The Aldrich Family - 1952-11-30 #561 Sam Aldrich Is Sick (aka Henry’s Father is Sick)

The Aldrich Family, a popular radio teenage situation comedy (1939-1953), was also presented in films, television and comic books. In the radio series' well-remembered weekly opening exchange, awkward teen Henry's mother called, "Hen-reeeeeeeeeeeee! Hen-ree Al-drich!", and he responded with a breaking adolescent voice, "Com-ing, Mother!". Henry Aldrich was an endearingly bumbling kid growing awkwardly into adolescence, and The Aldrich Family often revolved around Henry's misadventures with the girls and with his friends.

Henry Aldrich was the creation of playwright Clifford Goldsmith. Aldrich began on Broadway as a minor character in Goldsmith's play What a Life. Produced and directed by George Abbott, The actor who brought Henry to life on stage was 20-year-old Ezra Stone, who was billed near the bottom as the 20th actor in the cast. Stone was also employed as the play's production assistant.

When Rudy Vallee saw the play, he asked Goldsmith to adapt it into some sketches for his radio program, and this was followed in 1938 by a 39-week run of a sketch comedy series on The Kate Smith Hour with Stone continuing in the role of Henry. Kate Smith's director, Bob Welsh, is credited with the creation of the "Hen-reeeeeeeeeeeee! Hen-ree Al-drich!" opening, which eventually became one of the most famous signature sounds in radio.

After finding an audience with Kate Smith's listeners, The Aldrich Family was launched in its own series as a summer replacement program for Jack Benny in 1939 on NBC. The Aldriches survived its replacement status and ran from 1939 to 1944. After a brief hiatus, the show moved to CBS, running on Fridays from 1944 until 1946 with sponsors Grape Nuts and Jell-O before moving back to NBC from 1946 to 1951 on Thursdays and, then, as a sustaining program in its final run of September 21, 1952 to April 19, 1953 on Sundays.