Once Upon A Time...

With Mother's Day just last week, it got Joy and I talking about our own mothers, and our childhood adventures.

I know that for some of us, casting our minds back such a long time is quite a challenge, but once we had begun the reminiscing - the memories all came flooding back!

One of my own strongest recollections was bedtime, and the magical tales my mom used to sit and read to me at my bedside.

Drifting off to sleep listening to her soothing voice, whisked me away to many, many lands of fantasy and adventure, and as a young boy, my dreams were crammed full of battles with pirates, finding hidden treasure, rescuing princesses, climbing all manner of towers, castles and beanstalks, and of course - every tale always had a happy ending with a triumph of good over evil...

In the 1930s, there were several radio listening groups in Texas who later formalized as the Texas School of the Air, with a listenership of over 25,000. The purpose of which was to present, through the cooperation of educators and broadcasters, educationally and socially desirable radio programs to supplement and enrich the school curriculum and contribute to adult education.

In 1938 John Allen hosted a short series for the Texas School of the Air, called Your Story Parade. The collection of children's stories featured Helen Kelly as "Your Story Parade Lady", and the scripts were written by Wesley Davis.

There were only twelve of the fifteen minute tales transcribed, of which ten are available on RUSC, but they make a wonderful little set and Joy and I have enjoyed listening to them these past few days, and we hope you will too.

Fairy tales always were, and probably always will be an integral and wonderful part of childhood. I'm sure that as time progresses, the modern adaptations will eclipse the old style for the new generations, but I'm thankful that these old time radio broadcasts were preserved, and forever more, will be available for us to listen to - and play to our own children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

Happy listening my friends,