rand's esoteric otr

Dennis Day - Pgm 114

This transcription's a bit rough in places, but it gives us another previously lost episode of "The Dennis Day Show", aka "A Day in the Life of Dennis Day".

In program 114 of the series as it was broadcast on AFRS, originally heard November 5, 1949 on NBC, Dennis enters a cigar slogan contest.  His opening tune on the show is "I Never See Maggie Alone". The show was transferred from a vinyl AFRS transcription; the date is from the disc matrix.

Dennis Day Show - January 1, 1949

I've been fortunate to run into several episodes in the long-running Dennis Day series over the past few months.  Here's another, originally broadcast January 1, 1949 on NBC.

Day's program evolved into a couple of different formats during his years on the networks.  The "Dennis Day Show" of the late 40s is a sitcom where he plays a not-so-bright soda clerk in a small town drug store who happens to share a voice and name with a famous radio star.  In this episode, Dennis works as a stable boy and winds up saving the life of a millionaire.  In the show, Dennis sings "A Little Bird Told Me", "Slow Boat to China" and "Song of Songs".  (I'm confused - is that drug store clerk Dennis singing or is it Jack Benny sidekick Dennis belting out songs?) The show, also known as "A Day in the Life of Dennis Day", includes the original commercials for Palmolive and the NBC network chimes and features announcer Verne Smith, Charles Dant and His Orchestra, Barbara Eiler, Bea Benaderet, and Dink Trout. The transfer is directly from a set of original NBC reference acetates.

Dennis Day - Pgm 198

It's been awhile seen we heard from singer, comedian and "Jack Benny Show" cast member Dennis Day on the blog.  Here, we offer up another rare example of a comedy variety show featuring Dennis that was broadcast in the mid-1950s, probably on NBC (according to Goldin).

The program was likely heard September 18, 1955 (the date on the AFRTS transcription vinyl trail-off) and was distributed as program 198 in the "Dennis Day" series.  Dennis starts off the show with a rendition of "April Showers" and Mel Blanc, a regular guest on the series, performs "The Pussy Cat Parade".  Also, guest Anna Maria Alberghetti gives us "The Italian Street Song" and the troop performs a comedy sketch that's a Western done as an opera. The show was transferred from an original AFRTS vinyl transcription set.

Dennis Day Show - January 8, 1947

Note:  This program has been removed from my site, as of August 21, 2010.  Recently, Radio Spirits has issued take-down notices to archive.org and other sites concerning claims they have on particular series and shows.  These claims not only include exclusive license for particular series, but also claims on images, likenesses and recordings of particular personalities.  Since Radio Spirits doesn't publicly provide a list of shows they license or estates they represent, I'm taking preventive action and removing some programs from my site, based on forum posts and archived news articles I've seen on their claims and the estates they say they represent. - rand The "Dennis Day Show" was broadcast in the late 1940s on NBC and sponsored by Colgate.  Day, a singer and comedian that was a regular on "The Jack Benny Show", got his own sitcom where he played a down on his luck clerk in a drugstore.  The show is sometimes referred to as "A Day in the Life of Dennis Day".

There are several episodes of this series that are lost, but I've been lucky enough to dig up one that hasn't been publicly heard since it originally aired.  In this episode, broadcast January 8, 1947 from 9:00 to 9:30 pm, the government accidentally sends Dennis a tax refund of $100,000.  Dennis sings "My Pretty Girl" and "The Anniversary Song". There's also a very special guest cameo about half-way through the show - I won't spoil the surprise and just let you listen to find out who it is. The program was transferred from an original NBC reference acetate numbered R-28131.

The Dennis Day Show, AFRTS Pgm 191

Here's another episode of a series of Dennis Day variety shows that I've not been able to dig up much info on. In program 191, as broadcast on the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service, the guests are Vera Ellen and Johnny Mercer.  Dennis sings "The Best Things in Life are Free" and Mercer sings his new song "Lonesome Polecat".  The comedy sketch is "This is Your Past, Y'all!", the life story of Johnny Mercer.  The date July 31, 1955 is stamped on the disc label, which may indicate when it was broadcast by a local AFRTS station.

The show was transferred from an original set of vinyl AFRS transcription discs.

The Dennis Day Show - AFRS Pgm 185

This week, I'm offering up another rarity that I haven't been able to dig up much information on.  It's the "Dennis Day Show", distributed as program 185 in the series by the Armed Forces Radio Service. You may be familiar with Dennis Day from his appearances on the "Jack Benny Show" and you may have heard a sitcom that ran in the late 1940s featuring Day that's sometimes called "A Day in the Life of Dennis Day".  This program, however, is from a musical variety series done by Dennis Day in the mid-1950s.  I recently found this episode, along with two others in this series and a previously lost 1946 episode of the "Dennis Day Show" in a group of discs I purchased from another collector.

In program 185 in the series, the guests are Mel Blanc and Patty Andrews.  Dennis sings "It's a Grand Night for Singing" and Blanc performs "I Tawt I Taw a Putty Tat".  The main comedy sketch is a parody that looks at what radio would sound like in Ireland and includes satires of "Dragnet" and "Old Doctor Malone". The show may have been on June 19, 1955, a date which is noted on the disc label; the content of the programs does definitely date it to 1954 or 1955.  Does anyone have information on this series and which network it was broadcast on? The show as transferred from a set of original vinyl AFRS transcription discs.  The other two episodes from the series, along with other finds, will be going on the blog soon.