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Edgar A. Guest

The only person to hold the title of Poet Laureate of Michigan, Eddie Guest was well known as the People's Poet.

Edgar A Guest

26 old time radio show recordings
(total playtime 6 hours, 1294 min)
available in the following formats:

1 MP3 CD
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7 Audio CDs


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"Pleasures of Staying In"



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Text on OTRCAT.com ©2001-2024 OTRCAT INC All Rights Reserved. Reproduction is prohibited.

Edgar Guest
(1881 – 1959)

It takes a heap o' livin’/in a house to make it home,/a heap o' sun, and shadow.

Edgar GuestThe poet is a craftsman, and his tools are words, rhyme, and meter. Every craftsman creates a product, but it is not always what we think it is. It would be true to say that a poet creates poems, but that is about as accurate as saying that a drill press operator in an automobile factory creates holes in fenders. The driller, working with a lot of other people on the assembly line, creates cars, and the poet working with his verse creates images in the minds of his readers. Old Time Radio used words along with other tools to create images in the minds of their audience, so it is no wonder that poetry and poets play so well in OTR.

Eddie Guest, the only person to hold the title of Poet Laureate of Michigan, was well known as the People's Poet. His verse was read in the pages of The Detroit Free Press on a daily basis for more than 30 years. Naturally, his words were read and enjoyed by the factory owners in what was becoming the Motor City, but Guest was more comfortable writing for and about lives like that of the drill press operator who toiled to enjoy the simple pleasures afforded to the rising middle class, the simple satisfaction of putting new shoes on a boy getting ready to tromp through the fields of a Michigan autumn.

Edgar Allen Guest was born to Edwin and Julia Wayne Guest in Birmingham, England, 1881. Birmingham was the industrial heart of Great Britain, Edgar Guest on Radiobut Edwin decided to move his family to the New World in search of greater opportunities in 1891. Unfortunately, the opportunities never really came Edwin's way, and by 1893 little Eddie was taking odd jobs after school to help make ends meet. He found work as a copy boy at The Free Press in 1895, and he would stay with the paper for 60 years.

Over the next three years, Guest made his way up the ranks from office boy to cub reporter on the Labor beat, the waterfront beat, and finally the "dog watch" from 3 PM to 3 AM on the police beat. Eddie built a reputation as a scrappy and aggressive young reporter in a competitive town, and by late 1898 he was ready for another promotion to groom his editorial talents. As the newly promoted assistant exchange editor, his job was finding timeless items from other papers which the Free Press could use as filler. Several of the items clipped were bits of verse, and Eddie screwed up his courage to submit a bit of his own poetry to Sunday editor Arthur Mosely. Edgar GuestThe Free Press did not encourage literary efforts from junior staff, but Mosley took a chance with Eddie's poem which was published on December 11, 1898. That first poem grew into a weekly column called "Blue Monday Chat" and then into a daily column, "Breakfast Table Chat".

Despite the success of his poetry columns, Guest remained a workaday newspaperman until he was the solitary mourner at the funeral of a mentoring journalist. Eddie decided then and there that he would specialize, and from that point forward almost all his writing for the paper was done with rhyme and meter. His readers ate it up and asked for more. When a call for collections of his poems came, he had a discussion with his younger brother Harry who was working as a typesetter for the Free Press. Together, the brothers invested in a small printing press and a case of type and went into the book publishing business. Harry found he had enough type to set eight pages of Eddie's verse, Land of Lakes Butter ... almost best!as long as Eddie didn't use too many "e's". By their third book in 1914, they had overcome their printing limitations and reluctantly took a chance on a 3,500-copy run. It sold out before Christmas.

Eddie's columns became syndicated and began appearing in more than 300 papers. He began broadcasting a weekly program over a local Detroit station from 1931 to 1942, but he always considered himself a newspaperman. He bragged that "I've never been late with my copy and I've never missed an edition. And that's seven days a week." In 1941, his radio program picked up sponsorship from Land O' Lakes Creameries of Minneapolis and went nationwide three times a week. Guest's poetry reading was supplemented with the singing of Eddie Howard. "A bit of Music, a bit of Verse, a bit of Common Sense, to make your next fifteen minutes a bit brighter."

