Old Time Radio Shows

 Radio listeners got to know a pretty important geography of important addresses over the years. There was 79 Wistful Vista , Dodge City , The Big Town , The B-Bar-B Ranch, the Melody Ranch , 6121 Sunset Blvd (CBS Columbia Square in Los Angeles), 30 Rockefeller Center (NBC Radio City, New York ), Maybeland (home of the Cinnamon Bear ), and the little town of Summerfield (where Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve serves as water commissioner). Few addresses were as exclusive or was well listened to as Allen’s Alley . Fred Allen was one of many vaudeville veterans to make the transition to from life on the road to life in front of the microphone. Allen was also one of the first to realize that even though the vaudevillians were getting the majority of the laughs in the early years of commercial radio, radio was not and never would be vaudeville! He could not understand why some of his fellow radio comics would perform while wearing funny hats or costumes, the audience at home couldn...

It is impossible to chronicle the birth of the Fred Allen-Jack Benny radio feud without going into the life and background of Fred Allen . At the age of fourteen, Fred Allen opened a book that would forever change the course of his life . Working as a stock clerk at the Boston Public Library, he picked up a book on the subject of humor. Not only did this literary work put him on the path of comedy, it also sparked a passion that culminated in a book collection. By the time of his death, Fred Allen’s personal library contained thousands of volumes written on the subject of comedy. Beginning his career in vaudeville, Allen soon learned that his comedic skills greatly outweighed his juggling ability and he decided to use the juggling act as an anchor for his comedy. He also appeared in a few short films, before getting his break on radio. At the age of thirty-eight, Fred Allen landed a job, as host of  The Linit Bath Club Revue . The show premiered on October 23, 1932 ...

Christmas seems to bring out the best in most of us, even when our best isn't that much to brag about! In 1936, Gracie Allen takes time out from her crush on Tony Martin to share with us a play she has written, Charles Dickens ' A Christmas Carol . George Burns is surprised, having thought that Charles Dickens had written it, but in the tradition of the Burns and Allen Show , he is corrected by his lovely bride. Of course for Gracie, we are haunted by the Ghosts Radio Past, Present and Future. These ghosts wind up being impressions of Eddie Cantor , Jack Benny , and Fred Allen to George's Scrooge, the Joke Miser, who steals everyone else's jokes! The real  Fred Allen  celebrates Christmas of 1937 with Portland Hoffa and the rest of the Town Hall Tonight crew, joined by his old Vaudeville pal, Jack Benny. This is a fun paring for Old Time Radio fans, taking place within a few months of the opening salvos of the famous Jack Benny, Fred Allen Feud . Be...