Random Rarities 21

Adventures of Sally In Hollywoodland: Here is an audition program for a delightful syndicated children's program. When Sally goes to sleep, she dreams of having adventures with her favorite animated cartoon characters. In the audition, she meets Andy Panda, Wally Walrus, and the then new Woody Woodpecker. The producer points out that while kids will be the primary listeners, adults will be susceptible to ads on this program because half the fans of animated cartoons are grown-ups.

Al Trace and His Orchestra: A late-night band remote from WGN Chicago, Al Trace and his Silly Symphonists do to music what the Marx Brothers did to the movies!

The American Forum of the Air was a public debate from the Mutual Network. Broadcast from the auditorium of the Department of the Interior Building in Washington DC, this panel discussion program covered a wide range of topics, from prohibition to fascism to the New Deal. Transcripts of the program were preserved in The Congressional Record and debates which began on the show sometimes continued on the floors of Congress and the Senate.  The Dec 28, 1948, broadcast asks the question "What's Ahead For Business in 1949". It is interesting to hear how the answers from panelists at the end of 1948 sound like commentators on CNN and Fox News today.  American Forum of The Air brings voices from all sides of an issue and gives them a chance to state their case and present their arguments before their opponents. The broadcast originates in the Nation's capital.

Ask Dr. Science: A very tongue-in-cheek question-and-answer program to share information about the world of science. The question is whether computer science is a real science. The Doctor (who is not a real doctor) makes no bones that the answer is NO.

The Baptist Hour: A program dedicated to worshiping God through scripture and song. Despite the title, the worship only lasts 30 minutes or so.

The Beatrice Kay Show: "Ta-Ra-Ra-BOOM-De-Ay!" Beatrice Kay began her showbiz career at the age of six and made her name recalling the Gay Nineties. She was a hit on stage, film, TV Radio, and vaudeville.

Bermuda Crash: A B-29 crashed on a training mission in heavy seas off Bermuda in November 1949. The survivors were rescued from the forty-foot waves by a Canadian destroyer. The broadcast includes interviews with some of the survivors.

Black Night: A Chicago newspaperman takes us on an audio tour of his city after-hours.

Blue Coal Minstrels: A classic minstrel show on the air from 1931. These recordings would be considered racially insensitive today.

Board of Missing Heirs: Hundreds of thousands of dollars from unclaimed estates are awaiting the discovery of the heirs to whom they belong. The show describes the people who left their fortunes and what is known about the missing heirs. There may be a reward for persons who can help to find the heirs.

The Bob Becker Show: Sponsored by Red Heart Dog Biscuits, Bob Becker profiles interesting dogs and their masters, and finds that the canine is often the more interesting and more intelligent part of the team.

The Bob Conner Show: A locally produced music show from WBAB Fort Worth. A quarter hour of fine crooning.

The Bob Crane Show: A morning drive-time comedy DJ show from the late fifties in Los Angeles. This morning Bob Crane features his son Bobby as his guest.

The Bob Smith Show: A morning DJ show from New York, Bob Smith's guest is Donald Duck who is plugging his new film, Fun and Fancy-Free (1947).

Bolero Time: A celebration of Cuban Music on the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service in the early Seventies. The Program also featured basic Spanish Language lessons over the course of the series.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra: Guest conductor Igor Stravinsky leads the orchestra playing many of his own compositions.

The Boulevard of Make Believe: A series of dramas set in the movie industry of Hollywood. We hear scenes being shot in the big studios and established stars give advice to up and coming starlets. Interestingly, the program comes from 1931, just when the movies were learning how to talk.

A Bouquet For You: In this heart-warming music request program, the songs are flowers and the bouquets are sent to married couples celebrating their wedding anniversaries.

Boyd Raeburn and His Orchestra: South Dakota native Boyd Raeburn is considered one of the greatest and least known Jazz bandleaders of the Forties. Although Raeburn may have been one of the best musicians and arrangers of the Big Band era, he was considered uninteresting as a band leader and he never found steady support from a major record label.

Bozo and His Friends: Record disc accompaniment for a series of picture books featuring Bozo the Clown. Audio cues are given when it is time to turn the page in the book, and Bozo reminds his friends in the narration as well.

Brighter World: An audition program for a new series from WBBM Chicago feature the WBBM Orchestra playing morning music to get the day started.

Bringing Up Father: From the classic comic strip "Jiggs and Maggie", the story of an immigrant Irish bricklayer who won the Sweepstakes and has to learn how to deal with being rich as well as having a domineering wife and a social-climbing daughter.

Bundles for Britain: Great Britain and the United States have always been close allies, cousins separated by an ocean who understood one another quite well. During the early years of World War Two, before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the English people were in a bad way. A number of American charitable organizations sprung up to help our British cousins, and Bundles for Britain was one of the most successful. The movement began as a knitting circle in a New York City storefront, and by the spring of 1941 had sent tens of thousands of sweaters, socks, mittens, and hats across the pond.

The Capture of Lizzie Stone: A lady outlaw in the Old West falls in love with the lawman trying to catch her. Features Ginger Rogers and Barton Yarborough.

The Cat: Another audition program, this one a chronicle of mystery and evil. The tales of murder and horror are spine-tingling, but the yowling of the spurious feline is less than satisfying.

Cecil Brower & His Kilocycle Cowboys: Their primary gig was as the house band the Oasis Night Club in Odessa, Texas, but Cecil Brower & His Kilocycle Cowboys also had a day job, playing live on radio KECK. Cecil was one of the first fiddlers to learn the double-shuffle technique. He had an advantage because unlike most country fiddlers, he had some formal music training as a child and had majored in music at Texas Christian University before serving in the Coast Guard during WWII.

