1454 Was Appearing on the CBS Network, of Which WBBM Was a By

1454 VARIETY SHOWS was appearing on the CBS network, of which WBBM was a Ben Bernie and Eddie Cantor, and by 194o she was voted top long -time affiliate. new star in a Scripps Howard newspaper chain national radio Robert Ripley proved that stardom could be transferred to poll. A year later, NBC had her on its schedule with her own a radio variety show -even if it seemed improbable. Ripley show. had first introduced his Believe It or Not newspaper cartoons By the late 193os, variety, whether categorized as comedy in 1918; then, using vivid descriptions and sounds, he was able driven, music driven, or general, offered the most common to develop a variety act for NBC, CBS, and the Mutual Broad- program type on network radio. Musical comedy always casting System. He was a good host as well and invited his trailed musical variety, but sometimes it was hard to tell the guests to share in his glory. difference. Indeed, Harrison Summers categorized the Al Jol- By 1940 the movies and radio were inexorably linked. son Program on CBS during the 1937 -38 season as "comedy Long- retired silent film star Mary Pickford -with third hus- variety." Even programs centered on individual stars fre- band, bandleader Buddy Rogers- hosted her own variety quently filled out their 6o- minute time slots with guest stars shows, first titled simply Mary Pick ford and Buddy Rogers and and so should be thought of as variety shows, such as, for later titled Parties at Pick fair, referring to their posh and noted example, The Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy Program. Hollywood estate. Here was a star play pure and simple. And Orchestras dominated, because this was the big band era. once performers such as Bob Hope or Bing Crosby became big There were Horace Heidt, Morton Gould, Russ Morgan, in radio, they could also go to Hollywood and then smoothly Sammy Kaye, Benny Goodman, and Tommy Dorsey, as well as back to radio. Indeed, both CBS and NBC set up major studios the long- running Paul Whiteman, Wayne King, and Rudy in Los Angeles in the late 193os to take advantage of this Vallee. growing Hollywood -radio connection. In the 194os, bands made their singers into individual stars in their own right. Doris Day, Bing Crosby, and Frank Sinatra Program Strategies could be backed by any band. The fans wanted to hear them as singers, not as appendages of notable big bands. Radio indeed Variety shows almost always revolved around music and/or sparked the sales of phonograph records, as stars introduced comedy, because the dancing, acrobatics, magic tricks, and their new tunes and stylings via radio and then fans flocked to other staples of the vaudeville stage had no appeal on radio. purchase copies of the discs of their favorites. There were general variety shows, music -oriented variety But there were other forms of music than big bands, nota- shows, and comedy- oriented variety shows. Subgenres bly hillbilly, which was later called country music. On Satur- included the amateur hours, ethnic music comics (such as Jew- day nights, NBC broadcast both the National Barn Dance and ish comics who had crafted their comedy on the Catskills cir- the Grand Ole Opry, complete with singers, dancers, and com- cuit), and subcategories of music (such as the barn dance ics. But these variety shows borrowed from another, alterna- programs, which would later evolve into the country music tive musical tradition and aimed exclusively at a rural format radio). audience. Variety shows most often were fed by the New York The distinction between programs was in how much of a City based Tin Pan Alley tradition and then later melded this story was told. The Jack Benny Show offered a variety of musi- with the music and comedy coming from Hollywood. cal acts with Jack and his gang of comics, but the show was When in 1943 NBC spun off what became the American more the story of the Benny group. On the other hand, Al Jol- Broadcasting Company (ABC), the new company began with son's various radio variety shows featured the singing of Jol- the Alan Young Show, the Mary Small Revue, the Paul White- son, with only an occasional sketch and comic guest star. man Radio Hall of Fame, and the Woody Herman Band Show. Sometimes the appeal for radio made little sense. Ben This is a partial listing, but surely ABC embraced all the strate- Bernie was a vaudeville star as the genre was dying, killed by gies and scheduling opportunities that NBC and CBS had pio- the movies. He started on a local New York City radio station neered. ABC hit an apex in 1946 when Bing Cosby moved to in 1923, and thanks to a long- running feud with gossip col- the network for reasons of convenience and technical change. umnist Walter Winchell, he became famous and was a radio During the summer of 1946, Crosby left NBC after fulfilling fixture from 1931 until his death in 1943. Like many famous his obligation with long -time sponsor Kraft and signed with variety talents, he had one strength -in his case, music -but Philco (maker of radio and later television sets) for a weekly could offer enough talent in comedy, simple patter, and an salary of $7,500. Philco and ABC would permit Crosby to pre- ability to play master of ceremonies that he could become a record his Philco Radio Time on newly developed audiotape. star in variety. He did not need to be in the studio when his show debuted (on Stars were often made by first appearing on a variety show 16 October 1946), nor as it ran on ABC until 1 June 1949. and then moving to their own programs. For example, Dinah With the transcription ban broken, Bing Crosby then took Shore was discovered in the late 193os and early 194os by advantage of the talent raids by CBS and so switched to a new .

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