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| Tallulah Bankhead during rehearsals. |
The Big Show was
an NBC house-built package and an innovation in show business deriving
its name from the fact that the talent roster each week included “the
biggest names in show business” -- name guest stars chosen from ranks of
music, drama, comedy in stage, motion-picture, concert, radio and
television were all “top performers” in their own fields. The Big Show was
the first program ever to be presented under NBC’s new sponsorship plan
known as “Operation Tandem,” in which sponsors were offered
participation in sponsorship of five top evening programs each week, no
more than three sponsors to be included in each 30-minute program time.
Prior to this, radio programs primarily featured only one sponsor
throughout the time slot (although the same sponsor was able to promote
more than one of their own products.) The “Operation Tandem” shows were
described over-all as the “Five Show Festival” including programs whose
formats were varied to offer drama, variety, music, comedy and mystery.
The format of The Big Show was a variety program with repartee, music, dramatic sketches, comedy routines, excerpts dramatized from recent motion pictures and current Broadway hits, novelty monologues and instrumental and vocal novelties, special “spots” paying tribute to outstanding members of show business and other salutes to the more serious side of living such as the meaning of living and playing in a country like America, etc. The Big Show ran a total of two seasons and by the time the second season premiered, excerpts of recent motion pictures had been dropped in favor of current Broadway hits.
The format of The Big Show was a variety program with repartee, music, dramatic sketches, comedy routines, excerpts dramatized from recent motion pictures and current Broadway hits, novelty monologues and instrumental and vocal novelties, special “spots” paying tribute to outstanding members of show business and other salutes to the more serious side of living such as the meaning of living and playing in a country like America, etc. The Big Show ran a total of two seasons and by the time the second season premiered, excerpts of recent motion pictures had been dropped in favor of current Broadway hits.
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| Program guide handed out every week. |
A
great array of name guest stars each week were featured, averaging
eight stars each week. The program was directed by Dee Engelbach, with
James Harvey as the NBC producer (first season). Script writers included
Goodman Ace, Welbourn Kelley, Frank Wilson, Mort Green, Selma Diamond,
George Foster, Joel Murcott, plus a number of collaborators depending on
the guests’ needs. The musical background, bridges and specialties were
arranged and in many cases composed especially for the program by the
program’s musical director, Meredith Wilson. Special lyrics from time to
time by Sammy Kahn. The chorus and choir consisted of 16 voices. Choral
Master Max Teer oversaw the vocals for the first season, Ray Charles
for the second, with over all musical direction under orchestra leader
Meredith Wilson.
Note: Add Fred Allen to the list of writers, effective with the broadcast of February 4, 1951. Allen joined the staff of expert writers for The Big Show and according to a press release issued by NBC, "This marks Mr. Allen’s
first time as a staff writer for a radio series other than his work on his own
programs."
Sponsor Breakdown
September 30, 1951 to April 20, 1952, 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., EST
6:30 to 7 p.m. Portion sponsored by Reynolds Metals Co. on straight contract
(not part of Operation Tandem)
7 to 7:30 p.m. Portion Tandem Available (sustaining under Tandem
7 to 7:30 p.m. Portion Tandem Available (sustaining under Tandem
open to Tandem sponsors)
7:30 to 8 p.m. Tandem Sponsors
September 30, 1951 to April 20, 1952 Leggett & Myers
September 30, 1951 to April 20, 1952 Whitehall
October 28, 1951 to April 20, 1952 American Chicle
December 23, 1951 only Western Union (straight contract)
January 13, 1952 only Buick, division of General Motors
February 10, 1952 only Elgin, division of Illinois Watches
7:30 to 8 p.m. Tandem Sponsors
September 30, 1951 to April 20, 1952 Leggett & Myers
September 30, 1951 to April 20, 1952 Whitehall
October 28, 1951 to April 20, 1952 American Chicle
December 23, 1951 only Western Union (straight contract)
January 13, 1952 only Buick, division of General Motors
February 10, 1952 only Elgin, division of Illinois Watches
Commercial announcer for Reynolds Metals: Bert Cowlan
The Leggett & Myers commercials on “Operation Tandem” were recordings featuring the “Chesterfield Stars.”
The Leggett & Myers commercials on “Operation Tandem” were recordings featuring the “Chesterfield Stars.”
Production Breakdown
Producer-Director: Dee Engelbach
NBC Producer: James Haupt
Writers: Goodman Ace, Selma Diamond, George Foster, Mort Green and Frank Wilson. Others such as Joel Murcott and Dorothy Parker are indicated under their retrospective episodes.
Music: Arranged by Sid Fine. All music supervision by Meredith Wilson.
Every episode from the first season (1950-51) exists and is presently circulating among collector hands, so for this article we’ll focus primarily on the second season episodes, the “lost” episodes of 1952. (I already explored the "lost" 1951 episodes, click here.)
