Buck Rogers, the creation of author Philp Francis Now, after which Rick Yager took over the writing dutieslan, made his debut in the August 1928 issue of Amazing Stories with a novella titled Armageddon 2419 A.D. At that time, he was simply Anthony Rogers, a world War I veteran born in 1898. While investigating an abandon=ed coal mine in Pennsylvania, Rogers was trapped by a cave-in and was exposed to radioactive gas, which placed him in a coma, waking 429 years later, to an America conquered by the Han (evoking both the Chinese and the Hun). A sequel, The Airlords of Han, was published the following year in the March issue of the magazine. The two stories were combined in 1962 to form the novel Armageddon 2419 A.D., by which time Anthony Rogers had long been known in popular culture as Buck Rogers.
Buck Rogers began his comic strip life on January 7, 1929, and continued until July 8, 1967. It is believed that newspaper syndicator John F. Dille gave the character his new first name to in= honor of then-popular cowboy star Buck Jones. Nowlan scripted the strip through 1939. after which Rick Yager took over the writing duties; others writing the strip before it closed included Ray Russell and Fritz Leiber. The artwork was originally handles by Dick Calkins and Russell Keaton, followed by Rick Yager, and later, George Tuska. The strip was revived from 1979 to 1983. Over the years there have been ten different comic book titles about the character from various publishers. In 1933 and 1935, Buck appeared in booklets from the Kellogg Cereal company, and in twelve Little big Books from 1933 to 1943. Over the past 48 years, Buck Rogers has appeared in numerous novels, short stories and gaming tie-ins, as well as in video, role-playing, and board games.
A ten-minute Buck Rogers film was produced for the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, and was later shown in department stores to promote Buck Rogers merchandise. A 12-part serial film featuring Buster Crabbe was released in 1939, later to be edited into three distinct feature films. A half-hour television series appeared in 1950; three different actors played Buck during the run of the series (Eva Marie Saint was one of the two actresses to play Wilma Deering) -- only one episode of the series is believed to have survived. Buck fared much better in the 1979-1981 NBC television series starring Gil Gerard (although an actors' strike halted filming during part of 1980). The original pilot for the series was released as a theatrical film six months before the show itself premiered.
Skipping over the plethora of Buck Rogers toys produced (usually some form of ray gun, space gun, or water pistol, or cast-iron figures), we come to the the radio show.
Buck Rogers, the first ever science fiction radio series, aired Monday through Thursday as a 15-minute program on CBS Radio, beginning on November 7, 1932. In 1936, it ran on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule until May of the year. Mutual Radio brought it back for a three-day-a-week schedule from April to July 1939, and then as a half-hour Saturday program from May to July 1940. Finally, Mutual revived is as a 15-minute weekday program from September 1946 to March 1947.
The episode linked below is the very first episode of the CBS radio program. Here we learn of the origin of Buck Rogers and meet his companions Dr. Huer and Wilma Deering, as well as experience a whole bunch of pseudo-scientific gobbledegook. We also get to meet Popsicle Pete, a shill for frozen= treats on a stick. Buck Rogers was probably voiced by Matt Crowley, who was also a voice for Dick Tracy, Jungle Jim, Casey Crime Photographer, Batman, and Mark Trail. Adele Ronson was most likely the voice of Wilma, and Edgar Stehli the voice of Dr. Huer.
Enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luvboLC6y3U
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