Glenhall Taylor; Pioneer Radio Producer, Historian
Glenhall Taylor, radio historian and pioneer radio writer, announcer, producer and director of such shows as “Burns and Allen” and “Ozzie and Harriet,” has died. He was 94.
Taylor died of pneumonia Dec. 28 in Wilcox Hospital in Kauai, Hawaii, said his son, retired Bank of America executive Glenhall Taylor Jr.
The senior Taylor produced or directed hundreds of radio programs broadcast nationally from Hollywood. In addition to the programs for George Burns and Gracie Allen and Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, he worked on “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,” “Blondie,” “The Dorothy Lamour Show,” “Dinah Shore’s Open House,” “The Jimmy Durante Show” and “Silver Theater,” which featured such film stars as Cary Grant, Carole Lombard and William Powell.
Taylor also wrote myriad radio shows and some early television programs, including segments of “Death Valley Days” hosted by Ronald Reagan.
Taylor recorded radio’s heyday in such books as “Before Television--The Radio Years,” published in 1979.
An avid reader and writer of letters, he also apprised The Times and other publications of errors printed about radio history and frequently contributed insights about the past.
In a letter to The Times in 1980, Taylor explained the origin of Jimmy Durante’s memorable sign-off, “Good night, Mrs. Calabash--wherever you are,” which many assumed referred to some former wife or girlfriend.
Durante, he said, was so impressed by baritone John Charles Thomas’ closing of his weekly radio programs with “Good night, Mother,” that he wanted to adopt a similar line.
Agreeing that it should be funny, Durante’s writers sat around one night trying to come up with odd-sounding surnames for a mythical lady. One writer lit his pipe, a type called a calabash, stared at the pipe in his hand and decreed: “Good night, Mrs. Calabash.” A few shows later, Taylor said, they added “wherever you are.”
Taylor shared a ski-nose profile with comedian Bob Hope, with whom he frequently did programs. A caricature of the two men facing each other hung on the wall of the original Brown Derby, Taylor’s son said.
Born in Buffalo, N.Y., Taylor moved to the San Francisco Bay Area with his parents in 1915 and later worked there as an orchestra leader, actor, announcer and scriptwriter. He became an employee and then manager at radio station KFRC and KTAB (later KSFO), as well as at KHJ in Los Angeles.
He also spent several years as an advertising executive, rising to vice president of the Hollywood offices of two agencies, Young & Rubicam, and N.W. Ayer & Son.
Taylor is survived by his son, of Hillsborough, Calif.; three daughters, Cynthia M. Taylor of Round Rock, Texas, and Laurian E. Parducci and Patricia A. White, both of Kauai, Hawaii; seven grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.