GARRY MOORE & JIMMY DURANTE APPEARED ON TWO ELGIN THANKSGIVING SHOWS.
ELGIN’S THANKSGIVING SHOWS
Originally titled A Thanksgiving Salute To America’s Armed Forces or Thanksgiving Canteen, Elgin’s holiday shows began on CBS at 4:00 p.m., Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 1942, and started a Network Radio tradition that continued for seven years.
Known after 1944 as Two Hours of Stars, the annual Thanksgiving and Christmas afternoon all-star shows were the brainchild of the Elgin Watch Company’s ad agency, J. Walter Thompson.
And all-star meant exactly that. The first show in 1942 headlined NBC stars Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy, Red Skelton and Ozzie & Harriet Nelson. The Thompson agency’s muscle was strong enough to convince NBC to lend them to the CBS show. The production also featured Judy Canova, film stars Walter Pigeon and Loretta Young, pianist Jose Iturbi, the Gene Krupa, Spike Jones and Freddie Slack bands, singers Allan Jones, Ginny Simms, Ella Mae Morse, Dale Evans and the Golden Gate Quartet.
The two hours were hosted by Don Ameche who continued in his emcee role for all 14 programs in the series that were also transmitted by shortwave and Armed Forces Radio to U.S. Military installations around the world..
Listener reaction to the first show was tremendous, encouraging Elgin and its agency to extend the budget a month later for their first Christmas Day program that featured Bob Hope, Judy Garland, Bette Davis, Abbott & Costello, Cass Dailey, Desi Arnaz, Gracie Fields, Phil Regan and two choirs.
Bergen & McCarthy and George Burns & Gracie Allen headlined the 1943 Elgin Thanksgiving Show and that year’s Christmas production topped its successors for star power with Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Jack Benny, Fibber McGee & Molly, (all NBC stars), plus Judy Garland, Carmen Miranda, Robert Young and Lena Horne from the movies.
Like many manufacturers, Elgin’s output during this period was directed to the war effort, turning out military watches, chronometers, altimeters and artillery equipment. As a result, the company was making money, lots of money - and because advertising expense was tax deductible, Elgin invested in its postwar future by presenting the Thanksgiving and Christmas broadcasts - an estimated average of $50,000 in annual time, production and talent costs.
The maneuver paid off as Lord Elgin and Lady Elgin wristwatches and Elgin pocket watches were highly popular brands after the war and the shows were bookends to the important holiday buying season.
The parade of stars continued every year with Hope, Benny, Crosby, Skelton, Burns & Allen and others making multiple appearances. And CBS was without opposition for its Elgin programs through 1947 as NBC continued to program its afternoon block of soap operas and ABC broadcast its strip series of juvenile adventures. Portia Faces Life and Terry & The Pirates were no match for Bob Hope or Edger Bergen & Charlie McCarthy.
Then the CBS talent raid on NBC’s comedy stars began in 1948. NBC retaliated by giving Elgin and J. Walter Thompson a deal they couldn’t refuse to move the Thanksgiving and Christmas shows from CBS.
So, the 1948 - and last - of the Elgin shows were broadcast by NBC while CBS countered with its own two hour specials, opposite Elgin’s.
The 1948 CBS Thanksgiving Festival with Wrigley Gum replacing Elgin as its sponsor, starred Arthur Godfrey, Amos & Andy, Abbott & Costello and Dorothy Lamour. while its Christmas presentation was remindful of the best of the Elgin shows with Bing Crosby, Burns & Allen, Gene Autry, Eddie Rochester Anderson and Lionel Barrymore reprising his famous Scrooge portrayal in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
Next month we’ll post a classic Elgin Christmas show from the war years. For now, however, only two of the Elgin Thanksgiving programs were found - both from the postwar period.
The Sixth Annual Elgin Thanksgiving Show from CBS on November 27, 1947, is also posted below. It stars Jack Benny, Red Skelton, Jimmy Durante & Garry Moore, Allan Jones, Margaret Whiting and Yehudi Menuhin
The Seventh and last Elgin Thanksgiving Show from NBC on November 25, 1948, is also posted. Opposite the CBS program starring Godfrey noted above, it features Jack Benny, Red Skelton, Mario Lanza, Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis, Jimmy Durante & Garry Moore, Frances Langford and The Mills Brothers. The two shows combined for a whopping 43.5 Hooperating.
