You Can't Do Business With Hitler

I have recently discovered an interesting sub-genre of WWII literature: Books about WWII published during WWII. The first I found was The Pocket Book of the War, edited by Quincy Howe, published in 1941 by Pocket Books. (It was published before WWII was even popularly known as WWII, that started in earnest a year later.) The second was another pocket book, pictured above, You Can't Do Business with Hitler, by Douglas Phillips Miller. Quickly I learned... it was also a radio program. Even some of the original scripts have survived, yellowed but intact. [LINK] [LINK]

The book was advertised heavily in both trade and popular periodicals, military and civilian publications: Life Magazine, the American Foreign Service Journal, The Atlantic Monthly, and many others. It was translated into French as Pas d'Affaires Avec Hitler and distributed in Canada, Europe, Asia and north Africa. One review of that edition notes "Since this edition takes cognizance of the events of 1941, the reader is impressed with a partial fulfillment of the author’s warning." In Spanish it was No Se Puede Comerciar Con Hitler and distributed to Argentina and Brazil. The OWI, Office of War Information, (a division of the Office for Emergency Management) had deep pockets.

The Daily Colonialist 01-26-1943

Douglas Miller had served as Commercial Attache to the American Embassy in Berlin for 15 years. He was a graduate of the University of Denver and a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. He worked in international trade and wrote dry market research which was published by the US Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. His reports included barn burners like Budgets of Western European Countries, and Freight Forwarding in the United States and Abroad. But after his 1941 book Miller was no longer a random bureaucrat. He was the darling of the OWI and they helped promote his book and later produced his radio program. Miller was born in 1892, meaning he was 49 years old when his account of unethical Nazi business practices became a best seller. The book made the argument that the Nazis did not engage in fair trade, and would harm American business and our economy —and for that reason the US needed to abandon neutrality in WWII and fight Germany.  In retrospect it's a strange angle to convince Americans to go to war. But it was just one piece of the greater propaganda effort. More here.

The 15-minute programs were transcribed on 16-inch discs that ran at 33 ⅓ RPM and each record carried two programs. The FREC (Federal radio Education Committee) loaned these to radio stations for free.   the only caveats were that no station could have more than 4 discs at a time and keep them for no longer than 2 weeks. They were advertised in multiple FREC bulletins in 1942. According to the book This Fascinating Radio Business by Robert John Landry, the program was carried on 703 station at one point. [SOURCE] That claim was published in 1946 and is likely to be accurate as it is relatively contemporary.  One OWI source claimed 790. Issues of the Movie and Radio Guide list all sorts of US and Canadian stations broadcasting the program, literally dozens in any given single issue: WAIM, WJAX, WCKY, WHYA, WIOD, WSOC, WLAK, WAIR, WRTF, WFBC, WRBL, WBT, WWNC, WCSC, WPTF, WCOS, WNYC, WTRY, WHAM, WORC, WKNE, WSYB, WRDO, WGAX, WWSR... the list goes on.

Every episode closes with the statement that it was "brought to you by the Radio Section of the Office for Emergency Management in Washington." The credits usually stated that the program was prepared and directed by Frank Telford. Miller acted as the narrator for every episode. Some episodes specify that they were written by Elwood Hoffman and directed by Telford. Some of the later episodes credit writing to Ben Kagan. The Frank Telford Papers reside in a special collection at The University of California, Los Angeles. It includes documents relevant to the program but also Chips, and Hawaii Five-O which he also wrote for. 

Life Magazine January 26, 1942

Every episode of You Can't Do Business With Hitler opens with a German voice shouting the below dialog which fades in the last sentence and transitions with an ominous organ chord.

Meine Deutsche Volksgenossen-Maenner und Frauen. In diesen Schicksalsstunde zint wir von unbebeugsamen Sieges willen gefuellt. Der reichs adler flieght von Nordcap. Bis zim Griechenland und unseren Siegesreiche Truppen verfolgen

That translates to "My German compatriots—men and women. In this hour of destiny, we are filled with an unyielding will to win. The imperial eagle flies from the North Cape to Greece, and our victorious troops are pursuing the enemy."  It's far from the most offensive thing Hitler might have said. But there are standards in radio. But I think the key part is Nordcap and Griechenland. that's Norway to Greece. It speaks to imperial ambitions that are contrary to free trade.

