Gasoline Alley (radio series)

{{Short description|American radio sitcom}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}

{{Infobox radio show

| name = Gasoline Alley

| image =

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| other_names =

| format = Radio sitcom

| runtime = 15 minutes.

| start_time = 17:45

| end_time = 18:00

| runtime_note =

| country = United States

| language = English

| home_station =

| syndicates = NBC Blue Network

| television =

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| creator =

| writer = Kane Campbell

| director = Charles Schenck

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| oth_location =

| first_aired = {{Start date|1931}}

| last_aired = {{End date|1949|1|7}}

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Gasoline Alley was an American radio sitcom based on the popularity of the newspaper comic strip Gasoline Alley by Frank King. It first aired in 1931 {{cite web|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1931/06/14/page/50/article/walt-and-skeezix |title=June 14, 1931 - WALT AND SKEEZIX | Chicago Tribune Archive |publisher=Archives.chicagotribune.com |date=1931-06-14 |accessdate=2015-11-22}} under the name "Uncle Walt and Skeezix".

On February 17, 1941 the show returned on NBC Radio under the name "Gasoline Alley", with almost the same cast. Unusual at the time, it was a literal transfer of the storyline that had appeared in the comics pages that very same morning. It ran on NBC until April 11, 1941, and then switched to NBC's Blue Network on April 28, 1941. It ended its run on May 9, 1941.

The syndicated series of 1948–49 featured a cast of Bill Lipton, Mason Adams and Robert Dryden. Sponsored by Autolite, the program used opening theme music by the Polka Dots, a harmonica group. The 15-minute episodes focused on Skeezix running a gas station and garage, the Wallet and Bobble Garage, with his partner, Wilmer Bobble. In New York, this series aired on WOR from July 16, 1948 to January 7, 1949{{cite book |url= https://archive.org/details/onairencyclop00dunn |url-access= registration |quote= Gasoline Alley, comedy serial. |last=Dunning |first=John |authorlink=John Dunning (detective fiction author) |title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio |date=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-0-19-507678-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/onairencyclop00dunn/page/279/mode/1up 279] |edition=Revised |accessdate=2019-09-19}}