The Fred Allen material you are about to hear is from his radio show, Town Hall Tonight, in 1938.

Fred Allen was unique in the radio world of corny set up/punchline type snappy patter his former vaudeville and current radio peers like Eddie Cantor, Ed Wynn, Georgie Jessel, the Marx Brothers, and others favored.

Oftentimes Fred’s comic voice is compared to that of Mark Twain. All American and homespun wisdom disguised as jokes.

Fred ‘s wit focused on social commentary, gently poking fun at the foibles and eccentricities of human nature. Fred was gruff but mostly cheerful with a small town attitude, advocating common sense but tolerant of the mistakes of others.

Two of Fred’s greatest strengths were his ability to relate to regular people, and his improvisational skill. Very comfortable going off script and usually much funnier off the cuff than what was on the script.

These two factors influenced the head writer of Fred Allen’s show, a fellow by the name of Fred Allen, to put himself in situations on the radio where he could interact with people from all walks of life. And that’s what you are about to hear, Fred interviewing regular, not in show business folks, in a segment of his show entitled “I know You Didn’t Expect to Meet…..”.

The unexpected folks interviewed live in 1938 for this Podcast are:

• A Detective that investigates crooked card games
• A dancing instructor
• An Ice Lady
• A mail order physical fitness instructor
• A tobacco auctioneer
• And a Macy’s Department store Santa Claus

Baby Snooks was an iconic and wildly popular character through the late thirties, the war years and the end of the forties, into the fifties.

Fanny Brice had joined so many other Vaudeville greats who jumped to radio when Vaudeville collapsed and died. Al Jolson, Jack Benny, Eddie Cantor, Connie Boswell, Fred Allen, George Jessel, and so many others had a journey from Vaude to Airwaves but they didn’t have to reinvent themselves to do it.

Fanny became so identified with Baby Snooks that a whole generation grew up loving Snooks but ignorant of the Fanny that decades before spent thousands of glorious nights getting laughs, singing, dancing and basking in the love of the rich and powerful New York theater goers in the greatest theater town in the world.

Anyone born after 1936 never got to see that Fanny. The great Fanny Brice who was a legend before Snooks. The great Fanny Brice who for a time outshone every other star on the great white way.

Judy Garland was born Frances Gumm in 1922, and soon revealed a talent for song and dance. Her first public performance was when she was just 2 and a half years old, singing jingle bells at a Christmas pageant.

Her father was a successful vaudevillian with Judy and her sisters following in his footsteps, touring a singing act “The Gumm Sisters” in the waning days of Vaudeville.

When sound came to movies, so did song and dance acts like the Gumm sisters. The act moved to the big screen in early Vitaphone musical revues with seven year old Judy sometimes billed as Baby Gumm.

Fast forward to 1938, now 16 years old and being groomed for film stardom recently starring with Mickey Rooney in the very popular “Love Finds Andy Hardy “.

Judy, as a rule, did not appear on radio. She was too busy and important for that.

Except for The Good News program, which was created by Judy’s film studio MGM to feature MGM stars, movies, songs, and to convince their listeners to see MGM films in the theater.

As one of MGM’s newest stars, Judy dutifully appeared on a handful of the Good News programs in 1938 as their musical guests.

This collection of songs is from those appearances, 16 year old Judy Garland and her magnificent voice performing live 1n 1938. You are in for a treat.

“College Swing”

“Crying for the Caroline”

“Could you Pass on Love” with the cast

“You’re in God’s Country”

“How Deep is the Ocean”

“Why! Because!” with Fanny Brice as Snooks

“Heal thy Heart to me”

“Zing went the Strings of my Heart”

“The Bumpy Road to Love” with the cast

Its time again to celebrate the holiday season and all it stands for with a Christmas stocking full old time radio yuletide magic.

