''Drene Time'' (aka ''The Drene Show'') was a 30-minute radio variety show starring

Don Ameche Don Ameche (; born Dominic Felix Amici; May 31, 1908 – December 6, 1993) was an American actor, comedian and vaudevillian. After playing in college shows, stock, and vaudeville, he became a major radio star in the early 1930s, which ...

and singer-actress

Frances Langford Julia Frances Newbern-Langford (April 4, 1913 – July 11, 2005) was an American singer and actress who was popular during the Golden Age of Radio and made film and television appearances for over two decades. She was known as the "GI Nightinga ...

as co-hosts, airing 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 ...

's Sunday night schedule (10-10:30pm Eastern) in 1946–47. The series was sponsored by

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer he ...

's Drene Shampoo, and the announcer was Tobe Reed. ''Drene Time'' usually opened with Langford singing a big band-style arrangement. Then Ameche and Langford would slip into comedy, often aided by co-star

Danny Thomas Danny Thomas (born Amos Muzyad Yaqoob Kairouz; January 6, 1912 – February 6, 1991) was an American actor, singer, nightclub comedian, producer, and philanthropist. He created and starred in one of the most successful and long-running sitc ...

, in routines involving Thomas' frustration that Ameche was less of an actor than Thomas. After another musical number and a commercial spot for Drene Shampoo, Ameche and Langford appeared as

the Bickersons ''The Bickersons'' was a radio comedy sketch series that began September 8, 1946, on NBC, moving the following year to CBS where it continued until August 28, 1951. The show's married protagonists, portrayed by Don Ameche (later by Lew Parker) a ...

for the final 15 minutes of the show. The Bickersons segment, at that time, was titled, "The Honeymoon Is Over." The program featured the music of

Carmen Dragon Carmen Dragon (July 28, 1914 – March 28, 1984) was an American conductor, composer, and arranger who in addition to live performances and recording, worked in radio, film, and television. Early years Dragon was born in Antioch, California, ...

and His Orchestra. Also in the cast was

Gale Gordon Gale Gordon (born Charles Thomas Aldrich Jr., February 20, 1906 – June 30, 1995) was an American character actor perhaps best remembered as Lucille Ball's longtime television foil—and particularly as cantankerously combustible, tightfiste ...

. The series was written by

Philip Rapp Philip Rapp (March 26, 1907 – January 23, 1996) was a film and television director and screenwriter. He wrote for Eddie Cantor and, for a brief period, wrote film scripts for Danny Kaye. Rapp is perhaps best known as the creator of Baby Snook ...

and produced by Carlton Alsop. The first official broadcast was September 8, 1946, featuring Ameche, Dragon, Langford and Thomas. That broadcast started with Don explaining the new variety format to Carmen and Frances, after which she sang "Sooner or Later", which was later adapted for the film Dick Tracy (1990). An early audition show of July 31, 1946 featured a different cast: Don Ameche, guest Sylvia Sidney, announcer Truman Bradley, Joseph Lilley and His Orchestra,

Pinky Lee Pincus Leff (May 2, 1907 – April 3, 1993), better known as Pinky Lee, was an American burlesque comic and host of the children's television program ''The Pinky Lee Show'' in the early 1950s. Biography Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Lee got hi ...

Jim Backus James Gilmore Backus (February 25, 1913 – July 3, 1989) was an American actor. Among his most famous roles were Thurston Howell III on the 1960s sitcom ''Gilligan's Island,'' the father of James Dean's character in '' Rebel Without a Cause, ...

, the Swing Choir, Jonelle James, Earle Ross and announcer Marvin Miller. The series was adapted for television in 1950 as '' Star Time''.

External links

Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs: ''Drene Time''
1940s American radio programs American variety radio programs NBC radio programs