Breaking Walls

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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.

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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.

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On the Sunday, December 17th, 1944 episode of The Jack Benny Program, Jack meets Frank Sinatra in a pharmacy.

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.

For more information on the life and career of Frank Sinatra, please tune into Breaking Walls Episode 85.

This is the Thanksgiving 1947 episode of The Jack Benny Program, which originally aired Sunday, November 23rd, 1947.

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By 1944 Rudy Vallée was one of the most famous American entertainers in history. Vallée spent much of early 1944 conducting the 11th Naval District Coast Guard Band, known as one of the best military units in the nation. He returned to civilian life, and to radio over NBC, on September 9th, 1944 with the launch of a new show, called Villa Vallée, and sponsored by Drene shampoo. It co-starred Monte Woolley. This 10:30PM eastern time episode pulled a rating of 12.3.

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On the Sunday, November 26th, 1944 episode of The Jack Benny Program, Jack and the gang discuss how they spent Thanksgiving.

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

Although Bud Abbott and Lou Costello are remembered for their movies, they got their start toward national fame in radio.

They’d met in 1929, when Costello was booked with a vaudeville act into a neighborhood theater. Abbott worked in the box office and soon found himself playing Costello’s straight man.

In 1938 they appeared at Loew’s in New York, where they were seen by Ted Collins, architect of Kate Smith’s career. Their slaphappy style was perfect for radio, and their rise to frontline stardom was rapid.

For two seasons, beginning Feb. 3rd, 1938, they were regulars on The Kate Smith Hour, while also appearing on Edgar Bergen’s Chase and Sanborn show. Signed by Universal in 1939, the duo pulled the studio out of financial trouble with a string of low-budget hits.

NBC gave them a summer replacement show for Fred Allen in 1940. Then in the fall of 1942 they went on the air full-time for Camel Cigarettes. They were an immediate top-ten ratings hit, and became a Thursday night comedy staple.

On Thanksgiving night in 1944 their 10PM NBC rating was 20.5, good for eighth overall on radio that week. More than sixteen million people tuned in.

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In November of 1944 Bing Crosby’s Kraft Music Hall was Thursday night’s highest-rated program. Airing at 9PM eastern time, singing with Bing was heard by more than eighteen million people as they wound down around the fire and radio. That evening’s first song was “Dance with a Dolly” and the guest was thirty-one year old opera soprano Risë Stevens.