. She had originally gone to Southern California from her native Texas to look for acting work and she had minimum success in radio (a few roles on "I Love A Mystery") and she played minor parts in grade-B movies, including some in the Tarzan series. After WW II, she headed for the Midwest and after two years of "Lonesome Gal" in Ohio, it was time to return to the West Coast.
King had trouble there, getting her show on the air, until her new husband, Bill Rousseau, a producer of radio's "Dragnet", was able to get sponsor syndication for hundreds of local stations. At one time, King was actually recording 300 of these 15 minute shows per week, all individually tailored to a particular sponsor or town. Philip Morris paid the bills in seven major markets in the U.S. King had a studio built in their home with a microphone so sensitive that, as Time magazine described it, it could "pick up each wisp of her breath and every sugary nuance of her voice."
Male listeners (married or not) found it difficult to pull away from this sultry siren of the airwaves. King did the whole show herself, with one engineer to play the records, nearly all of which were dreamy, instrumental love songs. Rarely did she play a record with a vocalist---no sense inviting competition into a tiny world of just her and her listener. Of course, she did all the commercials herself too, and they were written for her own special pitch.
A typical commercial, from an April 1951 show, delivered in her soft, slow, breathy voice, sounded like this:
"You know, Sweetie, I hope you've got a special friend, someone that
you know and understand so well that just sitting together without a word
spoken is enough. I hope that you've got a friend like that and that you
share another wonderful bond of friendship--Bond Street Tobacco. When you
pass that mild, mellow Bond Street Tobacco over to your friend and watch
him light up his pipe--that's like the old tradition of breaking bread.
You see, Baby, what it amounts to is that you're sharing more than
tobacco...you're sharing something precious....the experience of smoking a
pipe full of pleasure--the joy of smoking Bond Street. It doesn't matter
where you are--in a boat casting for salmon, or playing a game of cards, or
just walking in the country. You and your friend are smoking your pipes,
filled with Bond Street Tobacco, and somehow the fishing is better, the
card game is more interesting, the walk is more enjoyable. So, Angel, be
generous with all the things you have---share them with your friends. And
there is no gesture more generous, more friendly, than passingyour Bond
Street Tobacco over to your friend and saying 'Here you are--help
yourself.' Because along with the pleasures of smoking he discovers, he'll
discover another fine reason for saying: 'I'll Remember April".......
In the late 40s a sultry female radio voice stopped male listeners in their tracks: "Sweetie, no matter what anybody says, I love you better than anybody in the whooooole world". Then, over sweet organ music, the lovely lady would sing:
" Lonesome.....I'm a real lonesome gal.
I can't stop feeling lonesome...
Heaven knows when I shall....."
As the music faded, that sexy voice continued softly....."Hi Babeeee....this is your Lonesome Gal...and I want you to sit back, kick off your shoes, and light up a pipeful of Bond Street Tobacco so you can relax with a gal that loves you...."
This unusual, and quite remarkable, syndicated radio show was the product of radio producer Bill Rousseau, and his wife, Jean King, although her identity would not be revealed until 1953. It began as a local show on WING in Dayton, Ohio where King, then in her mid-30s, had perfected her show, by interspersing mildly sexy chatter with sweet, instrumental music on records. John Dunning says of this show: King "spoke in as intimate a manner as radio would allow" and she soon "had more than fifty stations and an income of six figures."
In public appearances, King wore a mask. adding to her mystery. Her local sponsors in Ohio were overwhelmed with the results of the advertising on her program. Based on her Midwest success, King headed to California again. She had originally gone to Southern California from her native Texas to look for acting work and she had minimum success in radio (a few roles on "I Love A Mystery") and she played minor parts in grade-B movies, including some in the Tarzan series. After WW II, she headed for the Midwest and after two years of "Lonesome Gal" in Ohio, it was time to return to the West Coast.
King had trouble there, getting her show on the air, until her new husband, Bill Rousseau, a producer of radio's "Dragnet", was able to get sponsor syndication for hundreds of local stations. At one time, King was actually recording 300 of these 15 minute shows per week, all individually tailored to a particular sponsor or town. Philip Morris paid the bills in seven major markets in the U.S. King had a studio built in their home with a microphone so sensitive that, as Time magazine described it, it could "pick up each wisp of her breath and every sugary nuance of her voice."
Male listeners (married or not) found it difficult to pull away from this sultry siren of the airwaves. King did the whole show herself, with one engineer to play the records, nearly all of which were dreamy, instrumental love songs. Rarely did she play a record with a vocalist---no sense inviting competition into a tiny world of just her and her listener. Of course, she did all the commercials herself too, and they were written for her own special pitch.
A typical commercial, from an April 1951 show, delivered in her soft, slow, breathy voice, sounded like this:
"You know, Sweetie, I hope you've got a special friend, someone that
you know and understand so well that just sitting together without a word
spoken is enough. I hope that you've got a friend like that and that you
share another wonderful bond of friendship--Bond Street Tobacco. When you
pass that mild, mellow Bond Street Tobacco over to your friend and watch
him light up his pipe--that's like the old tradition of breaking bread.
You see, Baby, what it amounts to is that you're sharing more than
tobacco...you're sharing something precious....the experience of smoking a
pipe full of pleasure--the joy of smoking Bond Street. It doesn't matter
where you are--in a boat casting for salmon, or playing a game of cards, or
just walking in the country. You and your friend are smoking your pipes,
filled with Bond Street Tobacco, and somehow the fishing is better, the
card game is more interesting, the walk is more enjoyable. So, Angel, be
generous with all the things you have---share them with your friends. And
there is no gesture more generous, more friendly, than passingyour Bond
Street Tobacco over to your friend and saying 'Here you are--help
yourself.' Because along with the pleasures of smoking he discovers, he'll
discover another fine reason for saying: 'I'll Remember April".......
