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Chicago Theater of the Air

26 episodes · 1940–1950 · Mutual · Variety & Music

Play Chicago Theater of the Air on Radio Days

Hour-long operettas and musical plays, from WGN in Chicago. It began locally in May 1940 and ran on the Mutual network from October 5, 1940, to September 11, 1954, moving to the Medinah Temple when the crowds outgrew the studio. Marion Claire sang on the show for seven years, and publisher Robert R. McCormick gave talks at the intermission.

Sources: Wikipedia: Chicago Theater of the Air; RadioGOLDINdex

Episodes

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1940

• The Student Prince May 16, 1940 · Mutual · 62 min
  Marion Claire, Jan Peerce and Igor Gorin perform The Student Prince, the story of a prince whose youth ends all too soon.
• The Chocolate Soldier (1940) October 12, 1940 · Mutual · 62 min
  This is the network series' second show. Bummerly, a Swiss soldier nicknamed the chocolate soldier, finds a musical romance.
• Eileen November 23, 1940 · Mutual · 59 min
  James Melton and Marion Claire star in this performance of Eileen. The announcer points out celebrities in the audience, including boxer Jack Johnson.

1943

• Martha January 23, 1943 · Mutual · 60 min
  Von Flotow's opera is performed. Colonel McCormick gives a talk titled "The Rights Of Americans."
• Faust February 13, 1943 · Mutual · 60 min
  Gounod's opera is performed in English, and Colonel McCormick speaks on "Freedom Of The Press." About a minute is absent from the middle.

1947

• The Great Waltz May 31, 1947 · Mutual · 63 min
  The seventh season closes with a hundred performers. Colonel Robert R. McCormack begins by discussing the plot: the younger Johann Strauss struggles for acceptance of his waltzes while his father objects. See cat. #7187 for an abridged AFRS recording.

1949

• Summer Concert Hour (July 1949) July 30, 1949 · Mutual · 62 min
  The summer concert begins with a number taken from the show "Music In The Air." Lee Bennett, the announcer, speaks on "Americanism" and extends birthday wishes to Colonel McCormick, who then discusses Bull Run. Baritone Bernard Izzo, making his first major network appearance, sings a "La Traviata" aria, introduced by Marion Claire.
• Summer Concert Hour (August 6, 1949) August 6, 1949 · Mutual · 62 min
  A summer concert hour opens with a classic art song. Marion Claire introduces tenor Lawrence White, and Colonel McCormick talks about the War of 1812.
• Summer Concert Hour (August 13, 1949) August 13, 1949 · Mutual · 62 min
  A summer concert whose first number is "The Two Grenadiers." Talking about the North Atlantic Pact's preamble, Colonel McCormick concludes it is "totally without truth." The "career performance" of Dolores de Puglia on network radio is heard.
• The Mikado October 22, 1949 · Mutual · 62 min
  A favorite from Gilbert and Sullivan is performed, and Colonel Robert R. McCormick talks about "Triumph At Yorktown."
• The Pink Lady October 29, 1949 · Mutual · 62 min
  Satyrs and nymphs turn up in Paris. Colonel McCormick talks on the background of American Indians in history.
• The Chocolate Soldier (1949) November 5, 1949 · Mutual · 62 min
  In The Chocolate Soldier, Lieutenant Bommerly would rather eat chocolates in a young woman's bedroom than fight as the Serbs and Bulgarians go to war. Colonel McCormick's weekly talk is on the Union.
• Madame Butterfly November 12, 1949 · Mutual · 62 min
  Puccini died twenty-five years earlier, and the opera is performed in English to mark that. Colonel McCormick also gives a review of the Chicagoland Music Festival.
• The Gondoliers November 19, 1949 · Mutual · 62 min
  Barataria's true king is in question. Along with the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, Colonel McCormick recites the Gettysburg Address, and Civil War songs are played as a medley.
• The Vagabond King November 26, 1949 · Mutual · 62 min
  Rudolph Friml wrote this operetta. Colonel McCormick lectures on the American Navy's growth and ends by saying guided missiles could matter greatly later.
• The Countess Maritza December 3, 1949 · Mutual · 62 min
  The gypsy operetta The Countess Maritza is performed with Nancy Carr and Thomas L. Thomas. Colonel McCormick repeats his reading Defining Democracy and receives a medal for it from the Freedoms Foundation.
• Manon December 10, 1949 · Mutual · 62 min
  Massenet's well-known opera is performed, and a Freedoms Foundation representative gives Colonel McCormick an award.
• Hansel and Gretl December 17, 1949 · Mutual · 62 min
  Humperdinck's much-loved opera, based on a fairy tale, is performed. Colonel McCormick gives a talk about how the Revolution affected America.
• Babes In Toyland December 24, 1949 · Mutual · 60 min
  Victor Herbert's holiday classic takes a trip to toyland. Colonel McCormick gives a talk on Christmas.
• The Merry Widow December 31, 1949 · Mutual · 62 min
  The Merry Widow is performed with Marion Claire narrating. Colonel McCormick gives a talk on wealth in which he criticizes Karl Marx.

1950

• No, No Nanette March 4, 1950 · Mutual · 62 min
  The musical No, No, Nanette is performed. Colonel Robert McCormick reports from Cairo on a fact-finding flight, until the transmission fails and John Mallow finishes the report from the studio.
• Bittersweet April 29, 1950 · Mutual · 64 min
  Noel Coward's Bittersweet is performed, a romance set in 1880s Vienna, with Marion Claire. Colonel McCormick speaks on the Battle of Lexington on its 175th anniversary.
• The Gypsy Princess May 6, 1950 · Mutual · 62 min
  Napoleon and his gypsy sweetheart are the subject of this romance. Colonel McCormick delivers part one of a talk on the Waterloo campaign.
• Chicagoland Music Festival August 19, 1950 · Mutual · 59 min
  This program comes from Soldiers Field in Chicago, at the festival's 21st year. A choir of 75,000 starts off singing "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles!" and 76 organs with eighteen harps play "Claire de Lune" and "Flying Down To Rio." David M. Aiken and Suzanne Hamilton take the prizes. Henry Weber talks about the original festival, then leads 100 musicians through a Wagner march, as he did two decades before. Alec Templeton performs "Hora Stacatto" in a jazzy style, Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" first movement, a piece improvised on five notes shouted by the orchestra, and a piece pairing Mozart with Rogers and Hart. Arlene Einz performs Beethoven's "Coriolanus Overture" on accordion. The system cue has Jack LaFrandre naming the wrong network, and the show is a memorable one.
• Summer Concert Hour (1950) August 26, 1950 · Mutual · 58 min
  A summer concert hour features baritone Algard Brasis in his network debut and a new composition by Robert Trendler. Colonel McCormick speaks on the history of the song in the timber country.
• Pagliacci December 3, 1950 · 55 min