Some readers may remember the crime-fighting David Hasselhoff driving an artificially intelligent 1982 Pontiac Trans Am in the '80s TV show Knight Rider. A few may even recall the '60s sitcom with Jerry Van Dyke and his loquacious maternal 1928 Porter touring car in My Mother the Car. But, before them all was Josephine, the talking Jeep on WNYC.
During World War II WNYC was cranking out war-related programming on a full-time basis. These broadcasts included afternoon music shows made for playing over the P.A. systems of local defense plants, programs about food rationing and metal collection as well as dramas about refugees and battlefield encounters. Echoes of War was one such series. Airing on Tuesday evenings in 1944 the show was billed as an “attempt to portray some of the background history and interesting sidelights of America’s great current struggle in the cause of freedom.”
The first radio play in the series was Come Josephine. Written by WNYC news director Mitchell Jablons, the drama takes a whimsical approach to its serious subject by having the story told from the point of view of a 'female' army Jeep named Josephine. She describes her relationship with "her" soldier, Joe, and their various exploits fighting fascists. The production scores relatively high on the hokum meter, but is typical of the patriotic material that was broadcast at the time.
The program originally aired on WNYC, July 11, 1944. Edie Kroll played the role of Josephine and Delmar Knutzman played the American soldier Joe. The drama was produced and directed by Nathan M. Rudich. WNYC news editor Jack Goodman also worked on the series.