Edward Joseph Herlihy (August 14, 1909 â€" January 30, 1999) was an
American newsreel narrator for Universal-International. He was also a
long-time radio and television announcer for NBC, hosting The Horn and
Hardart Children's Hour in the 1940s and 1950, and was briefly interim
announcer on The Tonight Show in 1962. He was also the voice of Kraft
Foods radio and TV commercials from the 1940s through the early 1980s.
When he died in 1999, his obituary in The New York Times said he was
"A Voice of Cheer and Cheese".Educated at Boston College, graduating
in 1932, he gained his first radio job in his home town, at Boston's
WLOE. When he was hired by NBC in 1935, he decamped for New York,
along with his friend, fellow Boston announcer Frank Gallop, who was
hired by CBS. In their early days as network announcers, Herlihy and
Gallop shared an apartment on West 45th Street. Herlihy was
immediately successful in network radio, at that time in its sharpest
ascendancy. He was the announcer for many radio shows from the 1930s,
to the 1950s, among them: America's Town Meeting, The Big Show, The
Falcon, Mr. District Attorney, and Just Plain Bill. He became the host
of The Horn and Hardart Children's Hour on radio in 1948, remaining
its announcer when the show went to television. He continued his
success in the new medium: his early television credits included Sid
Caesar's hit Your Show of Shows and soap operas As the World Turns and
All My Children. He was also the host of Recollections At 30, which
was a special NBC Radio series created for the network's 30th
birthday.Educated at Boston College, graduating in 1932, he gained his
first radio job in his home town, at Boston's WLOE. When he was hired
by NBC in 1935, he decamped for New York, along with his friend,
fellow Boston announcer Frank Gallop, who was hired by CBS. In their
early days as network announcers, Herlihy and Gallop shared an
apartment on West 45th Street. Herlihy was immediately successful in
network radio, at that time in its sharpest ascendancy. He was the
announcer for many radio shows from the 1930s, to the 1950s, among
them: America's Town Meeting, The Big Show, The Falcon, Mr. District
Attorney, and Just Plain Bill. He became the host of The Horn and
Hardart Children's Hour on radio in 1948, remaining its announcer when
the show went to television. He continued his success in the new
medium: his early television credits included Sid Caesar's hit Your
Show of Shows and soap operas As the World Turns and All My Children.
He was also the host of Recollections At 30, which was a special NBC
Radio series created for the network's 30th birthday.In 1947 Herlihy
began his long association with Kraft Foods on radio, and continued it
when the company sponsored the Kraft Television Theater on television
in the 1950s. Richard Severo writes in his obituary of Herlihy that
the showâ€"and Herlihy's talentâ€"suited Kraft well:Herlihy's role as
Kraft spokesman lasted nearly 40 years, his voice becoming as familiar
as a next-door neighbor's. From his obituary in The New York Times:
"He liked to recall a summer day in Times Square when he helped a
blind man to cross at 44th Street. He took the man's arm, and the man
said it was a beautiful day. "Yes," Herlihy replied, "this is the kind
of day the Lord made for the good guys." The blind man replied: "I
know you. You're the cheese man on TV."" In his capacity with Kraft,
Severo writes, Herlihy "introduced Cheez Whiz, offered innumerable
entreaties to buy Velveeta and delivered eloquent apologias for the
entombment of almost anything edible with Miracle Whip". Ed Herlihy Top Movies & Young Movies