Broadcast of January 6, 1952
Guests: Bob Carroll, Joan Davis, Vera Lynn, Jimmy Nelson, Claude Rains and Herb Shriner.
Vera Lynn, British vocal star, is on her first trip to the U.S. and makes her first of several guest appearances on The Big Show. Lynn was on the show before (September 30, 1951), but that was when the show was taped in London. She’ll be on the show until mentioned otherwise in this log. Lynn was known as the “Sweetheart of the Forces” during the War when she entertained the boys all over England. Other guests include Bob Carroll, vocalist; Joan Davis, comedienne; Jimmy Nelson, ventriloquist and his dummy Danny O’Day; and Herb Shriner, humorist and comedian.
Claude Rains stars as Mr. Spiers in a dramatization of John Collier’s “Midnight Blue.” Tallulah Bankhead played the role of Mrs. Spiers. The story is about a man who murders his business partner and accidentally leaves his muffler at the crime of the scene, a clue to the mystery because the only difference between his muffler and that of the murdered man is the color: his is black, the dead man’s is midnight blue. When the murderer returns to his home, he is amazed by his wife’s upset over a strange dream which she had: she had dreamed the murder, step-by-step even to the fact that the man was strangled with her husband’s muffler! At this point, the couple’s son appears and says he’s wearing his father’s muffler -- then asks, “Whose muffler is this, by the way? It’s not yours, is it? This is dark blue!” Gene Reynolds is cast as Fred Spiers, the son.
An announcement is made on the program that Tallulah Bankhead had been voted “Woman of the Year in Radio” by the radio editors of America thru Radio and Television Daily. The Chorus sang “My Darling, My Darling,” interrupting Tallulah just before the finale of the show. When she asks what is going on, Meredith Wilson says the Chorus is saluting the “Woman of the Year” in radio. The Chorus then sang more of “My Darling, My Darling,” with Tallulah’s dedicating this singing to the radio editors who gave her the honor.
Vera Lynn was a series regular beginning with this episode until mentioned otherwise.
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| The iconic Tallulah Bankhead. |
Broadcast of January
13, 1952
Guests include Phil Foster, comedian, who presents a
monologue about the “Engagement Period” (also known as “Basic Training”) preceding marriage.
Foster says his mother wants him to marry Tallulah Bankhead!
Tony Bennett, vocalist, performs a number.
Vera Lynn, British vocalist, makes a guest appearance on The Big Show during her visit to the United States. She was on last week and is being carried on the series until mentioned otherwise.
Betty Hutton, singer and star of screen and stage, appears on the program to promote her current movie hit, The Greatest Show on Earth, which would ultimately win an Academy Award for best picture.
June Havoc presents a scene from one of the New York hit plays in which she rates star billing, Affairs of State. Havoc plays the role of Irene Elliott, the Minneapolis school teacher who goes to Washington and becomes the “wife in name only” of Senator Henderson. In the role of Henderson is Sheppard Strudwick, the same Broadway actor who also supports Miss Havoc in the play.
Fred Allen and Portland Hoffa are also guests. Fred Allen and Tallulah
Bankhead present their comedic version of Affairs
of State.
The 7 to 7:15 p.m. segment was sponsored by Buick, only for
this episode.
Broadcast of January
20, 1952
Guests include Shirley Booth, comedienne and Broadway star.
Phil Foster does a monologue on the way his mother wants him to get married (preferably to Tallulah Bankhead), comedy monologue he started last week. Foster also does a sketch about trying to hire Meredith Willson to play for one of Foster’s club dances.
Jack Pearl (Baron Munchausen) and his side-kick, Cliff Hall (Sharlie), comedy team, presents one of their familiar Baron Munchausen spots.
Earl Wrightson, vocalist (baritone), talks about the time he was an NBC page boy.
Vera Lynn, British vocal star, who is currently on the series for a limited number of appearances while in this country, performs a song.
Dick Powell, famous for his Richard Diamond radio series, presents a dramatization of “The Perfect Crime,” adapted from the story by Ben Ray Redman. Powell is cast as the great criminologist Dr. Harrison Trevor, who commits the “perfect crime” by killing the criminal lawyer who was the only person who knew that the criminologist had once made a mistake and sent the wrong person to death for a murder. Supporting roles: Leora Thatcher, Martin Blaine and Joe Bell.
Program includes salutes to Tallulah’s coming birthday this month. All the guests and cast members read little birthday card rhymes at the opening part of the program.
Script writers confirmed for this broadcast: Goodman Ace, Selma Diamond, George Foster, Mort Green and Frank Wilson.
Musical arrangements: Sidney Fine and Phil Moore.
