The Palmolive Hour was an American radio concert-variety program, sponsored by Palmolive Soap and broadcast on NBC from December 1927, to July 29, 1931. [1] The Palmolive Musical Stock Company (aka the Palmolivers) offered a mix of jazz, show tunes and opera selections.
The program usually opened with a duet by Frank Munn and soprano Virginia Rea. To call attention to the sponsor's product, they did not appear on the program under their own names but instead were introduced each week as Paul Oliver and Olive Palmer. Contralto Elizabeth Lennox was featured in duets with Rea. Gus Haenschen led the orchestra, with Frank Black at the piano. [1] Other regular members of the cast were Wilfred Glenn, Lewis James, James Melton, Elliot Shaw, and the Revelers Quartet. [2]
Fanny Brice was a guest on the program, [3] and other broadcasts featured such guests as Vaughn De Leath, [4] Gene Tunney, the Duncan Sisters, Cliff Edwards (aka Ukulele Ike), Cecil Lean, Cleo Mayfield, The Revelers and international operatic sopranos Claudia Muzio, of the Metropolitan Opera Company, and Edith Mason, of the Chicago Civic Opera Company. The announcers were Phillips Carlin and Alois Havrilla.
When the series came to an end during mid-summer 1931, only a few months lapsed before many associated with The Palmolive Hour were reunited on a new series that fall. Munn, Rea, Lennox, The Revelers and Haenschen all continued in the similar format of The American Album of Familiar Music . Munn stayed with that series until his retirement in 1945.[ citation needed ]
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Dinah Shore was an American singer, actress, and television personality, and the chart-topping female vocalist of the 1940s. She rose to prominence as a recording artist during the Big Band era. She achieved even greater success a decade later in television, mainly as the host of a series of variety programs for the Chevrolet automobile company.
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Virginia Rea was an American coloratura soprano. She was billed as Olive Palmer when she appeared on The Palmolive Hour on radio.
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