Episodes
Thursday Aug 13, 2009
KGW - Stasson Interview
Thursday Aug 13, 2009
Thursday Aug 13, 2009
A few weeks back, I posted some local programming from radio station KGW, an apple picking contest and an excerpt from a local music program. From the same set of discs, here's an interview with a Captain Stasson, who was an assistant for Fleet Admiral Halsey. Stasson toured the country with the Admiral after the War and was interviewed on KGW about what they were seeing and the general mood; the topics include the housing shortage and concerns about preventing another war in Europe in the future. The interview was transferred from an original KGW lacquer transcription and is undated. It was likely recorded for use on one of KGW's programs so that the interview could be brought to listeners "transcribed".
Thursday Aug 13, 2009
VE Plus 350 - April 23, 1946
Thursday Aug 13, 2009
Thursday Aug 13, 2009
This week's posts on the blog are devoted to the end of World War II. August 15 marks the anniversary of VJ Day, the date when the Japanese surrender was announced, ending a long struggle by the Allies to overcome the Axis powers. Our first post is a previously lost special program carried on NBC on April 23, 1946 to promote the United Jewish Appeal. The program features reporter Quenton Reynolds hosting a dramatization of the plight of European Jews after the War. Former Treasury of the Secretary Henry Morgenthau, Jr. makes some brief remarks in the program. Recently, the otr mailing list discussed Jews on radio, prompted by the recent release of a documentary about Gertrude Berg. Outside of news or commentary programs, dramatic shows that address the dislocation and suffering of the Jews during the War seem to be relatively rare. The Goldbergs, however, did include material about current events in Germany and Europe that impacted Jews. "VE Plus 350" was transferred from an original unlabeled line-check laquer recorded at KGW, Portland and includes the NBC network id and chimes. According to newspaper listings from the period, the program was broadcast at 7:45 pm Eastern on the some outlets on the network and at 10:15 pm Pacific on others.
Friday Aug 07, 2009
Melody Round-Up - Pgm 533
Friday Aug 07, 2009
Friday Aug 07, 2009
For you Lum and Abner fans out there, here's a bit of an oddity. "Melody Round-Up" was a fifteen minute country music series that took different forms in its run on the Armed Forces Radio Network. Some programs in the series were reduced versions of regional country music programs or shows by personalities like Gene Autry. Others, such as the one you're about to hear, were more like dee-jay shows.
Program 533 in the series is hosted by Chester Lauck and Norris Goff, radio's "Lum n' Abner", spinning tunes by the Riders of the Purple Sage and reading dedications to Armed Forces personnel. The first song on the show is "Following the Sun All Day". This previously lost episode of the series was transferred from an original AFRS vinyl transcription. Again, my thanks to listener Michael Utz for his donation of the disc to my collection!Friday Jun 26, 2009
Gracie Fields - Pgm 5
Friday Jun 26, 2009
Friday Jun 26, 2009
Gracie Fields was a well-loved English-Italian actress and comedienne who first gained fame on stage and screen in her home country. During World War II, because of her Italian citizenship, she chose to live in the United States since she would have been detained in Britain. She spent the War years entertaining the troops and appearing here in the US.
Originally broadcast on NBC as a summer replacement series for "Charlie McCarthy", here's an episode of the seldom heard "Gracie Fields" program of July 9, 1944. In this episode, Jack Carson banters with Gracie about getting her started on a career in Hollywood and they do a sketch about an American boy calling on a British girl for a date. Along with Gracie Fields and guest Jack Carson, we hear Lou Bring and His Orchestra and announcer Bill Goodwin. The show was transferred from an original AFRS vinyl transcription.
Saturday May 09, 2009
AFRS VE-Day Program
Saturday May 09, 2009
Saturday May 09, 2009
May 8th marks the anniversary of VE Day (or Victory in Europe Day) when the Allies accepted the surrender of the armed forces of Germany. Obviously, Armed Forces Radio had to prepare for various stages of the War and the eventual victory, so this was a special celebratory program prepared in advance of the actual end of the War in Europe.
To commemorate the event, AFRS assembled a cast of stars for song and reflection about the War and the battles still to come to end the War in the Pacific. Heard in the show are Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, The Ken Darby Singers, Frances Langford, Dinah Shore, Ginny Simms, Johnny Mercer, Judy Garland, Loretta Young, Charles Boyer, Lin Yutang, Herbert Marshall, and Bishop Fulton Sheen. Highlights of the show include Francis Langford singing "This is the Army", Bing crooning "Praise the Lord (And Pass the Ammunition)" and Judy Garland with a bizarre medley of songs including "We're Off to See the Wizard" with the lyrics altered to disparage Hitler(!). The show was transferred to mp3 format from one of the more unusual AFRS discs I've seen. The show is part of their "Basic Information Library, and is marked as Program No. 5 in the BIL and "Information Special #2". The disc is also marked to indicate that it is "to be retained by station after original broadcast as part of Basic Information Library". I'm not sure how they would have reused the show unless individual stations could use extracts from it in later programming about the War. Stay tuned to the blog for a special AFRS program commemorating VJ Day in August.Saturday Apr 11, 2009
Command Performance, Pgm 162
Saturday Apr 11, 2009
Saturday Apr 11, 2009
We continue our look at the work of Bing Crosby this week with what may be the most famous program on AFRS that he appeared in. It's program 162 in the series "Command Performance", the comic strip operetta, "Dick Tracy in B Flat". The once-in-a-lifetime cast includes Bing Crosby, Dinah Shore, Jimmy Durante, Judy Garland, Cass Daley, Frank Sinatra, Frank Morgan, Bob Hope, Jerry Colonna, the Andrews Sisters and announcer Harry Von Zell.