Broadcast of January
27, 1952
Guests include James Barton, dramatic star of Tobacco Road and The Iceman Cometh on Broadway, also soft-shoe dancer and singing
star currently starring in the newest Broadway musical, Paint Your Wagon. Tonight he sings “Annabel Lee,” his most famous number
to date. Barton is then joined in presenting a medley of songs from Paint Your Wagon by Tony Bavaar, another
of the Paint Your Wagons stars, and
by Vera Lynn. Paint Your Wagon
music by Frederick Loewe and lyrics by Allen Jay Lerner.
Jack Carson appears as a “dramatic star” in the Dorothy Parker play, Here We Are, with Tallulah in the role of his bride. Martin Blaine is the conductor in this clever satire-comedy about newly-weds on their honeymoon train trip.
Victor Borge presents his version of "Mozart Opera,” in monologue with piano improvisions.
Bob and Ray present their “Tahiti Travelogue” sketch.
Tallulah does a monologue about the contests of a woman’s puree. In her monologue, she tells of standing in a movie line trying to find an extra quarter to buy her ticket. Jack Carson then presents the sale version of Tallulah’s experiences in searching through her purse for the change, as he goes through all of his pockets, his wallet, his briefcase, etc.
There is an announcement that The Big Show is the “Champion of Champions” for 1951 in the annual Motion Picture Herald “Fame Poll” in which radio editors of America sent in their votes to elect which radio show they feel is the “Champion of Champions.”
Broadcast of February
3, 1952
Jerry Colonna sings a song.
Jan Murray does his “Fight Routine” sketch.
Ethel Merman performs a few songs and then participates in an insulting routine with Tallulah.
Cathleen Nesbitt, star of the British stage, who appeared last season on Broadway in T.S. Elliott’s Cocktail Party, is currently playing in Gigi, a satirical French comedy drama at the Fulton Theatre in New York. She appears with Tallulah in the comedy sketch A Matter of Perspective by Patricia Coolinge, with Miss Nesbitt as the actress and with Tallulah as her best friend who is asked by the actress to attend the dress rehearsal of the latest play and to give advice that might help the actress improve her performance. Of course, the actress expects only to be told, “You are wonderful. There is no room for improvement.”
Fred Allen and Portland Hoffa are guests. Fred Allen and Jerry Colonna present their own version of Cathleen Nesbitt and Tallulah’s performance of A Matter of Perspective. Portland Hoffa plays the role of the maid. (It should be noted that A Matter of Perspective was performed a little more than a year prior on The Big Show.)
Vera Lynn, British vocal star, does her rendition of Tulips and Heather, which she introduced in England some months ago.
Tallulah does a monologue about people who wake one up in the “middle of the night” (past noon in Tallulah’s day) . . . . .
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| Tallulah Bankhead, Jack Carson, Ed Wynn and Fred Allen |
Broadcast of February 10, 1952
Guests: Joan Davis, Phil Foster, Vera Lynn, Claude Rains and Jean Sablon.
Claude Rains stars in a dramatization of James Thurber’s “The Catbird Seat,” which appeared originally in the November 14, 1942 issue of The New Yorker. The story concerns an exemplary employee who never drank, dated nor gallivanted. Then, a lady efficiency expert arrived in the office and infuriated the once-time man by being loud and repetitive, always using slang expressions like the “Catbird Seat.” When he could stand it no longer, Erwin Martin, the perfect employee, visited the lady late at night in her apartment and convinced her that he drank, smoked, used heroin regularly and beat women whenever the mood struck him. The next day, Ulgine Barrows, the lady in question, told her employer that Mr. Martin would have to be fired. Instead, the employer and all other persons in the company are thoroughly convinced that Mrs. Barrows has had a dreadful nervous breakdown by dreaming up a tale like the one she told about Mr. Martin. Mrs. Barrows is dismissed and sent to a rest home. Jan Miner is featured as Ulgine Barrows; Claude Rains as Erwin Martin; Leora Thatcher as Miss Perkins; Mr. Martin’s file clerk; and Ed Jerome as Mr. Fitweiler, the employer.
Other guests included: Jean Sablon, the French singing star; Joan Davis, comedienne; Phil Foster, comedian, does a monologue about Miami Beach, Florida, and “How to Get a Sunburn.” Vera Lynn sings as usual. Tallulah Bankhead presents a monologue on “Bridge” or “How to Play Cards, Poker, etc.” Another Bankhead monologue is about “Diets.” This episode centers on a Valentine theme with all of the guests sending Tallulah appropriate Valentine verses. On the serious side, in honor of the Lincoln birthday anniversary, Tallulah Bankhead reads the famous letter written by Lincoln from November 21, 1864, to Mrs. Bixby of Boston, the mother who lost five sons in the Civil War.
