John Brown

John Brown was an actor who popularized the narrator, Broadway, on Damon Runyon Theater. Brown narrated the stories of Damon Runyon in his distinct “Brooklynese” accent from 1949 until the mid-1950s. The show was first broadcast from KFI radio station in Los Angeles, California on January 11, 1949, and then on June 22, 1950 from New York. The show was based on 52 short stories of Damon Runyon, a newspaperman who also wrote stories based on Prohibition era Broadway in New York City.

John Brown was an actor who popularized the narrator, Broadway, on Damon Runyon Theater. Brown narrated the stories of Damon Runyon in his distinct “Brooklynese” accent from 1949 until the mid-1950s. The show was first broadcast from KFI radio station in Los Angeles, California on January 11, 1949, and then on June 22, 1950 from New York. The show was based on 52 short stories of Damon Runyon, a newspaperman who also wrote stories based on Prohibition era Broadway in New York City.

Runyon’s stories captivated his audiences with yarns revolving around thieves, gamblers, notorious gangsters and Broadway actors – all down on their luck. Runyon gave the gangsters in his stories such names as “Good Time Charlie” and “Big Jule,” and graced them with real personalities, stretching from tough boys in the hood to soft-hearted. Runyon spiced up the stories with lively slang and a mixture of tragedy and comedy. All of Runyon’s tales ended with happy endings and hope for the future.

John Brown also appeared in The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, a situation comedy, where he played “Thorny” Thornberry, the Nelsons’ next door neighbor from 1944 to 1945. In 1941, Brown was cast in The Amazing Mr. Smith, a mystery/comedy which featured Keenan Wynn as Gregory Smith, a young man with no apparent path for his life until he gets into all types of trouble and inadvertently becomes a detective.

The Beulah Show, a situation comedy, was first broadcast on CBS radio July 2, 1945. Amazingly, the show cast a white man, Marlin Hunt, in the role of Beulah, a Negro maid who worked for Fibber McGee on the Fibber McGee and Molly Show. John Brown was part of the supporting cast – along with Butterfly McQueen and Dorothy Dandridge.

Brown was an extremely versatile actor who was cast in many popular radio shows. He was once featured as J.B. Bingle in The Busy Mr. Bingle, a situation comedy. Bingle was head of the Bingle Pin Company and kept busy getting his company in and out of dire situations. A catchphrase of Bingle’s was, “Mr. Bingle, what are you doing?” “Well, I’m not sure, Miss Pepper, but I’m so busy!”

Another situation comedy, The Charlotte Greenwood Show, also cast John Brown to be a frequent co-star in the show as Mr. Reynolds, the lawyer. The series was about a reporter for a small newspaper who wanted to be a Hollywood star. In 1941, Brown became part of the cast of Columbia Presents Corwin, an anthology of the works of Norman Corwin, a major star in the realm of radio.

Among his many roles, John Brown also worked on the unforgettable situation comedy, The Life of Riley, which premiered on April 12, 1941 on CBS radio. The first run of the show featured Lionel Stander as J. Riley Farnsworth and differed in theme from the later version which featured William Bendix as Chester A. Riley. Brown played the role of Digby O’Dell, Riley’s coworker and pal and later played the friendly undertaker on the show.

John Brown was born in the north of England on 4th April 1904 and died in California on the 16th May 1957.

Happy listening my friends,