There are several unusual aspects to this episode of "Command Performance". The show was usually a half-hour and it's not clear why they expanded it to an hour for this show that was distributed at that particular time. In fact, if you listen closely, it sounds like it may have been originally recorded as a "two-parter", since there's a break in the middle telling you to tune in next week. This reference falls a couple of minutes into side three of the transcription set, so I don't think it's there to give the local stations flexibility in programming it on their schedule. I'd also like to know how the show originated - who came up with the idea and if it was the work primarly of one or more writers on the "Command Peformance" staff. Our digital file was recorded directly from an original vinyl AFRS transcription set. This may be an upgrade for your collection, since at least one popular version of the recording that's floating around in mp3 format sounds as though it was transferred from a second generation tape and was dubbed too slow, making the cast sound like they have a bad cold.Sunday Mar 15, 2009
Spike Jones - Pgm 3
Sunday Mar 15, 2009
Sunday Mar 15, 2009
Here's a rarity that took a bit of detective work to figure out. It's "The Chase and Sanborn Program" from June 17, 1945, originally broadcast on NBC. The series was a replacement for "The Pepsodent Show" when Bob Hope went on a USO tour. It sounds more like it's hosted by Francis Langford, rather than Spike Jones, but it was distributed by the Armed Forces Radio Servce as program 3 in the "Spike Jones" series. (You can see other examples of the program at the RadioGOLDindex.)
This episode is a remote from a military hospital in Santa Barbara, California. Francis Langford opens the show with "I'm Beginning to See the Light"; Spike Jones and company do "Choo Choo Polka", "Laura" and "You Always Hurt the One You Love", a parody of the Ink Spots. The program features Frances Langford, Spike Jones, Ken Carpenter and guest Garry Moore. The sound can be a little rough at times, but the original vinyl AFRS disc of this previously lost program was in atrocious condition. I ran the file through some declicker software I found online to see if it would make the program at least listenable. The date is taken from the disc vinyl trail-off area.
Sunday Feb 22, 2009
GI Journal - Pgm 12
Sunday Feb 22, 2009
Sunday Feb 22, 2009
"GI Journal" was one of several shows, like "Command Performance", recorded especially for our fighting troops during World War II. There's the usual mix of fast paced comedy and music, but "GI Journal" loosely uses the format of the host editing a newspaper.
Program 12 in the series from October 9, 1943 features host Bing Crosby with announcer Harry Mitchell, Ish Kabibble offering poems and Arthur Q. Bryan with advice to the lovelorn, along with comedy Jerry Collonna, songs from Georgia Carroll, and John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra. Bing kicks off the show with "Thank Your Lucky Stars". Mel Blanc plays a GI trying out for a position as a Supply Sergeant and the Mad Russian and Bing do a routine about a salvage operation. Our mp3 was dubbed directly from an original AFRS vinyl transcription.Sunday Jan 25, 2009
Bob Hope, AFRS Pgm 110
Sunday Jan 25, 2009
Sunday Jan 25, 2009
Now let's turn back the clock to World War II. If there was anything that was a constant in American life during the War, it would have been rationing, daylight savings time, and Bob Hope.
Although Hope was beloved by troops for his many appearances and became an icon of American comedy with his tv specials up through the 1980s, I never really cared for his brand of "one liner" radio and television comedy, though I can find the Hope-Crosby "Road" movies enjoyable. After you listen to several of his radio shows, particularly those from the War period, the sameness of the jokes and Hope's womanizing gets a little old. However, I know Hope has his fans out there, so I'm offering up a rare uncirculated Bob Hope program. Originally broadcast June 5, 1945 on NBC as the "Pepsodent Show", via an Armed Forces Radio Network transcription where the program was broadcast as program 110 in the Bob Hope series, here's Hope at the Sedalia Army Air Field near Kansas City, Missouri. It's the last show of the season and the main sketch has Bob going for a physical checkup, so he gets out his joke files marked "Hospital Jokes", "Nurse Jokes" and "Doctor Jokes". The program features Skinnay Ennis singing "Got a Date with an Angel", Francis Langford performing "You Belong to My Heart" and comedy appearances by Vera Vague (Barbara Jo Allen) and Jerry Colonna. Our mp3 file was transferred directly from an original AFRS transcription. Sorry for the rough sound in spots; the disc hasn't seen the best storage conditions in the past sixty plus years.
Saturday Jan 10, 2009
Pathfinders of the Sky - August 1942
Saturday Jan 10, 2009
Saturday Jan 10, 2009
In this post, a rather unusual radio recording. It's a long excerpt from a World War II program about fliers called "Pathfinders of the Sky" originally recorded in 1942 by the University of Texas's Radio House. Radio House didn't actually have broadcasting facilities at the time. The facility at the university was used as a training ground for young people interested in radio and they recorded programs for commercial and public service clients that were distributed throughout the southwest.
"Pathfinders of the Sky" features a young navigator and trainer, a Lt. William J. Bueford (or is it spelled "Buford"?) from New York state, and Radio House made this acetate of his radio appearance for his family. It's unknown if the complete program survives in the UT archives or elsewhere. In the show, probably recorded as a recruiting tool, Bueford talks about what training is navigators during the War. The mp3 was dubbed directly from a 12" acetate of the program and includes an introduction by the staff of Radio House. My apologies for the rough sound on this one, but it might be of interest to WW II buffs out there and the family of the young man featured on the show.