The BOBBY BENSON radio series, in its two versions a decade apart, was unique in broadcast history since it straddled both the origin and the demise of the Golden Age of Radio. When the show debuted in 1932, the only other juvenile shows on network radio were LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE, LONE WOLF TRIBE, and THE SINGING LADY. So the first BOBBY BENSON series pre-dated THE LONE RANGER, TOM MIX, and JACK ARMSTRONG.
The second version of BOBBY BENSON, which began in 1949 as the summer replacement for STRAIGHT ARROW, continued to June 1955, outlasted virtually every other kids' dramatic show, including SUPERMAN, GREEN HORNET, CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT, SKY KING and STRAIGHT ARROW.
The creation of this remarkable Western series rests in the genius of a British citizen in Buffalo, NY who had never been west of Chicago. Herbert C. Rice, an energetic immigrant from England, had been working since 1928 at what he termed "the American BBC" (Buffalo Broadcasting Corporation consisting of WGR, WFBL, WKEN, and WKBW, all under one roof in the Rand Building.) In 1932 the Hecker H-O Company of Buffalo approached Rice and offered to sponsor a kid's radio series to promote their cereal products.
When the first season of 78 episodes ended in March 1933, the series was so popular that CBS ordered the production moved to New York City where they re-cast the entire cast and crew. When it resumed that fall, 12 year old Billy Halop. later to achieve fame in "The Dead End Kids", became the new Bobby. The show was still officially THE H-BAR-O RANGERS, but most of the listeners (and the broadcasting publications) were calling it THE BOBBY BENSON SHOW.
This 15 minute show enjoyed substantial success and logged over 700 episodes before it went off the air in December 1936. Despite the length of the series, not one recording from this 30s program is known to exist today.
It would be thirteen years before the program was resurrected. In 1949, Rice, by then a U.S. citizen, was a Vice President with the Mutual Network and he put the show back on the air. With no sponsor in sight, he re-named the ranch "The B-Bar-B" and pared the cast down to five regulars:Bobby, Tex, Windy, Harka, and a new character, Irish. The versatile Craig McDonnell was again in the cast, playing both Harka and Irish with completely different voice characterizations.
Don Knotts (who would later go on to TV and movie fame) was then in his mid-20s and got the part of the old geezer, Windy Wales. Ivan Cury, a talented 12 year old with over two years in radio acting, beat out several audionees to win the lead of the "Cowboy Kid." Rounding out the cast as Tex was veteran actor Charles Irving. The announcer was Bob Emmerich. Two men alternated as director at first, Bob Novak and Drex Hines, but soon Novak had the job to himself.