This very special episode stars Phil Harris, Bing Crosby, Alice Faye, Jack Benny, Mary Livingston, Don Wilson, Kenny Baker, Joan Bennett, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, Rudy Vallee, Andy Devine, and many other makers of Christmas magic

And magic it is. The magic of celebrating Christmas with old friends from 1938. The magic of our imagination. The magic of the golden age of radio. The magic of Santa Claus. The magic of the Jesus story. The magic of the subtle changes within ourselves, all of a sudden thinking and acting more like santa than scrooge. At least for a little while.

Bie Mir Bist du Shön

This song shot up the charts, appearing in the top ten on January 8 1938, going to number one two weeks later and staying in the top spot from 5 to 10 weeks, depending on your source.

And it went international before that was really a thing, becoming a massive hit in Germany and Poland as well as the United States.

Dozens of established recording artists, Like Kate Smith and Benny Goodman, rushed to record their own version of the song.

This incredible popularity made singers on the Radio of every style cover the song , and that is what you are going to hear, Radio greats interpreting this song each in their own style and bringing something new to it each time.

You are about to hear “Bie Mir Bist du Shön” performed by The Andrew Sisters, Pinky Tomlin, Phil Harris, Georgie Jessel, Eddie Cantor, Little Dorothy Wade, Kenny Baker, and child star Bobby Breen.

Our Old Time Radio Thanksgiving menu is made up of:

A first course of  The Good News show from Thanksgiving eve , November 24, 1938.

Featuring:

Robert Young

Fanny Brice as Baby Snooks

And the cast of the very popular Andy Hardy movies, including star Mickey Rooney, in an original radio play.

Followed by an Entre of The Jack Benny Show from just after Thanksgiving 1937, November 28, entitled “Jack Cooked the Turkey” where the gang talks about their thanksgiving day.

Appetizer and desert provided by Fred Allen, courtesy to the cold open you just heard and the cold close to come.

All in all a delicious and satisfying audio thanksgiving  experience with zero calories.

This podcast is a montage of excerpts from old time radio shows performed live and broadcast December 14 to December 30, 1937.

Starring : Dr Arthur C. Christie, Dr Gilbert W Hague, Dr Kingsley Roberts, Rudy Vallee, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Jack Benny, Fred Allen, Cecil B DeMille, Slim Hoffman, Brian Ahern, Madge Evans, Fibber McGee, Myrt and Marge, Eddie Cantor, Jimmy Wallington, Jack Buchanan, Winston Churchill, Marlene Dietrich, and more.

Featured songs include Rudy Valle “Down with Love”, Gracie Allen “I love you from Coast to Coast”, and Marlene Dietrich “Lilli Marlene”

As always, this Soundscape consists of  “best of” Clip Reels I compiled from Old Time Radio Broadcasts as I do research and writing for the When Radio Ruled Historical Documentaries. This episode begins with a visit to a Town Hall debate show focusing on how to fix United States health care. I’m sure the arguments will sound familiar.

You’ll also get to hear Gracie Allen sing and Winston Churchill reminisce.

Plus a bunch of other great stuff from 1937.

This podcast is a montage of excerpts from old time radio shows performed live and broadcast December 13 to December 22, 1937.

Starring Fibber McGee, Eddie Cantor, Rudy Vallee, Mary Livingstone, Jack Benny, Don Ameche, Charlie McCarthy, Edgar Bergen, The Seven Dwarves, Snow White, Cecil B. DeMille, Walt Disney, Pinky Tomlin, Fred Allen, Portland Hoffa, and more.

Featured songs include Eddie Cantor “Getting some fun out of life”, Rudy Vallee “Oh, Promise Me”, and Pinky Tomlin “I want to be in Winchell’s Column”

As always, this Soundscape consists of  “best of” Clip Reels I compiled from Old Time Radio Broadcasts as I do research and writing for the When Radio Ruled Historical Documentaries. The highlights of this soundscape are Snow White and the Seven Dwarves with Charlie McCarthy and Jack Benny and Fred Allen going at it in a fine example of their radio feud.

Halloween approaches – the night when the boundaries between the living and the dead, reality and imagination dissolve. Evil witches mount flying brooms. Brain starved Zombies, restless spirits, supernatural spooks, savage monsters and all forms of malevolent miscreants shamble across the earth creating terror among the hapless and tasty human populace.

