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Henry Aldrich started out as a minor character in the Broadway play ''What a Life'' by Clifford Goldsmith. The play ran from April 1938 to July 1939 for a total of 538 performances. Henry was only intended as a comic relief. But turned out to be the most memorable character there. As described by the press, "Chief amusement centres in Henry Aldrich (Ezra Stone), a cross between Penrod and Willie Baxter, who attends classes mainly in the principal's office. With a talent for head-on collisions, always ingenious, never crafty, always there with an answer, never with the right one, brash, bouncing, rumpled, rattled, rueful by turns, Henry grows into that rare thing on the stage — a person..."
Rudy Vallée asked Goldsmith to adapt the popular character for use in radio. A few short sketches based on the theatrical play were the first such use for Henry Aldrich, followed by his own segment in ''[[The Kate Smith Hour]]''. Then the full series ''
The show was also adapted to cinema by Paramount Pictures. A total of eleven Henry Aldrich films were released between 1939 and 1944:
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