RADIO IN 1936  — Part 1

Originally broadcast on WNIB
Saturday, June 1, 1996

A sound picture of radio as it was sixty years ago, in 1936.

FIBBER McGEE AND MOLLY (3-2-36) Jim and Marian Jordan star with Hugh Studebaker, Isabel Randolph, Bill Thompson, Cliff Arquette, Harlow Wilcox, Rico Marcelli and the orchestra. The McGees go door-to-door selling encyclopedias. Marian “doubles” as Mrs. Wheedledick and Sis.

LOWELL THOMAS (1-10-36) Excerpt from a musical program featuring the guest commentator who reviews –on this first program of 1936—the biggest news stories of the last year: 1935.

HOLLYWOOD HOTEL (12-18-36) Host Dick Powell stars with Hollywood columnist Louella Parsons, Frances Langford, and guests Arthur Treacher, Igor Gorin, Tony Martin and producer Darryl F. Zanuck. This major variety hour is broadcast this week from 20th Century Fox studios in Hollywood where listeners are treated to visits to various movie sets and for a big party in honor of the new film “One in a Million” starring Sonja Henie, Ritz Brothers, Adolph Menjou.

UNIVERSITY BROADCASTING COUNCIL (3-14-36) “Not For Ladies,” a one-act play about the Bronte Sisters and the prejudice they faced as women writers, trying to get their work published.  Cast features radio students, members of the Northwestern University Drama Group.

BENNY GOODMAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA (2-2-36) “Let’s Dance to a half-hour of Rhythm” broadcast from the Congress Hotel in Chicago.

OLSON AND JOHNSON (1936) The zany comedy team of Ole Olson and Chic Johnson in a half-hour comedy show with music by Jimmy Grier and the orchestra and singer Gertrude Niesen.

BUGHOUSE RHYTHM (12-28-36) Humorous musical program, treating popular music with a comical highbrow approach.