''Club Matinee'' 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 ...

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical theatre, musical performances, sketch comedy, magic (illusion), magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is ...

. It was broadcast on the

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 ...

Blue Network The Blue Network (previously known as the NBC Blue Network) was the on-air name of a now defunct American Commercial broadcasting, radio network, which broadcast from 1927 through 1945. Beginning as one of the two radio networks owned by the N ...

from 1937 to 1943 and on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

from 1945 to 1946.

Format

''Club Matinee'' featured comedy and music, with the two sometimes combined in the form of "comedic arrangements of musical classics, played slightly out of tune." Francis Chase Jr., in his book ''Sound and Fury: An Informal History of Broadcasting'', described ''Club Matinee'' as being unique in its approach to comedy. He wrote, "Here is a zany piece of merriment, inauspiciously insinuated into your afternoon listening, which has become the most haphazard, the screwiest, the most anything-can-happen-affair to hit the air waves." He added that the program discovered, developed and built "new and different comedy which, sooner or later, finds its way onto the big commercial shows."

Personnel

Ransom Sherman Ransom Sherman (October 15, 1898 – November 26, 1985) was an American radio and television personality and writer. Early years Sherman and his family moved from Appleton, Wisconsin, to Chicago when he was 14. He attended a technical school in ...

was the first host of the program, with

Garry Moore Garry Moore (born Thomas Garrison Morfit; January 31, 1915 – November 28, 1993) was an American entertainer, comedic personality, game show host, and humorist best known for his work in television. He began a long career with the CBS network ...

(who was added in 1939) eventually becoming co-host. Moore's stage name changed during his time on ''Club Matinee'', and the change involved the program. When he decided that Thomas Garrison Morfit (his real name) was too cumbersome for broadcasting, he had a contest on the program, asking listeners to send in suggestions for a name that he could use. A woman in Pittsburgh won the $50 prize with her suggestion of Garry Moore. Singers who appeared on the program included Annette King, Nancy Martin, Clark Dennis, Johnny Johnston, Evelyn Lynne, Phil Shukin, the Escorts and Betty, the Three Romeos, and Sam Cowling.

Durward Kirby Homer Durward Kirby (August 24, 1911 – March 15, 2000), sometimes misspelled Durwood Kirby, was an American television host and announcer. He is best remembered for ''The Garry Moore Show'' in the 1950s and ''Candid Camera'', which he ...

was the announcer, and Rex Maupin provided the music.

References

{{Reflist 1937 radio programme debuts 1946 radio programme endings ABC radio programs 1930s American radio programs 1940s American radio programs American variety radio programs American music radio programs