iPads. uTubes. iScream uScream. We all scream for ice cream. Then, we whip out our iPods and other such devices. Digital downloads. MP3s. Streaming from the Cloud. That thing called radio is still around, but it is a lot different than it used to be.
For one thing, there weren’t as many stations. FM – in the big scheme of things – was a late-comer to the party. But when it crashed onto the scene, it changed everything.
I’ve mentioned before that I find all sorts of things tucked into the pages of books that come into the shop. (Everything except money…) Today, it was a small, bookmark-sized calendar for 1934. On the back was a listing of radio stations that carried a cooking program called Pet-Milky-Way, “Broadcast direct from the PET MILK KITCHEN.”
The host was Mary Lee Taylor, a nutritionist and home economist for the PET Milk Company. Her program debuted in 1933 on CBS radio and, over time, became the longing running cooking program on radio. Her fifteen minutes aired twice a week, originally on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and was available to listeners in Oklahoma City and beyond on KOMA radio.
(Waaay back when, my friends and I called that radio station “coma” because we believed it was our job to be smart-alecky. We worked hard at it, but the pay was below minimal.)
Mary Lee later had the show evolve into more than just cooking tips. “The Story of the Week” featured the lives of a young married couple named Jim and Sally Carter. A soap opera for the kitchen crowd. When the hi-jinks and drama were over, Mary Lee would sit down at the microphone and present a complete menu that featured recipes using PET Milk. (I feel compelled to explain that PET Milk is a condensed product – evaporated milk – that comes in a can and was popular in the days before refrigerators. I know some folks use it still, because I see it on the shelf at Reasors. These days, I suppose it is used in baking and other specialty recipes.)
People liked her cooking tips, so she wrote a cookbook. She offered free recipes by mail. Chances are, one of your grandmothers sent off for one, or knew someone who did. In 1948, the show moved from CBS to NBC radio, still back in those days when the big national networks had a radio presence.
She kept at it until 1954, completing more than two decades broadcasting from the Pet Milk Kitchen. One of the original foodies, I suppose. The Rachel Ray of her day. Truth is, she wasn’t Rachel Ray or even Mary Lee Taylor.
Her real name was Erma Proetz.
The Mary Lee Taylor thing was her radio pseudonym. Something that she just baked up – I guess.
