During the Golden Age of radio Fred Allen ndash used comedic pessimism to bring smiles to a generation living in the shadows of economic depression and a world at war His sense of humor was born out of personal pain Having lost his mother before he was three he was later estranged from his father who struggled with addictions He once rescued a young boy from the traffic of a busy New York City street with a memorable ldquo What rsquo s the matter with you kid Don rsquo t you want to grow up and have troubles rdquo The [... more]