The Jumbo Fire Chief Program

Last updated
The Jumbo Fire Chief Program
Other namesThe Circus Concert
The Fire-Chief Program
The Fire-Chief Show
Jumbo Fire-Chief Program
Genre Comedy
Running time28-31 minutes
Country of originUnited States
Language(s)English
Home station WEAF
Syndicates NBC Red Network
Starring Jimmy Durante
Donald Novis
Gloria Grafton
AnnouncerLouis A. Witton
Written by Ben Hecht
Charles MacArthur
Directed by Billy Rose
Adolph Deutsch (music director)
Recording studio The Hippodrome, New York City
Original releaseOctober 22, 1935 (1935-10-22) (rehearsal show)
October 29, 1935 (1935-10-29) – January 14, 1936 (1936-01-14)
No. of series1
No. of episodes12 episodes known to exist, 19 believed to have been recorded
Opening themeOver and Over Again by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart
Ending themeThe Jumbo Fire Chief Program ending theme
Sponsored by Texaco

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, [1] 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.

Jimmy Durante American jazz singer, pianist, comedian and actor

James Francis Durante was an American singer, pianist, comedian, and actor. His distinctive clipped gravelly speech, Lower East Side Manhattan accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced songs, and prominent nose helped make him one of America's 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.

Donald Novis actor

Donald George Novis was an English-born American actor and tenor.

WNBC was a commercial AM radio station licensed to New York City from 1922 to 1988. For most of its history, it was the flagship station of the NBC Radio Network. It was a Class A clear-channel station broadcasting at the maximum power for AM radio, 50,000 watts. WNBC left the air on October 7, 1988. Its former frequency has since been occupied by Entercom-owned all-sports WFAN.

Contents

The radio program broadcast an unknown number of episodes [note 1] over the NBC from October 22, 1935–January 14, 1936. The series was broadcast from and performed at the New York Hippodrome before an average crowd of 4500–5000 spectators each week. [2]

NBC Radio Network former American radio network

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.

New York Hippodrome former theatre in New York CIty

The Hippodrome Theatre also called the New York Hippodrome, was a theater in New York City from 1905 to 1939, located on Sixth Avenue between West 43rd and West 44th Streets in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan. It was called the world's largest theatre by its builders and had a seating capacity of 5,300, with a 100x200ft (30x61m) stage. The theatre had state-of-the-art theatrical technology, including a rising glass water tank.

Background

Ed Wynn's The Fire Chief

The series originated from Ed Wynn's departure from NBC's The Fire Chief in early 1935 and the show's sponsor Texaco wanting to continue the series.

Ed Wynn American actor and comedian

Isaiah Edwin Leopold, better known as Ed Wynn, was an American actor and comedian, noted for his Perfect Fool comedy character, his pioneering radio show of the 1930s, and his later career as a dramatic actor.

Texaco, Inc. is an American oil subsidiary of Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owns the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an independent company until its refining operations merged into Chevron Corporation in 2001, at which time most of its station franchises were divested to the Shell Oil Company. It began as the Texas Fuel Company, founded in 1901 in Beaumont, Texas, by Joseph S. Cullinan, Thomas J. Donoghue, Walter Benona Sharp, and Arnold Schlaet upon the discovery of oil at Spindletop.

Texaco and NBC premiered The Fire Chief in 1932. Comedian Ed Wynn played the title role of the Fire Chief. The series was popular and one of the first radio programs to be performed before a live studio audience. Wynn left the program temporarily in 1933 when, in September of that year, Wynn along with Hungarian-born violinist Ota Gygi founded his own radio station, the Amalgamated Broadcasting System. The station lost money and went out of business five weeks later in November 1933. [3] [4] He returned to The Fire Chief which continued until being cancelled in early 1935.

Hungary Country in Central Europe

Hungary is a country in Central Europe. Spanning 93,030 square kilometres (35,920 sq mi) in the Carpathian Basin, it borders Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Austria to the northwest, Romania to the east, Serbia to the south, Croatia to the southwest, and Slovenia to the west. With about 10 million inhabitants, Hungary is a medium-sized member state of the European Union. The official language is Hungarian, which is the most widely spoken Uralic language in the world, and among the few non-Indo-European languages to be widely spoken in Europe. Hungary's capital and largest city is Budapest; other major urban areas include Debrecen, Szeged, Miskolc, Pécs and Győr.

