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On the Sunday, December 31st, 1944 episode of The Jack Benny Program, it’s New Year’s Eve and Jack resolves to be friends with Fred Allen in 1945.

For more information on Jack Benny in 1944, including how and why he changed sponsors, please tune into Breaking Walls Episode 151 which covers Benny’s 1944 in great detail.

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At 9PM on Monday, December 25th, 1944, The Whistler, broadcast from KNX, went on the air over CBS’ regional West Coast Network.

The Whistler’s narration acted as a modern version of the Greek chorus, omnisciently taunting the characters. The narrator proved so popular that it was adapted into eight film noirs by Columbia Pictures between 1944 and 1948.

Whistler radio dramas were usually told through the perspective of the guilty person. His or her guilt is never in doubt, and there’s always a strange twist at the end. Since it was Christmas Night, this episode “Christmas Bonus,” instead has a positive twist at the end for the main character.

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The General Mills sponsored Lone Ranger from WXYZ in Detroit first began airing on January 31st, 1933. The next year it became one of the cornerstone programs which led to the formation of the Mutual Broadcasting System. The show moved to the Blue Network in 1942 and would remain on the network after it became ABC in 1945.

The Christmas Day, 1944 episode was entitled, “A Present for Janey.”

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At 4PM eastern time on Christmas Day, CBS broadcast the third annual Elgin watches Christmas party for the men and women in the Armed Forces, guest-starring Jack Benny, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Ginny Simms, and many others. It was hosted by Don Ameche and the announcer was Ken Carpenter.

Don Ameche had been an integral part of The Chase and Sanborn Hour, earning a reputation from Edgar Bergen as one of the best comedic ad-libbers in the business.

Elgin Watches was first incorporated in August 1864 as the National Watch Company. The founders eventually based their operations in the growing city of Elgin, Illinois and changed the company name.

By the turn of the 20th century, it was one of the largest watch manufacturers in the world.

During World War II all civilian manufacturing was halted and the company moved into the defense industry, manufacturing military watches, chronometers, fuzes for artillery shells, aircraft instruments, and cannon bearings.

Their agency of record J. Walter Thompson confined radio sponsorship to their annual Thanksgiving and Christmas specials, which began in 1942.

The Cavalcade of America’s sponsor, The Du Pont Company, had profited from gunpowder during the first World War. Years of bad press led them to hire the ad agency Batten, Barton, Durstine, and Osborne. They wanted a brand perception change.

The Cavalcade of America was the answer.

In 1944 The Cavalcade of America was in the midst of a thirteen-year primetime run on NBC. Sponsored by Dupont, the program dramatized history and historical fiction, focusing intensely on the war at home and abroad.

On Christmas night at 8PM, Walter Huston emceed a program called “America For Christmas” which took listeners around the country to showcase all the things that made different states in the United States so unique.

On the Sunday, December 24th 1944 episode of The Great Gildersleeve, Gildy overcomes depression and recent legal issues to have a wonderful celebration at his home. All the most-famous townspeople of Summerfield stopped by.

This episode pulled a rating of 14.9. Roughly ten million people tuned in.

For more information on the launch of The Great Gildersleeve and the show’s 1944, please tune into Breaking Walls Episode 149.

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On the Sunday, December 24th, 1944 episode of The Jack Benny Program, it’s Christmas Eve and Jack Benny is trimming the Christmas tree with Mary Livingstone and Rochester’s help. The gang drops by to exchange gifts too.

For more information on Jack Benny in 1944, including how and why he changed sponsors, please tune into Breaking Walls Episode 151 which covers Benny’s 1944 in great detail.

Support Breaking Walls at https://www.patreon.com/thewallbreakers

At 10PM eastern time on Friday December 22nd, 1944, Jimmy Durante and Garry Moore signed on over CBS with Georgia Gibbs and Roy Bargy’s orchestra. The show pulled a rating of 11.8 opposite Amos ‘n’ Andy on NBC. Roughly eight million people tuned in.

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Originally part of CBS’s experimental pilot summer series Forecast in 1940, Duffy’s Tavern had moved to the Blue Network in October of 1942, and then to NBC’s main network before the Blue Network was sold in September of 1944.

Sponsored by Bristol Myers, it starred Ed Gardner as Archie, the manager of Duffy’s Tavern, “the eyesore of the east side, where the elite meet to eat.”

Gardner’s heavily New York accented portrayal of Archie has inspired several characters in the years since.

On Friday December 22nd, 1944 Monty Wooley guest-starred on the program. The episode pulled a rating of 13.4. Roughly nine million people tuned in.

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On Thursday December 21st, 1944 We Came This Way took to the air as part of NBC’s University of the Air.

The series illustrated various struggles for freedom throughout history. This episode highlighted Gilbert du Motier, the Marquis de Lafayette who fought for the Continental Army under George Washington during the American Revolution, and was later one of the voices of reason during the French Revolution.