Title:

The Fred Allen Show

Type:

Comedy

Length:

30 minutes from Oct, 1932 until March, 1934

60 minutes from March, 1934 until March 1942

30 minutes from Oct., 1942 until June 1949

Broadcast history:

Oct. 23, 1932 - April 16, 1933 CBS. Sundays at 9:00 PM. Aired as "The Linit

Bath Club Review." Sponsored by Linit Bath Soap.

Aug. 4, 1933 - Dec. 1, 1933 NBC. Fridays at 9:00 PM. Aired as "The Salad Bowl

Review" and was sponsored by Hellmann's Mayonnaise.

Jan. 3, 1934 - June 26, 1940 NBC. Wednesdays at 9:30 PM as "The Sal Hepatica

Review." (30 minutes)

Beginning 3/21/34, Wednesdays at 9:00 PM as

"Hour of Smiles."

Beginning 7/11/34 re-titled as "Town Hall Tonight."

Beginning 10/4/39 re-titled as "The Fred Allen Show."

All shows during this time were sponsored by Bristol

Myers promoting Ipana Toothpaste and Sal Hepatica.

Oct. 2, 1940 - June 25, 1944 CBS. Wednesdays at 9:00 PM until March 8, 1942.

Then on Sundays at 9:00 PM until June 28, 1942.

The rest of this run at 9:30 PM on Sunday night.

Aired as "The Texaco Star Theater" and was sponsored

by Texaco.

Oct. 7, 1945 - Dec. 28, 1947 NBC. Sundays at 8:30 PM. Tenderleaf Tea sponsored.

Jan. 4, 1948 - June 26, 1949 NBC. Sundays at 8:30 PM until Jan., 1949. Then at

8:00 PM. Sponsored by Ford Motor Company.

Cast:

Fred Allen as Himself

Portland Hoffa as Herself

Minerva Pious as character actress (specialized in ethnic characters)

Roy Atwell as double-talk artist

Jack Smart as character actor

Fred Allen was one of the most admired and most important radio comics. Dunning gives him nine pages

in his book, "On the Air - The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio." His fans included the president of the

United States, critically acclaimed authors such as William Faulkner and John Steinbeck, the "intelligentsia" of the era, and fellow comics such as Groucho Marx, Jack Benny, and Edgar Bergen.

Allen's formats changed through the years but his style did not. His shows were masterpieces of dry wit,

satire, and topical humor. He read nine newspapers daily and wrote most of his shows himself. His

"writers" were around mostly to be used as sounding boards. While Allen used a script, he was a superb

ad-libber and was rarely, if ever, caught without a return retort. His shows often revolved around a theme

of some sort and they were topical. His shows were often commentaries…wry, satiric, and funny…on the news of the day, but not necessarily on the headline news of the day. He would more often pull news fillers (those items that get relegated to the back pages of the paper) out of obscurity and dramatize them and adorn them with gags for his show. Allen also satirized and lampooned notables and institutions of the day. He had more than one run-in with network executives and network censors. He was cut off in the middle of shows more than once and was responsible, if only indirectly, for forcing NBC to stop censoring its comics when other radio comics, including Red Skelton, Bob Hope, and even Dennis Day, came to his defense by addressing Allen's situation on their shows.

Allen's reputation is rooted in time. He is generally regarded as the premiere wit of his time. But his humor,

being topical, often doesn't translate well to our generation. Skits that were hilariously funny at the time leave modern audiences cold since they have no awareness of the historical context needed to appreciate them.

Allen had a large cast with him over his years on radio. Those few listed above are merely some of the more prominent.

Announcers:

Ken Roberts; Edmund "Tiny" Ruffner; Harry Von Zell; Arthur Godfrey; Jimmy Wallington; Kenny Delmar

Source:

On the Air - John Dunning

The Big Broadcast 1920 - 1950 -- Buxton and Owen