Easy Aces

Easy Aces was an American serial radio comedy that aired from 1930 to 1945.  The show was known for its low-key, conversational style and the clever wordplay of its creator and writer, Goodman Ace, and his wife Jane, who played the lead roles. The series revolved around the misadventures of a middle-class couple, with Jane’s malapropisms and Goodman’s dry, resigned reactions providing the source of much of the humor. Though it never achieved blockbuster ratings, Easy Aces built a loyal following over its 15-year run on the air.

The Stars

Goodman Ace and his wife Jane Ace played the lead roles of the exasperated but loving husband and his scatterbrained, language-mangling wife. The supporting cast included Mary Hunter as the Aces’ best friend and boarder Marge, Paul Stewart as the ne’er-do-well brother-in-law Johnny, Martin Gabel as the newspaper reporter Neil Williams, and a number of other actors who portrayed various friends, relatives, and neighbors of the Aces.

Key Dates

• Easy Aces debuted in October 1930 on KMBC radio in Kansas City, where Goodman Ace was working as a film critic.  
• The show moved to CBS in 1932 and later aired on the NBC Blue Network before returning to CBS in 1942.  
• In 1943, the program expanded to a half-hour format, which it maintained until its final broadcast in January 1945. 

Other Information

Easy Aces was one of the first KMBC programs to become a network radio show.  The Aces owned the rights to the show from the beginning and recorded most of the episodes, later selling the syndication rights to the Frederick Ziv Company in 1945. This allowed many of the best episodes to survive and become popular in syndication, even more so than when they were originally broadcast.

In 1948, the Aces revived the show as Mr. Ace and JANE on CBS, but it only lasted for one year.

They also attempted to adapt the series for television in 1949-1950, but the DuMont Television Network show was short-lived.

Goodman Ace went on to have a successful second career as a writer for radio, television, and print, while Jane Ace largely retired from public life after the end of the original Easy Aces series.