Show 58, “Movie Night with Irving Berlin,” plays 16 soundtrack recordings from eight movies for which Irving Berlin wrote the music. Performers include Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, Eddie Cantor, Ethel Merman, and Irving Berlin himself. Highlights include “You Can’t Get a Man with a Gun” sung by Betty Hutton and “Gee I Wish I Was Back in the Army” performed by Rosemary Clooney.

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Show 57, “Georgia Gibbs Tommy Sands,” focuses on two energetic entertainers from the mid-century. Nine songs by Sands include “Ring My Phone,” “Sing Boy Sing,” “Soda Pop Pop,” “Teenage Crush,” and “Blue Ribbon Baby.” Nine songs by Gibbs include “Seven Lonely Days,” “Kiss of Fire,” “Silent Lips,” Red Hot Mama,” and “Tweedle-De.”

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Show 56, “Top Hits of 1946,” presents every #1 best-selling song from that year, with performances by Kay Kyser, Johnny Mercer and the Pied Pipers, The Ink Spots, Perry Como, Betty Hutton, Betty Barclay, and Bing Crosby. The episode also includes a few obscure 1946 news items and two old-time radio commercials.

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Show 55, “Songs about Beer,” is focused on (you guessed it!) songs about beer. Performers include Hank Thompson, The Dubliners, Marilyn Scott, Guy Lombardo, Kolibris, Richie Valens, Tom T. Hall, and Jerry Lee Lewis. The episode also includes a handful of old radio commercials from beer companies, including Schlitz, Miller, Lowenbrau and Budweiser.

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Show 54, “George and Ira Gershwin,” features 17 recordings of music written by two brothers who played a huge role in shaping popular music in the 20th century. Performers include Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, The Walt Disney World Band, Gene Kelly, Tony Bennett, Dinah Shore, and Al Jolson.

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Show 53, “The Jazz Age,” features a variety of jazz performances, both vocal and instrumental, from the 1930s through the 1950s.  Performers include Anita O’Day, Tex Beneke, The Andrews Sisters, Mildred Bailey, Woody Herman, Louis Armstrong, Betty Ann Blake, Ray Eberle, and Lena Horne.

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Show 52, “1950s Easy Listening,” features 17 very popular recordings from the 1950s that were regarded as “suitable for adults” because they didn’t include rock-and-roll, rhythm-and-blues or doo-wop. Performers include Jane Morgan, Johnny Mathis, Jimmy Dorsey, The Everly Brothers, Pat Boone, Patti Page, Nat King Cole, and Gisele MacKenzie.

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Show 51, “Ella Fitzgerald,” features 16 recordings by a towering figure in jazz and popular music. Songs include “I Wish I Were in Love Again,” “Fly Me to the Moon,” “Manhattan,” “A Tisket, a Tasket,” and “I Want the Waiter with the Water.” The show concludes with a recording made in front of a live audience during which Fitzgerald couldn’t remember the words of her song. She improvised so skillfully that her performance won a Grammy Award.

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Show 50, “1940s Heart throbs,” features recordings from a baker’s dozen handsome crooners from the 1940s who had the power to make women swoon. Performers include Kenny Baker, Nat King Cole, Perry Como, Leslie “Hutch”

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