Changing the schedule around for Holiday mode today.
Starting off with vintage radio comedy from Fred Allen – his Town Hall Tonight from NBC Radio for November 2, 1938.
Hard to imagine Radio being a primary source of entertainment, but in its early days it was one of the wonders of modern technology. The notion that you could listen to a wide variety of entertainment and be a witness to some of the most profound events of the 20th century was something unheard of prior to the 1920s. By the 1930s radios became the staple of most households and listening to the radio was a ritual much like the early days of Television were – instead of the TV positioned prominently in most living rooms as it was in the 1950s, the radio was the prominent fixture in most living rooms of the 1930s and 40s.
And with every piece of mass-produced technology came the idea that it could be used as a tool to advertise. And with advertisers came a boon of entertainment – music, drama, comedy – an entire world of products aimed directly at this new society of consumers.
So naturally competition came into play and radio became ground zero for Comedy and Drama – taking those elements which were exclusively the property of Theatre in large Urban centers to making it available to everyone, everywhere created a new avenue for talent to explore.
In the early days of radio, the source of Comedy came largely from the Vaudeville stage – all the major stars who were synonymous with the growth of Radio as an entertainment medium got their start as part of troupes of traveling entertainers who brought their gifts before audiences everywhere a theatre was available.
But that was arduous work – going from town to town, doing multiple shows each day – maintaining a level of performance no matter what the conditions were. With Radio it was simple – one appearance on a program would be heard by millions – and those performers who were struggling during the Vaudeville years became household names through radio.
One of those performers who became a household name was Fred Allen. Fred Allen started in Vaudeville performing in a number of different capacities, but Radio took advantage of his gift as a writer, not to mention his droll delivery and downright surreal ability as performer to create millions of ardent fans.
This program, part of a series Fred Allen starred in was Town Hall Tonight – it was gag comedy, much like Saturday Night Live (to use an approximate comparison) as opposed to say, Seinfeld – it was fast paced with rapid fire delivery and delivered in situations you could only portray on radio.
Fred Allen, along with Jack Benny and many others, were prototypes of comedy via mass media – even now, many comic writers and comedians cite Fred Allen (as well as Jack Benny) as touchstones/frames of reference for style and delivery. In essence, it hasn’t changed a whole lot in over 90 years – getting people to laugh is universal and there those among us who were masters at it and led the way for others to follow.
If you haven’t heard Fred Allen before, take an hour off from Thanksgiving duties and give a listen.
You can laugh, grimace or stare perplexed, but you will react – that was the point.
Hit play and sit back – Fred Allen from November 2, 1938.