Reynolds Aluminum offer today: booklet titled “The ABC’s of Aluminum.” This booklet tells how aluminum was discovered, how it is made, etc. Listeners only had to write “ABC” on a card with their name and address and mail to “Reynolds Metas,” Louisville 1, Kentucky for a free copy/
Broadcast of February 17, 1952
Guests: Fred Allen, Hoagy Carmichael, Joan Davis, Portland Hoffa, Vera Lynn and Jane Pickens.
Joan Davis, comedienne and singing star, presents her version of Hoagy Carmichael’s “Stardust” the way she did it when she was a “balloon dancer in a theatre ‘off and off’.” Hoagy Carmichael, song-writer, singer and piano player, is also a guest on this program. Jane Pickens, singing star of stage and radio, has just returned from Paris and she also makes an appearance on the show. Vera Lynn, makes her farewell appearance on The Big Show. She’ll be returning to London next week. Fred Allen and Portland Hoffa present their own operatic production, “The Television Mikado.” Allen is a soap czar and wants a television program to sell his soap. The advertising agency of “Button, Burton, Bitten and Bowels” with its president, Bouser Button, who is attempting to get a sponsor for Mr. Allen’s show. Jane Pickens, who has talent, wants a part in the show but Mr. Allen explains that he doesn’t require talent because this is a television show and all he wants is “30 minutes of commercials.”
The dramatic portion of the program presents Tallulah Bankhead as Mary Boyne in “Afterward,” the 1910 suspense story written by Edith Wharton, concerning “the death of a soul.” Mary Boyne notices a stranger near her country home and her husband rushes out to talk to the man, but the stranger disappears. Two months later, the stranger returns and asks for Mary’s husband. This time the husband disappears. Later, Mary learns that the stranger was a man who had committed suicide because Ned Boyne, Mary’s husband, had been the cause of the man’s losing borrowed money in a mine venture. The date of the man’s suicide attempt which caused him to linger for two months of suffering after he tried to kill himself coincides with the date that Mary first saw the stranger. His “return” coincides with the date he died. Now, Mary understands why the friend who sold her and Ned their home told them the house had a “ghost” but they wouldn’t know about it until “afterward….” In the supporting cast: Vinton Hayworth, Jack Manning and Martin Blaine.
The 7 to 7:30 p.m. segment of The Big Show featured a 30th anniversary salute to radio station WGY in Schenectady, New York. Fred Allen tells of radio in the days when WGY started broadcasting. As of tonight, WGY joins NBC’s other 30-years-old affiliated stations: KDKA, Pittsburgh; WWJ, Detroit; KOB, Albuquerque; WKY, Oklahoma City; WBZ, Boston; KYW, Philadelphia; WSPD, Toledo; and WDAF, Kansas City.
The “Income Tax” sketch with monologue by Tallulah Bankhead, concerned a visit to her accountant to discuss her deductions. She lists as her “dependents” the 94 people on The Big Show, including 47 orchestra members and theater ushers. In the space on the return sheet reserved for the Government with instructions to the taxpayer, “Do Not Write Here,” Tallulah writes a little note to Margaret Truman: “Dear Margaret, How are you? I’m fine. Having a wonderful time. Wish you were here. Could sure use you. And by the way, Happy Birthday, Margaret. I couldn’t think of a gift, so here’s the money. Buy whatever you like.”
Broadcasts of February 24, 1952
Guests: Kay Armen, Gertrude Berg, Victor Borge, Phil Foster, Ed Gardner and Robert Merrill.
Robert Merrill, opera star, sings the Prologue from Pagliacci. Merrill also joins Kay Armen in a duet for “Some Enchanted Evening,” “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair” and “Manhattan.” Ed Gardner appears in his Archie characterization. Victor Borge plays the piano. Phil Foster, comedian, does a monologue about a woman shopping for bargains. Gertrude Berg appears in her Molly Goldberg character. Molly tries to get Tallulah happily married to any of the male guests. She interprets Tallulah’s “Darlings, I love you, you are divine, etc.” as sincere expressions which indicates Tallulah really loves the man.
Among the evening’s sketches: A taxi driver-car crash sketch with Phil Foster as the taxi driver, Tallulah as the lady in the car, and Gertrude Berg as the lady fare in taxi. When the case gets to court, Victor Borge (playing the role of Victor O’Borge) is the officer; Meredith Wilson is the judge, Ed Gardner is the lawyer. When the case clears, Tallulah is the judge’s niece and the lawyer, the police officer and the taxi driver are brothers.
