James Francis Durante was an American comedian, actor, singer, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced songs, and prominent nose helped make him one of the United States' most familiar and popular personalities of the 1920s through the 1970s. He often referred to his nose as the schnozzola, and the word became his nickname.
Edgar John Bergen was an American ventriloquist, comedian, actor, vaudevillian and radio performer. He was best known for his characters Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd. Bergen pioneered modern-day ventriloquism and has been described by puppetry organization UNIMA as the “quintessential ventriloquist of the 20th century”. He was the father of actress Candice Bergen.
Eddie Cantor was an American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, film producer, screenwriter and author. Cantor was one of the prominent entertainers of his era.
Duffy's Tavern is an American radio sitcom that ran for a decade on several networks, concluding with the December 28, 1951, broadcast.
The Bickersons was a series of radio and television comedy sketches which began in 1946 on NBC radio. The show's married protagonists, portrayed by Don Ameche and Frances Langford, spent nearly all their time together in a relentless verbal war.
The Big Show was an American radio variety program featuring 90 minutes of comic, stage, screen, and music talent. It was aimed at keeping American radio in its classic era and making it robust against the rapidly growing television tide. The show ran from November 5, 1950, to April 20, 1952.
Arch Oboler was an American playwright, screenwriter, novelist, producer, and director who was active in radio, films, theater, and television. He generated much attention with his radio scripts, particularly the horror series Lights Out, and his work in radio remains the outstanding period of his career. Praised as one of broadcasting's top talents, he is regarded today as a key innovator of radio drama. Oboler's personality and ego were larger than life. Radio historian John Dunning wrote, "Few people were ambivalent when it came to Arch Oboler. He was one of those intense personalities who are liked and disliked with equal fire."
Camel Caravan was a musical variety radio program, sponsored by Camel cigarettes, that aired on NBC Radio and CBS Radio from 1933 to 1954. Various vocalists, musicians and comedy acts were heard during the 21 years this show was on the air, including such talents as Benny Goodman, Georgia Gibbs, Anita O'Day and Vaughn Monroe.
The Colgate Comedy Hour is an American comedy-musical variety series that aired live on the NBC network from 1950 to 1955. The show featured many notable comedians and entertainers of the era as guest stars. Many of the scripts of the series are archived at the UCLA Library in their Special Collections.
The following is the 1950–51 network television schedule for the four major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule covers primetime hours from September 1950 through March 1951. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1949–50 season. This season became the first in which primetime was entirely covered by the networks. It was also the inaugural season of the Nielsen rating system. Late in the season, the coast-to-coast link was in service.
Blondie is a radio situation comedy adapted from the long-running Blondie comic strip by Chic Young. It stars Arthur Lake as Dagwood Bumstead and, for the majority of its run, Penny Singleton as Blondie Bumstead. The radio program ran on several networks from 1939 to 1950.
The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour was a pioneering musical variety radio program broadcast on NBC from 1929 to 1936, when it became The Royal Gelatin Hour, continuing until 1939. This program was sponsored by Fleischmann’s Yeast, a popular brand of yeast.
David Rubinoff, also known as Dave Rubinoff, was a popular violinist who was heard during the 1930s and 1940s on various radio programs playing his $100,000 Stradivarius violin. He also performed in theaters, clubs and schools, and he gave several concerts at the White House during the 1940s. He was sometimes billed as Rubinoff and his Violin.
Hollywood Playhouse, also known as Woodbury Hollywood Playhouse, is a radio anthology drama series that featured adaptations of plays and short stories. Created as a showcase for Tyrone Power, the series began October 3, 1937, on the Blue Network, with Darryl F. Zanuck introducing his 20th Century-Fox star. The half-hour program aired Sundays at 9 p.m. ET until September 1939, when it was moved to the NBC Red Network Wednesdays at 8 pm ET. Woodbury Soap and Jergens Lotion sponsored the show.
Shell Chateau was a musical variety radio series heard on NBC from April 6, 1935 to June 26, 1937. Sponsored by Shell Oil, the hour-long program, sometimes called The Shell Show, was broadcast on Saturday evenings at 9:30pm.
Four Star Revue is an American variety/comedy program that aired on NBC from October 4, 1950, to December 26, 1953.
The Durante-Moore Show was an old-time radio show that ran on NBC with episodes running from March 25, 1943–October 28, 1943 and on CBS with episodes running from October 8, 1943–June 27, 1947.
The Jumbo Fire Chief Program is an American old-time radio program starring Jimmy Durante, Donald Novis and Gloria Grafton. The series originated from WEAF radio in New York and was broadcast nationally over the Red Network of the National Broadcasting Company. The series was based on Billy Rose's musical circus act Jumbo which premiered on Broadway in November 1935 and a continuation of sponsor Texaco's The Fire Chief, a radio program starring Ed Wynn that ended its three-year run several months before Jumbo' s premiere. The program starred Jimmy Durante as Claudius "Brainy" Bowers, the overzealous circus promoter of the Consodine circus act who usually gets the show in financial crisis due to his over exaggeration of the show's profits, and Donald Novis and Gloria Grafton as young love interests Matt Mulligan, Jr. and Mickey Consodine. Mickey is the daughter of unheard character John Consodine, the owner of the circus act.
The Fred Allen Show was a long-running American radio comedy program starring comedian Fred Allen and his wife Portland Hoffa. Over the course of the program's 17-year run, it was sponsored by Linit Bath Soaps, Hellmann's, Ipana, Sal Hepatica, Texaco and Tenderleaf Tea. The program ended in 1949 under the sponsorship of the Ford Motor Company.
Charlie McCarthy was the famed dummy partner of American ventriloquist Edgar Bergen. Charlie was part of Bergen's act as early as high school, and by 1930 was attired in his famous top hat, tuxedo and monocle. The character was so well known that his popularity exceeded that of his performer, Bergen.