The Amalgamated Broadcasting System (ABS) was an ambitious, although unsuccessful, attempt to establish a "third radio network" in the United States. Its primary promoters were the company's president, American comedian Ed Wynn, and its vice-president, Hungarian-born violinist Ota Gygi. The network's inaugural broadcast on September 25, 1933 was carried by a small group of stations located in the Northeast. Despite plans to eventually expand nationwide, the network never grew beyond its original group of affiliates, and ceased operations at midnight November 1, 1933, just five weeks after its debut. Its failure resulted in a major financial loss, plus significant emotional distress, for Wynn.

Billy Rose's Jumbo

On November 22, 1935, Billy Rose's musical Jumbo premiered at The Hippodrome in New York City. The musical told the story about a financially strapped circus. The musical also starred Durante, Novis and Grafton. At the end of each performance, Durante would lay down on the stage and permit a live elephant to place its foot upon his head. The musical closed on April 18, 1936, after 233 performances. [5]

Billy Rose American impresario, theatrical showman and lyricist

Billy Rose was an American impresario, theatrical showman and lyricist. For years both before and after World War II, Billy Rose was a major force in entertainment, with shows such as Billy Rose's Crazy Quilt (1931), Jumbo (1935), Billy Rose's Aquacade (1937), and Carmen Jones (1943). As a lyricist, he is credited with many famous songs, notably "Me and My Shadow" (1927), "More Than You Know" (1929), "Without a Song" (1929), "It Happened in Monterrey" (1930) and "It's Only a Paper Moon" (1933).

<i>Jumbo</i> (musical) 1935 stage musical

Jumbo is a musical produced by Billy Rose, with music and lyrics by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart and book by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur.

New York City Largest city in the United States

The City of New York, usually called either New York City (NYC) or simply New York (NY), is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2018 population of 8,398,748 distributed over a land area of about 302.6 square miles (784 km2), New York is also the most densely populated major city in the United States. Located at the southern tip of the state of New York, the city is the center of the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass and one of the world's most populous megacities, with an estimated 19,979,477 people in its 2018 Metropolitan Statistical Area and 22,679,948 residents in its Combined Statistical Area. A global power city, New York City has been described as the cultural, financial, and media capital of the world, and exerts a significant impact upon commerce, entertainment, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, art, fashion, and sports. The city's fast pace has inspired the term New York minute. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy.

Texaco's Jumbo Fire Chief

The Texas Company, aka Texaco, decided to continue their sponsored Fire Chief with The Jumbo Fire Chief Program. The Jumbo Fire Chief Program used the title of its predecessor and the premise of Jumbo. The serialized version of Jumbo premiered on October 29, 1935, from the Hippodrome and was broadcast over NBC. The series shared the same premise as the musical, which was the tale of a financially strapped circus and the tale of two young love interests; Matt Mulligan, Jr., (Donald Davis), and Mickey Consodine, (Gloria Grafton). [6] The series failed to reach popularity amongst listening audiences and only aired 12 episodes before being cancelled on January 14, 1936. [note 2]

Cast and characters

Unheard characters

Notes

  1. ↑ Several sources list the number as 19 but all agree of 12 surviving episodes broadcast between October 1935–January 1936. The other seven either do not have title or have forgotten titles.
  2. ↑ This date is disputed amongst radio historians. While most sources and radio historians list the date of January 14, 1936, as the air date of the last episode of the program, some sources and historians believe the air date of the program's last episode to be February 25, 1936, due to 7 episodes of the program that have either unknown or forgotten titles.

Related Research Articles

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".

<i>The Big Show</i> (NBC Radio)

The Big Show, an American radio variety program featuring 90 minutes of comic, stage, screen and music talent, was aimed at keeping American radio in its classic era alive and well against the rapidly growing television tide. For a good portion of its two-year run, the show's quality made its ambition seem plausible.

