Gene Carroll

American vaudeville, radio, and television performer (born (April 13, 1897 in Chicago, Illinois – died March 5, 1972 in Cleveland, Ohio) Between 1924 and 1929, Carroll and his partner Jack Grady performed a popular song-and-dance routine. When Grady became ill, Carroll and Glenn Rowell of Cleveland formed the duo Gene And Glenn. They performed both in vaudeville and on WTAM radio in Cleveland between 1930 and 1935. In 1934, a 15-minute version of their act, featuring the characters Jake and Lena, was picked up by NBC and broadcast nationwide. After that, Gene And Glenn moved their show to Des Moines, Chicago and Boston. They kept it going until 1943 when Rowell went back to Cleveland and WTAM. After that, Carroll appeared for only one season on NBC's "Fibber McGee & Molly Show". In 1948, Carroll returned to Cleveland, where he founded a talent school and created what first was the "Giant Tiger Amateur Hour" and then the "Gene Carroll Show" on WEWS-TV. He also established his own record label, Animal Records (14), a.k.a. Gene Carroll's Original Animal Records. For the Animal Records, Carroll developed what 10 years later became known as Chipmunk sound, by speeding up his characters' voices.