While the writers of each program are documented, the supporting case is largely unknown. A few short biographies reveal a few names. Adam Grzegorzewski was in the cast according to a short biography in The Polish Biographical Dictionary by Stanley Sokol. A set of OWI photographs of the program includes Abrasha Robofsky as the voice of Hitler. [SOURCE] Other images include, Robert Pollard, Ilona Killian, Col. Charles Ferris, Sam Lauder, Marian Harvey, Doris McWhirt, John Flynn, Virginia Moore. According to The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia by Isaac Landman, the actor Mark Schweid performed as well. 

It's unusual in radio but most episodes also cite sources for some of their more scandalous claims. Those includes: France on Berlin Time by Thomas Kernan,The Spoil of Europe  by Thomas Reveille, The Voice of Destruction by Hermann Rauschning, The Economic Consequences of the Second World War, by Lewis Lorwin, Inside Latin America by John Gunther, People Under Hitler by Wallace Dueul, Skeleton of Justice by Edith Roper, The New Order in Poland by Simon Segal and many magazines and federal reports. It makes for an unusual anti-fascist reading list.

According to the book Radio Goes to War by Gerd Horten, there were a total of 56 Episodes. I have not been able to corroborate that, nor does he cite a source. Despite the wealth of militaria in media, WWII propaganda radio programs are poorly documented. Today you can find scans of the original scripts for at least 34 episodes and audio for more than a dozen! At least 30 of those were further translated for use by the Foreign Language Division.Despite that I've only seen one transcription disc ever for sale.

Using the recordings and scripts online I collated a list of episodes by name, though some only from the front-sell or back-sell of an adjacent episode. Per the Jerome Cox Official War Publications list the first 16 episodes were all in circulation by June of 1942. The rest of the data is piecemeal and less certain. I also found a few titles in secondary sources but I could not confirm or sequence for these: The Nazi State of Matrimony, Education in the New Order and Origin of the Nazi Species. I've marked the "Drama" episodes with an asterisk because they appear multiple times with different episode numbers in odd sources; including this unattributed list which only partially matches the known scripts. 

Episode #	Name
1	Heads They Win Tails We Lose
2	Broken Promises
3	No American Goods Wanted
4	Two For Me and One For You
5	Mass Murder
6	The Spoils of Europe
7	The Thousand Year Reich
8	The Living Dead
9	The Anti-Christ
10	The Pagan Gods
11	Swastikas Over Equator
12	Money Talks With A German Accent
13	Work or Die
14	The New Slavery
15	Women Versus Hitlerism
16	The German Mother
17	???
18	Attack From Within
19	The Sixth Column
20	Made In Berlin
21	Trial By Terror
22	The Case of Martin Neimoeller
23	Barbarians: Made to Order
24	They Sleep For Hitler
25	Suffer The Little Children
26	Hitler is My Conscience
27	No God For Poland
28	From The Cradle To The Grave
29	The Bloodbath of Europe
30	The Strategy of Starvation
31	The Beast of Burden
32	The Sell Out
??	Legalized Murder
??	Gestapo
??	The Enemy Within Our Shores
??	A Drama In German*
35	The Seeds of Destruction
36	Health by Decree
37	Herr Doktor is a Quack
??	A Drama in Italian*
??	A Drama in German*
43	Origin of the Nazi Species
44	Gestapo in Sheep's Clothing
47	The Third Horseman
48	Nazis in False Face

In June of 1942 the OWI expanded on the program and reworked the format to cover all Axis powers. That program "This is Your Enemy" ran until September 1943. It was more polished but merely expounded on the topics of  You Can't Do Business With Hitler, though the latter ran concurrently for a year. Miller wrong another book Via Diplomatic Pouch published in 1944. It served as a more broad indictment of Hitlerism and fascism. None other than William L. Shirer wrote the introduction. But without the OWI, the book did not circulate as widely. He died in 1970. 

Frank Telford produced the programs "Dear Adolf" with Elwood Hoffman writing, and "This Is Our Enemy" for the OWI. Both men had some success in the TV and radio after the war. Ben Kagan was hired away from the OWI in 1944 by NBC as a script writer. He later worked on "These Are Our Men", and published one script in The Jewish Veteran magazine. He also worked on a V-E day documentary in 1956. He later was involved in managing the Radio Writers Guild (RWG). The overwhelming take away is that none of these people, save perhaps Miller, was a spook. They just segued into normal broadcasting careers after the war.

The top of each script reads "Radio Bureau, Editorial Division, Office of War Information. It's was government funded propaganda. But looking back now, 83 years later it's easy to look past it. Every episode closing explained that it was "based on the experiences of Douglas Miller who was for fifteen years commercial attache to the American Embassy in Berlin." Then that it was "brought to you by the Radio Section of the Office for Emergency management in Washington." Modern propaganda is wildly more deceptive both in it's intent and its origin. This wartime program seems almost quaint by comparison.  

