With Jack’s contract with General Foods nearing its close, the only thing left to do was count down the remaining episodes. On May 21st, 1944, Jack and the gang discussed split personalities. Jack thinks it's ridiculous, but later realizes he has one too. In other news this episode marks the debut of the spoof commercial for Sympathy Cough Syrup. I…

By the Spring of 1944 Jack Benny’s cast had become its most familiar incarnation. Frank Nelson had begun to develop into Benny’s nemesis, as he remembered in this interview clip. Phil Harris was a lovable and vain drunk. Mel Blanc could play any character imaginable. Others like Bea Benaderet, John Brown, and Sarah Berner rounded out the cast. Most…

In early May 1944 Jack and the rest of his cast were still traveling around military bases in the Pacific Northwest. On May 7th they were at the Naval Air Station in Whidbey Island, Washington as Dick Haymes continued substituting for the now departed Dennis Day.The rating for this episode was 20.1, although lower than his season average, it was st…

By the spring of 1944, Benny’s ratings had continued slipping. That season, his 23.7 rating meant he’d lost roughly four million weekly listeners in just three years. At the end of this season, his contract with General Foods was up. Here's Jack Benny talking about that time.There was tension between the two parties because Benny had helped save Je…

On April 23rd, 1944 The Jack Benny Program took to the air, broadcasting from Vancouver, British Columbia. It would be Dennis Day’s last show until March 17th, 1946. He’d be departing for the Navy.In April of 1944 Dennis Day was twenty-seven years old. He’d been starring on Jack Benny’s show since 1939, rounding into a very talented performer. Day …

Mel Blanc joined the show on February 19th, 1939. Benny was adding a new touch to the miser theme: a polar bear, who would live in his basement and help protect his money. The bear was christened Carmichael, and in 1941, according to Rochester, he ate the gas man. On Sunday December 7th, 1941 Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and Manila, thrusting the Un…

In March of 1932 Jack Benny was headlining on Broadway as part of Earl Carroll’s Vanities when friend Ed Sullivan invited him to appear on Ed’s radio show. At the time Benny had no great interest in radio, but he went on Sullivan’s quarter-hour show March 19th, 1932, as a favor. His first line was “Ladies and gentlemen, this is Jack Benny talking. …

In Breaking Walls episode 150 we parachute into Easter Sunday, 1944 for a day of radio, recollections, and reconciliation. It’s now less than two months before D-Day and U.S. citizens are awaiting word of a full-scale European invasion with held breath. ——————————Highlights:• Cracks In The Nazi Foundation• Invitation To Learning at 11:30AM• Ceiling…

At 11:15PM over Mutual’s WOR in New York, Duke Ellington was on the air with music from The famous Hurricane Nightclub on 49th street and broadway in New York City.The next day, The British Royal Air Force dropped a record thirty-six hundred tons of bombs in a single raid on Germany, France and Belgium.On Tuesday April 11th, the Soviets took more n…

At 10:30PM eastern time on NBC’s WEAF, The Bob Crosby Show took to the air in New York with the just-heard Les Tremayne as co-host and Shirley Mitchell as the special guest. This episode’s rating was 13.8. Earlier this evening, Shirley Mitchell played Leila Ransom on NBC’s The Great Gildersleeve.Opposite The Bob Crosby Show, The Adventures of The T…

In the Spring of 1944, Fred Allen was finishing up his fourth season as host of The Texaco Star Theater on CBS. He’d been on the air for over a decade, but it was while he was hosting Texaco on December 6th, 1942 that Fred debuted Allen’s Alley.Allen used to read the newspaper column of O.O. McIntyre, called “Thoughts While Strolling.” McIntyre wro…

Edgar Bergen first came to the attention of American audiences on Rudy Vallée’s NBC Royal Gelatin Hour on December 17th, 1936. How could ventriloquism work on radio? Perhaps Rudy Vallée himself put it best the night Bergen debuted.Five months later NBC gave Bergen his own show on Sundays at 8PM. He was an instant smash hit. Don Ameche worked with B…

