Author Description

THIS CD CONTAINS A COLLECTION OF RADIO TRANSMITIONS OF THIS PROGRAM IN MP3 FORMAT. Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding were an American comedy team who began in radio in 1946 with a daily 15-minute show titled Matinee With Bob and Ray. They continued on the air for over four decades on NBC, CBS, Mutual, New York City local stations WINS, WOR, and WHN, and NPR, ending in 1987. Some episodes were released on recordings, and others were adapted into graphic story form for publication in Mad. Their earlier shows were mostly ad-libbed. Later, the shows relied more heavily on scripts. While Bob and Ray wrote much of their material, their writers included Tom Koch, who wrote many of their best-known routines, and Raymond Knight, an early radio pioneer. Bob later married Knight's widow. The pair had a 15-minute television show that ran from November 26, 1951 through September 28, 1953 on NBC. (It was a full half hour for the summer of 1952 only.) The duo also returned to television in the latter part of their career, both in a one-shot 1979 NBC special with members of the original Saturday Night Live cast, and in a series of specials for PBS in the early 1980s. Elliott and Goulding lent their voices to a variety of recurring characters and countless one-shots. Those played by Elliott included Wally Ballou, an inept news reporter whose opening transmission was invariably cut off ("–lly Ballou here"); obnoxious sportscaster Biff Burns; Tex Blaisdell, a cowboy singer who also did rope tricks on the radio; Arthur Sturdley, an Arthur Godfrey take-off; and many more. Goulding played book reviewer Webley Webster and farm editor Dean Archer Armstead with the same low, slurring delivery; Charles the Poet, who recited soppy verse; serial characters such as Matt Neffer; and all female roles. Goulding generally used the same flat voice for all of his women characters; perhaps the most memorable of these was Mary McGoon, home economics adviser, who offe