Episodes
Friday Mar 06, 2009
The Alan Young Show - Pgm 6
Friday Mar 06, 2009
Friday Mar 06, 2009
We took a look a few weeks back at the "Alan Young Show", a rare series featuring the comedian and actor that would later become famous for his work on the television series "Mr. Ed". Here's another program in the series, originally broadcast on the ABC network on October 24, 1944 and rebroadcast as program 6 in the series on the Armed Forces Radio Service. In this episode, Alan has to buy a new water heater. It appears to be a lost/uncirculated program in the series.
Dunning, in his book "On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio", is a little rough on "The Alan Young Show". Young was touted as one of the "new breed" of comedians that were trying to take on the top rated "old timers" of radio comedy, like Jack Benny and Fred Allen, at the time and Dunning paints the series as less than inspired. I think the show holds up fairly well when compared to others of the period - the audience seems to be having a good time. The episode is from early in the series, but the writers are carving out routines and jokes that work well with Young's comedy persona. Our mp3 was taken directly from an original AFRS vinyl transcription
Friday Jan 16, 2009
The Alan Young Show - Pgm 3
Friday Jan 16, 2009
Friday Jan 16, 2009
You might remember Alan Young from his most famous role playing opposite the talking horse Mister Ed on CBS television in the early 1960s. But, you may not realize this talented actor and comedian got his start with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and had his own popular radio series on NBC and ABC. In this post, we hear "The Alan Young Show", originally broadcast October 3, 1944 on the ABC radio network, one of his early series on American radio. This was episode 3 in the series in the series as broadcast by the Armed Forces Radio Network.
The show features Diane Courtney, Peter Van Steeden and His Orchestra, Jack Kirkwood and announcer Kenny Delmar. Alan meets with gossip columnist "Harriet Hatch" and tells his life story. A highlight is the opening bit featuring a salesman touting custom records of radio shows! It reminds me of the kind of off the wall comedy that Stan Freeburg would be doing in the 1950s. The program appears to not be in common circulation among collectors. Young is still active in the business providing the voice for Scrooge McDuck and other cartoon characters. In 2007, he released a new expanded edition of his memoirs, "Mister Ed and Me and More". Our mp3 was transferred from an original AFRS vinyl transcription of the program.