Curt Massey

Curt Massey (May 3, 1910 – October 21, 1991)

Born to a musical family in Texas, he along with siblings and a brother-in-law formed the an instrumental group, “The Westerners.” He studied piano, cornet, trumpet, and violin, and by the age of twelve, he proved his talent by playing in local dance bands. In the Golden Age of Radio, he relocated to Kansas City by the age of twenty to be a staff announcer on radio station KMBC while still playing with a dance band. This led him to go to Chicago to be an announcer before moving to New York City appearing on the “Maxwell House Showboat.” By 1938 he had his own radio show with CBS, “The Curt Massey Show,” which aired for seven years. Beginning in 1949 his show was aired by ABC and billed at times as the “Curt Massey and Martha Tilton Show” or the “Alka-Seltzer Time.” He sang on the radio with “The Andrew Sisters” and with Martha Tilton in 1953 singing “When Love Goes Wrong.” He released two albums during this period.

In 1956 he switched to the Tennessee Ernie Ford Show in Los Angeles, California. Relocating to California led to appearing on local television programs and a few spots in films with some credited and some not. In the summer of 1959 he was broadcast in color. He collaborated with producer Paul Henning in 1963 for the theme song of the television show “Petticoat Junction.” He composed music for a few episodes of “Beverly Hillbillies.” In 1987 he was honored by the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters with their Diamond Circle Award for career achievement. Massey was married and had two sons. Massey died October 21, 1991, at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California. He was 81