Summer replacement

[JohnM]

On the last show of the 1935-1936 season, it's mentioned that Don Wilson is going to replace Jack as the master of ceremonies on the Jello Program during the summer, when the regular cast is on vacation.

What were these shows like? Just music? Different orchestra? Anyone got any recordings?

[speedy]

On the OTRR site, I looked up the Radio Guide issue that contains the first listing for this summer replacement (issue dated 7-4-36). It's a pdf file which is a scan of the entire 48 pages of that issue. Unfortunately I cannot cut and paste the listing frrom the pdf, so I will recreate it here:

NBC - Tim Ryan and Irene Noblette, comedy team; Don Voorhees' Orch.; Morton Bowe, tnr.; Don Wilson, m.c.

As you can see, it does not even feature a name (Jello Show). But that doesn't seem to be unusual at that time. I checked a listing in the Radio Guide issue of 6/6/36 for example, and Jack's show listing is as follows:

NBC - Jack Benny & Mary Livingstone; Kenny Baker; Don Wilson; Johnny Green's Orch.

That's it! No show title, no plot summary, no mention of guests appearing. So the summer replacement is listed the same way that Jack's popular show was at the time.

Having said that, given the fact that the summer replacement is not given a name, it's hard to say for sure whether there are any episodes out there. Hard to know what to search for. I did search for the Jello Show or Jello Program on OTRR and found no episodes. They have the most comprehensive site for OTR episodes that I know of.

Delving further into OTRR's trove, they also have scans of four major newspaper's radio listings. There I found the summer replacement show listed in two papers as Tim & Irene. Search for episodes under this name also turned up nothing. Having exhausted OTRR, I turned to my other trusty resource, John Dunning's invaluable book "On the Air". This book lists pretty much everything that every aired on a regular basis on radio. There I did find a listing for Tim and Irene. It's listed as "Vaudeville Style Comedy". Its broadcast history was September 18, 1934 - January 29, 1935 (Blue Network), then June 28 - September 27, 1936 (NBC Blue Network), then Red beginning August 30 - (The Jello Summer Show for Jack Benny). The information on Tim & Irene says that they were a husband and wife vaudeville act that started appearing on radio in 1931 as vaudville dates dried up. On the air Ryan was relatively straight while Noblette was loony and squeaky. She appeared often on the Bob Hope Show in the 1940s, and as Irene Ryan, was seen in a later era as Granny on the Beverly hillbillies.

The stuff you find out when you dig!

[Yhtapmys]

On the OTRR site, I looked up the Radio Guide issue that contains the first listing for this summer replacement (issue dated 7-4-36). It's a pdf file which is a scan of the entire 48 pages of that issue. Unfortunately I cannot cut and paste the listing frrom the pdf, so I will recreate it here:

NBC - Tim Ryan and Irene Noblette, comedy team; Don Voorhees' Orch.; Morton Bowe, tnr.; Don Wilson, m.c.

Here's a review in Variety, July 1, 1936:

TIM AND IRENE
with Don Voorhees Orch., Don Wilson, Morton Bowe
Music. Comedy
30 Mins.
JELLO
Sunday. 7 p.m. EDST
WJZ. New York
(Young & Rubicam)
Young & Rubicam brought In two makeshift programs Sunday night (28) as July-August substitutes for bigger—and as it happens in both cases much better—winter shows. This one is out to keep the folks in the NBC blue tuning-in habit for the 7 p.m. (EDST) niche. That 7 p m. date, has been quite a fixed habit with a large segment of the population, due to the Jack Benny batting average. But that the present line-up can defeat gypsy tendencies among the dollars seems improbable.
Inaugural stanza sprawled on the clumsy side in its rather smar-alecky striving to thrust plugs for Jello into the script. This requires artistry. And as delivered, the Jello references licked what it requires.
Tim and Irene (Ryan and Noblette) were uneven. Their performance was like a political platform, parts of it good, parts of it bad. In general, the material was bargain basement comedy—a bit
shopworn.
Morton Bowe, extravagantly introduced, sang well. But those gushy 'go out there and wow em, old pal' preludes nobody any good. Especially not tenors. Bowe rose above it. Voorhees music zippy
throughout.
But the Jello didn't quite jell.
Land.

Other Variety stories mention Dave Freedman was the writer, and Frank Jacquet was signed for the show in July. I always thought these broadcasts were known as "The Jell-O Summer Show."

It turned out to be a summer replacement show that got a summer replacement. It was moved from the Blue (WJZ) to the Red (WEAF) network on August 30th. Jack didn't return until October. Blue ran the Coburn Orchestra in the slot.

There's a note in Variety of July 22, 1936 that Wilson, Tim and Irene (and the Voorhees Orchestra) were signed for a new show, Sunday, 5:30 to 6 p.m. on the basic Blue network (and some other Blue stations) starting Oct. 4, 1936 for Minute Tapioca (a General Foods product). Donsie evidently was busy.

Yhtapmys

[Mister Kitzel]

Irene Noblette had the last laugh 25 years later.

[JohnM]

speedy and yhtapmys -- thank you so much for the detailed replies - albeit belatedly!

OK, I'm not surprised by the answer. I guess I was intrigued by the phrasing that Don would be M.C.ing the shows -- Jack was known as the Master of Ceremonies on his show so I thought this implied Don would be the host, not just the announcer.

Maybe it was more like a variety show with an Ed Sullivan-style MC though. Maybe Don was the man in charge, introducing the various acts including Granny's routine, throughout the program.