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Ted Jewett

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2022}}

{{Short description|American radio actor and announcer (1904–1961)}}

Edward K. Jewett (1904–1961) was an American character actor. Jewett voiced characters, and served as an announcer on NBC Radio, CBS Radio, and Mutual Broadcasting during the Golden Age of Radio.

Early life and education

Jewett was born in Yokohama, Japan in 1904. His father, John H. Jewett, worked in the Oriental silk trade, and served as Denmark's consul to Yokohama. Prince Valdemar, a friend of the Jewett family, named him to that post. Jewett grew up speaking both Japanese and Danish.{{cite news | newspaper=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle | title=Land Where Dreams Come True | date=April 3, 1932}}

In 1910, Jewett moved to Plainfield, New Jersey with his parents. He attended local elementary and middle schools up until the age of 14. Jewett graduated from the Morristown School (now Morristown-Beard School) in Morristown, New Jersey in 1922. He then earned his bachelor's degree at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey.{{cite book | title=Radio Announcers, 1933 | publisher=C. Dewitt White Co. | year=1932 | chapter=Edward K. Jewett | page=17}}

During his school years, Jewett showed an interest in both elocution and public speaking. He aimed to work as an actor or statesman.{{cite book | title=Golden Throats and Silver Tongues: The Radio Announcers | url=https://archive.org/details/goldenthroatssil00poin | url-access=registration | pages=[https://archive.org/details/goldenthroatssil00poin/page/87 87–88] | year=1978 | first=Ray | last=Poindexter | publisher=River Road Press}} However, Jewett transitioned into the silk trade after college. While working in the family business, he gained an interest in radio announcing.

Radio career

Lacking a microphone, Jewett practiced announcing on the radio by using a tin can tied to a stick. He joined the announcing staff at NBC in 1930 after passing their microphone exam. The exam required him to speak a tongue-twister without stammering or whistling: "The seething sea ceaseth and thus the seething sea sufficeth us." He also had to demonstrate fluency in a foreign language.{{cite news | newspaper=The New York Times | title=Listening-In | first=ORRIN E. | last=DUNLAP Jr. | date=December 20, 1931}} (Jewett was fluent in Japanese from his childhood years.)

Jewett passed the test despite having had no previous announcing experiences. In the fall of 1930, he joined the nighttime announcing staff at NBC{{cite news | newspaper=The Lincoln Star | title=Hall New Announcer | date=October 12, 1930}} after working as a daytime announcer for four months. Two years later, NBC promoted Jewett to supervisor of nighttime announcing and director of operations.{{cite news | newspaper=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle | title=Jewett Promoted | date=April 24, 1932}} He served in that role until 1934.{{cite news | newspaper=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle | title=On the Dotted Line | date=October 20, 1934}}

Jewett achieved notoriety for voicing characters on the series Cavalcade of America{{cite book|title=The Concise Encyclopedia of American Radio | editor1=Chris Sterling |editor2=Cary O'Dell | year=2011 | chapter=Cavalcade of America | page=135}} and The March of Time.{{cite news | newspaper=The Chicago Tribune | title=News of the Radio Stations | date=October 17, 1936}} Cavalcade of America was a DuPont-sponsored anthology drama series. The March of Time was the first dramatized newsreel to air on radio. The Time-sponsored program re-enacted real news events with accompanying musical tunes and sound effects. Jewett also appeared on Jolly Bill and Jane,{{cite news | newspaper=The Sun | title=Water Wistle Failed to Help the Bird Call | date=September 21, 1930}} Ellen Randolph,{{cite book | title=The A to Z of American Radio Soap Operas | url=https://archive.org/details/tozamericanradio00coxj | url-access=limited | year=2009 | first=Jim | last=Cox | page=[https://archive.org/details/tozamericanradio00coxj/page/n105 75]| isbn=978-0-8108-6349-1 }} Chicago Theater of the Air, and G. E. Circle.{{cite book | title=Radio Speakers: Narrators, News Junkies, Sports Jockeys, Tattletales, Tipsters, Toastmasters and Coffee Klatch Couples who Verbalized the Jargon of the Aural Ether from the 1920s to the 1980s: a Biographical Dictionary | year=2007 | chapter=Jewett, Edward K. | first=Jim | last=Cox | pages=151–152}} During the 1940s, he served as an announcer for Robert Ripley's show Believe It or Not.{{cite news | newspaper=The Belvidere Daily Republican | title='Wings of Navy' on Air Waves Tonight | date=October 7, 1940}} He also served as an announcer for Let's Pretend, a children's show on CBS radio.{{cite web | url=http://www.radiogoldindex.com/cgi-local/p2.cgi?ProgramName=Let%27s+Pretend |title=Let's Pretend}}

In 1931, Jewett served as one of the announcers of the U.S. Army's mimic battle over Manhattan Island. The nationally broadcast mimic battle demonstrated what a war-time attack on New York City might look like. It involved 672 airplanes crewed by 1,484 military personnel swooping over the city's skyscrapers. Jewett announced the mimic battle from a transport plane.{{cite news | newspaper=The New York Times | date=May 17, 1931 | title=Radio Plans for the Air Raid; 672 Planes to Fly in Wartime Attack on New York Called "Greatest Mimic Battle"--Corps of Announcers on Duty At the Master Gate. Foulois to Speak. Columbia's Plans}} Later that year, he had a car accident while traveling to announce the departure of Charles Lindbergh to Japan. The accident near North Beach Airport in Queens put Jewett in the hospital.{{cite news | newspaper=The Sun | title=Damage To Lindbergh Radio Is Repaired | agency=The Associated Press | date=July 30, 1931}}

Vocal impressions

During his career, Jewett's most known vocal impressions included those of:

Family

Jewett married Grace Elizabeth Fisher, a violinist with the Parnassus Trio, in 1931.{{cite news | newspaper=The Pittsburgh Press | title=Microphone Musings | first=S. H. | last=Steinhauser | date=August 3, 1931}} After she died from polio,{{cite news | newspaper=The New York Times | title=CITY RECORD SHOWS PARALYSIS ON WANE | date=August 23, 1931}} he married Winnefred Jewett. They had a daughter together, Priscilla.

Grace Elizabeth Fisher was the daughter of Alexander Sibbald Fisher and Sarah Murrey. see NYC marriage record.

References

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Category:American male radio actors

Category:Male actors from Yokohama

Category:People from Plainfield, New Jersey

Category:Princeton University alumni

Category:1904 births

Category:1961 deaths

Category:Morristown-Beard School alumni