Regardless of their network source, these two Elgin shows amount to four hours of great Network Radio variety. Each reflected the Elgin Watch slogan - It Takes Its Time From The Stars.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Originally titled A Thanksgiving Salute To America’s Armed Forces or Thanksgiving Canteen, Elgin’s holiday shows began on CBS at 4:00 p.m., Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 1942, and started a Network Radio tradition that continued for seven years.
Known after 1944 as Two Hours of Stars, the annual Thanksgiving and Christmas afternoon all-star shows were the brainchild of the Elgin Watch Company’s ad agency, J. Walter Thompson.
And all-star meant exactly that. The first show in 1942 headlined NBC stars Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy, Red Skelton and Ozzie & Harriet Nelson. The Thompson agency’s muscle was strong enough to convince NBC to lend them to the CBS show. The production also featured Judy Canova, film stars Walter Pigeon and Loretta Young, pianist Jose Iturbi, the Gene Krupa, Spike Jones and Freddie Slack bands, singers Allan Jones, Ginny Simms, Ella Mae Morse, Dale Evans and the Golden Gate Quartet.
The two hours were hosted by Don Ameche who continued in his emcee role for all 14 programs in the series that were also transmitted by shortwave and Armed Forces Radio to U.S. Military installations around the world..
Listener reaction to the first show was tremendous, encouraging Elgin and its agency to extend the budget a month later for their first Christmas Day program that featured Bob Hope, Judy Garland, Bette Davis, Abbott & Costello, Cass Dailey, Desi Arnaz, Gracie Fields, Phil Regan and two choirs.
Bergen & McCarthy and George Burns & Gracie Allen headlined the 1943 Elgin Thanksgiving Show and that year’s Christmas production topped its successors for star power with Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Jack Benny, Fibber McGee & Molly, (all NBC stars), plus Judy Garland, Carmen Miranda, Robert Young and Lena Horne from the movies.
Like many manufacturers, Elgin’s output during this period was directed to the war effort, turning out military watches, chronometers, altimeters and artillery equipment. As a result, the company was making money, lots of money - and because advertising expense was tax deductible, Elgin invested in its postwar future by presenting the Thanksgiving and Christmas broadcasts - an estimated average of $50,000 in annual time, production and talent costs.
The maneuver paid off as Lord Elgin and Lady Elgin wristwatches and Elgin pocket watches were highly popular brands after the war and the shows were bookends to the important holiday buying season.
The parade of stars continued every year with Hope, Benny, Crosby, Skelton, Burns & Allen and others making multiple appearances. And CBS was without opposition for its Elgin programs through 1947 as NBC continued to program its afternoon block of soap operas and ABC broadcast its strip series of juvenile adventures. Portia Faces Life and Terry & The Pirates were no match for Bob Hope or Edger Bergen & Charlie McCarthy.
Then the CBS talent raid on NBC’s comedy stars began in 1948. NBC retaliated by giving Elgin and J. Walter Thompson a deal they couldn’t refuse to move the Thanksgiving and Christmas shows from CBS.
So, the 1948 - and last - of the Elgin shows were broadcast by NBC while CBS countered with its own two hour specials, opposite Elgin’s.
The 1948 CBS Thanksgiving Festival with Wrigley Gum replacing Elgin as its sponsor, starred Arthur Godfrey, Amos & Andy, Abbott & Costello and Dorothy Lamour. while its Christmas presentation was remindful of the best of the Elgin shows with Bing Crosby, Burns & Allen, Gene Autry, Eddie Rochester Anderson and Lionel Barrymore reprising his famous Scrooge portrayal in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
Next month we’ll post a classic Elgin Christmas show from the war years. For now, however, only two of the Elgin Thanksgiving programs were found - both from the postwar period.
The Sixth Annual Elgin Thanksgiving Show from CBS on November 27, 1947, is also posted below. It stars Jack Benny, Red Skelton, Jimmy Durante & Garry Moore, Allan Jones, Margaret Whiting and Yehudi Menuhin
The Seventh and last Elgin Thanksgiving Show from NBC on November 25, 1948, is also posted. Opposite the CBS program starring Godfrey noted above, it features Jack Benny, Red Skelton, Mario Lanza, Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis, Jimmy Durante & Garry Moore, Frances Langford and The Mills Brothers. The two shows combined for a whopping 43.5 Hooperating.
Regardless of their network source, these two Elgin shows amount to four hours of great Network Radio variety. Each reflected the Elgin Watch slogan - It Takes Its Time From The Stars.
Happy Thanksgiving!
| elgin_thanksgiving_show__11-26-47.mp3 |
| elgin_thanksgiving_show__11-25-48.mp3 |
