rand's esoteric otr

Dinah Shore - Pgm 46

It's been awhile since we heard from the charming Dinah Shore, so let's give one of her fun shows a spin.

Originally heard November 30, 1944 as "Birds Eye Open House" on NBC, here's program 46 of the "Dinah Shore" Armed Forces Radio Service series.  We hear guest Jack Carson do his imitation of Frank Sinatra; the show also features Harry Von Zell, The Joseph Lilley Chorus, Robert Emmett Dolan and His Orchestra. Our mp3 was dubbed directly from an original War Department Armed Forces Radio Service vinyl transcription.  The date is from the disc matrix.

Dinah Shore - Pgm 15

I've not been able to pin down a date on this previously lost/uncirculated "Dinah Shore" program.  It sounds like it might be from her circa 1943 series sponsored by Birds Eye on CBS.

In program 15 of the series as broadcast on AFRS, Dinah opens up the show with "The One I Love Belongs to Somebody Else".  In the comedy segments, guest Wally Brown has decided to become a detective. Brown appeared on several episodes of Dinah's 1943 series for Birds Eye.  He was a comedy partner with Alan Carney and the team was promoted by RKO as a kind of low-rent Abbot and Costello.  Probably their most (in)famous movie together was "Zombies on Broadway". The show was transferred from an original Navy Department AFRS vinyl transcription.  There's no date in disc matrix

Dinah Shore, Pgm 94

Here's another radio show that appears to be "lost". Originally broadcast January 31, 1946 on NBC, it's "Birdseye Open House" (aka "Dinah Shore's Open House"), and distributed as Program 94 in the "Dinah Shore" series on AFRS.  In this episode, the guest is Groucho Marx.  The cast does a sketch about a gambler (Groucho) on a riverboat and Groucho sings "Hooray for Captain Spaulding".  The site radiogoldindex.com lists the network version of the show, but only the last fifteen minutes survive of that recording.

"Bird's Eye Open House" was a well-done musical variety series with Dinah Shore as hostess and Harry Von Zell announcing.  It was broadcast in the mid-40s, originating at KFI in Los Angeles, and is best remembered for Groucho's frequent appearances.  The movie careers of the Marx Brothers were in decline at the time and Groucho was seeking out a great deal of radio work; he can be heard as a guest on several shows from the period including programs such as "Command Performance", just a few years before his rapier wit would be tapped for "You Bet Your Life". The show was transferred from an original vinyl AFRS transcription. Updated 2/3/09 - Corrected "Birdseye" name.