In honor of Brotherhood Week, a week set aside by the President of the U.S. through cooperation of the National Conferences of Christians and Jews, Tallulah Bankhead reads Stephen Vincent Benet’s Prayer (1942) beginning, “God of the Free, we pledge our hearts and lives to the cause of all mankind. Grant us Victory over the tyrants who would enslave all free men and nations. Grant us faith and understanding to cherish all those who fight for Freedom as if they were our brothers…” Archibald MacLeish, poet and Librarian of Congress, asked Benet to write the “United Nations Prayer” to be used in the celebration of Flag Day, 1942. President Franklin D. Roosevelt used it to close his radio address on Flag Day, June 14, 1942. This was the same prayer.
Broadcast of March 2, 1952
Guests: Fred Allen, Connie Boswell, Clark Dennis, Rex Harrison, Portland Hoffa, Lilli Palmer and Henny Youngman.
Connie Boswell, singing star, includes her rendition of “Stormy Weather.” Clark Dennis, vocal star, sings “The Moon Was Yellow.” Henny Youngman, comedian, does a monologue about his “Life Story.”
Lilli Palmer and Rex Harrison present a dramatic version of the German short story, “The Enchanted Village” by the contemporary German writer, Friedrich Gerstacker. Rex Harrison is cast as Arnold, the English artist who wandered in and out of the way places in Germany during the early past century and in his wanderings came upon a beautiful girl and a strange village where he heard church bells call the villagers to worship and where he later took part in gay village dances. Lilli Palmer plays Gerda, the village girl with whom Arnold fell immediately in love. Then, when one glorious day ended, the village and the girl disappeared in a strange mist. A forester who finds Arnold in the woods tells him that the village of Germans, which Arnold has described and has known by name, was a bewitched town buried in the bogs and swamps hundreds of years ago near the spot where Arnold now stands. According to legend, the village returns to Earth once every hundred years with all of its inhabitants intact, to live for one day and one day only before disappearing again into the swamps for another century. Martin Blaine plays the Forester.
Fred Allen and Portland Hoffa are also guests. The 7 to 7:30 p.m. portion of The Big Show offers an anniversary salute of radio station WLW, Cincinnati, Ohio, in honor of the station’s 30th birthday of WLW. Fred Allen does a comedy routine one what it means to go from 50 to 50,000 Watts.
Tallulah Bankhead reads O.O. McIntyre’s column about his dog, Junior, and the tragic accident which caused Junior’s death, when he was hit by a car on Fifth Avenue. The column begins with Kipling’s lines, “Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware of giving your hearts to a dog to tear…” (This is a repeat of a prior first-season episode.)
Because she takes singing lessons and insists on practicing all hours, Tallulah is “burlesqued” in a mock meeting of apartment dwellers to get Tallulah out of the apartment building. (Her singing teacher is also Margaret Truman’s teacher, as Miss Bankhead insinuates.)
Broadcast of March 9, 1952
Guests: Richard Eastham, Phil Foster, Joe Frisco, Jim and Marion Jordan, Peter Lorre and Ethel Merman.
From New York as usual plus a pickup from Hollywood for Fibber McGee and Molly. Richard Eastham, singing star of South Pacific and Call Me Madame, and Ethel Merman (also from Call Me Madame).
Peter Lorre performs The Cask of Amontillado, a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, about a man who seals his wife’s lover deep in a wine cellar.
From 6:51 to 6:53 p.m., from Hollywood. Fibber McGee and Molly appear in character, along with Molly’s Teeny, a salute to the 20th anniversary honoring Marion and Jim Jordan for their 20 years in radio. Fibber McGee and Molly talk about what happened “20 years ago.”
6:53 p.m. back in New York. Tallulah congratulates Fibber McGee and Molly on their anniversary and presents her other guests including Joe Frisco, comedian, who does his comedy routine about betting on the horses. Joe says he is “wonderfully insane” and that’s his claim to fame. Shepperd Strudwick, currently in Affairs of State on Broadway, stars as Adelbert Wixberry, radio executive, in a dramatic excerpt from Meredith Willson’s new novel, Who Did What to Fedalia. In supporting roles are Jan Miner as Florabelle, who runs the flower shop on Park Avenue and is known to everybody; Martin Blaine as Spart Colies, Broadway producer and brother of Florabelle. Story concerns Fedalia Parker, of Fort Madison, Iowa, who comes to New York hoping to get a big role as a singing star. Fedalia has golden hair and big blue eyes but no talent. One day, Wixberry, the radio executive, turns down her audition and she flees for his office. Then, Spart Coliss, the Broadway producer, offers her a chance to act, little realizing that she wants only to sing… So Fedalia runs away and nobody can find her but Wixberry and Coliss decide that they can make it up to Fedalia by giving the next blue-eyed, golden-haired, angel-faced girl who comes to New York a chance!