"... and now just four lines about misers ...
Their money misers  closely save
until they carry it to the grave
and nobody learns before they die
what they were saving up buy ..."
[swelling organ exit]

See also: Poetry in Old Time Radio and Moon River.

Text on OTRCAT.com ©2001-2024 OTRCAT INC All Rights Reserved. Reproduction is prohibited.

These classic recordings are available in the following formats:

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  • MP3 CDs are delivered by mail. These archival quality MP3 CDs are playable in your computer and many MP3 player devices.



    26 recordings on 1 MP3 CD for just $5.00. Total playtime 6 hours, 1294 min
    26 recordings on 1 MP3 CD for just $5.00
    total playtime 6 hours, 1294 min
    Add MP3 CD Collection to Cart

    1. 26 shows – total playtime 6 hours, 21 minutes
    2. Edgar A Guest 25 Reminisces About Boyhood.mp3
    3. Edgar A Guest 26 Changes Of Growing Up.mp3
    4. Edgar A Guest 27 Hello Tulips.mp3
    5. Edgar A Guest 28 Yellow Clay Scratched.mp3
    6. Edgar A Guest 29 Evening Greeting.mp3
    7. Edgar A Guest 30 Inviting Apple Tree.mp3
    8. Edgar A Guest 31 Pleasures Of Staying In.mp3
    9. Edgar A Guest 32 Every Boy Needs Dog.mp3
    10. Edgar A Guest 33 410000 Poem About Syrian Linen Salesman.mp3
    11. Edgar A Guest 34 410000 Landlord Life.mp3
    12. Edgar A Guest 35 410000 Easy Mark For Give Me Girls.mp3
    13. Edgar A Guest 36 410000 Toad.mp3
    14. Edgar A Guest 37 410000 Riley Kicked Bucket.mp3
    15. Edgar A Guest 38 410000 Id Like To Leave Behind Daffodils.mp3
    16. Edgar A Guest 39 410000 Wisest Are Stick Together Kind.mp3
    17. Edgar A Guest 40 410000 Old Stove.mp3
    18. Edgar A Guest 42 Bedtime.mp3
    19. Edgar A Guest 43 Hunting.mp3
    20. Edgar A Guest 45 Its Ok For Healthy Boys To Need Shoes.mp3
    21. Edgar A Guest 46 Proud Father.mp3
    22. Edgar A Guest 47 Dangers Of Good Enough.mp3
    23. Edgar A Guest 48 Baby Took Step Today.mp3
    24. Edgar A Guest 49 October.mp3
    25. Edgar A Guest 51 Good Breeds Good.mp3
    26. Edgar A Guest 56 Nelly Guest.mp3
    27. Edgar A Guest 58 Old Sailing Ships.mp3
  • MP3 downloads are available instantly after purchase!



    26 recordings on 1 MP3 Collection Download for just $5.00. Total playtime 6 hours, 1294 min
    26 recordings on 1 MP3 Collection Download for just $5.00
    175 MB – total playtime 6 hours, 21 min
    Add Instant Download Collection to Cart

