The Fred Allen Show

The Fred Allen Show
Other namesThe Linit Bath Club Revue
The Salad Bowl Revue
The Sal Hepatica Revue
The Hour of Smiles
Town Hall Tonight
Texaco Star Theatre with Fred Allen
GenreComedy
Running time30 minutes (1932–1934; 1942–1949)
60 minutes (1934–1942)
Country of originUnited States
Language(s)English
SyndicatesCBS
NBC
StarringFred Allen
Portland Hoffa
Minerva Pious
Parker Fennelly
Jack Smart
Alan Reed
John Brown
Charlie Cantor
(full list below)
AnnouncerKen Roberts
Edmund Ruffner
Harry Von Zell
Arthur Godfrey
Jimmy Wallington
Kenny Delmar
Produced byRoger White
Pat Weaver
Vick Knight
Howard Reilly
Original releaseOctober 23, 1932 (1932-10-23) –
June 26, 1949 (1949-06-26)
Opening themeOh, Mr. Allen?
Other themesSmiles
Ending themeDarn Ya, Smile
Sponsored byLinit Bath Soap
Hellmann's Mayonnaise
Ipana
Sal Hepatica
Texaco
Tenderleaf Tea
Ford Motor Company

The Fred Allen Show was a long-running American radio comedy program starring comedian Fred Allen and his wife Portland Hoffa. Over the course of the program's 17-year run, it was sponsored by Linit Bath Soaps, Hellmann's, Ipana, Sal Hepatica, Texaco and Tenderleaf Tea. The program ended in 1949 under the sponsorship of the Ford Motor Company.[1]

The most popular period of the program was the few years of sponsorship under The Texas Company. During this time, the program was known as Texaco Star Theatre with Fred Allen. On the December 6, 1942 episode of the program, Allen premiered his first in a series of segments known as "Allen's Alley". The segments would have Allen strolling through an imaginary neighborhood, knocking on the "doors" of various neighbors, including average-American John Doe (played by John Brown), Mrs. Nussbaum (Minerva Pious), pompous poet Falstaff Openshaw (Alan Reed), Titus Moody (Parker Fennelly), and boisterous Southern senator Beauregard Claghorn (announcer Kenny Delmar).[2] Texaco ended its sponsorship of the program in 1944.

Some prominent guest stars on Allen's program over the years included Frank Sinatra, Orson Welles, Roy Rogers, Bela Lugosi, Ed Gardner, Norman Corwin and Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy.[3]

  1. ^ Dunning, John (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 261. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3. Retrieved November 12, 2015.
  2. ^ Fred Allen Radio Broadcasts at the Old Time Radio Catalog
  3. ^ "The Fred Allen Show". www.radiospirits.com. Retrieved November 14, 2015.