American announcer (1910?2009)
Ken Roberts
|
---|
Born
| Saul Trochman
(
1910-02-22
)
February 22, 1910
New York, New York
|
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Died
| June 19, 2009
(2009-06-19)
(aged 99)
New York, New York
|
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Ken Roberts
(born
Saul Trochman
, February 22, 1910 ? June 19, 2009) was an American radio and television announcer known for his work during the
Golden Age of Radio
and for his work announcing the daytime television
soap operas
The Secret Storm
,
Texas
and
Love of Life
, each for a two-decade span.
Early life and education
[
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]
Roberts was born on February 22, 1910, in
Manhattan
and grew up in
The Bronx
. His father, Nathaniel, an insurance salesman and English tutor from
Latvia
, and his mother, Fanny Naft, from present-day
Ukraine
, were both
Jewish
immigrants to the United States. Roberts graduated from
DeWitt Clinton High School
.
[1]
He briefly attended law school and worked in
Fiorello H. La Guardia
's law office as an intern, but quit the unpaid position after the firm wouldn't cover his bus fare. He changed his name after entering the radio business so that it would not "sound so Jewish".
[2]
Radio and television career
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]
His first announcing job was at
WMCA
in New York lasting three weeks. Next at WLTH in
Brooklyn
. In an interview for the book
The Great American Broadcast
, Roberts told
Leonard Maltin
that he had started at the Brooklyn station in 1930, where his responsibilities included answering phones and sweeping the floors, in addition to on-air roles playing piano and reading poetry.
[2]
During the 1930s and 1940s, at the height of the radio era, Roberts' voice appeared widely in live programming to introduce programs, moderate game shows and do live reads for commercials. Despite his
Errol Flynn
-like good looks and the frequent broadcasts featuring his voice, as often as several times each day, few listeners knew who he was or would have recognized him in public.
[2]
Radio credits include
The Shadow
(including the 1937-38 season on the
Mutual Broadcasting System
with a 22-year-old
Orson Welles
starring in the role of Lamont Cranston), the comedy
Easy Aces
, along with soap operas
Joyce Jordan, M.D.
and
This Is Nora Drake
.
[2]
He also announced or hosted a number of game shows, such as
What's My Name?
and the parody
It Pays to Be Ignorant
, in which he would pose questions to actors portraying contestants such as "Who came first: Henry I or Henry VIII?" that would be answered incorrectly.
[3]
At various times, he performed on eponymous programs for
Fred Allen
,
Milton Berle
,
Victor Borge
and
Sophie Tucker
.
[2]
In 1941, he achieved his goal of hosting his own quiz show, with
Quick As a Flash
on the Mutual network. Among the elements of the program, Roberts would dramatize an historic event which contestants would have to correctly identify. Other prizes were awarded for identifying the common element in three songs played by the orchestra and for solving descriptions of staged crimes.
[4]
On television, he was the original announcer for
Candid Camera
and introduced popular soap operas
Love of Life
from 1951 to 1980,
The Secret Storm
from 1954 to 1974 and
Texas
from 1980 to 1982.
[3]
On
Jan Murray
's comedy game show
Dollar a Second
, Robert's on-air duties included advertisements for sponsor
Mogen David
wines.
[2]
He parodied himself on the 1970s educational television program
The Electric Company
, in which his bits included announcing a supposed program called
Love of Chair
, a spoof of
Love of Life
, in which Roberts would describe the attachment of a boy and his chair (for example, "Can a boy from a small chair in a big room find happiness as a top dog in a pet shop?"
[5]
)ending each skit with the cliffhanger "And what about Naomi?" He had an off-screen role as an announcer in
Woody Allen
's 1987 film
Radio Days
, in which his son
Tony Roberts
appeared.
[3]
Radio historian
Jim Cox
described Roberts' voice as neither "Yankee, Southern, Western or anything else". It was a voice that didn't "irritate anybody" and that "you just naturally liked to hear", making him "one of the leading lights of radio".
[2]
Steve Beverly of
The Daily Game Show Fix
described Roberts as having "what executives called a golden throat", with a familiar voice that was one of broadcasting's most-recognized anonymous voices.
[3]
He also found time to narrate dozens of theatrical movie trailers and "intermission" segments for traditional and drive-in theaters during the 1940s and 1950s.
Personal
[
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]
Roberts married twice in his youth, his first marriage annulled after two weeks and the second ending in divorce after a few months. Roberts and his third wife, the former Norma Finkelstein, were married for 50 years until her death in 1984. He was married for a fourth time in 1998 to Sydell Salzberg.
[2]
[3]
In 1935, Roberts was one of the founders of the American Guild of Radio Announcers and Producers, one of the predecessors of the
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
(AFTRA).
[2]
Roberts died in Manhattan's
NewYork?Presbyterian Hospital
at age of 99, on June 19, 2009, due to
pneumonia
following a
stroke
he had suffered five years before his death.
[2]
[3]
His son described his father's voice as accentless with perfect tones, sounding to him "as though it came from God" and telling him "Don't be an actor", at least at first.
[2]
References
[
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]
- ^
Hinckley, David.
"While remembering Ed McMahon, recalling Kenneth Roberts' classic voice as well"
,
New York Daily News
, June 25, 2009. Accessed July 5, 2009.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
Weber, Bruce.
"Ken Roberts, Announcer Whose Voice Graced the Heyday of Radio, Dies at 99"
,
The New York Times
, July 4, 2009. Accessed July 5, 2009.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
Shapiro, T. Rees.
"Golden-Throated Announcer Introduced Soap Operas"
,
The Washington Post
, June 28, 2009. Accessed July 5, 2009.
- ^
Staff.
"NOTES ON THE MR. ROBERTS OF RADIO; Quiz Hazards"
,
The New York Times
, September 23, 1945. Accessed July 5, 2009.
- ^
"Love of Chair 1,"
YouTube
,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuMd0xWleJQ
External links
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]