An interview with Lurene Tuttle

I listened to an interview with Lurene Tuttle made in the early 1970's and it impressed me a lot, so here are some of the notes I took...

• She said Cary Grant was one of the finest radio actors she ever worked with
• She said Arch Oboler was her favorite director to work with because he simply told her to make the characters "Human"
• She said "Comedy writers are the smartest people in the world."
• She said the greatest ad-libber of all was Red Skelton.  He would often jump off the script but would always land back on the script where he was supposed to be.
• She said Howard Duff (as detective Sam Spade) and herself (as Effie, his smart secretary) ad-libbed a great deal as well.   She played the Effie character 1950-51.
• Early radio was great because many of the shows were about historical and inspirational characters.  She lamented the fact that post-1950's radio had gone away from this.
• She said she once played 7 German women characters on one show.
• She named her daughter after Joan Crawford, an actress she really respected.
• She once played idental twins (one good, one evil) for an episode of The Whistler.
• She was often introduced as "The first lady of radio."

©Jimbo 2010/2011