Frank Siedel (September 5, 1914 â May 9, 1988) was an American writer, historian, educator, and broadcaster. Siedel wrote over 1,500 movie, radio, and television scripts, and six books including two historical novels: The Ohio Story and Out of The Midwest.
In 1947, Siedel and created and wrote the first scripts for The Ohio Story radio program. For five years, the 15-minute show was broadcast live three days a week from WTAM 's studios in Cleveland to a network of Ohio radio stations. In 1952, the format changed to 10 minutes a night, and the shows were pre-recorded for distribution to 20 Ohio radio stations. "Captain Dodge's Uncommon Courage," the last radio show, aired on December 29, 1955.
In 1953, Siedel initiated a weekly television version of "The Ohio Story. For two years, the Ohio Story radio and TV episodes overlapped. One hundred seventy-five Ohio Story TV episodes were produced.
The Ohio Story radio-TV series (1947âÂÂ1961) is said to be the longest-running scripted regional radio/TV show of its time. Two of Siedel's six books, The Ohio Story and Out of the Midwest, were offshoots of the radio and television series.
Two other television series written by Siedel were the 1952 - 1954 half-hour program "Prescription for Living" produced by Standard Oil of Ohio with the Cleveland Academy of Medicine, and the 1968 "Ohio Heritage" series of eleven 15-minute black and white films produced by Standard Oil of Ohio for early Educational TV (ETV). "Prescriptions for Living" won the American Federation of Radio and Television Artists award in 1953, 1954, and 1955 for the most outstanding public service program in Ohio."
The son of Frank and Mary Ann Junglas Siedel, Frank Siedel was born in Strongsville, Ohio. Siedel attributed his home-spun storytelling style of writing to his experiences listening to the pot-bellied stove storytellers in his father's general store. He began his scriptwriting career in 1936 as a freelance writer, working for radio stations WHKC in Columbus, Ohio and WCAE in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1940, he took a job with ESCAR Motion Pictures in Cleveland. When World War II broke out, he wrote scripts for over 100 armed forces training films.
The first ten years of his journalism career, Siedel wrote freelance radio scripts for such shows as the Kate Smith Hour, the Rudy Vallee show, Just Plain Bill, and Cavalcade of America shows before organizing his own firm, Storycraft, Inc. in 1947, where he worked until his death in 1988.
In 1946, Siedel began working with Cinécraft Productions as a screenwriter and a year later founded Storycraft, Inc., a Cleveland-based scriptwriting company. Storycraft launched the careers of many young writers. Bill Ellis and Jerry Turk were the first to join Siedel in Storycraft, Inc. Later, he added Lee Templeton, Leo Trefzger, Fred Lipp, Jan Hofstetter, and others. Storycraft became famous throughout the country for its radio and television shows as well as the industrial and commercial films they produced from the companyâÂÂs founding in 1947.
A longtime resident of Rocky River, Ohio, Siedel served as president of that suburb's board of education and, in 1955, was elected to the first State of Ohio Board of Education where he successfully fought to have Ohio history taught in public schools.
Siedel was married twice. Alyce Louise van den Mooter (1911âÂÂ1978) and Siedel had three children: sons James and Jonathan and daughter, Jeri Siedel Audiano. In 1982, he married Mardith Ray Jacobson [later Hany]. He died on Catawba Island, Ohio in 1988 and is buried in the Catawba Island Cemetery.
In 2019, the Hagley Museum and Library started a project to digitize and post online the movies and TV episodes Siedel produced through Cinécraft Productions.