At 7PM eastern time over Mutual Broadcasting’s flagship WOR, The Mysterious Traveler went on the air. Written and directed by Robert Arthur and David Kogan, The Mysterious Traveler debuted on Mutual December 5th, 1943. Maurice Tarplin played the title role with a good-natured malevolence. The traveler mostly narrated from an omniscient perch. He ro…

When we were last with Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve in episode 149 of Breaking Walls he was gearing up for his local mayoral campaign, while simultaneously struggling to break away from his ex-fiancé Leila Ransom, voiced by the just-heart Shirley Mitchell. On Easter Sunday, Gildy’s mayoral campaign for Summerfield officially began, and he went to c…

At 6PM over NBC’s WEAF, The Catholic Hour took to the air with an address from Monsignor Fulton J. Sheen.Fulton John Sheen was born on May 8th, 1895 in El Paso, Illinois. He was ordained a priest in 1919, quickly becoming a renowned theologian. He won the Cardinal Mercier Prize for International Philosophy in 1923 and went on to teach theology and …

Between 4PM and 5:30 eastern war time, NBC broadcast Easter services from the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, as well as the NBC symphony with Arturo Toscanini. CBS broadcast Orchestra music and The Family Hour. The Blue Network aired Music and the Mary Small Revue. Mutual Broadcasting’s flagship WOR aired Abe Lincoln’s Story and Green Valley, U.…

At 3:30PM over Mutual’s WOR in New York, Bulldog Drummond took to the air. It was directed by the just-heard Himan Brown. It starred Santos Ortega, known as Sandy to his friends. Jackson Beck was the announcer.Bulldog Drummond was a British inspector popularized in the Paramount detective films of the 1930s. It was first broadcast April 13th, 1941.…

The man you just heard was radio legend Hans Conreid, known as one of the most versatile actors of the 20th century. He could adroitly handle comedy, variety, or serious drama while speaking any dialect convincingly.On April 9th 1944 at 3PM eastern time over WJZ and at 12PM pacific time on KECA, Conreid was busy playing Uncle Baxter on The Life of …

Between 12 and 2PM, news, religious, and war programming filled the radio dial. Standouts included the Salt Lake City Tabernacle Choir and Organ at noon on CBS, Soldiers of the Press at 12:30 on Mutual, and The Chicago Roundtable at 1:30 on NBC. Ceiling Unlimited began as a series of informative dramas by Orson Welles in November 1942. It was spons…

Saturday April 8th, 1944. New York City. It’s a rainy day before Easter and World War II news is dominating consciousness. There are cracks in Germany’s foundation. On Tuesday April 4th, allied surveillance aircrafts photographed the Auschwitz concentration camp. Knowing this, the Nazis will spend the next four months using the gas chambers and inc…

In Breaking Walls episode 149 we’ll spend March of 1944 with Hal Peary and The Great Gildersleeve.——————————Highlights:• The Men And Women On The Front Lines of War War II in March 1944• Hal Peary and the Birth of Gildersleeve on Fibber McGee and Molly• The First Ever Sitcom Spin Off and The Great Gildersleeve Premieres• Registering To Vote• Mid Ma…

On Sunday, March 19th, 1944 Germany forcefully occupied Hungary to prevent the country from making a separate peace agreement with the Soviet Union. Within two days, German authorities forced all Jewish businesses to close, sending hundreds to internment camps. On March 20th, The Battle of Sangshak began in Manipur, India, while U.S. Marines landed…

By Sunday March 26th, 1944, with Easter only two weeks away, Gildy had decided to run for mayor. Naturally, he needed a good campaign photo to go with it. By this time, Peary had become a film star, starring as Gildersleeve in both shorts and feature-length films.Par James Scully

As the first day of Spring approached, Gildersleeve contemplated running for Mayor of Summerfield on March 19th. Shirley Mitchell voiced Leila Ransom. Ken Carpenter, by then a famous announcer, was the Kraft spokesperson.Par James Scully

On Wednesday March 15th, 1944 during battle, the allies dropped nearly one-thousand tons of bombs and two hundred thousand rounds of artillery on the Monte Cassino Monastery, while trying to storm the building. They were unable to dislodge the Germans. The allies were having more success sinking submarines. Over the next forty-eight hours Allied fo…

