''The Jumbo Fire Chief Program'' is an American old-time radio program starring Jimmy Durante,

Donald Novis Donald George Novis (3 March 1906 – 23 July 1966) was an English-born American actor and tenor. Early life Novis was born on 3 March 1906 in Hastings, Sussex to Frederick George Novis and Charlotte Morris.California County Marriages, 1850-19 ...

and Gloria Grafton. The series originated from WEAF radio in New York and was broadcast nationally over the

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 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

of the National Broadcasting Company. The series was based on Billy Rose's musical circus act ''

Jumbo Jumbo (about December 25, 1860 – September 15, 1885), also known as Jumbo the Elephant and Jumbo the Circus Elephant, was a 19th-century male African bush elephant born in Sudan. Jumbo was exported to Jardin des Plantes, a zoo in Paris, and t ...

'' which premiered on Broadway in November 1935 and a continuation of sponsor

Texaco Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an independent company unt ...

's ''The Fire Chief'', a radio program starring

Ed Wynn Isaiah Edwin Leopold (November 9, 1886 – June 19, 1966), better known as Ed Wynn, was an American actor and comedian. He was noted for his ''Perfect Fool'' comedy character, his pioneering radio show of the 1930s, and his later career as a d ...

that ended its three-year run several months before ''Jumbo' ''s premiere. The program starred Jimmy Durante as Claudius "Brainy" Bowers, the overzealous circus promoter of the Consodine circus act who usually gets the show in financial crisis due to his over exaggeration of the show's profits, and

and Gloria Grafton as young love interests Matt Mulligan, Jr. and Mickey Consodine. Mickey is the daughter of unheard character John Consodine, the owner of the circus act. The radio program broadcast an unknown number of episodesSeveral sources list the number as 19 but all agree of 12 surviving episodes broadcast between October 1935–January 1936. The other seven either do not have title or have forgotten titles. over the

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 October 22, 1935–January 14, 1936. The series was broadcast from and performed at the New York Hippodrome before an average crowd of 4500–5000 spectators each week.

Background

Ed Wynn's ''The Fire Chief''

The series originated from

's departure from

's ''The Fire Chief'' in early 1935 and the show's sponsor

wanting to continue the series. Texaco and

premiered ''The Fire Chief'' in 1932. Comedian

played the title role of the Fire Chief. The series was popular and one of the first radio programs to be performed before a live studio audience. Wynn left the program temporarily in 1933 when, in September of that year, Wynn along with Hungarian-born violinist Ota Gygi founded his own radio station, the

Amalgamated Broadcasting System The Amalgamated Broadcasting System (ABS) was an ambitious, although unsuccessful, attempt to establish a "third radio network" in the United States. Its primary promoters were the company's president, American comedian Ed Wynn, and its vice-presid ...

. The station lost money and went out of business five weeks later in November 1933. He returned to ''The Fire Chief'' which continued until being cancelled in early 1935.

Billy Rose's ''Jumbo''

On November 22, 1935, Billy Rose's musical ''

'' premiered at The Hippodrome in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. The musical told the story about a financially strapped circus. The musical also starred Durante, Novis and Grafton. At the end of each performance, Durante would lay down on the stage and permit a live elephant to place its foot upon his head. The musical closed on April 18, 1936, after 233 performances.

Texaco's ''Jumbo Fire Chief''

The Texas Company, aka

, decided to continue their sponsored ''Fire Chief'' with ''The Jumbo Fire Chief Program''. ''The Jumbo Fire Chief Program'' used the title of its predecessor and the premise of ''Jumbo''. The serialized version of ''Jumbo'' premiered on October 29, 1935, from the Hippodrome and was broadcast over

. The series shared the same premise as the musical, which was the tale of a financially strapped circus and the tale of two young love interests; Matt Mulligan, Jr., (Donald Davis), and Mickey Consodine, (

Gloria Grafton Gloria may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Christian liturgy and music * Gloria in excelsis Deo, the Greater Doxology, a hymn of praise * Gloria Patri, the Lesser Doxology, a short hymn of praise ** Gloria (Handel) ** Gloria (Jenkin ...

). The series failed to reach popularity amongst listening audiences and only aired 12 episodes before being cancelled on January 14, 1936.This date is disputed amongst radio historians. While most sources and radio historians list the date of January 14, 1936, as the air date of the last episode of the program, some sources and historians believe the air date of the program's last episode to be February 25, 1936, due to 7 episodes of the program that have either unknown or forgotten titles.

Cast and characters

* Claudius "Brainy" Bowers ( Jimmy Durante) is the main protagonist of the radio program. Bowers, often called "Brainy" by his friends and circus counterparts, is the overzealous promoter of the circus. Brainy often is the one responsible for the circus' financial difficulties because of his over exaggeration of the show's profits and the performers income. But by the end of the episode, the circus manages to stay open another week until the next payment was due. Durante was popular in the venue of radio before ''Jumbo Fire Chief''. Durante made his first appearance on radio on the September 10, 1933 telecast of

's ''

The Chase and Sanborn Hour ''The Chase and Sanborn Hour'' is the umbrella title for a series of American comedy and variety radio shows sponsored by Standard Brands' Chase and Sanborn Coffee, usually airing Sundays on NBC from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. during the years 1929 to ...

''. He performed regularly on the show until November 12 of that year. After host Eddie Cantor left the program in 1934, Durante was brought back as substitute host. He was host of the program from April 22–September 30, 1934. After ''Jumbo Fire Chief'', Durante starred in ''

The Durante-Moore Show ''The Durante-Moore Show'' was an old-time radio show that ran on NBC with episodes running from March 25, 1943–October 28, 1943 and on CBS with episodes running from October 8, 1943–June 27, 1947. The series starred burlesque and va ...

'' for seven years and then went to television with ''

All Star Revue ''Four Star Revue'' (also known as ''All Star Revue'' and ''All Star Summer Revue'') was an American variety/comedy program that aired on NBC from October 4, 1950, to December 26, 1953. The series originally starred four celebrities, Ed Wynn, Dan ...

'' and '' The Jimmy Durante Show''. * Matt Mulligan, Jr. (

) is the son of Matt Mulligan, Sr., the owner of the Mulligan Circus which is the main competition to the Consodine Show. Mulligan is the love interest of Consodine's daughter Mickey. * Mickey Consodine (

) is the daughter of John Consodine and love interest to Matt, Jr. * Mr. Jellico (A.P. Kaye) is a representative from the Income Tax Department who usually comes every week to collect taxes accumulated from the circus.

Unheard characters

* John Consodine is the owner of the Consodine Show. Although never heard on mic, he is mentioned in almost every episode.

Notes

References

External links

Download
12 known episodes of ''The Jumbo Fire Chief Program'' available to view and download
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jumbo Fire Chief Program, The NBC radio programs