C. Livingstone, 83; Directed ‘Lone Ranger’ for Early Radio

Charles D. Livingstone, a favorite director of the two men who put Detroit in the forefront of live radio drama in the 1930s and ‘40s with such programs as “The Lone Ranger,” “The Green Hornet” and “Sgt. Preston of the Yukon,” has died.

Livingstone, 83, died Monday at a nursing home in Sarasota, Fla.

A University of Michigan graduate, Livingstone began his professional career as an actor in stock companies and on Broadway. He joined Detroit radio station WXYZ in 1933, playing minor roles in “Warner Lester” and “The Lone Ranger” and a major part in “Thrills of the Secret Service.”

George W. Trendle, an attorney, and John H. King, a theater owner, had decided to turn to the infant medium of radio after the stock market crash of 1929.

They found an assortment of writers, actors and directors, and bought WXYZ. Their successes with the “Ranger” and “Hornet” enabled them to expand the shows to WGN in Chicago and WOR in New York. The three stations became the mainstay of the Mutual Network in the mid-1930s.

Directed ‘Dr. Fang’

“Sgt. Preston” was a relative latecomer, coming originally to radio in 1947 as “Challenge of the Yukon.”

Livingstone’s first directing assignment was in 1933 in “Dr. Fang,” where he was credited with improving the pacing of live radio shows.

“Before that they used to just, at the last minute, omit a scene or play it faster or slower,” said Dick Osgood of Farmington Hills, Mich., who wrote a history of WXYZ.

Livingstone was named the station’s dramatic director in 1938 and remained there until 1954, when he went to Hollywood to help film “The Lone Ranger” for television.

He returned to Detroit two years later to produce slide films for Ford Motor Co. and a film production agency. Livingstone retired in 1968 to Longboat Key, Fla.