By December of 1941 The Great Gildersleeve was such a hit that Kraft ordered thirteen weeks of repeats for eight more west-coast NBC stations to air Thursdays at 6:30PM beginning in January. The program would now air on sixty total NBC stations. Summerfield was a pleasant slice of rural Americana. Most of the action took place in an eight-block are…

Hal Peary was born Harrold José de Faria to Portuguese parents on July 25th, 1908. He was fourteen when, in January of 1923, he made his radio debut on KZM in Oakland. By the late 1920s he was working for NBC in San Francisco. Migrating to Chicago in 1937, he soon became one of radio’s insiders, gaining a reputation as a top utility man.In 1937 he …

In Breaking Walls episode 148 we spend February of 1944 with America’s top comedian, Bob Hope, as he whisks himself around the country, entertaining troops and broadcasting to the masses.——————————Highlights:• Leslie Townes Hope’s Rise to Stardom• Broadway and Early Radio Shows• The Big Broadcast of 1938• The Pepsodent Program• Early February 1944 …

Well, that brings our look at Bob Hope’s career in February of 1944 to a close. We’ll be staying in 1944 the remainder of the year and next month we’ll spend March 1944 with a program considered to be the first spin-off in sitcom history.Next time on Breaking Walls we spotlight Hal Peary and The Great Gildersleeve, which between February and March …

On February 29th, 1944 Bob Hope was supposed to be in Mobile, Alabama for the first leg of a tour. He was unfortunately grounded by a cold. Instead, he broadcast his portion of the show from Hollywood, while the cast broadcast from Mobile. Once able to travel, Hope met his crew in transit, but not before being given a special award for his many ser…

On Friday February 25th, 1944 "Big Week," the allies six-day strategic bombing campaign against the Third Reich ended with a successful bombing of German cities Rostock and Augsburg, as well as several Dutch cities near the German border. Unfortunately, many civilians were killed or left homeless. The Germans also lost more than three-hundred-fifty…

On Tuesday February 22nd, 1944 The Bob Hope Show took to the air with a special broadcast for the Coast Guard. The guest was Carole Landis.Hope’s radio cast from this era is his most famous. Along with Jerry Colona and songstress Frances Langford, the squeaky, man-crazed Vera Vague, voiced by Barbara Jo Allen was tremendous. Blanche Stewart and Elv…

On February 15th, 1944 Bob Hope broadcast his program from Santa Ana’s Classification Center. His guest of honor was none other than good friend Bing Crosby.In February of 1944 Frances Langford was twenty-eight years old. She grew up in Florida, and originally trained as an opera singer. A tonsillectomy changed her range and she instead shifted her…

The week of February 13th, 1944 began with the Allies raiding Hong Kong and giving supplies to French resistance fighters. The next day a British submarine sank a German u-boat in a rare Pacific theater battle involving Germans. On Tuesday the 15th, the Soviets began their first offensive in the Battle of Narva while a Japanese cruiser was torpedoe…

On Saturday February 12th, 1944, Ken Carpenter was announcer for a Command Performance guest-starring Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, and Judy Garland. Hope had just co-hosted, with Bing Crosby, a pro-amateur golf charity event.Bob Hope did his first remote broadcast from March Field on May 6th, 1941. Initially reluctant to leave the studio, the roar of l…

After Bob Hope’s program signed off at 10:30PM eastern war time, The Red Skelton Show signed on. It debuted on Tuesday October 7th, 1941. By February of 1944 it was pulling a rating of 29.9. Ozzie and Harriet Nelson were heavily featured.Skelton was so supercharged that he couldn’t do a pre-show warm up. It left his audience exhausted and practical…

On Tuesday February 8th, 1944 at 10 PM eastern time over WEAF, and at 7PM pacific time over KFI, Bob Hope’s Pepsodent Program signed on live, coast-to-coast from Oceanside, California. The guest was Ginger Rogers, the program features a salute to her new film, Lady In The Dark. It was radio’s top show, pulling a rating that month of 36.2. Nearly tw…

If you’d have tuned your radio to NBC’s New York flagship, WEAF, at 7:30 PM on Tuesday February 8th, 1944 you’d have heard Ronald Coleman host the Autolite Sponsored, Everything For the Boys. The guest star was Greer Garson.NBC owned the ratings on Tuesdays with six of the top seven shows. Opposite of Everything For The Boys, CBS ran a concert, WOR…

