All shows

The First Nighter Program

33 episodes · 1939–1953 · CBS, NBC, Mutual · Drama

Play The First Nighter Program on Radio Days

The First Nighter Program invited listeners to "the little theater off Times Square" for a new play each week, usually a light comedy or romance, with the genial Mr. First Nighter as host. It ran from 1930 into the 1950s, for years sponsored by Campana cosmetics.

Sources: RadioGOLDINdex

Episodes

Tap a title to play it on Radio Days.

1939

• Three Who Face Death April 28, 1939 · 31 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.

1941

• Love and Gazooza March 25, 1941 · CBS · 27 min
  A comedy of love, hate and a strange Mexican soft drink.

1944

• A Symphony with Your Spaghetti March 19, 1944 · 25 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• The Chinese Gong March 29, 1944 · Mutual · 30 min
• Mother's Angel Children May 3, 1944 · 28 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• Give Up the Ship May 31, 1944 · 28 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• Susan Stepped Out June 7, 1944 · 28 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• Just a Bum (Repeat) June 14, 1944 · 28 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• The Heart That Has Truly Loved July 19, 1944 · 28 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• Oh Say, Can You See? October 11, 1944 · Mutual · 32 min
  A scientist invents an invisibility machine and makes the U.S. Senate disappear. A wartime comedy.

1945

• Oh, Little Town of Bethlehem (Repeat) December 22, 1945 · 30 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.

1947

• Wolf with Sheepskin October 18, 1947 · CBS · 30 min
  A mild college professor is mistaken for a murderous safecracker.
• Nonanny October 25, 1947 · CBS · 29 min
  A romance in rural Minnesota a hundred years ago.

1948

• The One in the Middle January 1, 1948 · CBS · 31 min
  A handsome Navy veteran teaches astronomy to fifty starstruck coeds at his sister's school.
• Help Wanted, Female January 8, 1948 · CBS · 31 min
  A fraud in the name of Europe's starving children.
• The Mind Reader January 22, 1948 · CBS · 31 min
  A carnival fortuneteller and a wealthy woman, and how a mind-reading act is really done.
• A Writer in the Family January 29, 1948 · CBS · 31 min
  A highway is coming right through the living room, in a comedy of mistaken identity with a writer of westerns.
• Drink for the Damned February 5, 1948 · CBS · 31 min
  Romance, buried treasure and treachery on the Spanish Main.
• Love Is Stranger Than Fiction February 12, 1948 · CBS · 30 min
  A publisher's secretary turns out to be a best-selling author.
• Oh, Bury Me Not February 19, 1948 · CBS · 31 min
  A radio cowboy on a real ranch is mistaken for a real cowboy.
• An Order by the Lieutenant March 4, 1948 · CBS · 31 min
  A Southern belle sets out to prove to her fiancé that she can take Army life as well as he can.
• There's Something in the Air March 11, 1948 · CBS · 32 min
  A comedy about helium pills that let people float.
• The Tin Box May 6, 1948 · CBS · 30 min
  A comedy-mystery about $10,000 in ransom money, and how to give it back.
• Old Lady Shakespeare June 17, 1948 · CBS · 30 min
  A grand old lady of the theater makes a comeback.

1949

• No Greater Need March 10, 1949 · CBS · 27 min
  Two young Italian orphans start a life of crime by stealing a shipment of vital drugs.

1952

• Refresher Course April 27, 1952 · NBC · 29 min
  A bewildered husband, two kids and a frustrated wife need a refresher course in marriage.
• Speak Ever So Gently July 20, 1952 · NBC · 30 min
  A movie star's beautiful agent wants him to dedicate a children's home in Beaver, Ohio.
• Little Town of Bethlehem December 23, 1952 · NBC · 25 min
  The program's twelfth annual Christmas story: the Nativity.

1953

• A Good Joe January 6, 1953 · NBC · 24 min
  A waitress teams up with a Broadway pitchman, until she's offered a job in the movies.
• A Shower for the Bridesmaid (Repeat) January 13, 1953 · 24 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• Mama Tells Fortunes February 18, 1953 · 25 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs doesn't list this date, but lists the same title on February 10, 1953.
• Two Loves Has She (Repeat) August 4, 1953 · 30 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• The Honest Dope September 1, 1953 · NBC · 30 min
  Sally is courted by Stanley, a dope, and Harry, a go-getter. Who gets the girl?