Above left: Parker Fennelly and Arthur Allen as The Stebbins Boys in the radio studio. Above right: Parker Fennelly and Arthur Allen enacting their roles as The Stebbins Boys John and Esley in their general store. |
Arthur's wife, Gertrude Watt Allen passed away suddenly, at the Nassau Hospital, Hempstead August 19, 1931 following an operation for appendicitis. She was buried in Gowanda, N.Y. .
In 1932 a Hat Company wanted Allen's photo for as an
advertisement of the proper way a well dressed young man should look in a
hat ad, in the ad he looked about 30. The Western Clock Company contracted the popular team of Arthur Allen and Parker Fennelly for an air series starting Sunday September 16. 1934. The weekly 15-minute broadcasts intended to take the place of Dream Drama (NBC, 1934-1935?) presented by this sponsor in former years in stead it continued under the same name. Soconyland moved to CBS on October 16, 1934 and was retitled Snow Village Sketches. It continued on CBS until May 21, 1935. Went to NBC for four episodes in 1937, 1938 and 1942 and 1943 and ended at Mutual with a series of at least 11 episodes between Dec 28. 1945 and May 5. 1946. The Simpson Boys of Sprucehead Bay (Blue, 1935-1936) Arthur Allen and Parker Fennelly, hardly re-invented their act as the Simpson Boys, country storekeepers "way down East" (pictures below). |
Above left: The Simpson Boys of Sprucehead Bay (Blue, 1935-1936) Arthur Allen and Parker Fennelly, hardly re-invented their act as the Simpson Boys, country storekeepers "way down East". Above right: The Simpson Boys of Sprucehead Bay (Blue, 1935-1936) Arthur Allen and Parker Fennelly, as they really look. |
In 1936 Arthur was seen again on the Broadway stage as the country storekeeper in The County Chairman, and the next year as Fortune Friendly in The Farmer Takes a Wife. On the big screen he made very few appearances, he was seen in Ebb Tide (1937) which was directed by James P. Hogan "famed" for his Ellery Queen series. Fennelly and Allen tried to get a Snow Village revival going in 1938 whilst on Broadway Arthur created one of the leading roles in Our Town (1938). Parker and Fennelly did play in Four Corners U.S.A. (1938-1939) as Eben and Jonah Crowell respectively. The Radio Guild had been around for 10 years when in 1939 Merritt P. Allen wrote comedy scripts about those genial old Vermonters, Noah (Parker Fennelly) and Mary Perkins (Effie Palmer) his wife and Toby Waller (Arthur Allen), their grumbling friend. |
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In radio's Your Family and Mine (1938-1940) the role of Lem Stacey was portrayed by Parker Fennelly whenever the part is in the script. A short while back Lem was played by Arthur Allen (1939). |
Above left: Arthur Allen (Doc Prouty) polishes his glasses to better see Marion Shockley (Nikki Porter). Above right: (From L to R) Arthur Allen, Marion Shockley and Santos Ortega in The Adventures of Ellery Queen (1940). |
When the first radio season of The Adventures of Ellery Queen went from one hour to half an hour Allen took over from Robert A. Strauss as Doc Prouty. Arthur started the role Feb 25. 1940 and it ended April 21. 1940. Doc Prouty wasn't included in any other episodes. (pictures above). Although a review for episode 68 "The Song of Death" in January 1942 mentions "newcomer" Arthur Allen in the role of the medical examiner. In 1940 Arthur Allen was seen in two more movies both directed by Sam Wood: the Western Rangers of Fortune where he played Mr. Prout, a persecuted newspaper publisher who chimes in with some erudite sleuthing (see picture below left), and maybe his best movie role in a reprise of his Broadway role of Geology Professor Willard in Our Town (below right). |
Above left: Sam Wood's Rangers of Fortune (1940) with Betty Brewer and Arthur Allen. Above right: Frank Craven and Arthur B. Allen in Our Town (1940). |
Arthur was also heard weekdays on Mother O' Mine (1940-1941) a soap with Agnes Young (Mother Morrison), Donald Cook (John) and Jackie Kelk (Pete). For the series Gibbs and Finney, General Delivery (NBC Blue, July 26 - Oct 18 1942) Raymond Knight wrote a warm, dramatic serial in which Fennelly and Allen played their familiar roles as owners of their town's general store, Gideon Gibbs and Asa Finney. Actress Patsy Campbell was also cast in this Sunday evening serial. In 1944 he played a Broadway reprise of Our Town. he reprised the role he had on stage and in the movie. Described as brilliantly amusing in a brief appearance as an earnest diffident professor. That year Arthur had his first heart attack. They persisted under the banner Soconyland Sketches (Snow Village) for other firms at intervals to 1946. The duo turned their characterizations into careers, meanwhile, appearing in similar incarnations inspired by the Socony show. The Stebbins Boys (of Bucksport Point) (1931-1932), Day Dramas (1934-1935), The Simpson Boys of Sprucehead Bay (Blue, 1935-1936) , Four Corners U.S.A. (CBS 1938-1939) and Gibbs and Finney General Delivery (1942). ... It was a role Fennelly would play over and over. He later gained national fame on Fred Allen's radio program Allen's Alley in the mid-1940s, portraying Titus Moody, another version of the stock New England character.
He was stricken with a heart attack on August 18 prior to
his appearance on the Lorenzo Jones radio program and was taken to the
hospital. Arthur B. Allen died on August 25 1947 after a week's
illness at Doctors Hospital, New York City.
He was buried at Gowanda, N.Y. , where he was born 66 years before. Josephine Hardwicke described Allen (May 31, 1934) as follows: "I know of no famous person who is simpler and kinder in his ways than this actor." and "I think his sense of humor is a most appealing characteristic. In a few minutes conversation he is liable to get up and portray some character part to illustrate a point he is discussing." |
Notes: All dates for movies are for the official US release. All dates for TV programs are original first airdates. All dates for (radio) plays are for the time span the actor was involved. Facts in red still need confirmation. |
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This actor profile is a part of
Ellery Queen a website on deduction.
The actor above played Doc Prouty in the first
radio series of The Adventures of
Ellery Queen.
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Page first published on Oct 8. 2017 Last updated Feb 24. 2024 |
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