The 1941 WLS Family Album

Prairie Farmer Turns 100:

The 1941 WLS Family Album

Featuring the Photographs of Fons Ianelli

Curator's note: Prairie Farmer celebrated its centennial by including a number of photographs taken by Fons Ianelli. Ianelli (1917-1988) was twenty-four years old and at the beginning of his career (he took up photography in 1938). His images here reflect superb lighting, dramatic camera angles and a fine sense of composition. It's clearly a case of commercial photography rising to the level of art.

Burridge D. Butler. Along with a great photo of the boss, there's an essay on the centennial of the Prairie Farmer media empire founded by John Stephen Wright.
The Williams Brothers. The youngest was Andy.
Pat Buttram. A great hayseed comic who moved from radio to film and television.
Julian Bentley and Ervin Lewis. The WLS news team. For a dime, they'll send you a WLS War Map.
The Maple City Four. Close harmony and corny comedy.
The Hoosier Sodbusters. One of the guys played a four-foot harmonica.
Mac and Bob. WLS's long-time Old Time duo.
The Prairie Sweethearts. Esther and Kay.
The WLS Staff Orchestra. Ready to play at the drop of a baton.
Howard Peterson. The WLS staff organist.
John Wesley Holland. The WLS staff preacher. A Methodist minister, as his name suggests.
Jack Stilwell. A great image of one of WLS's staff announcers.
Chuck Acree. Wore his hat on the air.
The Westerners. One of the most popular of the WLS groups.
Mary Ann Estes. A yodeler from the mountains.
Arkie. A WLS fixture for three decades.
Smilie Sutter. Later known as "Crazy Elmer".
Hal Culver. The "Singing Milkman" and a breeder of dogs.
The WLS Rangers. See them singing 'round the campfire.
Harriet Hester. A somewhat toothy home economist.
The WLS Artists Bureau. A great shot of the guys who do the booking.
Aunt Rita and Uncle Charlie. They read the funnies on Sunday.
Laurel and Hardy visit WLS. Stan and Ollie meet Rita and Charlie. Not an Ianelli photograph, but still worthy of note.
The WLS studio engineers. With state-of-the-art equipment.
The WLS transmitter engineers. They kept the 50,000 watt blowtorch fired up.
Norman Ross. Not a Ianelli photo---but "Uncle Normie" certainly deserves a page.

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