After Shepperd Strudwick’s dramatization of Who Did What to Fedalia?, Peter Lorre, Tallulah Bankhead and Ethel Merman do a take-off on the novel, Who Did What to Fedalia?, she is proclaiming this “Meredith Wilson Week” and is holding a forum discussion titled “Writer Meets the Critics” to discuss Meredith’s book. In this take-off on the radio program “Author Meets the Critics,” Tallulah Bankhead is the moderator; Ethel Merman and Phil Foster, Peter Lorre, Shepperd Strudwick’s, Joe Frisco and Richard Eastham are “critics.”
Phil Foster presents one of his Brooklyn monologue and then, in honor of Meredith Willson, sings Willson’s new song “I Take a Dim View,” interspersing the singing with monologue novelties. Tallulah Bankhead does a monologue about shopping for a birthday gift for “someone very near and dear to me -- a man.” She finally gets an exquisite shirt but is at a loss when the clerk asks her what monogram she wants on the garment -- she hasn’t decided on the initials because she doesn’t know the man’s name. She does manage to “pick up a beautiful thing in the man’s store,” another man, a customer whom she invites out to buy her a drink because shopping is so tiring.
The 7:00 to 7:30 p.m. portion of program tonight is presented in salute to Radio Station WSB, Atlanta, Georgia, “the Voice of the South,” in honor of the 30th anniversary of WSB.
Broadcast of March 16, 1952
Guests: Fred Allen, Peter Donald, William Gargan, Portland Hoffa, Helen O’Connell and Frank Sinatra.
William Gargan, famous for playing detective roles, stars as Dr. Rankin in an adaptation of the John Collier short story, “De Mortius,” originally published in the July 18, 1942, issue of The New Yorker. This is a story with a queer twist ending in which even Dr. Rankin’s best friends mistakenly thinks he has murdered his wife -- and for just cause. Then, the wife returns from her little visit just as the Doctor has said all along she would. The accusing friends have given the good old Doc an idea about getting rid of that philandering lady, and takes advantage of the opportunity. Gargan is supported by Jan Miner as Irene, the wife; and by Vinton Hayworth and Martin Blaine as the friends.
Musical guests include Frank Sinatra and Helen O’Connell. Peter Donald, comedian and dialectician, famous for his Ajax Cassidy Irish character role, adds the comedy element. Peter Donald does a monologue about the Timmy Muldoon couple -- who celebrate their wedding anniversary on St. Patrick’s Day.
Fred Allen (and Portland Hoffa) presents his “Irish Musical” in honor of St. Patrick’s Day -- the musical is about the Widow Green of Donegal. Frank Sinatra is cast as Danny, the singing son of Widow Green. Helen O’Connell plays Peggy, the daughter. Tallulah is cast as Widow Green. Fred Allen plays Paddy, the Pig Man, who marries Peggy and saves the Widow Green from eviction, plus giving Danny the opportunity to continue his singing. The part of O’Rourke, the villain landlord, is played by Bill Gargan.
In addition to these novelties on St. Patrick’s Day theme, the St. Patrick motif is used throughout the remainder of the program with the opening greetings in the form of St. Patrick verses, etc. Another feature is Tallulah’s monologue about subway riding. She thinks she can get a reservation on a New York subway just as she can on an airline. Also, she is amazed to find there are no dining cars, roomettes, etc. available. Another specialty of this episode was the performance with Allen and Hoffa in a song-and-dialogue production of Tom Waring’s song, “Way Back Home.”
Broadcast of March 23, 1952
Guests: Victor Borge, Rosemary Clooney, Marlene Dietrich, Paul Douglas, Cliff Hall, Jack Pearl and Earl Wrightson.
Victor Borge does a version of his famous monologue, “Phonetic Punctuation,” on how he mastered the English language by adopting the use of a code involving punctuation marks, a classic routine he would reprise hundreds of times. Jack Pearl (Baron Munchausen) and his famous side-kick Cliff Hall (Sharlie) do one of their Baron Munchausen sketches on this broadcast, all about the Baron’s trip to Africa, his experiences in a mid-ocean tempest, etc., tied in with the opening of the Circus in Madison Square Garden. The Baron’s reason for going to Africa was to collect wild animals for his own circus, far above anything Ringling Bros. may have to offer any circus season.
Other guests include: Rosemary Clooney, vocalist; Earl Wrightson, baritone, radio and TV singing star; and Paul Douglas, movie star, who presents a dramatization of John Richard Humphrey’s “Michael Finney and the Little Men,” (originally published in the August 1946 issue of Cosmopolitan), a weird tale about queer little fish-like men who live in the water below the pump house of Neg Deering’s vacation place. Douglas plays the role of Mike Finney, newspaperman and friend of Neg Deering. Mike also sees the Little Men and gives up his job to stick around and await the return of Neg Deering who must have been pulled into the water by the Little Men. In supporting roles are Martin Blaine, Vinton Hayworth and Jack Manning.
