''The Fitch Bandwagon'' was an American radio show that aired 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 ...

from 1938 to 1948. It was sponsored by the F.W. Fitch Shampoo Company, an

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

-based manufacturer of hair care products. It aired on Sunday evenings at 7:30 p.m. ''The Fitch Bandwagon'' had three different incarnations over its decade on the radio. Beginning with its premiere in fall 1938 through spring 1945, it was a bandstand style show.

Freddy Martin Frederick Alfred Martin (December 9, 1906 – September 30, 1983) was an American bandleader and tenor saxophonist. Early life Freddy Martin was born in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Raised largely in an orphanage and by various relatives, ...

Jan Savitt Jan Savitt (born Jacob Savetnick; September 4, 1907 – October 4, 1948), known as "The Stokowski of Swing", from having played violin in Leopold Stokowski's orchestra, was an American bandleader, musical arranger, and violinist. Early life and ...

Harry James Harry Haag James (March 15, 1916 – July 5, 1983) was an American musician who is best known as a trumpet-playing band leader who led a big band from 1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for a short period in 1947 but shortly after he reorganized ...

Tommy Dorsey Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-toned trombo ...

, and other top bandleaders appeared and played popular tunes. From fall 1945 through spring 1946, it was a musical variety show starring

Cass Daley Cass Daley (born Catherine Dailey; July 17, 1915 – March 22, 1975) was an American actress, comedian and singer. The daughter of an Irish streetcar conductor, Daley started to perform at night clubs and on the radio as a band vocalist in ...

and co-starring Francis “Dink” Trout and Henry Russell. Popular bands performed between skits. ''The Fitch Bandwagon'' is best remembered for its final two seasons, from fall 1946 through spring 1948, as a situation comedy show starring real-life husband and wife

Phil Harris Wonga Philip Harris (June 24, 1904 – August 11, 1995) was an American actor, comedian, musician and songwriter. He was an orchestra leader and a pioneer in radio situation comedy, first with ''The Jack Benny Program'', then in '' The Phil Harr ...

of ''

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 ...

'' and movie star

Alice Faye Alice Faye (born Alice Jeanne Leppert; May 5, 1915 – May 9, 1998) was an American actress and singer. A musical star of 20th Century-Fox in the 1930s and 1940s, Faye starred in such films as ''On the Avenue'' (1937) and ''Alexander's Ragtime B ...

. Harris and Faye played fictionalized versions of themselves and Elliott Lewis, Robert North,

Jeanine Roose Jeanine Ann Roose (October 24, 1937 – December 31, 2021) was an American child actress and psychologist. Life and career Roose was born on October 24, 1937, to Ivan R. and Agatha Roose. Her first job was on ''The Jack Benny Program'' at the ...

Anne Whitfield Anne Whitfield (born August 27, 1938) is an American former actress on old-time radio, television, stage, and film. Her first name is sometimes seen spelled Ann. Early years Born in Oxford, Mississippi, Whitfield was the daughter of Richard N. ...

, and

Walter Tetley Walter Tetley (born Walter Campbell Tetzlaff; June 2, 1915 – September 4, 1975)DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 260. was an ...

were featured as their family and associates. This evolved into ''

The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show ''The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show'', was a comedy radio program which ran on NBC from 1948 to 1954 starring Alice Faye and Phil Harris. Harris had previously become known to radio audiences as the band-leader-turned-cast-member of the same name ...

'', which premiered in fall 1948, sponsored by

Rexall Rexall was a chain of American drugstores, and the name of their store-branded products. The stores, having roots in the federation of United Drug Stores starting in 1903, licensed the Rexall brand name to as many as 12,000 drug stores across th ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitch Bandwagon American comedy radio programs 1940s American radio programs American music radio programs NBC radio programs