Gray Matter

In 1929, nine-year-old Shirley Bell began her decade long run as the radio voice of Little Orphan Annie. She kept a scrap book of press, advertisements, comic strips, and photos of memorabilia, events, and celebs she met (including, of course, Harold Gray).

A few years back Shirley’s family published a thick hardcover facsimile of her scrap book (at the now defunct Stinehour Press in Vermont). A cool book that provides a great glimpse into the radio days of the thirties and just how huge a phenomenon Gray’s Annie was.

—James Sturm