Salvation Army at Christmas 1949

This week on the blog, we're featuring a couple of Christmas-themed public service programs.  Back in the days when radio played a much larger role in the media landscape, charities didn't just send public service announcements to stations to promote their work - they'd send full, slickly produced special entertainment programs featuring top stars that stations could play from transcriptions.

First up, a very nicely recorded program of light classical music with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and many well known opera stars.  Lawrence Tibbett reminisces about the first time he sang publicly for a Salvation Army event and Jean Hersholt, radio's "Dr. Christian", makes an appearance.  Other performers heard include Set Svanholm, James Wallington, Glenn Wheaton, Licia Albanese, Jussi Bjoerling, Kirsten Flagstad, and Winifred Heidt. The show was transferred directly from a set of transcriptions pressed by RCA, matrix numbers RR 17174 and RR 17175.