During the Christmas season, Dori Mae (as she called herself) would hurry home from school and remove her snow boots, then take off her leggings, coat, stocking cap and mittens – hanging them up to dry.
Now,
she was ready to stretch out with her teddy bear, lying on the living room
carpet in front of the “big brown radio on four legs”…anticipating the clock
striking 5 p.m.
That’s when her favorite radio program, “Billie the Brownie,” came on Milwaukee’s WTMJ (620 AM).
Billie was an elf-like creature who was created to help sell Christmas toys for Schuster’s Department Stores in Milwaukee. He had a special relationship with Santa Claus; they told holiday stories on the radio, a practice that had begun in 1931.
A
popular segment of each show was the reading of children’s letters to Santa.
Dori Mae asked Santa for a television set, like the one her neighbor Mrs.
Winters had at her house.
(On
most afternoons [except during the Christmas season], Dori would stop by after
school to visit Mrs. Winters, who baked cookies for them to enjoy while they
watched the “Howdy Doody” TV show.)
Dori Mae wished with all her might that Billie would pick her letter to read, increasing the odds that Santa would grant her wish, but the Christmas countdown advanced daily with no mention of Dori Mae’s letter.
At last…“The big night arrived. It was Christmas Eve. Billie was giving his final report for the year.” Billie’s dog, Willie Wagtail was there in the radio studio, too, barking his encouragement.
This was Dori’s last chance to hear her letter read aloud over the radio. And sure enough, it happened. “Today’s letter is from Dori Mae,” Billie announced.
She “screamed and jumped for joy”…but Dori Mae “was sad, too,” because this was the last time she would hear from Billie, Santa and the other characters until next year.
On Christmas morning, next to the family Christmas tree in the living room there stood a new Admiral TV set with a 12-inch, black-and-white picture tube.
“Dori Mae smiled. This was truly her happiest Christmas ever. After a while, though, Dori Mae realized something was different. She looked around the room. Something was missing. What was it? It was the radio. The new television set was sitting in its place….”
“Gone was the big brown four-legged box, and gone was her friend Billie.”
The radio show on Christmas Eve 1955 was Billie’s last appearance on WTMJ. He did not transition to TV in the years that followed.
“Many years have passed…to this day, Dori Mae remembers those wonderful evenings in front of the radio when her imagination took flight listening to Billie the Brownie. Yes, Billie is gone (along with the other characters from the show) but not gone from her memories….”
Doris recalls that the “Peeping Brownies” were important characters in the “Billie the Brownie” radio scripts.
They were “secret spies” who hid in the homes of children, observing kids’ behavior and reporting their
findings directly to Santa Claus at the North Pole.
“Dori Mae is a grandmother now. Every year her family gets bigger, and every year the newest grandchildren and their friends hear all about Billie the Brownie” from Grandma D.
Author Doris Alaimo-Melillo graduated from Marquette University in Milwaukee and taught high school English and drama in Milwaukee for several years.
Eventually, she went on to work as a costume supervisor for television and
feature films in Los Angeles. She and her husband, Jules Melillo, reside in
Oxnard, Calif.
She wrote “Dori Mae and Her Friend Billie” in 2006 to commemorate the 75-year anniversary of the first Billie the Brownie radio show…a gift to all “who let Billie into their lives.”
A limited supply of Dori Mae story books remain available for purchase. If interested, contact Doris Alaimo-Melillo directly for pricing information and delivery.
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