''Blackstone Plantation'' is an

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 ...

musical variety program in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It was broadcast 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 Entertainm ...

(1929–1930) and on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

(1930–1934). The program was one of NBC's top-rated programs in 1932.

Personnel

Frank Crumit Frank Crumit (September 26, 1889 – September 7, 1943) was an American singer, composer, radio entertainer and vaudeville star. He shared his radio programs with his wife, Julia Sanderson, and the two were sometimes called "the ideal coupl ...

and

Julia Sanderson Julia Sanderson (born Julia Ellen Sackett; August 27, 1887 – January 27, 1975) was a Broadway actress and singer. In 1887, she was born in Springfield, Massachusetts to parents Albert H. Sackett (also a Broadway actor) and Jeanette Elvira San ...

, a husband-and-wife team who had been headliners in

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

, were hosts for the show. Alfred Swenson played Captain Blackstone, Santos Ortega played Don Rodrigo, and Ted de Corsia played Don Philippe. The program also featured guest stars such as

Lanny Ross Lancelot Patrick Ross (January 19, 1906 – April 25, 1988)DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. was an American singer, pianist an ...

and

Parker Fennelly Parker W. Fennelly (October 22, 1891 – January 22, 1988) was an American character actor who appeared in ten films, numerous television episodes and hundreds of radio programs. Early life The son of gardener Nathan Fennelly and Estelle Doll ...

Ed Herlihy Edward Joseph Herlihy (August 14, 1909 – January 30, 1999)Cox, Jim (2008). ''This Day in Network Radio: A Daily Calendar of Births, Debuts, Cancellations and Other Events in Broadcasting History''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . was an Ameri ...

was the program's announcer, and Jack Shilkret's orchestra provided music. Frank Vallan was the producer when the program was on CBS.

Format

The book ''Vaudeville old & new: an encyclopedia of variety performances in America'' summarized the program as follows: "The two stars sang and exchanged banter. Music and gab with guests in their breezy and humorous style characterized their programs." The show was sponsored by Blackstone cigars.Terrace, Vincent (1999). ''Radio Programs, 1924–1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 44.

References

1929 radio programme debuts 1934 radio programme endings 1930s American radio programs CBS Radio programs NBC radio programs American jazz radio programs American variety radio series {{US-radio-show-stub