.
 HomePort 
Through the Looking Glass - The Search for Alice Hill 
Search HomePort
.

Alice Hill - Radio Actress 1934Alice Bergeron Hill (1908-1957), was an American radio actress living in Chicago when she married Sumner Scott at Howes Memorial Chapel, Northwestern University on September 29th, 1939.

Sumner Walter Dill Scott (1908-1983) was from a family that was very familiar with the Northwestern campus in Evansville IL, his father, Dr. Walter Dill Scott had retired as president of Northwestern the month before on August 31, 1939 and his uncle Dr. John Adams Scott, was a long serving classics professor there. His mother Dr. Anna Marcy (Miller) Scott like Sumner was also a Northwestern graduate. Alice his bride was listed as a "special student" at Northwestern and was a graduate of the University of Southern California. She was well known during the period that families gathered around a radio keeping up with their favourite shows.

A copy of the press photo of Alice at right from 1934, states on the back:
Plays Leading Lady Roles - Alice Hill plays dramatic roles with the Princess Pat Players over National Broadcasting Company networks from Chicago each Sunday at 4:30 p.m., E.D.S.T.. She now joins the second series of Princess Pat dramas over an NBC-WJZ network each Monday at 9:30 p.m. E.D.S.T.       NBC Photo - 6 June 1934
Research about Alice Hill was complicated by the fact there were two radio actresses with the same name; a Canadian Alice Hill had an even longer acting career and thus care had to be taken in sorting out the individuals from media reports when both were active in the 1930's. Eventually clarity did prevail but at times it did appear that I was dealing with a looking glass -- with two Alices looking back at me. Wedding announcement 1939 Alice Hill & Sumner
              Scott

Our American Alice was born on the 4th of February 1908 in Chicago to parents Louie Ellsworth Hill and Leone (Bergeron) Hill and by 1939 the family was described as being from Ahwahnee, CA and Chicago. Alice was well known by 1934 and the announcement in Chicago papers of their marriage in 1939 reflected that the young couple were very accomplished in their own areas.

A website that documents classic radio dramas was helpful in listing some of her work in the years between 1937 and 1939 which included seven different roles with
several of them listed as, "broadcast on the coast to coast network of the Mutual Broadcasting system at 9:30 p.m., when Curtain Time is to be presented before 600 guests in W-G-N's audience studio." The actual listings are below for reference.

The young couple resided at 27-39 E Delaware Place, Chateline Tower Apartments, Chicago, in 1940; their only child a daughter named Marcy was born in 1944. Sadly the family
separated soon after; Alice had become a victim of alcoholism which ultimately impacted her marriage. Alice Bergeron Hill moved to California and was just 48 when she died in Los Angeles on January 14th, 1957. 

Sumner did manage to build a family life with his young daughter, remarry and continue his career in Chicago. While he had completed a business degree at Harvard, followed by work at the prominent accounting firm Arthur Anderson, he preferred the academic world and completed his PhD in English at the University of Chicago becoming head of the English department at Wright Junior College, Chicago. In retirement the family lived in the Virgin Islands and then Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, before settling in Stuart, Florida. Sumner Scott died with leukemia in 1983 and his wife Helen died in 2009.

While elements of Alice Hill's life were tragic, her family did find a way to carry on.  Sumner's second marriage was a happy one and Helen was a loving mother in raising their daughter Marcy. Despite facing the challenges of blindness, Marcy Scott
like her father and grandfather became a scholar and became a highly recognized teacher of the blind. It was a request from Marcy, which began my search to learn more about her mother Alice Hill. Finding an original press photo was a start but the search continues to determine if recordings of Alice's voice from her radio plays still exist.

Below are listings of some known productions that Alice Hill appeared in:

1937-12-10 Chicago Daily Tribune - "Curtain Time," W-G-N dramatic feature, will be aired from the main studio at 9:30 p.m., presenting "It Might Happen," written by Morrison Wood and produced by Blair Walliser. Two of radio's popular stars, Alice Hill and Verne Smith, will play the leading roles.

1937-12-24 Chicago Daily Tribune - Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" will be the offering of W-G-N's Curtain Time broadcast at 9:30 tonight from the main audience studio. The same cast which presented this program a year ago, aided by a quartet and the W-G-N orchestra will be featured. Hugh Studebaker will be heard as Scrooge, Billy Lee as Bob Cratchet, Olan Soule as Fred Cratchet, Cornelius Peeples as Tiny Tim, Alice Hill as Bella, supported by Francis X. Bushman, Kenneth Griffen, Howard Hoffman, and Dave Gothard.

1938-05-27 Chicago Daily Tribune - "For Those They Truly Love," a drama of the civil war, will be offered over W-G-N and the coast to coast network of the Mutual Broadcasting system at 9:30 p.m., when Curtain Time is to be presented before 600 guests in W-G-N's audience studio. The story, written by Frank Russell and produced by Blair Walliser, will feature an all-star cast headed by Alice Hill, Ed Prentiss, John Walsh, and George Neise.

1938-07-22 Chicago Daily Tribune - The play, "Lost Refrain," written by Mildred Hark and Noel McQueen, is to introduce a new series of Curtain Time broadcasts over W-G-N and the coast to coast Mutual network, starting at 9:30 p.m. Produced by Blair Walliser and presented in W-G-N's audience studio, the drama will feature Alice Hill, Olan Soule, Kurt Kuper, Lesley Woods, and Willard Waterman. Adolphe Hoffman of the W-G-N orchestra has scored original music for the production. The concert orchestra will be directed by Henry Weber.

1938-09-09 Chicago Daily Tribune - Curtain Time over W-G-N and the coast to coast network of the Mutual Broadcasting System at 9:30 tonight will present "The River," a story of a man and his wife and their struggle against the river. Specially written for radio by Margery Williams, "The River" will feature Alice Hill, Ken Griffin, Ann Kuper, Dorothy Denvir, and Bill Bailey. Produced by Blair Walliser, the play will be presented from W-G-N's audience studio.

1939-01-06 Chicago Daily Tribune - Curtain Time will present "Cottage for Sale," a play concerning a tropical hurricane, kidnapers, and a tiny cottage, over W-G-N and Mutual from the station's main audience studio at 9 p.m. Alice Hill and David Gothard will be featured in the principal roles as Joan and Tom, a young couple searching for a home. Also in the cast are Willard Waterman as a kidnaper, Jean Bryon as his moll, and Nancy, an 8 year old heiress, played by Dolly Day. "Cottage for Sale" was written by Bill Pryor and will be produced by Blair Walliser.

1939-02-17 Chicago Daily Tribune - "Penalty of Death," a tale of two lovers of the 16th century who risk their lives and dare the wrath of an emperor to surmount the barriers to their marriage, will be the offering of Curtain Time on W-G-N and Mutual at 9 tonight. Alice Hill and Reese Taylor will play the roles of the lovers. Written by Cliff Thomas, the production will be presented from the stage of W-G-N's main audience studio. The musical background will be provided by the concert orchestra under the baton of Henry Weber.

From Digital Deli Too
http://www.digitaldeliftp.com/DigitalDeliToo/dd2jb-Curtain-Time.html
Accessed 12 Nov. 2017
 

  Scott@HomePort
HomePort


Do you have information that could be helpful in correcting or adding to the contents of HomePort ?  We appreciate your comments, suggestions and additions.
 
HomePort Quick List Scott@HomePort  Search HomePort Send e-mail to: HomePort