Celebrity Grave: Al Pearce, Entertainer

 

Albert Pearce (July 25, 1898 - June 2, 1961, Newport Beach, California) was a comedian, singer and banjoist who was a popular personality on several radio networks from 1928 to 1947.

 

After peddling insurance door-to-door during the 1920s, Al Pearce began selling real estate. With his brother Cal, he sang on the air in 1928 as part of the San Francisco Real Estate Glee Club. Al Pearce moved from music to comedy on KFRC, San Francisco, after writer Jack Hasty gave him a comedy sketch about a nervous door-to-door salesman named Elmer Blurt. As Pearce rose to fame, Blurt's running gag, "Nobody home, I hope, I hope, I hope," became a national catch phrase.

When Pearce's The Happy Go Lucky Hour (sometimes titled Al Pearce and His Gang) began on KFRC in 1928, his gang consisted of brother Cal, Abe Bloom, Charles Carter, Jean Clarimoux, Edna Fisher, Tommy Harris, Norman Nielsen, Monroe Upton (as Lord Bilgewater), Hazel Warner and Cecil Wright. The musical-variety show scored such a success in San Francisco from 1928 until 1932 that it moved to the Blue Network on January 13, 1934, airing Saturdays at 6pm until September when the 30-minute series split into two 15-minute shows heard Mondays and Fridays at 5pm. It continued in those timeslots until March 29, 1935.

 

Pearce gained a sponsor with Pepsodent Toothpaste for Friday afternoon shows on both the Blue Network and NBC from May 13, 1935, until April 3, 1936. His mid-1930s gang included comic Morey Amsterdam, "human chatterbox" Arlene Harris, vocalist Mabel Todd (1907-1977), singing comic Andy Andrews, and nutty cooking and health expert "Tizzie Lish," portrayed by Bill Comstock.

 

Beginning January 5, 1937, Pearce moved to CBS for the Ford Motors' series, Watch the Fun Go By, airing Tuesdays at 9pm until June 28, 1938. Sponsored by Grape Nuts, Pearce returned to NBC Mondays at 8pm from October 10, 1938 to July 31, 1939. Back at CBS, under the sponsorship of Dole Pineapple, he broadcast Wednesdays at 8pm from October 11, 1939 until April 3, 1940. Camel Cigarettes was his sponsor for his CBS series Fridays at 7:30pm from May 3, 1940 until January 2, 1942. In 1944, his sponsor was Dr. Pepper (which still had the dot in the name then), and when he was replaced on the Blue Network by an audience participation show, Darts for Dough, Pearce continued elsewhere while Dr. Pepper stayed on as the sponsor of Darts for Dough.

Pearce was also a frequent guest on the popular Armed Air Force Radio Service during World War II on shows such as Mail Call and Command Performance, and he also appeared in low-budget movies, including Hitchhike to Happiness (1945) and The Main Street Kid (1948). For his work in radio, Pearce received a "Star" on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the late 1950s.

 

Al Pearce is entombed in the Haven of Repose at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.