Breaking Walls
Breaking Walls: The Podcast on the History of American Network Radio Broadcasting.
Episodes
While the cast of Jack Benny became famous in their own right, Benny’s show had great guest-stars, as Dennis Day remembered.
On the May 28th, 1944 episode Jack is in talks with Warner Brothers to make a film about his life. Naturally Jack thinks he’ll star, write, and direct it. Unfortunately for him, Warner Brothers has other ideas. They want Danny Kaye to play Jack and Jack to play Jack’s father.
Mark as Played
May 6, 2024 • 33 mins
With Jack’s contract with General Foods nearing its close, the only thing left to do was count down the remaining episodes.
On May 21st, 1944, Jack and the gang discussed split personalities. Jack thinks it's ridiculous, but later realizes he has one too. In other news this episode marks the debut of the spoof commercial for Sympathy Cough Syrup. Its tagline “Sympathy spelled backwards is Yhtapmys” became famous.
Mark as Played
May 4, 2024 • 29 mins
By the Spring of 1944 Jack Benny’s cast had become its most familiar incarnation. Frank Nelson had begun to develop into Benny’s nemesis, as he remembered in this interview clip.
Phil Harris was a lovable and vain drunk. Mel Blanc could play any character imaginable. Others like Bea Benaderet, John Brown, and Sarah Berner rounded out the cast. Most importantly Jack was known to be the exact opposite of his character.
On May 14th...
Mark as Played
In early May 1944 Jack and the rest of his cast were still traveling around military bases in the Pacific Northwest. On May 7th they were at the Naval Air Station in Whidbey Island, Washington as Dick Haymes continued substituting for the now departed Dennis Day.
The rating for this episode was 20.1, although lower than his season average, it was still tied for third overall, and first on Sunday evenings.
Mark as Played
May 1, 2024 • 1 min
Hey everybody James Scully here, host of Breaking Walls. If you've been listening to this show for years on this RSS feed, I want you to know that you can also subscribe to the show on Youtube — www.youtube.com/@thewallbreakersllc.
I'm asking people who listen here on the RSS feed to subscribe on Youtube because Youtube offers the easiest path to monetizing this show.
I'm going to be fully transparent right now: There have been t...
Mark as Played
By the spring of 1944, Benny’s ratings had continued slipping. That season, his 23.7 rating meant he’d lost roughly four million weekly listeners in just three years. At the end of this season, his contract with General Foods was up. Here's Jack Benny talking about that time.
There was tension between the two parties because Benny had helped save Jell-O from going out of business. Jack was also upset with what he felt were second-...
Mark as Played
On April 23rd, 1944 The Jack Benny Program took to the air, broadcasting from Vancouver, British Columbia. It would be Dennis Day’s last show until March 17th, 1946. He’d be departing for the Navy.
In April of 1944 Dennis Day was twenty-seven years old. He’d been starring on Jack Benny’s show since 1939, rounding into a very talented performer. Day had great comic timing and the ability to mimic voices well. That year, he’d appear...
Mark as Played
April 27, 2024 • 11 mins
Mel Blanc joined the show on February 19th, 1939. Benny was adding a new touch to the miser theme: a polar bear, who would live in his basement and help protect his money. The bear was christened Carmichael, and in 1941, according to Rochester, he ate the gas man.
On Sunday December 7th, 1941 Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and Manila, thrusting the United States into World War II. That evening, The Jell-O Program signed on at 7PM ea...
Mark as Played
April 25, 2024 • 36 mins
In March of 1932 Jack Benny was headlining on Broadway as part of Earl Carroll’s Vanities when friend Ed Sullivan invited him to appear on Ed’s radio show. At the time Benny had no great interest in radio, but he went on Sullivan’s quarter-hour show March 19th, 1932, as a favor.
His first line was “Ladies and gentlemen, this is Jack Benny talking. There will be a slight pause while you say, ‘Who cares?”
Canada Dry Ginger Ale’s a...
Mark as Played
April 16, 2024 • 390 mins
In Breaking Walls episode 150 we parachute into Easter Sunday, 1944 for a day of radio, recollections, and reconciliation.
It’s now less than two months before D-Day and U.S. citizens are awaiting word of a full-scale European invasion with held breath.
——————————
Highlights:
• Cracks In The Nazi Foundation
• Invitation To Learning at 11:30AM
• Ceiling Unlimited with Joseph Cotton at 2PM
• The Life of Riley at 3PM
• Bulldog Dr...
Mark as Played
April 12, 2024 • 13 mins
At 11:15PM over Mutual’s WOR in New York, Duke Ellington was on the air with music from The famous Hurricane Nightclub on 49th street and broadway in New York City.