    1. 26 shows – 175 MB – total playtime 6 hours, 21 minutes
    2. Edgar A Guest 25 Reminisces About Boyhood.mp3
    3. Edgar A Guest 26 Changes Of Growing Up.mp3
    4. Edgar A Guest 27 Hello Tulips.mp3
    5. Edgar A Guest 28 Yellow Clay Scratched.mp3
    6. Edgar A Guest 29 Evening Greeting.mp3
    7. Edgar A Guest 30 Inviting Apple Tree.mp3
    8. Edgar A Guest 31 Pleasures Of Staying In.mp3
    9. Edgar A Guest 32 Every Boy Needs Dog.mp3
    10. Edgar A Guest 33 410000 Poem About Syrian Linen Salesman.mp3
    11. Edgar A Guest 34 410000 Landlord Life.mp3
    12. Edgar A Guest 35 410000 Easy Mark For Give Me Girls.mp3
    13. Edgar A Guest 36 410000 Toad.mp3
    14. Edgar A Guest 37 410000 Riley Kicked Bucket.mp3
    15. Edgar A Guest 38 410000 Id Like To Leave Behind Daffodils.mp3
    16. Edgar A Guest 39 410000 Wisest Are Stick Together Kind.mp3
    17. Edgar A Guest 40 410000 Old Stove.mp3
    18. Edgar A Guest 42 Bedtime.mp3
    19. Edgar A Guest 43 Hunting.mp3
    20. Edgar A Guest 45 Its Ok For Healthy Boys To Need Shoes.mp3
    21. Edgar A Guest 46 Proud Father.mp3
    22. Edgar A Guest 47 Dangers Of Good Enough.mp3
    23. Edgar A Guest 48 Baby Took Step Today.mp3
    24. Edgar A Guest 49 October.mp3
    25. Edgar A Guest 51 Good Breeds Good.mp3
    26. Edgar A Guest 56 Nelly Guest.mp3
    27. Edgar A Guest 58 Old Sailing Ships.mp3
  • Standard Audio CDs are delivered by mail on archival quality media with up to 60 minutes on each CD and play in all CD players



    26 recordings on 7 Audio CDs. Total playtime 6 hours, 21 min
    26 recordings on 7 Audio CDs
    total playtime 6 hours, 21 min

    Edgar A Guest Disc A001

    1. Edgar A Guest 25 Reminisces About Boyhood
    2. Edgar A Guest 26 Changes Of Growing Up
    3. Edgar A Guest 27 Hello Tulips
    4. Edgar A Guest 28 Yellow Clay Scratched

    Add Audio CD to Cart - $5.00
    Edgar A Guest Disc A002

    1. Edgar A Guest 29 Evening Greeting
    2. Edgar A Guest 30 Inviting Apple Tree
    3. Edgar A Guest 31 Pleasures Of Staying In
    4. Edgar A Guest 32 Every Boy Needs Dog

    Add Audio CD to Cart - $5.00
    Edgar A Guest Disc A003

    1. Edgar A Guest 42 Bedtime
    2. Edgar A Guest 43 Hunting
    3. Edgar A Guest 45 Its Ok For Healthy Boys To Need Shoes
    4. Edgar A Guest 46 Proud Father

    Add Audio CD to Cart - $5.00
    Edgar A Guest Disc A004

    1. Edgar A Guest 47 Dangers Of Good Enough
    2. Edgar A Guest 48 Baby Took Step Today
    3. Edgar A Guest 49 October
    4. Edgar A Guest 51 Good Breeds Good

    Add Audio CD to Cart - $5.00
    Edgar A Guest Disc A005

    1. Edgar A Guest 56 Nelly Guest
    2. Edgar A Guest 58 Old Sailing Ships
    3. Edgar A Guest 33 410000 Poem About Syrian Linen Salesman
    4. Edgar A Guest 34 410000 Landlord Life

    Add Audio CD to Cart - $5.00
    Edgar A Guest Disc A006

    1. Edgar A Guest 35 410000 Easy Mark For Give Me Girls
    2. Edgar A Guest 36 410000 Toad
    3. Edgar A Guest 37 410000 Riley Kicked Bucket
    4. Edgar A Guest 38 410000 Id Like To Leave Behind Daffodils

    Add Audio CD to Cart - $5.00
    Edgar A Guest Disc A007

    1. Edgar A Guest 39 410000 Wisest Are Stick Together Kind
    2. Edgar A Guest 40 410000 Old Stove

    Add Audio CD to Cart - $5.00

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