[radio63]

Hi Everyone!

I have been lurking in the background here for many months looking at all the fantastic pictures and reading all the interesting articles. What a great and entertaining source of information! I live in San Diego, and have visited the Los Angeles and Hollywood areas on many occasions looking for things from the past. I'm very much into early radio and television broadcasting, and love the pictures of old radio studios, stations, and transmitting towers. I also love to look at pictures of the Richfield Building, an architectural gem that was sadly lost so many years ago. I would like to thank all the knowledgeable participants here who share so much of their good knowledge. This has brought me great enjoyment, and I have learned a lot too.

I liked the pictures of the Vine Street Theater that were recently posted. And I was compelled to write because there were some errors in some information given earlier that I would like to correct.

It is indeed true that Lux Radio Theater was broadcast from the Vine Street Theater as of June 1, 1936 when the show moved from New York to Hollywood. The theater was owned by CBS and always known as The Vine Street Theater. CBS utilized the theater for the production of Lux for many years. As the pictures show, CBS and Station KNX were featured prominently on the theater's lettering.

Lux featured dramatizations based on popular films of that time, starring the same artists who appeared in the pictures. While it is true that Fibber McGee and Molly, Jack Benny, and Burns and Allen appeared on episodes of Lux, their appearances did not lead to "spinoffs" and notoriety due to their appearances on Lux. All of them were already established stars at the time of their appearances. Indeed, it was because they were established stars, and now were appearing in motion pictures, that they appeared on Lux Radio Theater.

In reviewing the log of Lux episodes, I don't see any that list Fred Allen or Phil Harris as appearing on any episodes. Also "Life of Riley" with William Bendix was not an episode of Lux. I did find that the on-line info at Wikipedia regarding Lux Radio Theater contains many errors, and perhaps this is where some of this information posted earlier was found.

Station KNX did not broadcast from the Vine Street Theater. The station and offices were located at 5939 Sunset Blvd (later The Spaghetti Factory) from 1932 until 1938. At that time, CBS (which had purchased KNX in 1936) moved to the brand-new Columbia Square, at 6121 Sunset, which was the Western headquarters for the Columbia Broadcasting System and also held studios and facilities for KNX.

Sorry for the long initial post. I hope this was of interest. Just wanted to make sure all the facts were straightened out. Thanks again to everyone for a great site!