As February 1944 got underway the Soviet Leningrad Front was fighting a heavy ground war against the German eighteenth army in Estonia. The battle would last the entire month with the Soviet’s eventually winning. French Resistance unified under the French Forces of the Interior.The Germans won the Battle of Cisterna in Italy against the Allied army…

He was born Leslie Townes Hope on May 29th, 1903 in Eltham, England. The fifth of seven sons, his parents were William Henry Hope, a stonemason from Somerset, and Welsh mother Avis, a light opera singer who later worked as a cleaner. The family eventually moved to Bristol for a time before emigrating to the U.S. aboard the SS Philadelphia, passing …

In Breaking Walls episode 147 we go into the studio with Himan Brown for the CBS radio drama relaunch in 1974.——————————Highlights:• First a January 1974 World News Roundup• Himan Brown’s Big Idea to Relaunch Radio Drama on CBS in 1974• Tuning Into January 8, 1974’s Episode of The CBS Radio Mystery Theater• Mason Adams in I Warn You Three Times• Ja…

This is the fifth episode of The CBS Radio Mystery Theater. Entitled "No Hiding Place," it was written by longtime writer of The Shadow, Sidney Slon. It stars Larry Haines, Jackson Beck, Anne Meacham, Sidney Walker and Tom Keena.The Plot: Charles Powel, executive vice president of a large company and engaged to the boss’ daughter, seems to have eve…

Well, that brings our look at the launch of The CBS Radio Mystery Theater to a close. We’ve spent the past five months making our way forward in time from 1957, to 1963, to 1973, and finally 1974.But, next month on Breaking Walls we’ll head back to the middle of radio’s golden age and focus on one of the most successful comedians of all-time.Next t…

Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 28th, 1974 — CBS 'Theater's' Brown Burns about Serling "I'm proud of every minute we're on the air...and I'll stand up for every single show I do." Speaking of The CBS Radio Mystery Theater was Himan Brown, executive producer of the nationwide show that premiered January 6th and has garnered good ratings.His comments we…

On Monday January 21st, 1974 the just-heard Joe Julian co-starred with Paul Hecht, Joan Banks, Mary Jane Higby, Tony Roberts, and George Petrie in Murray Burnett’s story “Dead for a Dollar” on The CBS Radio Mystery Theater.Radio legend Joan Banks played secretary Kay Woodhouse. George Petrie played Jason Grant. He’d been appearing on radio since th…

By the time The CBS Radio Mystery Theater debuted, the men and women associated with the show had been involved with each other for nearly forty years.Mary Jane Higby grew up in Los Angeles and remembered Hollywood before it was a radio hub. She was once called Queen of the soaps. Joan Banks, who later married Frank Lovejoy, remembered the New York…

On Thursday, January 10th, 1974 the crew of Skylab 4, which had been orbiting the earth for more than fifty days, was granted a day off. The week prior, during a televised news conference Mission commander Gerald Carr said he missed cold beer and football.That same day the U.S. carried out three simultaneous nuclear explosions as part of Operation …

On Saturday, January 12th, 1974, the just heard Mason Adams starred alongside Joan Loring, Tom Keena, Sam Gray, and Alan Manson in the seventh episode of The CBS Radio Mystery Theater.This aircheck comes from WOR and it's a mystery in the truest sense of the word. Joan Lorring, who voiced Hedy, was at the time of this broadcast forty-seven years ol…

The New York Daily News was unenthusiastic in its review of the first two episodes, however the third episode caught their attention. On the evening of Tuesday, January 8th, 1974 The CBS Radio Mystery Theater took to the air with their third installment, called “The Bullet,” guest-starring the just-heard radio, TV, and stage legend Larry Haines. La…

Tuesday, January 8th, 1974.It’s a cold night in Brooklyn, New York. There’s snow in the forecast. We’re driving north on Shore Road, towards the Belt Parkway in a 1973 Ford Maverick. Thanks to the oil crisis, smaller cars like the Maverick are becoming increasingly popular.On January 2nd, President Nixon signed a law lowering the maximum speed limi…