Hugh Studebaker

Hugh Studebaker
Studebaker and Marjorie Hannan during an episode of Bachelor's Children
Born	Hugh Charles Studebaker (1900-05-31)May 31, 1900 Ridgville, Indiana. U.S.
Died	May 26, 1978(1978-05-26) (aged 77) Encino, California, U.S.
Occupation	Radio actor
Years active	1927–1978

Hugh Studebaker (May 31, 1900 – May 26, 1978) was an American actor, born in Ridgville, Indiana, who starred in old-time radio programs, He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. W.A. Studebaker.

As a student, Studebaker was the male lead in the opera "King Hal," produced by his high school in Kansas City, Kansas.

Studebaker served in the United States Navy in World War I. After being discharged "at an early age," he took lessons to learn to sing and play the organ and "worked respectively as a blacksmith, salesman and postal clerk -- and didn't do well at any of them." As a member of a quartet, the Night Hawks, Studebaker sang in night clubs and theaters across the United States.

In his early 20s, Studebaker was a member of The Marion Quartette, which toured "under the auspices of the Redpath-Horner institute," Redpath-Horner was part of the Chatauqua movement.

Studebaker first performed on radio in 1927 as part of "Georgie and Porgie, the Breakfast Food Boys." Later, a job at KOIL radio in Omaha, Nebraska, provided "a daily fifteen-minute piano and conversational spot." In 1929, he was hired as an organist at KMBC in Kansas City, Missouri, and soon had acting roles in dramas added to his duties. While at KMBC, he was organist for Ted Malone's Between the Bookends program.

By 1933, Studebaker had a program that was carried on CBS. A radio listing in a 1933 issue of a Fresno, California, newspaper lists "4 P.M., Hugh Studebaker's One Man Show, CBS." He moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1934. There he "was a free-lance announcer, a disc jockey and occasionally got assignments in daytime dramas."

His roles on network radio programs included the following:

Studebaker also appeared in other programs, including The Romance of Helen Trent,Curtain Time, and Knickerbocker Playhouse, and he played Scrooge in A Christmas Carol.