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Thanks

Get ready with those belly rolls, because Henry is in for another bout of chaos!

The show began when Rudy Vallee saw it as a play and encouraged Clifford Goldsmith, the writer, to perform it on The Rudy Vallee Show. After rave reviews, The Aldrich Family went on to perform for 39 weeks on The Kate Smith Hour.In 1939, it became so popular that The Aldrich Family took their own prime time slot on Sunday evenings. The show was a big success. By 1941, it rated in the top ten with Jack Benny, Bob Hope, and Fibber McGee and Molly.

In the show, Ezra Stone starred as 16-year old Henry Aldrich, also known as "Penrod of the '40s." In his 13 years, Henry Aldrich had more disasters, chaos, and craziness than a closet full of squirrels let loose in a glass house. Henry accidentally managed to create hilariously disastrous situations out of anything he could get his hands on, whether it be a telephone or a flat tire.

See also: Meet Corlis Archer, A Date with Judy and My Son Jeep.

The Aldrich Family was a teenage sitcom that featured "America's favorite teenager" Henry Aldrich, portrayed by Ezra Stone (until 1942), Norman Tokar (1942-1943), Dickie Jones(1943-1944), Raymond Ives (1944-1945), and Bobby Ellis (1952, both in radio and television). Debuting as a replacement for Jack Benny's Show, the series started airing on July 2, 1939. Months later, it moved to another timeslot and remained there until the show ended in April 19, 1953. During the show's first two years, it was one of the highest-rating radio shows, alongside Fibber McGee and Molly, Jack Benny, and Bob Hope.

The series was best known for its opening exchange between Henry and his mother, which goes as "Henreeeee! Aldrich!" to which the teen responded, "Com-ing, Mother!" Click here to read more about Aldrich Family

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Please enjoy these 133 old time radio episodes:

Air Date	Title	Synopsis
03.08.1946	aldrich family (322) dinner jacket mix up	+ Sponsored by: Jell-O (Meredith Willson and His Talking People). Henry's girlfriend Kathleen is co...
09.26.1946	aldrich family (351) mary has joe graham over	+ , AFRS rebroadcast. Joe Graham is coming over to dinner at the Aldrich's tonight. Mary would like...
03.13.1947	aldrich family (375) birthday pipe	+ , Nostalgia Broadcast Corporation syndication. Henry is late for dinner...again! He's been trying...
12.11.1947	aldrich family (402) school ring	+ , Nostalgia Broadcasting Corporation syndication. Henry wants a new class ring, which leads to ...
04.01.1948	aldrich family (418) april fool's day jokes	+ Sponsored by: Postum. An April's fool joke runs amok. The first 15:13 of the program only. Norman...
04.29.1948	aldrich family (422) mother's day	+ Sponsored by: Jell-O. Confusion runs rampant on Mother's Day. Where to eat, where to go?
05.13.1948	aldrich family (424) date with helen forbes	+ Sponsored by: Jell-O. Henry has a date with Helen Forbes. + Happy times are sometimes pretty diff...
06.24.1948	aldrich family (430) painting the garage	+ Sponsored by: Jell-O. It's a Saturday morning during the summer...and the garage needs painting. ...
09.16.1948	rotating parties
10.07.1948	aldrich family (432) henry rents out mary's room	+ Sponsored by: Jell-O (Meredith Willson and His Talking People). Henry thinks that his sister Mary...
10.14.1948	aldrich family (433) the great wiener roast	+ It's Autumn and time for a wiener roast. Henry's in charge and he's very careful about all the de...
10.21.1948	aldrich family (434) baby sitting or movies
10.28.1948	aldrich family (435) detention or basketball game	+ Sponsored by: Jell-O. Detention or a basketball...
11.04.1948	aldrich family (436) henry buys a hat	+ Sponsored by: Jell-O. Henry buys a new straw hat, but is ordered to return it. This is not as eas...
11.11.1948	aldrich family (437) broken toy	+ "The Broken Toy". Sponsored by: Jell-O ("Talking People" commercial). The every day life of an av...
11.18.1948	aldrich family (438) hardware store grabbag	+ Sponsored by: Jell-O ("Talking People" commercial). The hardware store grab-bag, it's not what it...
11.25.1948	aldrich family (439) thanksgiving dance and turkey run	+ Sponsored by: Jell-O. When is a turkey run not a turkey run? When it's a duck of course! While Mr...
12.02.1948	aldrich family (440) remodeling homer	+ , AFRS rebroadcast. After Gloria cancels her date with Homer, Henry fixes him up with a blind dat...
12.09.1948	aldrich family (441) grouse for dinner	+ Sponsored by: Jell-O (Meredith Willson and His Talking People). Mr. Aldrich is in the kitchen, co...
12.16.1948	aldrich family (442) homer's party	+ Sponsored by: Jell-O. Meredith Willson and his "talking people" do a commercial. Henry and his fr...
12.23.1948	aldrich family (443) christmas program	+ Sponsored by: Jell-O (one commercial deleted). Henry wants binoculars for Christmas, Homer wants ...
12.30.1948	aldrich family (444) new years eve party	+ , Nostalgia Broadcasting Corporation syndication. Plans for New Year's keep changing.
01.13.1949	aldrich family (446) french notes	+ Sponsored by: Jell-O. Homer and Henry borrow a set of notes for the French exam scheduled for tom...
01.20.1949	aldrich family (447) dinner date with kathleen	+ Sponsored by: Jell-O ( ). Kathleen Anderson is coming to the Aldrich's for dinner.
02.03.1949	aldrich family (449) shoveling snow	+ , Nostalgia Broadcasting Corporation syndication. Faced with the job of shovelling snow, Homer ...

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A big favorite. The best part for me is Jackie Kelk as Homer...so funny.

Frank

so much has mebeen lost to syndication.

John

As much as I try to like this show, I really couldn't get into it like other OTR sit-coms. I think it is because Henry addressed his parents as Mother and Father, and that sounded too formal and unnatural to me.

Scott

Going to have to find the movies

Chris

A big favorite. The best part for me is Jackie Kelk as Homer...so funny.

Frank

HenRYYYYYYYY!!!!!! Henry Aldrich!! (Coming, Mother.) Love it!

Frank

The Aldrich Family was silly stuff, but Stone and Kelk were so incredibly talented. They truly captured adolescent angst and always seemed to have a good reason for causing the chaos they reated every week. House Jameson was also a great straight man.c

Kenneth

Betty Field is great in the early show as Henry's girlfriend. She was a beautiful and very talented actress.

Frank

My favorite OTR show... It's surprising

James

I was fortunate to see Ezra Stone do a live re-creation of the show. Fantastic.

Bob

I love this show. It fascinates me to see the faces and place them with the characters. Henry and Homer look totally different than I imagine.

Melyssa

it is one of my favorites

Steven

I love Aldrich Family

Malyssa

I listened to it it wasn't too bad. I just couldn't listen to too many shows in a row.

Chris

Its pretty adolescent but enjoyable. Very similar to Archie Andrews

Andy

I started listening to the Aldrich Family jusst the other night. Pretty good. smile emoticon

Dennis

The Aldrich Family, a popular radio teenage situation comedy (1939-1953), was also presented in films, television and comic books. In the radio series' well-remembered weekly opening exchange, awkward teen Henry's mother called.

Jim

This situation comedy was a long- lasting radio, movie and TV series. The radio series was broadcast on NBC and CBS (1939-1953), mostly starring Ezra Stone as Henry Aldrich except 1942-1943 when Stone was serving in the Army during WWII. Stone was replaced by Bobby Ellis (1952-1953).

ALDRICH FAMILY