rand's esoteric otr

We Hold These Truths - December 15, 1941

Now, we present one of the most unique broadcasts of the old time radio era. "We Hold These Truths" was a one hour dramatic program written by Norman Corwin for the 150th anniversary of the Bill of Rights.  Scheduled to be heard on all four networks on December 15, 1941, events would turn the program into something bigger than a simple commemoration.

The federal government commissioned the broadcast and preparations were made for the show before Pearl Harbor, of course.  With the nation suddenly at war, the program took on a special meaning - it holds the record for the largest radio audience for a dramatic program.  Some have estimated that 63 million listeners, about half of the US population at the time, turned in to the program. Heard in the show, broadcast from Hollywood, New York and Washington, DC, are Lionel Barrymore, Jimmy Stewart, Orson Welles, Edward Arnold, Walter Brennan, Bob Burns, Walter Huston Marjorie Main, Edward G. Robinson, and Rudy Vallee.  The music was composed and conducted by Bernard Herrman; Leopold Stokowski conducts the national anthem at the end of the program after remarks by President Roosevelt. This mp3 of the program was transferred from an original Federal Radio Education Committee, US Office of Education, vinyl transcription set, matrix numbers G-3013-P, G-3014-P, G-3015-P, G-3016-P. I think it's one of Orson Welles most memorable radio performances, by the way - he practically chews up and spits out the microphone during the show.

Your Home Front Reporter - October 8, 1943

Here's our next to last entry in my collection of discs from the unusual and previously unheard Wartime series, "Your Home Front Reporter", a mix of news and music sponsored by the Owens Illinois Glass Company.

From October 8, 1943, here's program 110 in the series.  Tenor Phil Regan opens the show with the song "Just a Little Bit of Heaven".  Mrs. Jimmy Doolittle stops by to discuss how families can help keep down prices and prevent inflation. Don Pryor gives an update on the War news.  Starting tonight, the West Coast can start turning on most lights again as dim-out restrictions are relaxed; there may be a government release of eggs, milk and butter to ease shortages; it looks like salmon have been adjusting to the dams on the Columbia River and the Spring Salmon Run was above average; an update on how the WACS are helping the War effort.  Eileen Farrell, making a radio appearance early in her career, sings "The Night Was Made for Love".  The show ends with an announcement calling for volunteers for the School Lunch Program. The program was transferred from vinyl transcription, matrix numbers BB37255 and BB37256, pressed by World Broadcasting System, Inc. for the Owens Illinois Glass Company.

Your Home Front Reporter - October 4, 1943

This month I'm on something of a World War II kick - in this post, we're revisiting a series I started running last year and I'll be running the last four episodes in my collection over the next few weeks.

"Your Home Front Reporter" was broadcast in the afternoons on CBS starting in May 1943 and sponsored by the Owens Illinois Glass Company.  The program is a mix of light operetta music by Frank Parker and Met opera star Eleanor Steber and commentary and news on the War aimed at housewives. Program 106 in the series was originally broadcast October 4, 1943, and includes news of advances by the Allies in Europe and the Pacific.  There's also commentary about how the Fall harvest celebrations and Thanksgiving are a little different during Wartime. The program was transferred from vinyl transcription, matrix numbers BB37198 and BB37199, pressed by World Broadcasting System, Inc. for the Owens Illinois Glass Company.

Mail Call - Unknown pgm number

In this post, a bit of a mystery - an unnumbered and undated episode of the Armed Forces Radio series "Mail Call".

The host of the program is Jane Nye.  The King Sisters kick off the show with "Candy".  Betty Grable, Bob Hope, Humphrey Bogart and Bing Crosby appear in a sketch that parodies "The Princess and the Pirate".  The program also includes appearances by Dick Haymes, Ken Murray, Marilyn Maxell.  It sounds like it's probably an "assembled" show, with Nye's segments recorded to introduce segments from other Armed Forces Radio programming. The show was transferred from a unusual 14" microgroove lacquer that sounds like a dub of an original AFRS disc and appears to date from the 1960s.  Christopher McPherson donated the disc to the blog and, believe it or not, the disc came from the estate of Mae West. Goldin lists his particular "Mail Call" episode, but I couldn't find any other references to the show.  Is the original vinyl disc still out there somewhere?