NBC's Christmas Reunion 1943: People around the world were wishing for World Peace and that their loved ones could be reunited for Christmas in 1943, but the state of the world was such that for many, it could only be a wish. NBC put together a worldwide broadcast, featuring remotes from the front lines, back-water posts, Hollywood, New York, London, and Hometown, USA.

Christmas Sing With Bing: For many listeners in the '50s and '60s, Bing Crosby was as much a part of the Christmas holiday as Santa Claus. 1961 marked the seventh annual Christmas Sing with Bing, not counting the many years der Bingle had the holiday tradition of singing "Adeste Fideles" on Kraft Music Hall.

Christmas in California 1961: The Bank of America family had a long tradition of sponsoring a Christmas Eve broadcast as a Holiday Greeting to friends and loved ones. This year the theme is recreating the music heard in the early Spanish Missions in California.

Club Hollywood: A nightclub floorshow hosted by Rose Marie featuring popular music and comic sketches featuring Hollywood stars. Includes a plug for the Los Angeles Cancer Society.

Coast Guard Memorial: The Coast Guard was an organized service even before the Army or Navy. This Coast Guard Day salute features Marilyn Maxwell, Jerry Colona, Bob Hope, Spike Jones and many others.

Comedy Capers: A syndicated quarter hour of nonstop chuckles. The only time the laughs stop is during the intro and closing music for the local sponsor's message.

Constance Bennett Calls on You: Movie queen Constance Bennett made her Hollywood debut during the Silent Era. In 1945, she had a daily radio program where she discussed life in Hollywood, motherhood, and life in modern times.

Corner Newsstand: If you think about it, before the Internet and the rise of bloggers, probably the best-informed people around were the guys working at the corner newsstand. Since they had all day to read and discuss the news. This audition program takes a pretty tongue in cheek perspective on the news but does a good job of explaining current events.

Coronet Cigarette Program: An audition Program for a unique disc jockey program featuring Alex Cooper and Tom Brennan. This recording is a pitch to Coronet as Cooper and Brennan present their concept for a Tobacco Stand where they will appeal to listeners and sell lots of cigarettes.

The Coronet Little Show, a.k.a. The Coronet Story Teller: Presented by Coronet Magazine, here we hear a Christmas tale, "The Gift of the Little Shepherd".

Country Western Caravan: A fun remote broadcast featuring both kinds of music, Country and Western! Features a visit from Minnie Pearl.

The Curtis Springer Show: One of the most notorious and successful snake oil salesmen of the first half of the Twentieth century, "Doctor" Curtis Springer used a falsified education record to drum up support for his lectures on health and evangelism. In 1934 he applied for a spot as an evangelist on WGN Chicago, and the station turned him into the investigative branch of the AMA. WCFL Chicago gave him a twice daily evangelistic slot, however.

Deeds Without Words: Sponsored by the National Maritime Commission, the program presents dramatized true stories of the brave merchant sailors who sacrificed so much to keep the stream of vital supplies going to Britain during WWII.

The Private Practice Of Doctor Dana: Jeff Chandler stars in this interesting combination of medical drama and hard-boiled detective. The good doctor's patients and social calendar provide the most interesting stories!

Dr. Scholl's Serenade: The foot comfort products company presents this comforting music program featuring the song of "the Street Singer" Arthur Tracy. Tracy used the Street Singer identity during the early part of his career at CBS to avoid being blackballed on the vaudeville circuits for working in radio.

Face To the Future: Produced in cooperation with NORAD, this transcribed program discusses the future of computers from the perspective of the UNIVAC punch-card era.

Family Quiz: The quiz show format seemed like a sure-fire formula. In this audition program families selected from the studio audience would compete for prizes by answering questions on various topics. The family who answered the most questions would go on to compete against new families and get more prizes. Host's Don Prindle and Wendell Niles keep things lively.

American Family Robinson: A long-running serial from the Great Depression syndicated by the National Industrial Council, an organization with an anti-"New Deal" agenda. The Robinson Family has strong ties to the newspaper business.

Fishing and Hunting Club of the Air: Sponsored by Mail Pouch Tobacco presents advice and news for sportsmen in the best tradition of Outdoor Life and Field and Stream magazines. The panel of hunting and fishing writers answer listener questions, and outdoor gear is sent to the listeners whose questions are selected.

Frank Leahy Program: Notre Dame football coach discusses the upcoming 1952 college season and makes an appealing support for the game at all levels and expresses the benefits to parents and young men of playing the game.

Freedom's People: Red Network presentation from 1942, "the story of the American Negro" chronicles contributions of African-Americans, "people who did not come to America, but were taken", in music, military, sports, education, and science.

Funny Side Up: Featuring Bert Parks and Kenny Delmar, the panel program from 1959 is performed in the best tradition of It Pays to be Ignorant.

The George O'Hanlon Show: O'Hanlon starred in Warner Bros Joe McDoakes live-action shorts, which are also the basis for his radio comedy series, which featured the talents of Lurene Tuttle and Willard Waterman. Although the part would go to Alan Reed, O'Hanlon auditioned for Hanna-Barbara's "Fred Flintstone". Once The Flintstones became a commercial success, O'Hanlon was given the part of George Jetson in the follow-up series.

Glamour Girl: Mimicking the Queen for a Day format, a lady is selected from the studio audience and given the "Hollywood Glamour Treatment". Host Larry Keating leads a staff of Hollywood make-up, fashion, and gossip experts.

See also Random Rarities 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23.