R.I.P Bob LeMond....Announcer for Ozzie and Harriet & Leave it to Beaver

[Zoneboy]

Link


Everyone knew Bob LeMond's voice, but they'd have passed him on the street without a second glance.
Mr. LeMond, who every week introduced “America's Favorite Family, the Nelsons” on television, died at his home in Bonsall Sunday of complications from dementia. He was 94.

The popular television and radio announcer seemed to be everywhere in the 1940s and 1950s. In addition to “The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet,” Mr. LeMond was the voice of shows such as “Leave It to Beaver,” “Our Miss Brooks,” “My Friend Irma,” “Life With Luigi,” “The Red Skelton Show” and “Bat Masterson.”



He also announced specials such as the Academy Awards and the Tournament of Roses Parade, and voiced commercials for Oldsmobile, Dial Soap, Raid and Johnson's Wax.
Mr. LeMond was born on April 11, 1913, in Hale Center, Texas, but grew up in Southern California. He began his announcing career in the 1930s, and it continued in the Army with Armed Forces Radio from 1942 to 1946.

While stationed in New Caledonia in the South Pacific, Mr. LeMond met Barbara Brewster, one of the “Brewster Twins” in 20th Century Fox films, at a USO show. They were married in 1946.

From 1948 to 1951, Mr. LeMond was the announcer on Lucille Ball's radio sitcom “My Favorite Husband.” In 1951, he announced the pilot episode of the television show that would become “I Love Lucy.”

Mr. LeMond retired from show business in 1971, and in 1972 he moved to Bonsall, where he became involved in real estate.

In 1998, Gregg Oppenheimer, son of Jess Oppenheimer, the creator and producer of “I Love Lucy,” reassembled the remaining members of the cast of “My Favorite Husband” to re-create the show as a fundraiser for pediatric AIDS. Mr. LeMond reprised his role as the announcer.

“He used to warm up the audience before the show,” Oppenheimer said. “He did it again, and it was like magic. It was like it was 1948.”

The pilot episode of “I Love Lucy,” with Mr. LaMond announcing, never aired, and, for half a century, it was thought to be lost.

“But in 2000 or 2001, I started working on 'Lucy' DVDs, and the widow of (the character) Pepito the Clown found it under her bed,” Oppenheimer said.

However, the first 15 seconds of Mr. LeMond's narration was missing; it started in the middle of a sentence. Oppenheimer had the script, complete with the missing narration. So he drove to Bonsall, and 50 years after he read into a microphone the first words ever associated with “I Love Lucy,” Mr. LeMond re-recorded his part.

“He sounded older,” Oppenheimer said, “but it worked.”

For a long time Dick Knight, Mr. LeMond's neighbor in Bonsall, didn't even know he'd been an announcer.

“He was just a very jolly fellow and a very nice guy,” Knight said. “You couldn't be any nicer than Bob LeMond.”

Mr. LeMond was preceded in death by his wife of 59 years, Barbara, in 2005. He is survived by sons Robert of Malibu, Stephen of Vista and Barry of Issaquah, Wash.; five grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

No services were planned. The family suggests donations to Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside, or a favorite charity.

[Scoobiedoo30]

Rest in Peace

[jimmo]

Originally Posted by Zoneboy

Link


Everyone knew Bob LeMond's voice, but they'd have passed him on the street without a second glance.
Mr. LeMond, who every week introduced “America's Favorite Family, the Nelsons” on television, died at his home in Bonsall Sunday of complications from dementia. He was 94.

The popular television and radio announcer seemed to be everywhere in the 1940s and 1950s. In addition to “The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet,” Mr. LeMond was the voice of shows such as “Leave It to Beaver,” “Our Miss Brooks,” “My Friend Irma,” “Life With Luigi,” “The Red Skelton Show” and “Bat Masterson.”

He also announced specials such as the Academy Awards and the Tournament of Roses Parade, and voiced commercials for Oldsmobile, Dial Soap, Raid and Johnson's Wax.

Mr. LeMond was born on April 11, 1913, in Hale Center, Texas, but grew up in Southern California. He began his announcing career in the 1930s, and it continued in the Army with Armed Forces Radio from 1942 to 1946.

While stationed in New Caledonia in the South Pacific, Mr. LeMond met Barbara Brewster, one of the “Brewster Twins” in 20th Century Fox films, at a USO show. They were married in 1946.

From 1948 to 1951, Mr. LeMond was the announcer on Lucille Ball's radio sitcom “My Favorite Husband.” In 1951, he announced the pilot episode of the television show that would become “I Love Lucy.”

Mr. LeMond retired from show business in 1971, and in 1972 he moved to Bonsall, where he became involved in real estate.

In 1998, Gregg Oppenheimer, son of Jess Oppenheimer, the creator and producer of “I Love Lucy,” reassembled the remaining members of the cast of “My Favorite Husband” to re-create the show as a fundraiser for pediatric AIDS. Mr. LeMond reprised his role as the announcer.

