Jan Miner - 1917-2004

During the month of March Ned and I would like to pay tribute to Jan Miner who died on Sunday the 15th of February at the age of 86.

She was born on October 15th 1917 and after training for the stage she appeared in many Broadway productions from the 1940's to 1980. Jan Miner will probably be best remembered by most people as the star of Palmolive 'Madge' TV ads but to us fans of OTR she will be remembered for her many great roles on radio throughout the 1940's.

Her most consistent of these was probably as Boston Blackie's leading lady Mary Wesley from 1945 through to 1950. Others of you may also recognise her as Casey's girlfriend reporter Ann Williams in Casey Crime Photographer in which she starred after 1947 and also in Perry Mason.

But for me some of her best performances can be heard on Radio City Playhouse in which Jan Miner frequently starred. Indeed she was the star in Radio City Playhouse's first broadcast on 07/03/1948 entitled Long Distance It was said that Jan Miner's gripping performance in that play created a sensation reminiscent of Agnes Morehead's triumph in the Suspense production of "Sorry, Wrong Number" some five years earlier. You will find the episode Long Distance already listed on RUSC. And not coincidentally she was the star in the very last episode of Radio City Playhouse, which was broadcast on New Years day 1950 a play called Reflection in which Jan plays Ann Stratton. This show will be added to RUSC later in March and others will have been added or will be added each Saturday throughout March.

It's a shame that Jan has gone to join the big broadcast in the sky, but through her old radio shows her memory will live on for many years to come.

Happy listening