As a propaganda piece, the efficacy of "You Can't Do Business With Hitler" remains mixed. While the public was ultimately swayed, big business took the Reichsmarks. There were many big corporations who very problematically did business with Hitler; notably Fred C. Koch through Winkler-Koch Engineering, Alcoa, Chase Bank, Dow Chemical, Ford, Prescott Bush through Union Banking Corporation (UBC), but also General Motors, IBM, and Standard Oil to name a few. [SOURCE] [SOURCE] [SOURCE]. 

 

Lil' Wally Radio Show

 

Walter "Li'l Wally" had a lot of pseudonyms. He was also Wladyslaw E. Jagiello aka Mały Władziu and aka Mały Władzio.  He became a band leader at 15 years old and quickly became a working musician. He assembled his own orchestra called the Lucky Harmony Boys. You probably gathered from the image above he played concertina and drums. He had started singing on stage at the age of 8 (Some sources say 10) for the Eddie Zima Orchestra so it seems like destiny.  

There's something to be said about his "Chicago" style. Different books dance around the topic by describing it as a "peasant" or "rural" style of polka with extra emphasis on the drums. But it was also called a "honky" style because that's where the word honky comes from: working class Slavic people. T word does sometimes show up in the titles and lyrics and early ephemera. [SOURCE] Like rock n' roll, it was dance music from from the working class. This was a style of polka distinct from the more orchestral northern style. 

Is that Agent 99?

Today Chicago has about 800,000 residents of Polish ancestry. So many Polish people immigrated to America that they created a pidgin called Pinglish, Polglish,Polglish or even Chicagowski. Slavic peoples began immigrating to America 1800s and worked in the industrial factories of the 19th century. Books like Upton Sinclair's The Jungle were written about the brutal conditions. So it shouldn't be shocking to read that Wally, born in 1930 to Polish immigrant parents, never went to high school. This was the great depression after all.

Instead, Jagiello founded his own record label in 1946, Amber Records, and had his first recording session that year still singing entirely in Polish. He didn't record anything in English until 1954. Polka was mostly popular with an ethnic Polish audience in Chicago who appreciated Jagiello's authenticity. Jagiello, for his part, was fully bilingual and performed English and Polish songs side by side in his sets. That Amber release is very rare. I've never even seen a picture of a copy. (No connection to the Denver-based 1968 Amber Records, or the 1950s Dallas-based AmBeR etc.)

In 1949 Jagiello signed to Columbia Records but he didn't like it. They released 8 songs but he disliked the sound of the recordings Columbia released, and he hated the loss of artistic control that came with working for the man. According to the book Immigration, Diversity, and Broadcasting in the United States by Vibert Cambridge Jagiello started his first radio show in 1950 at 1240 WCRW-AM. It aired on Mondays 5:00 - 5:30 PM. One source says he co-hosted that program with Chester A. Schafer. It looks like they had that show until about mid-1952. More here and here.

According to the book Polish Radio Broadcasting in the United States by Józef Migała he moved the show to 1490 WOPA-AM to run a full hour starting at 10:00 AM on Sundays. After just a few weeks it expanded to 3 hours. WCRW was only 100 watts and WOPA was 250, and only signed on in 1950. More than double the wattage and a nice new studio... this probably felt like an upgrade. WOPA also had an FM stick on 102.3. (I have not been able to confirm if he was simulcast on FM.)

A 1955 issue of broadcasting mentions Jagiello's program on WOPA. The "Happy Radio Program" was known in Polish as "wesoły program radiowy." Their description (below) of brokered ethnic programming and time-buys sounds like it's a foreign concept to them. That's because it was. In the early 1950s Polish and really most ethnic radio programming was quite unusual. The very first Polish radio program was probably Chet's Polka party on 1560 WTOD-AM in Toledo only a couple years earlier.

"Mr. Jagiello, a former union member, leads Little Wally's polka band, along with perhaps 10 other combos, plays dance halls and taverns. Their music is used for foreign language shows, through remote pick up by WOPA, Oak Park, a non-union station, on a paid-time basis. The musicians are not hired by that station. The bands buy time to advertise the places."

In 1956, his song, "I Wish I Was Single Again," hit the Top 40 charts. In 1951 he launched another label of his own, Jay Jay Records, the original address was 2425 South Kedzie Ave in Chicago. It was also the address for his recording studio, record pressing plant and short-lived second label: Banana records; that was circa 1957. Street numbering has changed but that location appears to be a motorcycle garage now.