Marlene Dietrich and Tallulah Bankhead do an “insulting each other” routine, then a take-off on Douglas’s performance in “Michael Finney and the Little Men.” Victor Borge and Paul Douglas then do a “take-off on the take-off.” Tallulah Bankhead does a monologue on trying to prepare a few snacks for her boyfriend on a night when the maid and chauffeur are both out. Tallulah doesn’t even know how to find her kitchen.
An Award was presented on this show. There was an announcement about the winning of one of the John Gruedel Dinky Foundation Awards for public service through radio programs, by The Big Show. Tallulah Bankhead announces the winning of this award and an accompanying $1,000 check from the Dinky Foundation and thanks the donors for this recognition.
Another announcement on this program was that the April issue of Reader’s Digest includes an article entitled “Put and Take in Jamiaca,” all about Reynolds Metals developments of important deposits of bauxite in Jamaica in the West Indies.
Broadcast of March 30, 1952
Guests: Vivian Blaine, movie star and musical stage star (Guys and Dolls on Broadway); Judy Canova, famous for hillbilly roles, attempting to teach Tallulah how to yodel; Johnny Johnston, singing star; and Jan Murray, comedian. Phil Foster, comedian, tells about the way he prefers “telephone to television.” About all of the times he and his Brooklyn pals called various numbers in the phone book and asked for fictitious persons, etc.
Fred Allen and Portland Hoffa do a monologue about why he wasn’t born in Alabama. His grandfather followed Horace Greeley and got on the wrong road, although he originally wanted to go Alabama. Tallulah does a monologue about learning to swim.
Commercial includes appeal for trained engineers for the aluminum industry; if interested, write to General Employment Manager, Reynolds Metals, Richmond 19, Virginia.
Broadcast of April 6, 1952
Guests: Toni Arden, Judy Canova, Renzo Cesena, Dorothy Claire, The Continental, Herb Jeffries, Oscar Levant, Rosalind Russell and Paul Winchell.
Musical guests include Herb Jeffries, singing star; and Judy Canova, comedienne and hillbilly singing star, makes her second of two consecutive guest appearances. Oscar Levant, pianist and satirist, includes a gag about “… if President Truman works up a good act, he might be the only President to go from the White House to the Palace…” Paul Winchell, ventriloquist, and his dummy, Jerry Mahoney, present a scene in which Jerry goes to the dentist. In Winchell’s sketch, Dorothy Claire plays the girl.
The Continental (Renzo Cesana), TV and night club star known for making sentimental love to all the ladies who see him on TV or listen to him on the air, performs. His props include champagne and cigarettes, candlelight, soft music, scent of flowers, and the privacy of a very, very private apartment. Cesana performs an original sketch written especially for The Big Show, “Brave Men With a Sword!” (the only character of the Man is a Poet, who so loves a woman that he sends her to the arms of another man, because he cannot marry her and care for her on the uncertain alms of the Poet.
Jane Russell, movie star, sings and also does a comedy take-off scene on the Continental’s dramatic sketch. She appears as “a beautiful, little naïve girl from the West, entrapped in the bachelor apartment on that sophisticated man-about-town, Meredith Wilson.” Russell’s scene is followed by a similar take-off done by Judy Canova who visits the apartment of Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney. Toni Arden, vocalist, guests. Tallulah becomes quite jealous over the fact that Toni really can sing.
Act II (7 to 7:30 p.m.) of the program is presented in salute to station WBAL, Baltimore, Maryland, celebrating its 25th year as a leading NBC affiliate. This is followed by an Easter salute with the performance of Meredith Wilson’s composition, “It’s Easter Time.” Tallulah’s monologue is about attending a Wrestling Match (Wrestling is the kind of TV program Tallulah finds best suited to herself!)
Offer of Reynolds Metals: Free illustrated booklet, “More Income per Acre” write to Reynolds Fam Institute, Box 1800, Louisville 1, Kentucky
Broadcast of April 13, 1952
Guests: Fred Allen, Portland Hoffa, Peggy Lee, Groucho Marx, Jackie Miles and George Sanders.
Groucho Marx sings his new song, “There’s a Place Called Omaha, Nebraska.” George Sanders sings an operatic aria from Verdi’s Il Lacerato Spiritu. Jackie Miles, comedian, does a monologue about those “little homes in the country” that every city dweller boasts about. No cellars, no porches, no nothing but then “who lives in the city these days?” Peggy Lee, vocal and recording star, performs a number of songs. Fred Allen and Portland Hoffa are also guests. Allen and Groucho do a sketch reminiscing about the “good old days” of vaudeville circuits.