Mail Call - Pgm 93

Now let's turn back the clock to World War II with another entry in the Armed Forces Radio Network variety series, "Mail Call", that brought the top stars from movies and radio to perform for the troops.

This is a pretty amazing little half-hour program.  Program 93 features hostess Paulette Goddard introducing W.C. Fields, Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd with Edgar Bergen, Virginia O'Brien, Borrah Minnevitch and the Harmonica Rascals and the King Sisters.  The announcer for the show is Don Wilson. The program is dedicated to armed forces personnel from the State of Kentucky, so there's something of a Kentucky Derby theme going on, at least in the program's opening and first number by the orchestra, "Kentucky".  The King Sisters sing the War themed tune, "Milkman, Keep Those Bottles Quiet" and the Harmonica Rascals do a wonderful arrangement of "Brazil".  (I'm a fan of the Harmonicats, so this was a real treat.) The highlight of the show is the sketch with W.C. Fields and Edgar Bergen.  They're in rare form, with Fields and Bergen tossing in adlibs as Fields gets lost in the script. The show was transferred from an original AFRS vinyl transcription.  According to the log of the series at otrsite.com, it was recorded May 24, 1944. By the way - do you recognize the theme the orchestra plays after the intro of Paulette Goddard?  It would turn up years later as a main theme used on "The Big Show".  Was this some kind of stock cue in the music score library at NBC?

Mail Call - Pgm 58

I'm in a rather lighthearted mood this week, so here's some more comedy, this time with a World War II theme.

"Mail Call" was one of the comedy-variety series produced by Armed Forces Radio and featuring some of the top talent from Hollywood and radio.  Program 58 in the series, recorded September 30, 1943 and released in November of that year, is hosted by actor Lionel Barrymore and features Harlow Wilcox with the announcing duties, taking a break from shilling Johnson's Wax on "Fibber McGee and Molly".  Skinnay Ennis and the OTC Band kick off the show with "This is the Army, Mr. Jones" and Georgia Gibbs sings "Shoo Shoo Baby".  Dennis Day offers a seldom-heard War-themed tune and then we hear  Fanny Brice and Hanley Stafford in a "Baby Snooks" sketch. The program was transferred from an original War Department Armed Forces Radio vinyl transcription.  Apologies for the digital artifacts in the file - the click reduction had to work overtime on this very scratched disc.

Command Performance - Victory Extra

Finally this week in our look at the end of World War II, we hear a remarkable broadcast - a special episode of "Command Performance" dubbed "Victory Extra", prepared for VJ Day and broadcast August 15, 1945 on the Armed Forces Radio Network.

Running a full 100 minutes, the show features an incredible array of actors, actresses, comedians, performers and personalities - almost anyone who was anybody showed up to celebrate the end of the War for our troops.  Below, after the jump, is a complete outline of all the program contents for the purposes of indexing and searching for the show, but, if you've never heard it, I'd recommend you just listen and be surprised at who shows up. Of course, since AFRS programs had to be distributed on disc to stations around the world, this special broadcast had to be prepared in advance.  It would be interesting to find out how the show was put together - it sounds like it was specially created and didn't use recycled excerpts from other programs, like some other AFRS programs.  Was it done in one recording session?  What did they tell the audience?  (Or was the audience made up of the performers themselves?) The program was transferred from an original AFRS vinyl transcription set. Click "more" to see a complete listing of the show's performers. An outline of the program's contents:

