Breaking Walls

This is a snippet from Breaking Walls Episode 98: Christmas Week 1947 with Radio's Biggest Stars

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Sunday nights at 7PM was appointment radio from the mid 1930s through the end of the 1940s. Why? Because of one man: Jack Benny.

It was the monumental success of Jack Benny’s 1945-46 season which led to solo shows for Phil Harris, Mel Blanc, and Dennis Day.

In the fall of 1947, Sunday night ratings were dominated by NBC. Their seven to nine PM programming block of Jack Benny, Harris & Faye, Fred Allen, and Bergen & McCarthy all had ratings over 20 points.

Jack Benny, and his program, was the network’s linchpin.

Meanwhile, at 8:30PM from New York, Fred Allen signed on NBC. The comedian was enjoying the best season of his career. His Sunday night rating was 27.4, third-highest on the air.

On April 16th, 1986 Jimmy Stewart was a guest of Larry King's for a wide ranging interview about his life and career. During the course of the interview Mr. Stewart spoke about his love for radio and acting on radio.

Have you been enjoying Breaking Walls? If so, give the show a quick rating on whatever platform you listen, especially iTunes.

In Breaking Walls episode 122 we spend the holidays in the old west with Jimmy Stewart, director Jack Johnstone, and The Six Shooter.

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Highlights:

• Jack Johnstone’s Early Radio Career

• The State of Network Radio in December of 1953

• James Stewart on the Hollywood Star Playhouse

• The Six Shooter Launches

• A Pressing Engagement

• The Radio Industry - More Than Kin

• Britt Ponsett’s Christmas Carol

• Britt Ponsett Rides Off Into the Sunset

• Looking Ahead of January 1954

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The reading material used in today’s episode was:

• On the Air - By John Dunning

• Radio Rides The Range: A Reference Guide to Western Drama on the Air — by Jack French and David S. Siegel

• Network Radio Ratings — By Jim Ramsburg

As well as articles from

• The Los Angeles Times

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On the interview front:

• Dick Beals, Virginia Gregg, and Herb Vigran spoke to Chuck Schaden. Hear their full chats at SpeakingOfRadio.com.

• Parley Baer, Harry Bartell, Sam Edwards, Jack Johnstone, Marvin Miller and Vic Perrin were with SPERDVAC. For more information, go to SPERDVAC.com.

• Art Linkletter spoke with John Gassman.

• Jimmy Stewart was with Larry King and Johnny Carson.

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Selected music featured in today’s episode was:

• Somewhere in My Memory and Star of Bethlehem — By John Williams

• The Klezmer’s Wedding — By André Moisan

• Highland Lament — By The Corries

• Sonata No. 1 for Violin, Opus 13: I. Molto Moderato — Played by Michael Davis

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A special thank you to Ted Davenport, Jerry Haendiges, and Gordon Skene.

For Ted go to RadioMemories.com, for Jerry, visit OTRSite.com, and for Gordon, please go to PastDaily.com.

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Thank you to:

Tony Adams

Steven Allmon

Orson Orsen Chandler

Phil Erickson

Briana Isaac

Thomas M. Joyce

Ryan Kramer

Gary Mollica

Barry Nadler

Christian Neuhaus

Aimee Pavy

Chris Pilkington

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WallBreakers Links:

Patreon - patreon.com/thewallbreakers

Social Media - @TheWallBreakers

On Wednesday, December 3rd, 1947, Jean Sablon guest-starred on Duffy's Tavern. The hilarious episode features Eddie Green and stars Ed Gardner.

On Easter Sunday in 1982, Dennis Day was a guest of John Dunning's radio show for 71KNUS in Denver. The two spoke about Day's life and career, which naturally led to his association with Jack Benny. In this clip, Dennis Day talks about his first experience performing for TV in late 1946 and Benny's transition from radio to the small screen.

On October 12th, 1947 from Montreal over Canada's CBC airwaves, famed British fashion designer Sir Edwin Hardy Amies, KCVO spoke with Ms. Rita Greer about that winter's changes to that season's ready-made women's styles.

This is a snippet from Breaking Walls Episode 97: Thanksgiving 1947—The Most Popular Season in Radio History

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At 10PM eastern time on Thanksgiving Day 1947, as families put their young children to bed, ABC broadcast Mr. President from its Los Angeles KECA affiliate, starring Edward Arnold and Betty Lou Gerson.

Mr. President first signed on June 26th, 1947. Producers picked Arnold to star because his voice had the “aggressiveness of Teddy Roosevelt, the humility of Abraham Lincoln, and the tenacity of Andrew Jackson.”

Listeners were challenged to guess the president’s identity before it was revealed at the end. Fittingly the 1947 Thanksgiving episode featured a tale from the life of George Washington.

Opposite Mr. President, live from Hollywood over all CBS stations Radio Reader’s Digest signed on, guest-starring Van Heflin.

1947 was a good year for the thirty-eight year-old actor. That summer he co-starred with Joan Crawford in Possessed and brought Philip Marlowe to radio as a summer replacement for Bob Hope. His latest film, Green Dolphin Street, just hit theaters. It co-starred Lana Turner and was that year’s biggest MGM hit.

Radio Reader’s Digest debuted on September 13th, 1942 on CBS. The famed magazine actually didn’t sponsor the show. They provided the material. Hallmark Greeting Cards was sponsor. In 1947 Les Tremayne was the host.

There are few homecoming traditions bigger than a football game. Harvard and Yale have been playing an annual game since 1875. It’s so steeped in our culture that American icon Damon Runyon incorporated Yale football into a story.

This story, “Hold Em Yale” made it into a syndicated episode of The Damon Runyon Theatre airing out of NBC’s KFI in Los Angeles on Sunday, March 27th, 1949.

The show starred character actor John Brown as Broadway. Brown was born on April 4th, 1904 in Yorkshire, England. He emigrated to New York and began finding work on the stage. His first radio credit was in 1932. By 1949 he was an esteemed veteran.

The Damon Runyon Theatre was one of Alan Ladd's Mayfair productions. Ladd was an admirer of the late-Runyon’s long-running “Brighter Side” newspaper column.

Damon Runyon had passed away on December 10th, 1946. He’d spun fascinating, tongue-in cheek tales of gamblers, actors, gangsters, and beautiful women. He gave his characters colorful names like “Harry the Horse Thief,” “Good Time Charlie,” and “The Lemon Drop Kid.”

Ladd tapped John Brown to play Broadway. Brown was already playing a similar character on My Friend Irma.

The transcribed Damon Runyon Theatre first aired over the independent station KSEL, in Lubbock, Texas.

Because it was a syndicated show, it wasn’t beholden to network lines. It aired over NBC’s KFI Los Angeles beginning in January of 1949. The following June, it began airing over Mutual’s WOR in New York.

Supporting Brown were Hollywood’s radio regulars like Herb Vigran, Jack Moyles, William Conrad, Gerald Mohr, and Anne Whitfield. Richard Sanville directed. Fifty-two shows were produced on records.

Unfortunately for John Brown, just as television was coming in and his career was cresting, trouble was around the corner.

This is movietone newsreel audio from the 1947 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Although the annual parade first began in 1924, it became world famous thanks to the 1947 release of Miracle on 34th Street, which used footage from the 1946 parade in the film.

Who will be watching or going to this year's parade?