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Facts About Helen's Radio Days |
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http://www.otrsite.com/articles/artjf009.html Lady Crime Fighters by Jack French - excerpt The third feminine crime solver to begin in 1946 had the services of one of the most well-known ladies in radio, television and stage: Arlene Francis. Her show, produced in Hollywood for ABC, was The Affairs of Ann Scotland and it ran from Oct. 1946 to Jan. 1947 under the sponsorship of the Hudnut Corporation. Ken Niles was the announcer, Helen Mack directed, and Del Castillo provided organ interludes. Since no audio transcriptions have surfaced yet, we have to rely on the memories of Arlene Francis. In her 1978 autobiography published by Simon & Schuster, she recalls: "I was playing a sexy girl detective, sort of a private eyelash . . . (who) trapped her quarry with guile and feminine wiles . . . I was very pregnant at the time. . .so I could hardly get close enough to the microphone. . .I could have been called Scotland Yard, because that's how wide I was. But my voice still dripped with the breathy nuance of the Come up and see me some time' variety. My friend Claire Trevor, listening to the show in New York, sent me a wire saying, You don't sound the least bit pregnant, but you do sound as though you might be at any moment.' "
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