Above all, Halloween is the best time for scary stories. In that tradition welcome to When Radio Ruled episode 56, Spooky Halloween Special 2022.

The show is going to give you a couple of spine tinglers to get you in the spooky Halloween frame of mind. The first one is entitled “Til Dead” and was originally broadcast February 2, 1943. It is a great example of the Suspense Genre that was so successful throughout the era of old time radio.

The second story is called “The Hitchhiker” and stars Orson Welles. It’s a classic supernatural tale, full of tension and mystery. It was performed by Welles multiple times over the years by popular demand, this performance was broadcast September 2, 1942.

So hang the garlic in the door to keep away the vampires, put a crucifix in your pocket just in case, lock the doors and windows, shut out the lights and brace yourself for When Radio Ruled Spooky Halloween Special 2022.

This podcast is a montage of excerpts from old time radio shows performed live and broadcast November 29 to December 12, 1937.

Starring Cecil B Demille, Eddie Cantor, Jimmy Wallington, Rudy Vallee, Tommy Riggs and Betty Lou, Frank Case, Andy Devine, Jack Benny, Mary Livingstone, Kenny Baker, Don Wilson, Fibber McGee, Don Ameche, Charlie McCarthy, Edgar Bergen, Nelson Eddy, Mae West, Pinky Tomlin and more.

This podcast is a montage of excerpts from old time radio shows performed live and broadcast November 8 to November 28, 1938.

Starring Bing Crosby, Jimmy Wallington, Eddie Cantor, Fibber McGee and Molly, Benny Goodman, Colonel Stoopnagle and Budd, Don Wilson, Jack Benny, Phil Harris, Mary Livingstone, Orson Welles, and more.

Featured Songs include Eddie Cantor, “Getting some fun out of Life”, Bing Crosby “I’m Humming”, Some smoking Benny Goodman Swing Instrumentals and the Benny Goodman orchestra featuring vocalist Martha Tilden “Mama that moon is here again”, Pinky Tomlin “The Lady who couldn’t be Kissed” and Phil Harris “You can’t stop me from dreaming”

This podcast is a montage of excerpts from old time radio shows performed live and broadcast October 18 to November 7, 1937.

Starring Fibber McGee and Molly, Edward G. Robinson, Pinky Tomlin, Jimmy Wallington, Eddie Cantor, The Cast of the March of Time, Ben Davis Jr., Jack Benny, Mary Livingstone, Phil Harris, Kenny Baker, Andy Devine, Don Wilson, Cecil B. Demille, John R. Kissinger , and more.

Featured Songs include Pinky Tomlin “Can’t stop me from dreaming”, Eddie Cantor Medley of hits and “Doe to Doe”.

This podcast is a montage of excerpts from old time radio shows performed live and broadcast October 11 to October 18, 1937. Starring Fibber McGee & Molly, President Franklin Roosevelt, Eddie Cantor, Pinky Tomlin, Benny Goodman, Don Ameche, Charlie McCarthy, Edgar Bergen, Clark Gable, Dorothy LaMour, Nelson Eddy, The Stroud Twins, Cecil B. DeMille, Jimmy Starr, Madge Evans, Fred MacMurry, and more.

Featured Songs include Eddie Cantor “Laugh Your Way Through Life” and “Keep it Over There”, Benny Goodman “The Old Apple Tree”.

This podcast is a montage of excerpts from old time radio shows performed live and broadcast September 5 to October 10, 1937.

Starring W.C. Fields, Charlie McCarthy, Don Ameche, Edgar Bergen, Fibber McGee and Molly, Al Jolson, George Jessell, Eddie Cantor, Bette Davis, Cecil B. DeMille, John LeRoy Johnston, Rudy Vallee, The Stroud Twins, Orson Welles, Agnes Moorehead, Jack Benny, Mary Livingston, and more.