Feature spots: Tallulah Bankhead reads “Chicago,” the 1916 Carl Sandburg poem. This reading is presented as part of the Salute to WMAQ, Chicago, in honor of that station’s celebration of 30 years on the air as a key station of NBC. The 7 - 7:30 p.m. segment, Act 2, of The Big Show, is dedicated to WMAQ. Another feature is the “repeat performance” of a sketch done by Bankhead on a previous broadcast, about a telephone call Tallulah gets in “the middle of the night” -- noon, that is. Tallulah carries on a weird conversation telling her caller how she has been going out with various “drips,” one even “drippier” than all the rest. Then, she discovers the man on the other end of the telephone line is the “drippiest” one. As on the previous broadcast, this telephone sketch is followed by another in which Fred Allen tries to get through via telephone to Tallulah’s apartment -- everybody else including the operators, their boy friends, etc., talk with Allen but it’s simply impossible to get “Miss Bankhead!” Appeal for contributions to the 1952 Cancer Fund is made by Tallulah near the end of the program.
Reynolds Metals commercial includes a salute to Research Day in Boston, to be observed April 18, 1952, when 1,000 New England manufacturers will meet to plan new ways of creating new industries through Research. The President of Reynolds Metals, R.S. Reynolds, Jr., will lead the discussion on Metals. Salute singles out the Boston Chamber of Commerce and its president, Ralph N. Binner, for leadership efforts to establish New England as one of the country’s leading Research Centers.
Broadcast of April 20, 1952
Guests: Fred Allen, Phil Foster, Gilbert W. Gabriel, Julie Harris, Portland Hoffa, Groucho Marx, Ethel Merman, William Prince, George Sanders, John Van Druten and Earl Wrightson.
Julie Harris and William Prince were the stars of this year’s Drama Critics Circle Award for the best Broadway play of the year, I Am A Camera, by John Van Druten. Harris and Prince present a scene from the play, with Harris as Sally Bowles, the girl who lives in the Berlin rooming house; and Prince as Chris Isherwood, “the Camera,” a young writer who is in love with Sally. The scene presented is the one when Sally is walking out on Chris, but finds she must turn back because her mother has arrived unexpectedly from London, and Sally has told her mother in letters that she and Chris are engaged. Following the drama, Gilbert E. Gabriel, president of the New York Drama Critics Circle, makes the official presentation of the Critics Circle Award to John Van Druten, author of the “Best American Play of the Year.” In accepting the award, Mr. Van Druten thanks all the actors, producers Gertrude Macy and Walter Starcke, and others connected with the New York play success. I Am A Camera will not be made into a movie, it is announced over the air.
Phil Foster, comedian, does a monologue about buying a dog to keep him from being a lonesome bachelor.
Earl Wrightson sings “Freedom Song.”
George Sanders also makes an appearance on this show. Ethel Merman does a take off on Call Me Madame, which she presently stars on Broadway. The play is done with everybody getting into the act. Sanders and Merman will do the leads in the pictures. Sanders and merman also sing “Marrying for Love” from the same play.
Groucho Marx and Fred Allen continue from last week, discussing the “Good Old Days of Vaudeville.”
Portland Hoffa talks about her vacation. She always lets Fred decide everything in their lives and Ethel Merman and Tallulah Bankhead try to convince her to “take the upper hand.” After all, Portland wants to go to Paris for her vacation; Fred prefers Redbank, New Jersey.
Bankhead does a “repeat performance” of one of the sketches she did during the past season, her “Subway Ride” experiences in New York.
In the commercial, Reynolds Metals announces the free booklet, “ABC’s of Aluminum” is still available by writing: Reynolds Metes, Louisville 1, Kentucky.
Tallulah and cast say goodbye until next season with Tallulah’s thanking sponsors, orchestra, producer-director Dee Engelbach, writers Goodman Ace, Selma Diamond, Mort Green, George Foster and Frank Wilson; and all of her other “Darlings.” Meredith Wilson and Orchestra and Chorus salute Bankhead with a song especially for her, “My Darling.”
Final episode of the series.
Ray Charles conducted the chorus.
Announcers: Ed Herlihy and Bert Cowlan.
The American Chicle commercials were done by various announcers -- with frequent use of recorded jingles. When consulting NBC files at the Library of Congress, it appears the studio failed (unintentionally) to keep records of the Chicle announcer, who remains unknown at this present time.
Note: The only episode known to exist in circulation from 1952 is the broadcast of March 9. I included the details of that broadcast in this article for the sake of completion. I would also like to make note that many of my blog entries are written two to three years in advance. At the time of this blog entry, I have revised and expanded the entry above for an up-coming book, THE BIG SHOW: Tallulah Bankhead's Radio Career. Also, since this posting was completed, each and every episode of THE BIG SHOW has been found and is being transcribed from the original transcription discs. With luck, by the time this posting goes to print, they will be in collector hands. If not, they soon will be.