"My Romance" is a popular song, with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart, written for Billy Rose's musical, Jumbo (1935). Gloria Grafton and Donald Novis introduced the song in that film.

<i>Billy Roses Jumbo</i> 1962 film by Charles Walters

Billy Rose's Jumbo is a 1962 American musical film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and starring Doris Day, Stephen Boyd, Jimmy Durante, and Martha Raye. An adaptation of the stage musical Jumbo produced by Billy Rose, the film was directed by Charles Walters, written by Sidney Sheldon, and featured Busby Berkeley's choreography. It was nominated for an Academy Award for the adaptation of its Rodgers and Hart score.

The 1950–51 United States network television schedule began in September of 1950 and ended in the spring of 1951. 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.

<i>Kraft Music Hall</i>

The Kraft Music Hall was a popular old-time radio variety program, featuring top show business entertainers, which aired first on NBC radio from 1933 to 1949.

<i>The Fleischmanns Yeast Hour</i>

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.

<i>The Chase and Sanborn Hour</i>

The Chase and Sanborn Hour was the umbrella title for a series of US comedy and variety radio shows sponsored by Standard Brands' Chase and Sanborn Coffee, usually airing Sundays on NBC from 8pm to 9pm during the years 1929 to 1948.

The year 1935 saw a number of significant happenings in radio broadcasting history.

Donald Voorhees (conductor) American conductor

Donald Voorhees was an American composer and conductor who received an Emmy Award nomination for "Individual Achievements in Music" for his work on the television series, The Bell Telephone Hour.

Jimmy Wallington American radio announcer

James Wallington was an American radio personality.

The Jimmy Durante Show is a 51-episode half-hour comedy/variety television program presented live on NBC from October 2, 1954, to June 23, 1956.

The Donald O'Connor Show is an American musical situation comedy television series starring singer/dancer Donald O'Connor. It appeared on NBC from October 9, 1954, to September 10, 1955, alternating on the Saturday evening schedule with The Jimmy Durante Show; both were sponsored by Texaco.

Four Star Revue was an American variety/comedy program that aired on NBC from October 4, 1950, to December 26, 1953.

<i>The Durante-Moore Show</i>

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.

References

  1. ↑ "Billy Rose's Jumbo Texaco Fire Chief Program (starring Jimmy Durante)- Complete 1935–36 Series 12-Rare Old Time Radio Shows Plus 2 Classic Jimmy Durante songs- "Frosty The Snowman" (1950 single) & " Isn't It a Shame Christmas Only Comes Once A Year" (from the 1950 film "The Great Ruppert") 1 MP3". Amazon.com . Retrieved May 9, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Trouble with the IRS". The Jumbo Fire Chief Program. Season 1. Episode 1. New York City. October 29, 1935. NBC. WEAF . Retrieved May 9, 2015.
  3. ↑ Elizabeth McLeod, Tonight The Program's Gonna Be Different: The Life and Times of Ed Wynn, the Fire Chief
  4. ↑ Sterling, Christopher H. (March 1, 2004). Encyclopedia of Radio 3-Volume Set. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-1354-5648-1.
  5. ↑ Hischak, Thomas S. The Rodgers and Hammerstein Encyclopedia (2007), Greenwood Publishing Group, ISBN   0-313-34140-0. p. 140
  6. ↑ "The Fire-Chief Concert Radio Program". www.vintageallies.com. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved May 9, 2015.
  7. ↑ Jimmy Durante: His Show Business Career, with an Annotated Filmography and Discography by David Bakish, p. 25
  8. ↑ Rayno, Don (December 19, 2012). Paul Whiteman: Pioneer in American Music, 1930–1967. Scarecrow Press. p. 379. ISBN   978-0-8108-8322-2 . Retrieved May 9, 2015.
  9. ↑ Sher, Aubrey J. (August 15, 2013). Those Great Old-Time Radio Years. Xlibris Corporation. p. 83. ISBN   978-1-4836-7909-9 . Retrieved May 10, 2015.
  10. 1 2 "Radio Review: The Jumbo Fire Chief Program". www.greatdetectives.net. Retrieved May 10, 2015.

Download


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.