Featured Songs include Al Jolson “Tootsie”, Eddie Cantor “Now’s the time to fall in love” and “Love is on the Air Tonight”, The Connecticut Yankees with an unidentified female vocalist (possibly Annette Hanshaw) “Basin Street Blues”, Eddie Cantor and Pinky Tomlin “Sweet Varsity Sue”

This podcast is a montage of excerpts from old time radio shows performed live and broadcast August 29 to September 5, 1937.

Starring Don Ameche, Charlie McCarthy, Edgar Bergen, Dorothy Lamour, W.C. Fields, Pinky Tomlin, Fibber McGee and Molly, Benny Goodman, Eddie Stanley, Ida Lupino, and more.

Featured Songs include Don Ameche, Dorothy Lamour and Charlie McCarthy “Have You Got Any?”

Pinky Tomlin “The Love Bug” and “Stop Breaking my Heart”

 And The Benny Goodman Quartet,  a super group made up of swing and jazz legends Lionel Hampton, Teddy Wilson, Gene Krupa, and Benny Goodman, with an especially hot version of “Vibraphone Blues”

This podcast is a montage of excerpts from old time radio shows performed live and broadcast August 22 to August 27, 1937.

Starring Harlow Wilcox, Fibber McGee & Molly, Benny Goodman and his Orchestra, Don Ameche, Charlie McCarthy, Glenda Farrell, Edgar Bergen, Dorothy LaMour, W.C. Fields, American Refugees from Japan’s invasion of Shang Hai,and more.

This podcast is a montage of excerpts from old time radio shows performed live and broadcast August 8 to August 15, 1937.

Starring Pinky Tomlin, Don Ameche, Charlie McCarthy, Nelson Eddy, Edgar Bergen, W.C. Fields, Wendy Berrie, Benny Goodman, Eve Sully and Jesse Block, Robert Armbruster, Dorothy Lamour, Alice Brady, and more.

Featured Songs include Pinky Tomlin “Cowboy Medley” and “Seven Stages of Man”, Benny Goodman “Remember”,  Eve Sully “Swing, Benny, Swing”.

This podcast is a montage of excerpts from old time radio shows performed live and broadcast July 11 to August 8, 1937.

Starring Charlie McCarthy, Don Ameche, Gladys George, Edgar Bergen, W.C. Fields, Robert Armbruster, Dorothy Lamour, Pinky Tomlin, Fibber McGee and Molly, Harlow Wilcox, Bruna Castagna, Eddie Stanley,

and more.

Featured Songs include Dorothy Lamour and Charlie McCarthy “The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down”, Pinky Tomlin “I Guess I’m Just a Country Boy at Heart” and “That’s What You Think”

This podcast is a montage of excerpts from old time radio shows performed live and broadcast June 21 to July 11, 1937.

Starring Cecil B. DeMille, Don Wilson, Phil Harris, Jack Benny, Mary Livingston, Jimmy Wallington, Pinky Tomlin, Don Ameche, Charlie McCarthy, Edgar Bergen, Sonya Hennie, W.C. Fields, Dorothy Lamour, Robert Armbruster, Zasu Pitts, Hoagy Carmichael, and more.

Featured Songs include Mary Livingston with the cast of the Jack Benny Show “The Love Bug”, Pinky Tomlin “As Far As Your Concerned”, The cast of the Charlie McCarthy Show with Hoagy Carmichael, “I love you like my old felt hat”

Eddie was a multi-talented entertainer who was a huge star in vaudeville, and on broadway, and in silent film, and in radio, and in talking pictures, and in television.

Eddie Cantor is a true show biz Legend with a vast body of work spanning decades.

But this podcast is going to focus on Eddie Cantor the singer of songs old and new as recorded live on the Eddie Cantor radio show in 1937.

Eddie’s musical recording career began in 1917 and he had several hit songs throughout the 1920’s.

When these songs were recorded live on his radio show in 1937, Eddie Cantor was still a very popular singer, selling out concerts and charting records in addition to being at the very top of the radio ratings.