• An opening prayer read by Ronald Coleman
• "Ave Maria" performed by Rise Stevens
• Dinah Shore singing "I'll Walk Alone"
• Lionel Barrymore introducing Jose Iturbe
• Bette Davis in a comedy routine with Jimmy Durante and Jose Iturbe
• Marlene Dietrich introducing Burgess Meredith reading material by Ernie Pyle
• Ginny Sims singing "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To"
• Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby engaging in banter and singing a few song excerpts, then Frank sings "The House I Live In"
• Brief remarks from Rita Hayworth, Desi Arnez, Ida Lupino, Ginger Rogers, Ruth Hussey, Clare Trevor, Don Wilson, Bill Maldin, George Montgomery, John Conte, Jinx Falkenburg, Dinah Lewis, Ronald Coleman
• Janet Blair singing "What Is This Thing Called Love?"
• William Powell introducing Bing Crosby singing "San Fernando Valley"
• Harry Von Zell and Lucille Ball with "Sounds from Home" including Lucille Ball sighing
• The King Sisters singing "Shoo Shoo Baby"
• Cary Grant introducing Robert Montgomery reading words from FDR
• Loretta Young reading a prayer written by a Chaplin serving in Burma
• Lena Horne singing "The Man I Love"
• Col Thomas H.A. Lewis expressing thanks to the performers, radio networks and stations, unions music publishers and others that make AFRS programs possible
• GI Jill introducing Johnny Mercer singing "GI Jive"
• Edward G. Robinson and Orson Welles reading words from various military leaders of the War
• Lena Roman singing a song in Spanish
• Danny Kaye performing a song about movies
• Marilyn Maxwell singing "I Got Rhythm"
• Herbert Marshall reading a poem by a fighter pilot
• Carmen Miranda singing "Tico, Tico"
• Claudette Colbert with Ed Gardner as "Archie" from "Duffy's Tavern"
• Greer Garson introducing Bing Crosby singing "White Christmas"
• Orson Welles reading a prayer by Yeoman 3rd Class William Welch
• Ken Carpenter "signing off" the program "on this first day of world peace" and introducing the US national anthem

Music Hall, Pgm 93

Here's another episode of the long running musical variety showcase, "Kraft Music Hall".  This episode was originally broadcast September 14, 1944 and rebroadcast as program 93 in the "Music Hall" series on the Armed Forces Radio Service.

The program features host George Murphy, Marilyn Maxwell, Eukie, John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra along with guests the Kingsmen and Lum N' Abner.  Murphy and Maxwell kick off the show with "It Had to Be You" and we hear a parody of soaps called "The Cross Family".  A highlight of the episode, and something that fits with this week's blog theme of the end of World War II, is a routine by Lum N' Abner about updating to modern post-War conveniences in the home. The show appears to be a lost/uncirculated program in the series and was transferred from an original AFRS War Department vinyl transcription.  Date of the program is from the transcription matrix.

Disabled American Veterans - Riot Squad

Of course, a more serious issue after the War were the struggles faced by disabled vets after they came home. In this post, we listen to a drama syndicated by the Disabled American Veterans titled "Riot Squad".  The show features Henry Fonda in the true story of Dave Snyder who lost his legs in the War, but went on to become a member of the "riot squad", a social club for disabled vets.

Goldin lists a series titled "Disabled American Vets Make Good", but the series title isn't identified on the label for this program, so I'm not sure if it's from the same series.  (Goldin lists the program on its own under the "Riot Squad" title.)  The show was transferred from an original WOR vinyl transcription, matrix number 12885A.

Home Is What You Make It - April 20, 1946

Continuing our examination of the end of World War II, we turn to "Home Is What You Make It", a sustained NBC public service series focused on issues related to the War and the home front.  Only a couple of examples of the show are listed at Goldin.

In this post, we'll hear the first half of the episode of April 20, 1946, "Promised and On the Way", the 74th program in the series.  Ben Grauer hosts a dramatized tour through the amazing new conveniences on the way for American home makers in the post-War period. Mixing bowls in Technicolor!  Washing machines that make your wearables clothesline fresh!  Streamlined kitchen cabinets and ovens with timers that cook for you!  It's all coming, courtesy of the millions of dollars of industrial research and development!  Of course, the post-War period would also bring us the Cold War, McCarthyism, sprawling suburbs and rock n' roll, but that's a different story... The show was transferred from an original line check lacquer from John Keating Studios, Portland, Oregon, probably at KGW, and includes the NBC opening system cue.  The program was previously lost and the second half, unfortunately, doesn't survive.