Wally relocated his family to Miami around 1960. The street address NE 62nd St.; Miami, FL 33138 appears as the contact information for his label and recording studio as late as 1998. Jagiello bought the studio from Howard Warren in 1976 who was the original owner as Warren Studios going back to 1964. Paul Stanczyk, formerly of Belair Studios in Chicago oversaw the operation for decades. That address is now listed as Take-Off Records studio. I think the custom music staff metal work on the front door is original at least to Jagiello. [LINK] (The paint job is definitely new, and wow.) The Jay Jay label remained listed with a PO Box through the 2006 Billboard Buyers Guide. 

Jay Jay Record & Publishing Co.
PO Box 41-4156, Miami Beach,
FL 33141, (305)758-0000, Fax:
(305) 758-0000
Pres./Owner: Walter E. Jagiello
VP/Promo: Jeanette A. Jagiello
Mktg: Dorothy Flannagan
 Publicity: John Kozak
Labels: (Owned) Bonfire, Drum-Boy,
A Great Variety, Jay Jay, Polka-Tone
US Reps: Specialty Distributing Co.

During the '60s, Li'l Wally appeared three times on The Lawrence Welk Show, that's about as high-profile as polka gets. As the owner of Jay Jay he was quoted by Cashbox in 1961, complaining about the resistance among radio programmers to play Polka. It was and still largely is relegated to ethnic polish programs. Wally was booking tours, and playing concerts that attracted thousands, but couldn't get airtime outside a small number of polka programs. That's really what drove him to pay for airtime. More here.

“And yet, radio station disk jockeys, with few exceptions, practically refuse to expose polka music along the nation’s airwaves. The air exposure is sorely needed, as the average record purchaser makes his selections according to the suggestions offered by the deejay.”

A 1966 issue of Cashbox reported that since forming his Jay Jay label he had already cut over 50 albums and 200 singles. Another article that same year in Billboard reported that he sold the rights to some 200 albums to Premier Albums. But that same article confirms he will continue his Sunday three-hour broadcasts on Chicago stations 1240 WSBC-AM and 1300 WTAQ-AM.  The 1993 book Passport's guide to Ethnic Chicago by Richard Lindberg lists another Jagiello program "Lil' Wally Radio Show" on 1450 WCEV-AM. He was living full time in Miami by 1970 so it's self-evident that he's prerecording his shows, probably at his own studios, and shipping out 1/4 tape reels or transcription discs. Hopefully that's in a family archive somewhere.

It's very difficult to find how long some of his polka radio programs ran. The book Polka Happiness by Charles Keil listed polka programs on only 7 Chicago radio stations in his 1992 book: WOPA, WTAQ, WSBC, WEDC, WJOB, WLOI, and WIMS and among the DJs lists Jagiello. That intimated to me that his program was still running on either WSBC and/or WTAQ that year. If that's the case, it had been running over 25 years. More here.

Over 4 decades Wally created a Chicago polka sound others emulated. In 1969, he and Frankie Yankovic were selected as the two charter members of the Polka Hall of Fame. [SOURCE] Most of his 1970s biographies claim that he sold millions of records and that he had 16 gold records. It's hard to confirm how much of that is true. But it's all very plausible. I read a comment that suggested he owned a bar in Miami in the 1970s. I could not confirm it, but it's certainly in his style. Jagiello died in 2006. By way of an epilogue, let me remind you that Jay Jay records is still operating. In 2009, the Polkaholics launched a polka rock opera "Wally" based on the life of our favorite Chicago polka pioneer. More here.

DJ Foster Brooks

Foster Brooks died in 2001 at the age of 89. His talent has largely been forgotten as he spend the peak of his career type-cast into a role as a lush. Cultural attitudes toward alcoholism had changed by the 1980s such that it wasn't funny anymore. The same thing happened to Dean Martin.  Brooks was was almost 70 at the time and it was late in life to re-make his image. But he still landed a reoccurring role on Mork & Mindy as Miles Sternhagen. The role was a manager at a TV station. With his background, it may have been an impersonation of someone from his own career. Brooks made do with these cameo appearances until finally retiring. Anyone born after the movie Dances with Wolves came out would likely have no idea who he was.  More here.