“He used to warm up the audience before the show,” Oppenheimer said. “He did it again, and it was like magic. It was like it was 1948.”

The pilot episode of “I Love Lucy,” with Mr. LeMond announcing, never aired, and, for half a century, it was thought to be lost.

“But in 2000 or 2001, I started working on 'Lucy' DVDs, and the widow of (the character) Pepito the Clown found it under her bed,” Oppenheimer said.

However, the first 15 seconds of Mr. LeMond's narration was missing; it started in the middle of a sentence. Oppenheimer had the script, complete with the missing narration. So he drove to Bonsall, and 50 years after he read into a microphone the first words ever associated with “I Love Lucy,” Mr. LeMond re-recorded his part.

“He sounded older,” Oppenheimer said, “but it worked.”

For a long time Dick Knight, Mr. LeMond's neighbor in Bonsall, didn't even know he'd been an announcer.

“He was just a very jolly fellow and a very nice guy,” Knight said. “You couldn't be any nicer than Bob LeMond.”

Mr. LeMond was preceded in death by his wife of 59 years, Barbara, in 2005. He is survived by sons Robert of Malibu, Stephen of Vista and Barry of Issaquah, Wash.; five grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

No services were planned. The family suggests donations to Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside, or a favorite charity.

The announcer most prominently associated with "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" is Verne Smith. Although IMDB.com and Wikipedia variously lists Jack Bailey, Bob Eubanks, Reb Foster, and Jay Stewart as announcers for the series.

There is no credit on either of these websites for Bob LeMond as an announcer on "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet." So, perhaps, if some validation of Mr. LeMond's announcing work on the series may be found, someone could then enter Mr. Lemond's name on those websites.

I realize announcing chores may vary even from episode-to-episode. Then, too, Verne Smith was also an announcer for the radio version of "Ozzie & Harriet," as well the television series. Here is an episode of "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet," with Mr. Smith announcing his role on the series--
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JucCkopoWnQ

A film clip where one may actually see Smith presenting for Hotpoint, one of the series' longtime sponsors, may be found here--
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKQ8VtufjGI.

[Zoneboy]

Originally Posted by jimmo

The announcer most prominently associated with "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" is Verne Smith. Although IMDB.com and Wikipedia variously lists Jack Bailey, Bob Eubanks, Reb Foster, and Jay Stewart as announcers for the series.

There is no credit on either of these websites for Bob LeMond as an announcer on "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet." So, perhaps, if some validation of Mr. LeMond's announcing work on the series may be found, someone could then enter Mr. Lemond's name on those websites.

Wikipedia

Robert West LeMond, Jr. (April 11, 1913 – January 6, 2008) was an American radio and television announcer who was best known as the voice who announced for the television shows Leave It to Beaver and Ozzie and Harriet.[1] LeMond was also the announcer for the first radio sitcom by Lucille Ball, My Favorite Husband, as well as for the first television pilot
episode of I Love Lucy.[2] The peak of his announcing career spanned from the 1930s well into the 1960s.

IMDb

Personal Details
Other Works:
Announcer for many TV & Radio programs including: "Our Miss Brooks", "Ozzie And Harriet", "Leave It To Beaver", CBS Radio's "My Favorite Husband" (1948-1951) starring Lucille Ball, and CBS-West Radio's "Romance of the Ranchos" (1941-1942).

Lucy Library

Bob LeMond
Lucy's First Announcer

True I Love Lucy buffs know that it was Bob LeMond who introduced "Lucy and Ricky Ricardo" to viewers for the very first time, at the beginning of the I Love Lucy pilot in 1951. "Ricky is the famous Latin-American orchestra leader and singer," LeMond began, "and Lucy is the famous - uh, um, well she's - well, her hair is very red, and she's married to Ricky."
But that historic introduction was by no means the popular announcer's first run-in with our favorite redhead. LeMond announced the entire two-and-a-half year run of Lucille Ball's first sitcom, My Favorite Husband, from its CBS Radio debut on July 5, 1948 until it went off the air on March 31, 1951. And while his direct association with I Love Lucy was limited to announcing chores on the pilot, the show's writers named a memorable "Lucy" character after him in Episode #19 ("The Ballet") -- Lucy Ricardo's ballet instructor, "Madame LeMond", played by Mary Wickes.
LeMond's voice has been in millions of American homes via radio and TV since the 1930s, announcing such popular radio and TV programs as My Friend Irma, Life with Luigi, Our Miss Brooks, Ozzie and Harriet, Spike Jones, Red Skelton, Bat Masterson, Leave it to Beaver, and such specials as the Tournament of Roses and the Academy Awards. It is also the familiar voice we all grew up with on countless television commercials, including those for Oldsmobile, Dial Soap, Johnson's Wax, and those classic spots for "Raid" bug spray (which are still playing on Nick-at-Nite.)

[Dude111]

Very sad

[bliss]

Looking at thread title I thought he died today.....