Corey's Ramblings

Thursday, December 6, 2018

25 More Days of Old Time Radio Christmas - Day 5: Gracie Works Retail on Maxwell House Coffee Time (1946)

Maxwell House Coffee Sign at Night (Jacksonville, Florida - July 29, 2016)

OK...I am only a few days into this advent calendar of sorts and am already behind. I will catch up next week - I promise. Today, I was inspired by something I heard on the radio on the way home. And it was on XM, but it was not on Greg Bell's Old time radio channel (#148). Instead, it was Robert Preston on Broadway. He was singing a hit from The Music Man. I had never thought that much about that musical until I saw it this summer at the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario (Canada) and developed a whole new appreciation for the music of Meredith Willson. So with that in mind, I think I will go BACK to Burns and Allen so I can feature a program with Meredith Willson and his Orchestra.

New York born George Burns was a struggling vaudeville comedian when teamed up with a San Francisco born Gracie Allen back in the twenties. They would start off their career with Gracie being the straight man to George - but realized that they should flip their roles. When Gracie became the one who got all the laughs, Burns and Allen became a pair of stars! That stardom placed them on radio in the mid-1930s where they worked through the early 1950s on both CBS and NBC Programs. Over the years, their program was sponsored by a number of products including White Owl cigars, Cambell's Tomato Juice, Campbell's Soup Presents, Grape Nuts cereal, Chesterfield cigarettes, Hormel and Spam, and maybe their most well known product connection - Maxwell House Coffee.

So lets go to December 19, 1946 to the Maxwell House Coffee Time. The two big coffees of the day each had their own program on radio. Maxwell House had Burns and Allen. Chase and Sanborn had Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy. But only Maxwell House is good to the last drop.... Gracie was trying to earn her own money to pay for Christmas gifts. So off she went to a local department store to get that job one week before Christmas. They had very strict requirements to get the job. You did not need to work in a store before - but just walk past one. She had that experience and got the job! So they send her up to housewares - and does as well as you would expect. In addition to George Burns and Gracie Allen are a great supporting cast including announcer Bill Goodwin, Sandra Gould, Jim Backus (or Mr. Magoo fame), Mel Blanc, and Gale Gordon. And, of course, the show features music from Meredith Willson and his Orchestra. I hope you enjoy this great Christmas episode and your shopping is less...well, comical. I'll catch up soon.

Gracie Looks for a Job (December 19, 1946)

Here are some links to programs relating to Burns and Allen:

25 More Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2018) & Other Links

Another 25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2017)

25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2016)

25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2015) & Other Links

25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2014)

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

25 More Days of Old Time Radio Christmas - Day 4: Early Christmas Presents with Fibber McGee and Molly (1944)

A present that does not require you to guess - my beloved Flappy back in 2012

Well that did not take long to fall behind a day. Busy weekend - so it will get worse before it gets better. ANYWHO....lets get in the car and visit our friends at 79 Wistful Vista. The residents of this address have been stars on radio almost throughout the Golden Age. While we have not featured this particlar episode, I have a number on the blog over the past few years that include - Painting the Christmas trees white (1945), Mailing Packages with Fibber McGee and Molly (1940), Looking for a Christmas Tree with Fibber McGee & Molly (1943) & Fibber McGee and Molly's Phonograph (1940). There will be many opportunities to catch Christmas and holiday themed episodes from the Golden Age of Radio on the web and on Greg Bell's Old time radio channel (#148). But these all have the joy of not needing anything other than a web connection to enjoy. If you want to see all of my previous entries, please click here - OTR Christmas (or drop to the bottom of this message).

Fibber McGee & Molly had one of the most famous addresses in all of popular culture. 79 Wistful Vista was their home for the entire run. I heard that they never bothered to give Fibber McGee or Molly a job - so they could use artistic freedom to put them in any scenario possible! This series is one of the all-time classic radio comedies, running from 1935 through the fifties. 1935 was also when Fibber McGee and Molly started - and they received some good reviews right off the bat:

Fibber McGee and Molly - Billboard - April 27, 1935 (page 10)
Fibber McGee, aided by his wife and heckler, Molly, Contributes a funny and enjoyable program, one, in fact, that is likely to send the name of the team into the higher bracketed radio field. In common with other radio acts, the Fibber isn't actually a new wrinkle - he is sort of an Irish Baron Munchausen - but with the combination of a good delivery with good materials insures success. First show was well paced and liberally sprinkled with laughs.

From the WMAQ studios in Chicago, Jim and Marian Jordan starred in over 1600 shows as their alter egos, though only a fraction survive today. During the early years, they were sponsored by Johnson Wax, headquartered in nearby Racine, Wisconsin. They were a staple of the NBC Network and one of the most famous voices from Old Time Radio.