Brooks was born in Louisville in 1912 and was one of seven brothers. His career started in radio, at WHAS-AM right there in Louisville at the age of 13 singing with his mother Edna. He remained primarily a singer at WHAS for years. The station was barely three years old at the time, having only been founded in 1922.  The earliest record I have found of him at the station is from April of 1932. He would have been only 20 years old. "Foster Brooks and Jim Henry staff singers doing a prolog for Hayden Reads Organlog this week at Loew's State, Louisville."  Then in September of that year another issue of Variety reports "Foster Brooks, WHAS baritone will m.c. at Seville Tavern, Louisville."

He later sang harmony with staff pianist Joe Pierson and by January 1937, he was announcing the Bulova watch time during station breaks. But this was not his first radio program. I found a 1934 issue of Variety which puts him on KSO in Des Moines, IA in 1934. It's just one sentence "Foster Brooks and Joe Plerson a new duo for KSO, Des Moines." Plerson was announcing at WQAM in Miami by March of 1935, so clearly the duo split. Plerson later landed at WFBM in 1946 and stayed at least until 1952. Brooks went back to Louisville by 1936.  More here.

Breaking out of singing, Brooks did everything behind the mic he could. He announced softball games and had an oddball afternoon show called "Yellow Blank Salute" with Herbie Koch organ, Charles Hurta on violin and Brooks own recitations. Radio Daily describes it as the staff organist and a staff violinist and makes no mention of Brooks. It was sponsored by Western Union. Radio Dial confirms it was on the air from May 1937 through April of 1938. He was at WHAS for 7 years (total) and was even captain of their baseball team. 

The WHAS studios were in the Courier-Journal newspaper building in downtown Louisville. Brooks became a staff announcer.  In 1937 he raised his profile for his emergency reporting during a severe flood. This was broadcast on both WHAS and WSM-AM. [SOURCE] In one of the pictures he poses with equipment borrowed from WFIL-AM. Yes, that's Brooks up the pole. It looks like they were clowning, which they were, but Monroe died of an infection from an injury that occurred in that dirty water, he was a year younger than Brooks. He and Pete Monroe sent flood bulletins from Lock 41 on the Portland canal and ended up in Variety and Broadcasting magazine multiple quotes and pictures: 

"At that time WHAS bulletins were spaced five minutes apart... the critical stages of the rescue work had passed. An announcer (Pete Monroe) or (Foster Brooks) said "WSM, this is WHAS calling... we will keep our transmitter open to take whatever stray bulletins come in... perhaps five minutes apart. Our transmitters now working with reduced power— go home WSM and get some sleep..."

That coverage is probably why a year later in 1938 Brooks moved to KWK-AM in St, Louis as an announcer. Trade magazines already knew who he was and reported the move.  He followed WHAS alumni Allan Anthony to KWK. Even Rural Radio magazine called out the hire. (The 1978 book Golden Throats & Silver Tongues by Ray Poindexter incorrectly places this in 1931.) A 1939 issue of variety confusingly describes Brooks leaving again in 1939. [SOURCE]

In 1942 he replaced Jack Berry on WHEC-AM in Rochester, NY taking over the Musical Clock. (Those call letters come up again later.) [SOURCE] In 1946 Brooks made his first commercial record, a 78 on Continental "The Face On The Bar Room Floor" Parts 1 [LINK]  and 2 [LINK]. It's oddly rare. The recording is not music or singing or comedy. It's a recitation with multiple character voices, all of which are probably Brooks. The text is old, I found a copy of the poem in the Stone Cutters Journal in 1922. It's attributed to Hugh Antoine d'Arcy who wrote it in 1887 under the original title "The Face Upon the Floor".  I can't speak for the 78, but the poem was very popular for decades. He wasn't even alone in recording it. Harold Selman did a version in 1928 for Okeh, Art Leonard for Regal in 1930, Buddy Williams in 1942 for Zonophone, and that continued right into the vinyl era. Hank Snow did a version in 1968. 

In 1943 550 WGR-AM & WKBW in Buffalo, where he hosted "The Musical Clock" and "Million Dollar Ballroom". In Buffalo, Brooks also performed with a country and western vocal group known as the Hi-Hatters.  Foster continued to play up the zaniness and organized stunts. He co-hosted a quiz show called "Stump Bob Smith." In 1949 he coordinated a canoeing event with WKBW and WEBR. There is one picture from this even of four very soggy DJs: Clare "Butch" Allen, Al Healy, George Walker, and Foster Brooks. It's not clear who won but if that meant staying dry, everyone lost. 

