In memoriam

Jess Cain died yesterday. For those of you who did not listen to AM radio in the Boston area, Jess was a pillar of morning radio from the late 60's t0 1991. Always cheery, with a great sense of humor that never had to descend to the prurient to be funny. His ditties like the immortal, "Fly Me to Methuen" (to the tune of "Fly Me to the Moon") and "Take My Hand, I'm a Stranger in Framingham" ("Stranger in Paradise") still live for those who chuckled over them many years ago.

Jess was an 18 year-old sergeant at the Battle of the Bulge, under a company commander named Audie Murphy. According to Jess, Murphy did not like him, but his buddies would say, "Aw, Jess, after the war you're going to be a star on Broadway, what's he going to do?" Murphy, the most decorated American soldier in WWII became an actor of sorts, starring in his life story ("To Hell and Back") and numerous westerns. On the other hand, Jess Cain went to New York and appeared on Broadway in "Stalag 17." He remained an actor, appearing in summer theatre and other productions during his radio career.

I can tell you from personal experience that Jess was not just going through the motions on stage. During my theatrical career, the less said about which the better, I was involved in a non-profit theatre that organized a festival of one-act plays at the Hasty Pudding Theater, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. One of our angels was the Oscar-winning actor Cliff Robertson, who wrote a short play for the festival. Cliff could only do one week of the two-week run; Jess Cain did the second week. Jess was at least as good as Cliff Robertson, maybe better.

Jess Cain retired in 1991. I was in New York from mid-1987 to early 1991, so I did not hear him for the last few years of his radio career. Still, he'll live on as one of the personalities of a time that, if not quite the golden age of the medium in the 1930's and '40's, still has a glow.

We'll miss you, Jess, but we'll smile when we think of you.