The next day, The British Royal Air Force dropped a record thirty-six hundred tons of bombs in a single raid on Germany, France and Belgium.
On Tuesday April 11th, the Soviets took more northern territory in Crimea. German forces immediately began a withdrawal.
That...
Mark as Played
April 10, 2024 • 40 mins
At 10:30PM eastern time on NBC’s WEAF, The Bob Crosby Show took to the air in New York with the just-heard Les Tremayne as co-host and Shirley Mitchell as the special guest. This episode’s rating was 13.8. Earlier this evening, Shirley Mitchell played Leila Ransom on NBC’s The Great Gildersleeve.
Opposite The Bob Crosby Show, The Adventures of The Thin Man took to the air on CBS. Based on the 1934 film starring William Powell and ...
Mark as Played
In the Spring of 1944, Fred Allen was finishing up his fourth season as host of The Texaco Star Theater on CBS. He’d been on the air for over a decade, but it was while he was hosting Texaco on December 6th, 1942 that Fred debuted Allen’s Alley.
Allen used to read the newspaper column of O.O. McIntyre, called “Thoughts While Strolling.” McIntyre wrote about sights and sounds he’d met walking through the shabby streets of New York’...
Mark as Played
April 7, 2024 • 42 mins
Edgar Bergen first came to the attention of American audiences on Rudy Vallée’s NBC Royal Gelatin Hour on December 17th, 1936. How could ventriloquism work on radio? Perhaps Rudy Vallée himself put it best the night Bergen debuted.
Five months later NBC gave Bergen his own show on Sundays at 8PM. He was an instant smash hit. Don Ameche worked with Bergen in those years. He was emcee on December 12th, 1937 when Mae West was the gue...
Mark as Played
At 7PM eastern time over Mutual Broadcasting’s flagship WOR, The Mysterious Traveler went on the air. Written and directed by Robert Arthur and David Kogan, The Mysterious Traveler debuted on Mutual December 5th, 1943.
Maurice Tarplin played the title role with a good-natured malevolence. The traveler mostly narrated from an omniscient perch.
He rode a phantom train by night. The opening signature was the distant wail of a loco...
Mark as Played
April 4, 2024 • 34 mins
When we were last with Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve in episode 149 of Breaking Walls he was gearing up for his local mayoral campaign, while simultaneously struggling to break away from his ex-fiancé Leila Ransom, voiced by the just-heart Shirley Mitchell. On Easter Sunday, Gildy’s mayoral campaign for Summerfield officially began, and he went to church.
This episode took to the air at 6:30PM eastern time over WEAF in New York. It...
Mark as Played
April 3, 2024 • 19 mins
At 6PM over NBC’s WEAF, The Catholic Hour took to the air with an address from Monsignor Fulton J. Sheen.
Fulton John Sheen was born on May 8th, 1895 in El Paso, Illinois. He was ordained a priest in 1919, quickly becoming a renowned theologian. He won the Cardinal Mercier Prize for International Philosophy in 1923 and went on to teach theology and philosophy at the Catholic University of America.
Beginning in 1930, Father Sheen...
Mark as Played
April 2, 2024 • 32 mins
Between 4PM and 5:30 eastern war time, NBC broadcast Easter services from the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, as well as the NBC symphony with Arturo Toscanini. CBS broadcast Orchestra music and The Family Hour. The Blue Network aired Music and the Mary Small Revue. Mutual Broadcasting’s flagship WOR aired Abe Lincoln’s Story and Green Valley, U.S.A..
At 5:30, Mutual’s most popular program took to the air. It was their only sho...
Mark as Played
March 31, 2024 • 30 mins
At 3:30PM over Mutual’s WOR in New York, Bulldog Drummond took to the air. It was directed by the just-heard Himan Brown. It starred Santos Ortega, known as Sandy to his friends. Jackson Beck was the announcer.
Bulldog Drummond was a British inspector popularized in the Paramount detective films of the 1930s. It was first broadcast April 13th, 1941. It spent its entire nearly eight year run on the Mutual Broadcasting System.
Opp...
Mark as Played
March 29, 2024 • 36 mins
The man you just heard was radio legend Hans Conreid, known as one of the most versatile actors of the 20th century. He could adroitly handle comedy, variety, or serious drama while speaking any dialect convincingly.
On April 9th 1944 at 3PM eastern time over WJZ and at 12PM pacific time on KECA, Conreid was busy playing Uncle Baxter on The Life of Riley.
Created by Irving Brecher, the best-known incarnation of The Life of Riley ...
Mark as Played
Popular Podcasts
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Anna Sale explores the big questions and hard choices that are often left out of polite conversation.
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people.
A straightforward look at the day's top news in 20 minutes. Powered by ABC News. Hosted by Brad Mielke.