In 1950 went back to Louisville and got a really weird gig on WKLO. The WKLO DJ page describes his time at the station as short and says little else but there are other sources. [SOURCE]  His show was on 15 minutes five nights a week, then Saturdays from 9:30 PM to 1:00 AM. The description (below) in Variety magazine sounds truly bizarre. It sounds vaguely like his old WHAS show, "Yellow Blank Salute." I wish there was a tape of this show somewhere. 

"Brooks has a telephone in the studio and invites listeners to phone in their requests. One of the few air comics in this town, and by far the most versatile, Brooks intersperses vocals with the disks. Accompanied by the electric organ by Jerry Bottorff WKLO program director, Brooks vocals ballads in an excellent baritone voice. He has a gift for ad lib, and his throw-away remarks are entirely unpredictable. His timing and razor sharp zanyisms [sic] are making him a standout ad lib jock." 

By 1950 Brooks was on 970 WAVE-AM. The advertised him in Broadcasting magazine with the note "A top notch MC and wit —has appeared appeared with Arthur Godfrey, Vaughn Monroe, Spade Cooley and others! ... Louisville's most colorful television personality!"  In 1950 He had a "Foster Brooks Show" in 1950" which again sounds oddly like that Yellow Blank Salute again, ad-libs, card trucks and telephone gimmicks and musical accompaniment by the Mart-John Duo playing piano and bass-fiddle. He had a morning show "wake up with WAVE."  H Then he had a kids show at WAVE-TV where he played mickey mouse cartoons and portrayed The Old Sheriff in a western jail set.  Disambiguation Brooks father was a real sheriff in Louisville and Bhis brother was "Cactus" Tom Brooks who portrayed a cowboy clown on WHAS-TV in the 1950s 

Brooks stayed at WAVE for about 5 years. In 1957 Broadcasting also reported when he jumped to WHAM-AM in Rochester, NY. Brooks moved from WHAM-AM/WHFM-FM to WHEC-AM-TV in 1959. [SOURCE] It was the same year he won a Ray-O-Vac radio announcer Top 10 contest. I wish that tape still existed. 

Most short biographies report that he moved to Los Angeles in the 60s and began acting in television and doing stand up comedy. But this is glosses over the details. A Buffalo Bills press book still puts Foster Brooks on WROC-TV, Rochester in 1960, but so does the 1963 issue which seems erroneous. In 1962 KHJ schedules put him on that station in L.A. from January through at least June of that year. This seems to be his last regular radio gig and it's terminus marks the end of his radio career and the transition into character acting and television. 

According to Brooks he quit drinking in 1964 on a $10 bet. "I never drew a sober breath from Friday night to Monday. Eight years ago I quit. Fellow made me a $10 bet I couldn't quit, and I haven't had a drink since. At the time I needed the $10." His first TV appearance was on Gunsmoke in 1962, and his did dozens more; clearly playing a drunk was better for his career than being one. [SOURCE] He had a 30 year career in radio and then had another 20 year career in television. In 1997 Brooks was inducted into the Buffalo Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame. He died in 2001.

The Mary Lee Taylor Show

It's difficult to find information on Mary Lee Taylor which is unusual for an NBC syndicated program carried on 200 radio stations. There was a time her name was as well known as Betty Crocker. A  December, 1948 issue of Billboard lists the sponsor as Pet Milk Sales Co. and the program as a renewal. The producer was Al Chance; writer, Ben Adams; Announcer, Del King; and the cast just Mary Lee Taylor... who was a fictional character. My first encounter was a KSCJ mailer from September 1950 listed Mary Lee Taylor's "Radio Recipes" which gave me some idea the program ran for at least a few years. It turned out to be one of the longest-running cooking shows in history. Yet the book Pot Roast, Politics, and Ants in the Pantry by Carol and John Fisher is one of the few sources to even describe the program in print.  

"Through the decades, additional Pet Milk cookbooks came off the press in St. Louis. Erma Proetz tested recipes for Pet Milk Company and developed the radio personality Mary Lee Taylor. The “Mary Lee Taylor Program,” a fifteen-minute radio show for the homemaker, “featured Pet recipes and meal plans, promoted cookbooks and offered household hints” with the first show airing just before Thanksgiving in 1933. Her first recipe was pumpkin pie filling using Pet Milk."

Mary Lee Taylor was a fictional character created by Erma Proetz. I learned that she was not a chef but in real life, an Executive VP at Gardner and Company advertising where Pet Milk Co. was her biggest account. She graduated from Washington University in 1910, with a degree in Liberal Arts and she was first hired at Gardner Advertising in 192 as a copywriter. The marketing description of Mary Lee as a "nutritionist and home economist" was pure marketing hoopla. The real Proetz was the first woman to be inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame in 1952 and somewhat of a feminist figure because of her success in business. More here and here.

