Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Boxcars711 Old Time Radio Pod - The Abbott & Costello Show "Guest The Great Gildersleeve" (01-20-44)


Guest The Great Gildersleeve (Aired January 20, 1944)


The Abbott and Costello Show mixed comedy with musical interludes (usually, by singers such as Connie Haines, Marilyn Maxwell, the Delta Rhythm Boys, Skinnay Ennis, and the Les Baxter Singers). Regulars and semi-regulars on the show included Artie Auerbrook, Elvia Allman, Iris Adrian, Mel Blanc, Wally Brown, Sharon Douglas, Verna Felton, Sidney Fields, Frank Nelson, Martha Wentworth, and Benay Venuta. Ken Niles was the show's longtime announcer, doubling as an exasperated foil to Abbott & Costello's mishaps (and often fuming in character as Costello insulted his on-air wife routinely); he was succeeded by Michael Roy, with annoncing chores also handled over the years by Frank Bingman and Jim Doyle. The show went through several orchestras during its radio life, including those of Ennis, Charles Hoff, Matty Matlock, Jack Meaking, Will Osborne, Freddie Rich, Leith Stevens, and Peter van Steeden. The show's writers included Howard Harris, Hal Fimberg, Parke Levy, Don Prindle, Ed Cherokee, Len Stern, Martin Ragaway, Paul Conlan, and Ed Forman, as well as producer Martin Gosch. Sound effects were handled mostly by Floyd Caton. Abbott and Costello moved the show to ABC (the former NBC Blue Network) five years after they premiered on NBC. During their ABC period they also hosted a 30-minute children's radio program(The Abbott and Costello Children's Show), which aired Saturday mornings with vocalist Anna Mae Slaughter and announcer Johnny McGovern.


THIS EPISODE:

January 20, 1944. Red network, KFI, Los Angeles aircheck. Sponsored by: Camels, Prince Albert Tobacco. Costello takes on "The Great Gildersleeve," on and off the fottball field. Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Harold Peary, Elvia Allman, Arthur Q. Bryan, Ken Niles (announcer), Freddie Rich and His Orchestra, Connie Haines. 29:19.

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