On December 19, 1944 over the NBC Network, the Fibber McGee and Molly show featured some of the anticipation that was taking place at 79 Wistful Vista, and houses all over the country. Fibber is tempting fate by going into the front closet and looking for presents...what is he going to get this year.

Boyohboyohboyohboy. . . look at all these Christmas presents! "From Molly to Fibber, with Love" "To Fibber from Molly, with best wishes" "To the best husband a woman ever had". . . I wonder who that's for?

I thought I was the only husband she ever . . . . . oh well. OH OH! An envelope . . . "DO NOT OPEN BEFORE CHRISTMAS!" Hm, looks like it might be a War Bond . . . Hmmm . . . flap isn't sealed very tight, either. If somebody's thumb ever got caught in there, it'd flip open like a . . .

But what catches his eye is a white package with a blue ribbon. It has no label. Who could it be fore? Fibber McGee is on the hunt to get an answer. This fun episode will hopefully get you in the spirit of the holidays, but maybe encourage you to do a better job of labeling your packages. The show also features Marian Jordan singing (as Teeny) their well known and requested son, "Twas The Night Before Christmas." The show features the regular cast of characters including Jim Jordan and Marian Jordan in their lead roles, Billy Mills and His Orchestra, The King's Men, Harlow Wilcox, Don Quinn (writer), Phil Leslie (writer), Shirley Mitchell, Arthur Q. Bryan, and Marlin Hurt.

Fibber McGee and Molly. December 19, 1944

Fibber McGee and Molly. December 19, 1944 (Script)

Here are some links to programs relating to Fibber McGee and Molly:

25 More Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2018) & Other Links

Another 25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2017)

25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2016)

25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2015) & Other Links

25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2014)

Monday, December 3, 2018

25 More Days of Old Time Radio Christmas - Day 3: Looking for the Christmas Show Scripts with Gracie Allen and George Burns (1940)

238/365/1699 (February 4, 2013) - So much to read...

Looking for scripts - maybe they are in this pile (back from 2013)

So even though it is early in December, we can already feel the holidays taking over. We have a great deal on our minds and are misplacing things. Have a big party to setup for? Dancing in the Nutcracker? Putting on a holiday show on the radio and lose your scripts? Any of these things are possible. So that is the exact predicament that Gracie Allen and George Burns found themselves in this Christmas episode from 1940. Even though I have been showcasing Christmas on the radio since 2014, I did not feature Burns and Allen until last year. So no time like the present to jump in and grab another episode featuring these stars of the Golden Age of Radio. There will be many opportunities to catch Christmas and holiday themed episodes from the Golden Age of Radio on the web and on Greg Bell's Old time radio channel (#148). But these all have the joy of not needing anything other than a web connection to enjoy. If you want to see all of my previous entries, please click here - OTR Christmas (or drop to the bottom of this message).

New York born George Burns was a struggling vaudeville comedian when teamed up with a San Francisco born Gracie Allen back in the twenties. They would start off their career with Gracie being the straight man to George - but realized that they should flip their roles. When Gracie became the one who got all the laughs, Burns and Allen became a pair of stars! That stardom placed them on radio in the mid-1930s where they worked through the early 1950s on both CBS and NBC Programs. Over the years, their program was sponsored by a number of products including White Owl cigars, Cambell's Tomato Juice, Campbell's Soup Presents, Grape Nuts cereal, Chesterfield cigarettes, Hormel and Spam, and maybe their most well known product connection - Maxwell House Coffee. But today - we go back to one of their earliest episodes when they were sponsored by Campbell's Soup.

So lets go to December 23rd, 1940 to George Burns and Gracie Allen Show on NBC. The show was sponsored by Spam (the food product from Hormel). As the jingle goes - 'Spam. Oh boy! Spam what joy!" The episode is typical Burns and Allen mayhem as they are getting ready to do their Christmas show when they realize that they are missing the scripts. Gracie, in her exuberance to get packages out to the recipients, inadvertently mailed the scripts as well. So off they go to the crowded Post Office to retrieve the scripts. Not much of a plot, but lots of fun featuring Artie Shaw and His Orchestra and Señor Lee who was making lots of wise cracks along the way. I hope your holiday starts out with shipments going to the right people!

Burns and Allen Show - December 23, 1940

Here are some links to programs relating to Burns and Allen:

25 More Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2018) & Other Links

Another 25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2017)

25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2016)

25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2015) & Other Links

25 Days of Old Time Radio Christmas (from 2014)