PET Milk cook booklet 1960

PET was a brand of evaporated milk first made in Illinois in 1885. Born in 1891, Erma Proetz (née Perham) was barely any younger than the product. But the radio program, in focusing on nutrition, was hitting the mark during the Great Depression. Proetz first took on the account in 1924 for print advertising in the magazine Ladies Home Journal. In was in May 1927 that she created the "Pet Milk Test Kitchen" and began developing recipes. That's right, the recipes predate the radio program. Mrs. Susan Cost (née Lovitt) began voicing the character on CBS in 1933 and continued through the entire run of the series; all 21 years. More here. The 20th anniversary was acknowledged in an NBC trade release.

"Susan Cost, better known to her vast audience as Mary Lee Taylor has conducted the program from the Midwest since its inception for the same sponsor, the Pet Milk Company. The series has been on NBC radio since Oct. 23 , 19^8.  On her program of Nov. 7, Mary Lee will be congratulated by radio and TV performers Dinah shore, Ralph Edwards, Jimmy Durante, Ted Mack, and Eddie Cantor..." 

The bi-weekly radio show first launched in 1933, and the word nutrition in that era wasn't yet misused a pseudo-scientific scam. In the Great Depression nutrition was focused on getting enough calories not to literally become ill or die. Shelf-stable, affordable, calorie-dense foods were an absolute necessity for millions. [When you look at the economy in late 2025, these ideas resonate.] It's better than to think of Proetz work to be less like RFK and more like the USDA, biased about dairy products but not actually grifting per se.

In 1943 the program changed format, it was extended to 30 minutes, but the first half was a soap opera called "The Story of The Week." It featuring a young couple, Jim and Sally Carter. The show moved to NBC and KSD in 1948 and continued into 1954 outliving it's creator by a decade. Proetz died in 1944 at the age of 53 after a long illness. Susan Cost may have taken over the "Pet test kitchen" at this time. Some contemporary articles refer to her creating recipes. NBC changed the name of the program to The Pet Milk Show. More here.

The Mary Lee Taylor Show ran for 21 years on KMOX in syndication. Proetz died in 1944 which means that first advertisement I found for Radio Recipes on KSCJ is for a fictive Mary Lee Taylor, not a pseudonymous one.  In the 1940s the Mary Lee Taylor show began giving away free cookbooks. Over time, dozens off different ones were created, though with some recipe repeats. The name Mary Lee Taylor and the face of Susan Cost continued to appear on cook books into the 1960s. Cost passed in 1967 at the age of 77, outliving Proetz, her own husband Walter, Erna Proetz's husband Arthur and the program itself. More here.

It is somewhat galling that there is more written about the The Pet Milk Orchestra than Cost or Proetz. In the book Radio Program Openings and Closings, 1931-1972 by author Vincent Terrace. There are detailed descriptions about the entire cast and crew of the NBC era. He records the 1948 orchestra being directed by Bob Crosby and Gus Haenschen, Warren Sweeney is host, the "star" is Vic Damone. The talent includes singer Kay Armen and the obscure Emily Coty Singers. In 1950 the program was rebooted and comedian Jack Pearl played host; the new "regulars were Mimi Benzell, Cliff Hall and Russ Emery. The new announcer was Ed Herlihy, and conductor Gus Haenschen was working without Bob Crosby.  Somehow Terrace managed not to mention Cost or Proetz whatsoever. Sounds like the show took a budget cut in the revamp, but you'd hardly know it was a cooking show from the entry. 

There is also very little in the usual encyclopedic sources: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio by Dunning, and both the American and Women in radio Encyclopedias by Luther Sies have little more than a sentence. The book A Portrait of Progress: A Business History of Pet Milk Company by Martin Bell barely mentions Proetz. The Jay Hickerson Ultimate History of Network Radio Programming lists one recording from 1933, and a set of 49 from the NBC years. It's unusual that a 20+ year program has so little research available. It is hard not to come to the conclusion that it has something to do with it's creator being a successful feminist figure.

Bud Messner and/or The Skyline Boys

I had assumed from the beginning that Norman "Bud" Messner and the Skyline Boys were a package deal. This was incorrect.  I recently found a "souvenir folder" of The Skyline boys from WFMD in Frederick, MD: Zag Pennell, Lew Wade, Roy Parks, Dude Webb and Bill Bailey; No Bud Messner. Not that it's their only line up. This other image from the interwebs below still shares four members with the above list but Zag Pennell is replaced by Shorty King.  Notice there's no Bud Messner there either. 

