Radio doings (Dec 1930-Jun1932)

IS SHE REALLY Married? Letters Pour in to KFI, Asking if Bunny and Her Interesting Radio Family Are Real, But She Won't Tell. Her Little Domestic Mystery Is as Baffling as It Is Popular, and This Article Holds Many Clues to Its Solution. BUNNY by Betty Sheldon "Bob, Bunny and Junior," heard over KFI at 1:45 P. M doily. FOR a year and a half, a slim, dark beauty of a girl has had a throng of housewives mystified. Day after day, mothers and wives in hundreds of homes listen intently to each of her radio programs in an effort to fathom her secret. Is Bunny really married? In her daily 15-minute feature over KFI, "Bob, Bunny and Junior," this young lady, as Bunny, holds her feminine listeners with homey, life-like stories of her little radio family. Bob. the young husband, and Junior, the lovable youngster, are real, interesting characters. Their adventures from day to day ring true with human interest— the situations in which they find themselves are homely, appealing cross-sections of real life. The charm of the program, say many fan letters, lies in this reality. "So true to life!" says one short note. "Just like things that happen around my home," says another. "Our baby was teething the night Bob had to walk the floor with Junior," reads a third. And so on. Every incident striking a chord in someone's own experience. "But are you really married?" her listeners ask. "Please tell us if this adorable family is your own." Bunny smiles exasperatingly. "Bob. Bunny and Junior are the real names of real people," she says. "Bob is a young husband and daddy, and Junior is a real boy — the pride and joy of his parents. Don't you think they are my family?" And that's all the satisfaction one can get. As one mother wrote: "Dear Bunny. Gosh, Bunnv — if you're not reallv mar JUNIOR ried, how do you have such a perfect understanding of all the little things that are part of being married and raising a baby? Please answer this question and satisfy all the members of our family. Are you really married?" Clever, Bunny is — married or not. For while each member of her happy family is well-known to her radio friends, none has ever spoken into the microphone. Only Bunny's voice is heard from day to day; taking her family in and out of all sorts of lifelike experiences, with an uncanny abil ity to produce realism and naturalness. It makes one feel sure Bob did say this, or Junior did ask that, for how else could Bunny ever in the world think of such things? She never impersonates the rest of the family. She is her own sweet self always. And yet — there you are again — when Junior was younger, listeners would often hear him crying. How does one explain that? There are other members of Bunny's family, too. There's Ma and Aunt Het — both lovable characters. They came right off the farm a year ago, and how Bunny has modernized them and humanized them in this year they have been on the air! Then there's the love affair between Aunt Het and Uncle John — that held the audiences breathless until it finally culminated in a happy marriage a few months ago. And there's Pa — Bob^ dear, deaf, old-fashioned father, who accidentally bought a piece of seemingly worthless property last year, and recently found oil wells springing up all around him! Well, is Bunny really married? b the little radio family a real one, or is it fictitious? Our question is still unanswered, and Bunny has great fun in keeping us guessing. Just the other day Bunny became extremely confidential, and nearly revealed the solution to her secret. "Why. the answer is simple! Just listen to usevery afternoon at one forty-five — I'm sure you can't help having the question answered for yourself!" I'm not so sure! Page Sixteen RADIO DOINGS