From Those Were the Days:

1922 - WGY radio in Schenectady, NY presented the first full-length melodrama on radio. It was The Wolf, written by Eugene Walter.
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The Unseen Monster

Chapter 10 of Mandrake the Magician finds—much to my disappointment—that Mandrake (Warren Hull) and Lothar (Al Kikume) haven’t perished in the resulting train crash after all. Well, at least Lothar’s okay, anyway…Mandrake is out colder than a mackerel, and by the time Lothar brings back a physician several WaspCo employees have spirited away the magician in an ambulance, and arrive at the Green Valley Rest Home—the Wasp’s hideout and the place where Professor Houston (Forbes Murray) was once being held.

Mandrake’s friends—Betty Houston (Doris Weston), Dr. Andre Bennett (Edward Earle) and Frank Raymond (Don Beddoe)—are sitting around, collectively wringing their hands as to what to do about Mandrake’s disappearance. (I am not reassured to learn that apparently Mandrake is the “brains” of the team.) Finally, Bennett and Raymond decide to check the local hospitals and see if Mandrake is a patient there. (Hooray! That's usin' the ol' gray matter!)

Meanwhile, Mandrake is being held prisoner in one of Green Valley’s luxurious private rooms, and as Dirk (John Tyrrell) ransacks his briefcase he is delighted to learn that no more employees will be subjected to “the usual discipline.” “Boy! This will make the Wasp happy—platinite!” he crows, as the arrangements for the ensuing office party are no doubt made in the background.

Now, for those of you rooting for Mandrake’s pals to come to his rescue—well, you’re going to be disappointed. The Wasp and his Merry Thugs capture James Webster (Kenneth MacDonald), Mandrake’s other idiot friend—though where they found him and how they caught him is left unexplained (more evidence to suggest that Webster is behind it all, perhaps?). Bennett arrives at the sanitarium, too, and is also caught; and since Betty and Frank promised to rendevous with him there…they are soon dispatched by the Wasp’s goons as well.

Dirk summons the goombah assigned to watch Mandrake and informs him that the Wasp wishes to meet him mano-a-mano…a hooded figure enters the room where Dirk and Wasp are waiting, and after the Wasp delivers one of those “At-last-we-meet-face-to-face” speeches, the hood is removed and…surprise! It’s the goombah…Mandrake has escaped! (Boy, are they ever red-faced!)

But not for long…Mandrake is loose in the sanitarium, knocking out henchmen left and right (even Betty gets into the act, escaping when she decks a nurse) and frantically searching for the exits. The Wasp continues to defeat him at every turn, activitating steel doors to trap our hero…then, he pushes a button that send a wall crashing down onto Mandrake and Betty…

Tomorrow, Chapter 11: “At the Stroke of Eight.”
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“Dinah…is there anyone finer…”

As promised, I grabbed a couple of the Birds Eye Open House CDs from First Generation Radio Archives’ Premier Collection last month and took them with me to work. I’m sort of embarrassed that I didn’t snap this set up earlier so I could let you know how good it is—and although they’re no longer available at the introductory price they are still worth the investment.

Birds Eye Open House premiered over CBS Radio on September 30, 1943 as a half-hour comedy-variety vehicle for singer-actress Dinah Shore. OTR historian Liz McLeod, in her exhaustive and always informative liner notes for the FGRA collection, cites this series as a “textbook example” of the slick, polished “big time network radio musical variety program” so popular on the airwaves in the mid-1940s.

Shore started her radio career in her home state of Tennessee in 1937, broadcasting over Nashville’s WSM—and it wasn’t long before she moved up the ranks to be heard on WNEW in New York as a cast member of Martin Brock’s program and later the Ben Bernie show as well. From there, she appeared in a series of quarter-hour programs, and even served an apprenticeship with Eddie Cantor as his resident vocalist beginning in 1940. She honed her comedic talents with The Eddie Cantor Show, and became so popular that boss Cantor and Edgar Bergen engaged in a bidding skirmish for her services in 1941.

Cantor’s longtime announcer-foil Harry Von Zell joined Open House as Dinah’s sidekick, joining her in comedy sketches and extolling the fine qualities of Birds Eye “Frosted” Foods. Backed my maestro Robert Emmett Dolan and his orchestra, and Joe Lilly and his chorus, the program provided listening audiences with first-rate entertainment for three seasons before folding its tent May 30, 1946 (its last two seasons were heard over NBC, having moved there in the fall of 1944).

A broadcast from May 3, 1945 demonstrates just how entertaining Birds Eye Open House can be—after opening the show with a rendition of Candy (a Top Five hit for Dinah in 1945; she also sings another smash, Along the Navajo Trail), Dinah engages in badinage with Harry on the topic of visiting relatives:

DINAH: Well, I’ll tell you, Harry—it’s nice, but it certainly is a responsibility having a lot of relatives at your house, isn’t it?

HARRY: Oh, Dinah—I know just what you mean…last summer, a flock of relatives swooped down on me, you know (chuckles)…

DINAH: Oh, my heavens—how many were there?

HARRY: How many…oh, I don’t know…but every time I opened a Venetian blind, three cousins fell out…and were those kids athletic! You see, this aunt of mine had five kids, and when they got here they formed a basketball team…

DINAH: How old were they?

