thedrifter
05-07-06, 07:54 AM
TYLER FIREMAN BROUGHT 'FUNNY PAGES' TO RADIO
By EVERETT TAYLOR
People who have been around a few decades don't have to look far these days to find evidence that residents of modern America truly live in a land of plenty.
Yet there often seems to prevail an attitude that things are really bad, and getting worse. Part of the reason could be that along with all of the other advancements, the world of communications has brought the troubles of people around the globe into every home.
Those things tend to pile up, and perhaps the result is that they make people forget just how well off they may be if they would just take stock. Continually hearing of someone else's troubles might remind some people of their own.
It can be a real challenge to find something truly entertaining or uplifting - like somebody reading the comics over the radio on a Sunday morning.
Dial back to the late 1940s or 1950s in Tyler, however, and on Sunday mornings you could pick up a popular radio program featuring a man who read the "funny papers" to kids of various ages.
Sue Starnes, who has retained her curiosity to the age of 92 years, remembers that program.
"In the late 1940s, about 1946-47, when I lived in a garage apartment on South Palace Street with my husband and two sons (David and Glynn)," she wrote, "There was a certain fireman (I've forgotten his name) who read the 'funny papers' to the kids on the radio each Sunday.
"My two boys followed him with the comic pages (from the Tyler Courier-Times--Telegraph) in hand. This fireman was called 'Uncle (--)' on the program. I would really like to know the name to fill in the blank, and is he still around?"
The name to fill the blank is "Uncle Al," otherwise known as Al Thoreson, who is no longer still around. He was a Tyler fireman for 34 years, but had a lot of other callings including pilot, radio personality and golfer, according to a 1971 story in the Tyler paper.
Al was a very personable individual and became a visible community figure as the primary spokesman and promoter of the Tyler Fire Department. In the 1971 article, he said he figured it all up and came up with the fact he had talked with 235,000 Tyler area children about fire prevention over a 33-year period with the department.
"He reached countless more every Sunday morning, when he read the comics from the Tyler Courier-Times--Telegraph on radio station KTBB," the report said.
"I'd go in there at 8:30 a.m. and read the comics cold, putting in a little dialect when I thought it would help a little," Thoreson was quoted as saying.
The Tyler program was so successful that a similar type of show was started in Lufkin by the same sponsor. "Uncle Al" then became part of the regular Sunday morning routine of children and adults, in two cities.
Like just about everything else he did, Thoreson said, "I got a big kick out of reading the comics."
Thoreson, who was called "Uncle Albert" by some of his compatriots, was a veteran of two world wars, serving in the Navy in 1919, in the Marines in 1923 and in the Air Corps in 1942 with the rank of captain. As pilot of some of the old biplanes, he told a reporter, "I had a scarf, boots and everything."
In addition to being an aggressive firefighter, Thoreson liked to play golf, explaining, "I'd much rather swing a golf club than a walking cane."
Thoreson died in 1975 at the age of 74.
Mrs. Starnes also is the reader who made the inquiry a few months ago about the "Lost Ark," or concrete boat, that became the subject of a couple of columns last fall.
"My older son, David, who died last year, was a fireman, and he loved his job - driving the big trucks," she wrote.
She also noticed the picture of the old Brown Derby restaurant in the April 30 paper with interest. "I remember it, and was sorry to see it torn down," she said.
Ellie
By EVERETT TAYLOR
People who have been around a few decades don't have to look far these days to find evidence that residents of modern America truly live in a land of plenty.
Yet there often seems to prevail an attitude that things are really bad, and getting worse. Part of the reason could be that along with all of the other advancements, the world of communications has brought the troubles of people around the globe into every home.
Those things tend to pile up, and perhaps the result is that they make people forget just how well off they may be if they would just take stock. Continually hearing of someone else's troubles might remind some people of their own.
It can be a real challenge to find something truly entertaining or uplifting - like somebody reading the comics over the radio on a Sunday morning.
Dial back to the late 1940s or 1950s in Tyler, however, and on Sunday mornings you could pick up a popular radio program featuring a man who read the "funny papers" to kids of various ages.
Sue Starnes, who has retained her curiosity to the age of 92 years, remembers that program.
"In the late 1940s, about 1946-47, when I lived in a garage apartment on South Palace Street with my husband and two sons (David and Glynn)," she wrote, "There was a certain fireman (I've forgotten his name) who read the 'funny papers' to the kids on the radio each Sunday.
"My two boys followed him with the comic pages (from the Tyler Courier-Times--Telegraph) in hand. This fireman was called 'Uncle (--)' on the program. I would really like to know the name to fill in the blank, and is he still around?"
The name to fill the blank is "Uncle Al," otherwise known as Al Thoreson, who is no longer still around. He was a Tyler fireman for 34 years, but had a lot of other callings including pilot, radio personality and golfer, according to a 1971 story in the Tyler paper.
Al was a very personable individual and became a visible community figure as the primary spokesman and promoter of the Tyler Fire Department. In the 1971 article, he said he figured it all up and came up with the fact he had talked with 235,000 Tyler area children about fire prevention over a 33-year period with the department.
"He reached countless more every Sunday morning, when he read the comics from the Tyler Courier-Times--Telegraph on radio station KTBB," the report said.
"I'd go in there at 8:30 a.m. and read the comics cold, putting in a little dialect when I thought it would help a little," Thoreson was quoted as saying.
The Tyler program was so successful that a similar type of show was started in Lufkin by the same sponsor. "Uncle Al" then became part of the regular Sunday morning routine of children and adults, in two cities.
Like just about everything else he did, Thoreson said, "I got a big kick out of reading the comics."
Thoreson, who was called "Uncle Albert" by some of his compatriots, was a veteran of two world wars, serving in the Navy in 1919, in the Marines in 1923 and in the Air Corps in 1942 with the rank of captain. As pilot of some of the old biplanes, he told a reporter, "I had a scarf, boots and everything."
In addition to being an aggressive firefighter, Thoreson liked to play golf, explaining, "I'd much rather swing a golf club than a walking cane."
Thoreson died in 1975 at the age of 74.
Mrs. Starnes also is the reader who made the inquiry a few months ago about the "Lost Ark," or concrete boat, that became the subject of a couple of columns last fall.
"My older son, David, who died last year, was a fireman, and he loved his job - driving the big trucks," she wrote.
She also noticed the picture of the old Brown Derby restaurant in the April 30 paper with interest. "I remember it, and was sorry to see it torn down," she said.
Ellie