Charlie Chuckle Vs Charlie Chuckles

Charles Slater posted the following in the comments for GUS GRAY.  I thought I would include them here as an introduction to Charlie Chuckles.

"The actor playing the title role in 'Gus Gray', Arundel Nixon, was also the voice of Charlie Chuckles, who, in the early 1940s, presented weekly radio dramatisations of Sunday Telegraph comic strips. It was a great favourite with youngsters throughout the land including one particular five-year-old who is now, 70-years later, writing this comment.
Purely for the sake of personal nostalgia, I would love to experience listening to one of these programs again. My fear however is that, being inherently ephemeral in nature (being revelant only on the allotted Sunday and considered valueless thereafter), Charlie Chuckles transcriptions (quite possibly acetates), would have been quickly junked or recycled. However, if by some miraculous circumstance any episodes did survive, I would of course be keen to know about it.
I also recall great puzzlement and consequent discussion among my (kindergarten) school mates one Monday due to an unexplained yet obvious change in Charlie Chuckles voice. Even the 'grown-ups' didn't seem able to enlighten us.
What I now know is that Arundel Nixon had, at a relatively young age, collapsed and died. His shoes had been urgently filled by another young actor by the name of Howard Craven.
We eventually got used to the new Charlie who, with the help of other radio luminaries, continued the vital task of bringing to life such diverse characters as Nancy & Sluggo, Superman, Ambrose Kangaroo, Henry, and wonder woman Wanda.
I do however recall that, even to the ears of a devoted 5-year-old fan, neither Messers Nixon or Craven, nor supporting players, seemed to take their 'Sunday Funny Paper' roles at all seriously. At times they appeared to be having even more fun then their 'Listeners In' 🎭 📰 😉

In my recent 'memories of Charlie Chuckles' rant I referred to being in 'kindergarten' when Arundel Nixen died (aged 42). I meant to write 'primary school'. I was nine-years-old at the time; even I was dunce enough to be still stuck in kindergarten. 😐"

Speaking as a child mostly of the television age, the idea of someone reading the Sunday Telegraph colour comics out loud over the radio, to children following along with their copies of the same Sunday Telegraph comics, spread out in front of them, is somewhat bizarre.  But hey, if ventriloquists can make it big on radio, why not?

I don't have all the answers to all the questions I have about Charlie Chuckles, but I hope that readers who do will jump in with their memories.

I don't know who came up with the idea of Charlie Chuckles and having the Sunday Telegraph and B.A.P (British Australian Productions P/L) working together.

It would appear that the name commenced as Charlie Chuckle, as that was what was showing on early documentation as well as the radio program guides of the time.  Later Charlie Chuckles became the norm in the program guides as well as the letters the children wrote about the club.  For club it was.  Complete with membership and silver badge of a Kookaburras head.  I haven't found any rules governing age group, or membership certificate, though I do have several of the badges.  I haven't heard of or seen any evidence of the club mentioned on the radio, only mentions in widespread NSW newspapers of the time.  So if anybody knows how the club tied in with the radio program, please let me know.

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This Advertisement in the Sunday Telegraph September 1941 plainly shows the partnership between radio and newspaper.  The station identification changed in different markets.

Charlie Chuckle commenced in 1941 and ran through until 1954.  It was a 30 minute program.  As Charles mentioned, two people are identified as playing Charlie Chuckles and the first appears to have been Arundel Nixon, the self styled King of the Cads.  A strange choice.  Nixon had quite a roller coaster employment on many stations.  He was kicked off air mid show, sued by his father in law when his wife was charged with neglect of their two children and in court even the Judge considered his lifestyle 'Bohemium'.  We know from newspaper reports of the court proceedings, that Arundel Nixon was paid 3 pounds per week as Charlie Chuckles.  The second Charlie was the opposite, he was Mr Nice Guy, Howard Craven. Actors known to have voiced the comic characters, included Clark McKay, John Tate, Arthur Cuthbertson and Lyndall Barbour.  Yes Charles, you can hear them enjoying the roles.

This Advertisement in the Womens Weekly from December 1946 shows the Sunday Telegraph comics from that time.

So far in my research I haven't pinpointed when the changeover of Charlies took place.  Arundel Nixon was in Brisbane when he died in 1949.  Both he and Howard changed stations quite a bit as did Charlie Chuckle.  Charlie was broadcast on 2GB in 1941 but later on 2UW.  It went out to the regional stations associated with those networks.  It was broadcast at varying times on a Sunday, possibly to allow later newspaper deliveries in regional centres.  In Sydney it started as early as 8.00am and on at least one regional station as late as 1.00pm

Arundel Nixon

Howard Craven

How did they do it?  Charlie Chuckles was pre recorded on Radio Transcription discs and sent out to the stations by B.A.P.  and for all the stations to have it on the same day as the newspapers arrival, there must have been quite a few copies of each disc to cover the state of NSW at least.  Also obviously, they had to co-ordinate the comic lift-out several weeks in advance of publishing.  I wonder how often a mistake in the coordination took place over the 14 or so years?

In the United States they had their version called the Comic Weekly Man who ran from 1947 - 1954.  I don't know if there was a tie in with a Newspaper Club for the children or not.  Perhaps some of our U.S. readers will chime in with some answers.

I do know that Charlie Chuckles was very popular with the children as was the newspaper club.  I have read letters from children on the subject.  1941 to 1954 was a long time for a partnership between the Sunday Telegraph and B.A.P and the logistics involved, so both must have seen value in it.

2UW Program Guide 1949

Thanks to copyright permission from Bruce Ferrier of Grace Gibson Productions, I have included a copy of a partial episode with Howard Craven as Charlie Chuckles.

I have also included a copy of the U.S. Comic Weekly Man courtesy of OTRR.

I was aware of the U.S. Comic Weekly Man, having listened to some episodes several years ago, but I checked with fellow radio researchers to see if other countries had a similar show.  Archie in Canada is unaware of a Canadian version broadcast there.  Graeme in the U.K is unaware of one but is double checking with another researcher.  Harvey in New York mentioned a story of Mayor LaGuardia which was also confirmed by Dr Joe also of New York who added a further story "During the forties, New York City experienced a Sunday Newspaper strike and with comic strips so popular , Mayor Fiorelli LaGuardia took to the airwaves to read the Sunday funnies to the kids.  LaGuardia is still considered by many to be the city's greatest mayor and his reading the comics still comes up when they talk about him.  When Chuck McCann was a young actor he was a kid's show host for WPIX-TV in NYC and would dress up as one of the characters and read the comics with the voices and make snide comments for the adults who were watching with their kids. it started with yet a different newspaper strike in the 1960s."

I guess reading the Sunday Comics on radio isn't so bizarre after all.  But do they really have to be colour comics?

I hope you enjoy the memories Charlie Slater and thank you for requesting it.

I can see I will have to do an article on Radio Ventriloquists next.  I use to think they were bizarre, but then I listened to Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy and became a huge fan.  In Australia we had Gerry Gee and the U.K had Archie in Educating Archie.  Who would have though a ventriloquist act would be one of the highest paid radio acts in 1930's and 1940's America?

Ian Grieve