HARRY: Well, the oldest was fourteen—the youngest was just a year old…but you should see those kids jump center…run, pass and shoot fouls…

DINAH: Wait a minute, now…what does the one-year old do?

HARRY: Oh…well, he just dribbles…

The guest stars on this broadcast are Jim and Marian Jordan as Fibber McGee & Molly, who invite Dinah and Harry to 79 Wistful Vista so that Fibber—on behalf of the Wistful Vista Music Appreciation and Save Our Stately Old Elm Trees Club—can present Dinah with an award for being the Outstanding Singer of 1945. Fibber has also planned to showcase his singing talents on the mandolin (as Fibber McGee & Molly fans know, his repertoire is limited to Pretty Red Wing), much to Molly’s chagrin:

MOLLY: McGee…I hope you haven’t forgotten why you asked Dinah and Mr. Von Zell over here…

FIBBER: Oh, I almost forgot…I got a special surprise for you, Dinah…

DINAH: Oh really? Shall I put my hands over my eyes?

MOLLY: No, dear…over your ears…

HARRY: Oh, I bet I know…Fibber’s gonna play “Poet and Peasant Overture” on his comb again…

FIBBER: Now just a darn minute, Vonzy…if I didn’t know you from twenty years back I’d be inclined…

MOLLY (interrupting): Heavenly days, McGee! Have you known Mr. Von Zell as long as that?

DINAH: Oh yes, Mrs. McGee…Harry told me he knew Mr. McGee before Nelson Eddy got the recipe for “Shortnin’ Bread”…

HARRY: Well…I knew him before Doctor I.Q. even knew there was a lady in the balcony!

Of course, Fibber has misplaced Dinah’s award and…dare we say…has stashed the loving cup in his infamous hall closet. Surveying the bric-a-brac that tumbles out, Fibber remarks: “Dinah…whaddya say we make this award for 1946?”

The caliber of guest stars on these Birds Eye Open House programs really sets it apart from similar variety shows of the period; a partial listing of guests includes Frank Sinatra (who jokes about being on “Bird Seed Open House”), Joseph Cotten, Jack Carson, Rudy Vallee and Red Skelton. The one and only Groucho Marx, in fact, made so many appearances (of the twenty shows in the FGRA set, he guests in seven of them) that he was practically a semi-regular, and so curiosity dictated that I check out a February 21, 1946 broadcast in which Grouch tries to convince the president (Frank Nelson) of the Forbschneider Ink Company to hire him for its radio program. This results in a series of amusing parodies of radio hits like The Quiz Kids, The Chicago Round Table, and People Are Funny (could this be a foreshadowing of Marx’s future radio endeavors?):

ANNOUNCER: People Are Groucho! And here is our master of ceremonies…Groucho Marx!

GROUCHO: Ha ha ha ha…now, in just about five seconds…ha ha ha ha…we’re going to have a young married couple come out here…ha ha ha ha…now here’s the fun—this couple doesn’t know that you know that I know that they know that we don’t know that they know what we know! Don’t we! (more maniacal laughter) But first…oh, here they come now! And what is your name?

HARRY: Harry Crillic…

GROUCHO: How do you spell it?

HARRY: With two S’s…

GROUCHO: Splendid! Just the way it sounds, eh…ha ha ha ha…are you married?

DINAH: What do I look like—smorgasbord?

GROUCHO: Oh, you’re Mrs. Crillic…

DINAH: Likewise, I assure you…

GROUCHO: You have a first name?

DINAH: Mathilda…

GROUCHO: Isn’t that wonderful…do you mind if I call you Mathilda? Ha ha ha ha…

DINAH (giggling) Why should I mind?

GROUCHO: I’d mind if someone called me Mathilda…ha ha ha ha…now, Mr. Crillic…here’s how we play People Are Groucho…we give you a five hundred pound sack of wheat and you have to hold it above you…then if you fail to answer the question correctly, my assistants break both your arms and the sack of wheat falls on your head…any questions?

HARRY: Would you mind if I wear my derby?

GROUCHO: Uh uh uh…let’s play it fair…now, Mrs. Crillic…you stand opposite your husband, because when the sack falls on his head, it automatically releases a trap door under you that starts you on your way to China…ha ha ha ha…

DINAH: Ha ha ha ha…

GROUCHO: I’ll do the laughing around here, if you don’t mind…any questions?

DINAH: When do I see my mother again?

GROUCHO: Well, don’t worry about that, because in our next stunt we get rid of her, too…

As Elizabeth observes, Groucho “is somewhat muted by the demands of a scripted series” but despite this, he’s still funny as always—I laughed out loud when he referred to Von Zell as “my fine-feathered deep freeze” in a crack directed toward the show's sponsor.

After Birds Eye Open House, Dinah Shore continued on radio in several series (from 1946-47 she headlined The Ford Show and she was on in 1948 for Philip Morris and Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer), including a return to the Cantor program during its last season beginning in the fall of 1948. She finished out radio in a series of quarter-hour programs, but soon television would come a-callin’ and she became one of that medium’s early successes (“Mm-wah!”). From 1943 to 1946, however, Shore made Open House a solid series of fine entertainment, one which I heartily recommend.
11:55:37 AM    comment []  trackback []