TV / Radio

Dennis the Menace
with Jay North
Dennis the Menace
Watch the intro

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There are 3 comments for this item.

Posted by LoyalTubist at 11:18 am (PDT) on Thu September 29, 2016   
Joe Kearns was actually bigger on radio than he ever was on TV. Chances are, if it happened in L.A. in radio drama, Joe had something to do with it. He was frequently heard on Arch Oboler's Lights Out! playing a derranged serial killer. He was Jack Benny's basement guard who hadn't seen the light of day since the turn of the century. When Bill Forman went off for miltary service in World War II, Joe took his place on The Whistler as The Whistler. On Suspense! he was often the commercial spokesman for Roma Wine, despite being a tee totaller. A lifelong non-smoker, he also did cigarette commercials as well. On most radio sitcoms, Joe usually played a crotchetty old man.

About the organ around which his house was built: Joe was an accomplished organist and pianist in his own right.
Posted by kluv42 at 10:52 am (PDT) on Thu September 29, 2016   
Joe Kearns was an interesting dude... His mother was a concert pianist, and he carried on the family's musical tradition by accompanying silent movies in an L.A. movie house in his younger days.

During the run of Dennis The Menace, Kearns had a large Wurlitzer pipe organ installed in his house, or rather he had a custom house built around a Wurlitzer. The house was made as soundproof as possible, and the excellent-sounding organ was used for recordings quite a few times in the 50's.
Posted by LoyalTubist at 12:51 pm (PDT) on Wed September 21, 2016   
Joe Kearns, who played George Wilson, died of a heart attack just after his 55th birthday in 1962. Gale Gordon then took the part of George's brother, John Wilson (I always thought he looked more like George Wilson in the comics!)

Surviving cast members include Gloria Henry (Dennis' mom), a retired actress, Jay North, child actor who is now a retired Florida prison correctional officer, and Jeannie Russell, the chiropractor to the stars.

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