Radio: Announcer's Exit

To Announcer Bill Goodwin, the $1,000 a week he got for plugging Swan soap was no soporific: he still wanted to be a comedian. His whole point in plugging soap on the Burns & Allen show—with an agreement that he be given plenty of publicity and good lines to speak—was to attract attention to himself. But the stars of the Burns & Allen show are Burns & Allen. Advertisements that printed ambitious Bill Goodwin's name in type as big as the stars' rocked George Burns back on his heels. Presently Goodwin's publicity and his lines began to shrink.

Three weeks ago startled...