Story Lady

The Story Lady is another of the very funny short radio syndicated packages. In this case, a "kiddy-style" story telling lady (.."today, boys and girls, we're going to hear the story of…") actually telling a short, bogus fairy tale. These are goofy, twisted fairy tales. Of course, satire or lampoon has been popular through the ages, but early radio networks as run by gentlemen in decidedly did not enjoy self ridicule, or off-center comedy. When Mae West played Eve (mistake #1) in a comedy satire aired on the Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy program, the network quietly blackballed her for decades.

Of course, by the 1960's, network radio as a force was in decline, and freedom was in the air. On The Fairy Lady, the idea of what constituted a fairy tale was stretched, too, since the list of tales included the Brothers Karamasov, Mary Poppins, Pancho Villa and even "Of Human Bondage."

The Story Lady was Joan Gerber, an LA radio comedienne that worked with a group that included Laugh-In favorites Artie Johnson and Gary Owens. Byron Kane is The Story Lady's announcer. He plays it wonderfully mild-mannered, and always has the last word (and laugh) with his final teaser about what story is coming up next time.

The theme music will be obvious to any opera or Mozart lover…it's the Papageno aria from "The Magic Flute."

For more satire, please see Bob and Ray. Comedy lovers should also see the many comedy/variety shows, including Red Skelton, Fred Allen, Burns and Allen, Jack Benny and a host of radio situation comedies.

(Please note some of these Story Lady recordings have unfortunate digital 'glitches' or 'hiccups' in the recordings)