The Philco Hour

I noticed it at first in an advertisement for Philco radios.  There was this small print between the graphics and separate from the ad. It said "Listen to the PHILCO HOUR with Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra.  Sunday's 6 to 7 PM, EWT on the Blue Network."  Philco has been around since 1892, first as a battery manufacturer, then starting to manufacture radios in 1928.  The availability of electrical utilities was diminishing the use of batteries.

The show debuted on a handful of station in April of 1927 WJZ, WBZ, WBZA, and KDKA.  the big launch was in July that year.  Philcoradio.com summarizes it nicely so I'll just quote them:

"On July 20, 1927, Philco’s manager of sales promotion, Sayre M. Ramsdell, sent out a letter to Philco’s dealers informing them of a new weekly broadcast to begin on Friday, September 16th.7 Called the “Philco Hour,” the program featured nationally known soprano Jessica Dragonette, and the Philco Orchestra conducted by Harold Sanford. Henry M. Neely, otherwise known as “Philco’s Old Stager,” served as host of the weekly broadcast, which was carried initially over 26 stations, scattered across the country, on the NBC radio network."

In 1929 Philco began sponsoring broadcasts of the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski.It was later they would move on to the Paul Whiteman Orchestra.

Starting in 1930 Philco cut ties with NBC. They were no longer on the Blue network. Philco syndicated the program on about 50 stations via transcription discs. That started with an initial batch of eleven half-hour programs. Each disc only held 10 minutes of audio so it took 6 twelve-inch discs to make one whole show. (Remember this was all at 78 rpm.) This is all interesting because symphony Orchestras had been on the wane since about 1930. This is at least partly due to the great depression.  The book "America's Symphony Orchestras and How They Are Supported" by Margaret Grant pointed this out succinctly"

"The use of symphony orchestras by radio advertisers declined following 1930 when broadcasting began to be employed less as a good-will medium and more of a direct sales stimulus. however, some of the outstanding sponsored hours, including the Philco, General Motors and Ford programs gained their greatest audiences after this time."

Shortly thereafter Philco launched another Tuesday night program which was carried by CBS. That might have been specifically to antagonize NBC who's own orchestral program was now had direct coast-to-coast competition.  In 1946 Skitch Henderson became the musical director. That same year Bing Crosby became the new host replacing Henry Neely. The program was still being syndicated on transcription discs. The moved to Ampex tapes in late late 1940s.  I lose track of the program there. I know they were airing the Philco Hour on TV by 1952.  But I cant seem to close that gap.

Transcription Disc #67

I don't even remember where I got this. It took me almost a year to find someone who could transfer it for me. That someone turned out to Lou Curtiss at Folk arts Rare Records in San Diego, California. Thank you Lou. This is a 16-inch transcription of a NBC program on KFI-AM 640 Sunday, November 7th 1954. The program, "An Era of High Fidelity" introduces the "Orthophonic high fidelity" audio through recordings of Arturo Toscaninni, Schubert, and others. The program is hosted by Skitch Henderson. It's produced by Parker Gibbs. I'll admit the first part is a bit rough with a scratch that's a tad jarring but it works itself out about half-way through. The scan of the 16 x 16 sleeve with liner notes, is so damn big I can't post it. You can download Here if you so desire.

[AUDIO EXPIRED]

Skitch died in 2005 after a long career as a composer. He'd worked for both ABC and NBC for decades. He was a DJ on WNBC-AM. Then he worked on the California Melodies program, Philco Hour, USAF presents, The Pepsodent program, and the Lucky Strike Show, and in 1983 he founded the New York Pops Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. He was an odd fellow, despite his great success, in 1975 he did 6 months in prison for tax evasion.

Parker Gibbs was an NBC producer who worked at KFI. He also did Monitor, and Beat the Band program on KFI in 1940, Hit Parade, and the Road show in the 1950s. He started out singing for the Ted Weems Orchestra in the 1920s. KFI-AM is still on air today.

Jessica Dragonette

I first saw the name Jessica Dragonette in a listing for an AFRN radio program from April 7, 1945. It starred her and Bill Perry. I was more interested at the time in their rendition of "Rum And Coca-Cola." But then I began to read her story.

She was born in 1900 in India to American parents was orphaned and came to New jersey. She was a soprano ,singing on Broadway by 1924. She became a vaudeville singer and crossed over to radio in 1926. She became famous almost overnight.

Her big break was in the 1920s when Coca-cola hired her to appear as their Coca-Cola girl in a serial. She performed on the Palmolive Beauty Box Theater, Lucky Strike Music hall, The Philco Hour, Saturday Night Serenade, Cities Service Concert Hour, and a great number of lesser known programs.

She released 78rpm albums on Victor, Columbia, Brunswick, then her career was strong enough in the 1960s to start putting out LPs as well. She quit broadcasting in the 1970s without much fanfare but returned for a single performance at NBC's 50th birthday marathon event. The year was 1976.



She appeared on a test television performance in 1928. She performed on the first program syndicated overseas "Hello Germany." She had several firsts in her 22-year career from vaudeville to her NBC syndicated programs. In 1927 she published her autobiography Faith is Song. She died in 1980, she had been lying about her age for so long most fans thought she was 70.