''Avalon Time'' is an American
old-time radio
The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the early ...
comedy
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
/
variety program
Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a compĂ ...
that ran from 1938 to 1940 on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
's
Red Network
Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625â740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondary ...
. The program was named after its sponsor, Avalon cigarettes. Over the course of its run, ''Avalon Time'' was also sponsored by Sir Walter Raleigh Pipe Tobacco and the
Bulova Watch Company
Bulova is an American timepiece manufacturing company that was founded in 1875 and has been owned by Japanese multinational conglomerate Citizen Watch Co. since 2008. The company makes watches, clocks and accessories, and it is based in New York ...
.
The program is often regarded as comedian
Red Skelton
Richard Red Skelton (July 18, 1913September 17, 1997) was an American entertainer best known for his national radio and television shows between 1937 and 1971, especially as host of the television program ''The Red Skelton Show''. He has stars ...
's first big break in show business and on radio.
Show history
Tobacco company
Brown & Williamson
Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation was a U.S. tobacco company and a subsidiary of multinational British American Tobacco that produced several popular cigarette brands. It became infamous as the focus of investigations for chemically enhancing ...
, former makers of ''
Kool
Kool may refer to:
People
* Kool (surname), surname of Dutch origin
* Robert "Kool" Bell (born 1950), American bassist and founder of Kool and the Gang
* Roger Kool (1954â2005), Singaporean DJ (Roger Kiew)
* Kool DJ Herc (born 1955), Jamaicanâ ...
'' cigarettes, began producing ''Avalon'' in 1932. Avalon was Brown & Williamson's 'economy' brand, while never actually mentioning that term. Instead, they were promoted as either the cigarettes that "cost you less" or the cigarettes that "give you change back".
''Avalon Time'' was the first Avalon-sponsored radio program with ''
Show Boat
''Show Boat'' is a musical with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based on Edna Ferber's best-selling 1926 novel of the same name. The musical follows the lives of the performers, stagehands and dock worke ...
'' premiering in 1939.
The 'Reds'
'Red' was an ongoing theme and joke on ''Avalon Time''. Coincidentally, all four hosts of the program had "red" hair. Two of the four hosts went by the name "Red". Also, the program was produced and broadcast over
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
's
"Red" Network.
Red Foley
''Avalon Time'' premiered as ''The Avalon Variety Show'' on October 1, 1938 with host
Red Foley
Clyde Julian "Red" Foley (June 17, 1910 â September 19, 1968) was an American musician who made a major contribution to the growth of country music after World War II.
For more than two decades, Foley was one of the biggest stars of the gen ...
(1910â1968). Foley began his career in broadcasting in 1930 while still attending school at
Georgetown College
Georgetown College is a private Christian college in Georgetown, Kentucky. Chartered in 1829, Georgetown was the first Baptist college west of the Appalachian Mountains.
The college offers 38 undergraduate degrees and a Master of Arts in educat ...
to perform with the house band on
WLS-AM
WLS (890 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Chicago, Illinois. Owned by Cumulus Media, through licensee Radio License Holdings LLC, the station airs a talk radio format. WLS has its radio studios in the NBC Tower on North Columbus Drive i ...
's ''
National Barn Dance
''National Barn Dance'', broadcast by WLS-AM in Chicago, Illinois starting in 1924, was one of the first American country music radio programs and a direct precursor of the ''Grand Ole Opry''.
''National Barn Dance'' also set the stage for other ...
''.
In 1937, Foley, with producer John Lair, created the radio program ''
Renfro Valley Barn Dance
''Renfro Valley Barn Dance'' was an American country music stage and radio show originally carried by WLW-AM in Cincinnati, Ohio on Saturday nights. It debuted on October 9, 1937 from the Cincinnati Music Hall and moved to the Memorial Auditorium i ...
'' for
WHAS in
Louisville
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border.
...
,
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...
.
With the premiere of ''The Avalon Variety Show'' in 1938, Foley became the first country artist to host a network radio program. Foley was the longest serving host of the program with frequent co-star Kitty O'Neill. Foley left ''Avalon'' in July 1939 and was replaced as host by up-and-coming comedian
Red Skelton
Richard Red Skelton (July 18, 1913September 17, 1997) was an American entertainer best known for his national radio and television shows between 1937 and 1971, especially as host of the television program ''The Red Skelton Show''. He has stars ...
. Foley's replacement as singer was
Curt Massey
Curt Massey (May 3, 1910 â October 21, 1991)DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . Pp. 185-186. was a musician in the old-time radio era ...
.