I started this article about 10 years ago and in the  years since then the family of Roy Parks started a Skyline Boys website which is well researched. It's very helpful as it's clear we both have discovered different material. That site has a different group image with 6 members alongside Tex Ritter. The image is reportedly from the1950  WCHA calendar but I only know Hank Silby from the WRVA Old Dominion Barn Dance. The Skyline site unexpectedly lists him among the members; likewise Alan "Slim" Roberts was a member at that time. I would have guessed earlier but I have to accept the 1950 date. Generally speaking this is all normal. WWII was actively drafting young men at time this band was founded in 1941 and the triple constraint of family, career and travel often cause turnover in membership.

The Skyline Boys website makes clear that Bud Messner was linked with The Skyline Boys based on record releases and press as early as 1947 or 1948. I found a schedule in the Southwest Times of Pulaski, VA that puts them in a 30 minutes slot on 1230 WPUV in 1947. But there was a surprising number of variations. I have also seen releases which are billed as Bill Franklin and the Skyline Boys, or The Skyliners. It theorizes they met through WWVA. The Skyline Boys formed as early as 1941 and by 1946 Bill Bailey, Roy Parks, and Dude Webb were listed among the WWVA cast along side big names like Hackshaw Hawkins. 

From Wheeling their career took them to the Old Dominion barn dance on WRVA. The line up then was Hank Silby, Roy Parks, and Alan Roberts this lasted only 4-6 months, ending to do a tour with Tex Ritter. After the Tex Ritter tour began their Bud Messner Era which did produce at least 8 sides for Abbey Records and another 6 for Banner Records in 1949 and 1950. The continued to play with Messner through at least 1953. Billboard actually announced in January 1950 the inking of a contract between Abbey and Bud Messner.  Bud's wife Molly Darr sings on some tracks.

Bud Messner was born in Luray, VA in 1917 and began his radio career at WJEJ in Hagerstown, MD. It's about 90 miles from Luray. Per Billboard, The Skyline Boys were performing there mornings in August of 1950, unclear if Messner was still there.  Messner later had a a regular program on WCHA-AM. in Chambersburg PA. It's unclear how long Bud was there but the Skyline Boys are connected to it multiple times in 1949. The timeline is messy, that's also their time at WRVA and the Tex Ritter tour. More here. Purportedly Bud got a day job at Banner Records as their director of Folk Music. If that is true it would surely have greased the wheels for those releases with The Skyline Boys.  

Their airtime at WFMD appears to be brief as well. The "folder" I scanned above make it clear they performed on the station. One DJ is also pictured, Stephen Wainer. A 1955 issue of Billboard connects them indirectly, a DJ named New Wade who merely mentions The Skyline boys are heard daily at Wayneboro, PA; no call letters.  But in 1955 that would have to be 1380 WAYZ-AM, unless he meant Chambersburg. I found a single issue of The Carroll Record dated May 25th 1951 which listed off a few shows but notably "Skyline Boys from WFMD" for a gig on June 15th.  A July 1951 wedding announcement for Parker-Everhart confirms Roy parks is in the Skyline Boys and that they are on WFMD at that time. The Manassas Journal still connects them to WFMD as late as August of that year. Wainer was still connected to WFMD as late as 1954. There is a short ad for him in an issue of The Carrol that year. 

"8:45 to 9:15 every Thursday Morning. Listen to Steve Wainer's Sunrise Serenade. Radio Station WFMD. The 930 Spot On Your Radio Dial. Steve will bring you the Taneytown News, acknowledge Birthdays and Anniversaries and spin the best in Recorded Music, the past and present."

There's still some noise in the signal. There is a gospel group active since 1995 with the same name. There was an unrelated bluegrass band, the Skyline boys on WREL in Lexington in the late 1940s. I also found a reference to one on WKVA Lewistown and WVAM in Altoona, PA which may or may not be the same.  The geography is at least more plausible. In 1952 there's a record of The Skyline Boys performing at WYVE in Wytheville, VA Dude Webb may been employed there at the time. That's probably also 1952. [SOURCE]  Purportedly Webb also worked at WROM, WHIS, and WSVA. In 1960 after retiring from touring, Bud Messner and his wife Molly Darr bought Chambersburg radio station WCBG. Molly had her own program there for 20 years, "Molly and Me." More here.