The Ipana Troubadors (aka The Ipana Troubadours) was a musical variety radio program which began in New York on WEAF in 1923. In actuality, the Troubadors were the Sam Lanin Orchestra. They opened the show with their theme, "Smiles." [1]
The show was sponsored by Bristol Myers' Ipana Toothpaste, and it was during this period that Bristol Myers introduced the slogan, "Ipana for the Smile of Beauty; Sal Hepatica for the Smile of Health."
With a mix of hot foxtrots, sweet waltzes and snappy novelty tunes, the show moved from WEAF to the NBC Red Network (1926-28) for a 30-minute series on Wednesday evenings at 9pm. It then aired on the Blue Network (1929-31) Mondays at 8:30pm. Network radio exposure made the Ipana Troubadors one of the most well-known dance bands of the 1920s, resulting in a recording contract with Columbia and bookings at dance halls, such as the Casino at Bemus Point, New York. [2] However, the recording contract covered only the Ipana Troubadors, so Lanin continued to recording on other labels under his own name and a variety of pseudonyms.
After Bristol-Myers stopped radio advertising in 1931, the show returned for the 1933–34 season as a variety show, broadcast Wednesdays at 9pm on NBC Red. Helen Hayes was a guest on the show of October 4, 1933, appearing in a scene with John Beal. In 1934, The Ipana Troubadors was replaced by the first half of Fred Allen's The Hour of Smiles , the Troubadours moniker being used to refer to the show's orchestra, led by Peter van Steeden. [3]
Radio station policies in the early 1920s dictated that no commercial messages intrude on a program. However, once the program moved to NBC, the attitude toward advertising accelerated, as noted by Timothy D. Taylor in "Music and Advertising in Early Radio":
Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey were heard on the show during the 1920s, along with Red Nichols and others. Musicians during the 1930s included Jack Teagarden and Joe Venuti, with vocalists Chick Bullock and Dick Robertson. Another guest was vaudeville headliner Marion Harris, billed by NBC as "The Little Girl with the Big Voice." [5]
Texaco Star Theatre was an American comedy-variety show, broadcast on radio from 1938 to 1949 and telecast from 1948 to 1956. It was one of the first successful examples of American television broadcasting, remembered as the show that gave Milton Berle the nickname "Mr. Television".
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Ipana was a toothpaste product manufactured by Bristol-Myers Company. The wintergreen flavored toothpaste reached its peak market penetration during the 1950s in North America. Marketing of Ipana used a Disney-created mascot named Bucky Beaver in the 1950s.
Reg'lar Fellers was a long-running newspaper comic strip adapted into a feature film, a radio series on the NBC Red Network, and two animated cartoons. Created by Gene Byrnes (1889–1974), the comic strip offered a humorous look at a gang of suburban children. Syndicated from 1917 to January 18, 1949, Byrnes' strip was collected into several books. Branding also extended to such items as baseball bats and breakfast cereal.
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The Clicquot Club Eskimos was a popular musical variety radio show, first heard in 1923, featuring a banjo orchestra directed by Harry Reser. A popular ginger ale, Clicquot Club, was Canada Dry's main rival. Clicquot was the name of the Eskimo boy mascot depicted in advertisements and on the product.
Acousticon Hour was a "musicale" radio program aired during 1927 and 1928 on NBC. It offered selections from classical music, orchestral favorites, operas and operettas.
The National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network was an American commercial radio network, founded in 1926. Along with the NBC Blue Network it was one of the first two nationwide networks established in the United States. Its major competitors were the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), founded in 1927, and the Mutual Broadcasting System, founded in 1934.
The Three X Sisters were an American all-girl harmony singing trio, initially known as The Hamilton Sisters and Fordyce. They were on stage singing together as early as 1922, and formed their trio in 1924, which was composed of Pearl Santos and Violet Hamilton from Cumberland, Maryland and Jessie Fordyce from Brooklyn, New York. They were known on NBC radio as "radio's foremost harmony trio."
Samuel Charles Lanin was an American jazz bandleader.
Phillips Carlin was a radio broadcaster and television executive.
The Eveready Hour was the first commercially sponsored variety program in the history of broadcasting. It premiered December 4, 1923 on WEAF Radio in New York City. Radio's first sponsored network program. it was paid for by the National Carbon Company, which at the time owned Eveready Battery. The host for many years was the banjo-playing vocalist Wendell Hall, "The Red Headed Music Maker," who wrote the popular "It Ain't Gonna Rain No Mo'". Hall was married on The Eveready Hour in 1924.
The Goodrich Silvertown Orchestra was a musical variety radio program, sponsored by B. F. Goodrich and heard in different formats and timeslots from 1925 until 1935. The performers included Henry Burr (tenor), Carl Mathieu (tenor), James Stanley (baritone), Stanley Baughman (bass), Monroe Silver (comedian), Frank Banta (piano), and Sam Herman (xylophone). The Orchestra's theme music was "Her Waltz" by Arthur Johnston.
The Fred Allen Show was a popular and long-running American old-time 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.
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