After ''Avalon Time'', Foley returned to ''National Barn Dance'' and also became a lifelong member of the
Grand Ole Opry
The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a divis ...
. He also hosted ''
Ozark Jubilee
''Ozark Jubilee'' is a 1950s United States network television program that featured country music's top stars of the day. It was produced in Springfield, Missouri. The weekly live stage show premiered on ABC-TV on January 22, 1955, was renamed ' ...
'', the first popular country music television series, in the 1950s.
Red Skelton
Red Skelton
Richard Red Skelton (July 18, 1913September 17, 1997) was an American entertainer best known for his national radio and television shows between 1937 and 1971, especially as host of the television program ''The Red Skelton Show''. He has stars ...
(1913â1997) was the second host of ''Avalon Time''. Skelton became well known for his "Doughnut Dunkers" routine
[ which led to Skelton's first appearance on ]Rudy Vallée
Hubert Prior VallĂ©e (July 28, 1901 â July 3, 1986), known professionally as Rudy VallĂ©e, was an American singer, musician, actor, and radio host. He was one of the first modern pop stars of the teen idol type.
Early life
Hubert Prior Vall ...
's ''The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour
''The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour'' (also known as ''The Rudy Vallée Show'', ''The Fleischmann Yeast Hour'', and ''The Fleischmann Hour'') was a pioneering musical variety radio program broadcast on NBC from 1929 to 1936, when it became ''The Roya ...
'' on August 12, 1937. Vallée's program had a talent show segment and those who were searching for stardom were eager to be heard on it. Vallée also booked veteran comic Joe Cook to appear as a guest with Skelton. The two proceeded to trade jokes about their home towns, with Skelton contending to Cook, an Evansville
Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in S ...
native, that the city was a suburb of Vincennes, Skelton's hometown. The show received enough fan mail after the performance to invite both comedians back two weeks after Skelton's initial appearance and again in November of that year.
On October 1, 1938, Skelton replaced Red Foley as the host of ''Avalon Time''. Skelton's first wife Edna also joined the show's cast, under her maiden name of Stillwell. The Skeltons worked on ''Avalon Time'' until late 1939.
Skelton went on to do his own radio show, ''The Raleigh Cigarette Program
''The Raleigh Cigarette Program'' (alternatively known as ''The Raleigh Cigarette Program Starring Red Skelton'') was an American old-time radio comedy program that starred comedian Red Skelton.
Skelton was, at the time, an up-and-coming comedian ...
'', on October 7, 1941. The bandleader for the show was Ozzie Nelson
Oswald George Nelson (March 20, 1906 â June 3, 1975) was an American actor, director, producer, screenwriter, musician, composer, conductor and bandleader. He originated and starred in ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'', a radio and tel ...
; his wife, Harriet, who worked under her maiden name of Hilliard, was the show's vocalist and also worked with Skelton in skits.
Skelton went on to have his own successful television series named after him that ran on CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
and NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
for 20 years.
Cliff Arquette
Comedian Cliff Arquette
Clifford Charles Arquette (December 27, 1905 â â September 23, 1974) was an American actor and comedian. Famous for his persona Charley Weaver, played on numerous television shows.
Early life and career
Cliff Arquette was born on Decemb ...
(1905â1974) replaced Skelton as host of ''Red Skelton Time'' in January 1940. Arquette made a guest appearance on the show just a week earlier in December 1939. The title of the program was officially changed to ''Avalon Time'' when Arquette came aboard as host.
Arquette began his career as a pianist in the early 1920s soon joining the Henry Halstead
Henry Halstead (November 16, 1897 â March 19, 1984) was an American bandleader. His orchestra began in early 1922 and over the next twenty years had regular engagements at hotels in New York and California.
Halstead had from 15 to 20 band mem ...
orchestra in 1923. Arquette had made a few appearances on radio including an appearance on ''The Jack Benny Program
''The Jack Benny Program'', starring Jack Benny, is a radio-TV comedy series that ran for more than three decades and is generally regarded as a high-water mark in 20th century American comedy. He played one role throughout his radio and televis ...
'' in 1938. Arquette left ''Avalon Time'' in May 1940 and went on to establish his most memorable character, Charley Weaver.
Dick Todd
Canadian-born singer Dick Todd (1914â1973) took over from Cliff Arquette as host of ''Avalon Time'' in the Spring of 1940. By then the ratings had plummeted and after only a few weeks, the show aired its last broadcast on May 1, 1940.
References
{{Reflist
American variety radio series
1938 radio programme debuts
1940 radio programme endings
1930s American radio programs
1930s in comedy
1940s American radio programs