The Jumbo Fire Chief Program
| Other names | The Circus Concert The Fire-Chief Program The Fire-Chief Show Jumbo Fire-Chief Program |
|---|---|
| Genre | WEAF |
| Syndicates | NBC Red Network |
| Starring | Jimmy Durante Donald Novis Gloria Grafton |
| Announcer | Louis A. Witton |
| Written by | Ben Hecht Charles MacArthur |
| Directed by | Billy Rose Adolph Deutsch (music director) |
| Recording studio | The Hippodrome, New York City |
| Original release | October 22, 1935 (rehearsal show) October 29, 1935 – January 14, 1936 |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 12 episodes known to exist, 19 believed to have been recorded |
| Opening theme | Over and Over Again by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart |
| Ending theme | The Jumbo Fire Chief Program ending theme |
| Sponsored by | Texaco |
The Jumbo Fire Chief Program is an American
The radio program broadcast an unknown number of episodes[note 1] over the NBC from October 22, 1935–January 14, 1936. The series was broadcast from and performed at the New York Hippodrome before an average crowd of 4500–5000 spectators each week.[2]
Background
Ed Wynn's The Fire Chief
The series originated from Ed Wynn's departure from NBC's The Fire Chief in early 1935 and the show's sponsor Texaco wanting to continue the series.
Texaco and NBC premiered The Fire Chief in 1932. Comedian Ed Wynn played the title role of the Fire Chief. The series was popular and one of the first radio programs to be performed before a live studio audience. Wynn left the program temporarily in 1933 when, in September of that year, Wynn along with Hungarian-born violinist Ota Gygi founded his own radio station, the Amalgamated Broadcasting System. The station lost money and went out of business five weeks later in November 1933.[3][4] He returned to The Fire Chief which continued until being cancelled in early 1935.
Billy Rose's Jumbo
On November 22, 1935, Billy Rose's musical Jumbo premiered at The Hippodrome in New York City. The musical told the story about a financially strapped circus. The musical also starred Durante, Novis and Grafton. At the end of each performance, Durante would lay down on the stage and permit a live elephant to place its foot upon his head. The musical closed on April 18, 1936, after 233 performances.[5]
Texaco's Jumbo Fire Chief
The Texas Company, aka Texaco, decided to continue their sponsored Fire Chief with The Jumbo Fire Chief Program. The Jumbo Fire Chief Program used the title of its predecessor and the premise of Jumbo. The serialized version of Jumbo premiered on October 29, 1935, from the Hippodrome and was broadcast over NBC. The series shared the same premise as the musical, which was the tale of a financially strapped circus and the tale of two young love interests; Matt Mulligan, Jr., (Donald Davis), and Mickey Consodine, (Gloria Grafton).[6] The series failed to reach popularity amongst listening audiences and only aired 12 episodes before being cancelled on January 14, 1936.[note 2]
Cast and characters
- Claudius "Brainy" Bowers (All Star Revue and The Jimmy Durante Show.
- Matt Mulligan, Jr. (Donald Novis) is the son of Matt Mulligan, Sr., the owner of the Mulligan Circus which is the main competition to the Consodine Show. Mulligan is the love interest of Consodine's daughter Mickey.[10]
- Mickey Consodine (Gloria Grafton) is the daughter of John Consodine and love interest to Matt, Jr.[10]
- Mr. Jellico (A.P. Kaye) is a representative from the Income Tax Department who usually comes every week to collect taxes accumulated from the circus.
Unheard characters
- John Consodine is the owner of the Consodine Show. Although never heard on mic, he is mentioned in almost every episode.
Notes
- ^ Several sources list the number as 19 but all agree of 12 surviving episodes broadcast between October 1935–January 1936. The other seven either do not have title or have forgotten titles.
- ^ This date is disputed amongst radio historians. While most sources and radio historians list the date of January 14, 1936, as the air date of the last episode of the program, some sources and historians believe the air date of the program's last episode to be February 25, 1936, due to 7 episodes of the program that have either unknown or forgotten titles.
References
- ^ "Billy Rose's Jumbo Texaco Fire Chief Program (starring Jimmy Durante)- Complete 1935–36 Series 12-Rare Old Time Radio Shows Plus 2 Classic Jimmy Durante songs- "Frosty The Snowman" (1950 single) & " Isn't It a Shame Christmas Only Comes Once A Year" (from the 1950 film "The Great Ruppert") 1 MP3". Retrieved May 9, 2015.
- WEAF. Retrieved May 9, 2015.
- ^ Elizabeth McLeod, Tonight The Program's Gonna Be Different: The Life and Times of Ed Wynn, the Fire Chief
- ISBN 978-1-1354-5648-1.
- ISBN 0-313-34140-0. p. 140
- ^ "The Fire-Chief Concert Radio Program". www.vintageallies.com. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved May 9, 2015.
- ^ Jimmy Durante: His Show Business Career, with an Annotated Filmography and Discography by David Bakish, p. 25
- ISBN 978-0-8108-8322-2. Retrieved May 9, 2015.
- ISBN 978-1-4836-7909-9. Retrieved May 10, 2015.
- ^ a b "Radio Review: The Jumbo Fire Chief Program". www.greatdetectives.net. Retrieved May 10, 2015.
External links
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